This weekend I got started on a basic set of assets for the “Moorland” biome, which is based on the English and Scottish highlands. The idea is to go for a wet, windy, foggy atmosphere; overcast days with gusting winds, light spatterings of rain and dew, all in a peaceful setting of rolling craggy hills.
The progress so far is a combination of procedural generation (of a sort) and hand made assets by myself. I picked up a copy of a useful tool called “World Creator” in order to build the actual terrain quickly, and using semi-accurate natural rules.
World Creator allows you to restrict ground materials using custom rules, for example, only putting rock where there’s a slope, and in high ground. Only putting mud in the lowest points, and in flat ground. Same for grass, and trees, which helps generate a true “biome” that can be shared between multiple maps.
My current priority is to improve the rendering of the trees, and add more tree varieties into the scene. Bushes and other ground cover will help break up the terrain, too. After that, I’ll need to spend time making rocks and cliffs, to insert into slopes and cliff faces to help them feel less like smooth “game” terrain and more like actual cliffs.
I’m happy with this initial step, though, it’s heading in the right direction.
Parabellum 