August 27, 2018

Elevation VIII: The Void

I'm back working on the erosion code - I think I have a better implementation, but there is an interesting problem that crops up.

I have talked before about the basin-erosion, and how it finds a way out of any place where the water might be "stuck." However, I think this mechanism is causing total collapse of the system.

Watch this gif:



It's amazing. After some cycles of building beautiful terrain, something happens. It's the Void from the Neverending Story (or Jerry's Map). Everything falls victim to the Void, swallowed by its constant advance. I haven't quite figured out why this is happening, but I have a feeling it's related to the basin-erosion code. There are a couple of places where you can see it work as intended: in one frame there will be a black gorge carved out of the mountains, and the next frame will show nice fractal patterns forming around it. However, you can also see the blackness of the Void forming around it. And once it forms...

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