A quick question about world generation?

[TheHomeChicken]

So, i just have a quick question. Let's say in an update, they added a new feature to the way the worlds generate (For now, i'll just use Lava Pits as an example), would you have to make a new world to find the Lava Pits, or would you just have to go into unexplored areas?

Another way I ask this, is; Does the game generate the entire world at once, despite what you've explored, or does it generate as you explore, and areas become visible on your map?

[Vigil]

It generates the whole world when you click " Generate New World"

This is not Minecraft, okay girl?

[Toaster Fu]

If lava pits were added you would indeed have to make a new world. Had to do that for beehives…

[QuadroMan1]

Lol.. Chunks

[TheHomeChicken]

It generates the whole world when you click " Generate New World"

This is not Minecraft, okay girl?

First of all, i'm a guy.

Second of all, it was just a question. There is really no need to be rude about it.

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If lava pits were added you would indeed have to make a new world. Had to do that for beehives…

Ah, okay. Thanks for clearing that up :]

[TheHomeChicken]

Lol.. Chunks

I actually wasn't even thinking of Minecraft when the question came into my mind lol, even though that's exactly how it works in Minecraft.

[QuadroMan1]

Well it doesn't have to be a reference to Minecraft.. The general way for that to work would be to generate new "chunks" of the map as you explore.

[TheHomeChicken]

Well it doesn't have to be a reference to Minecraft.. The general way for that to work would be to generate new "chunks" of the map as you explore.

Ah. I thought that term was only used in Minecraft.

Silly me o3o

[Sliver]

Although to bring this up, wouldn't it be interesting to make a feature that could create an endless world? As in it would spawn each island one by one, with a percentage chance of it being a specific biome. So as you explored, it would add new worlds through bridges. So you could very well end up with four swamps connected to eachother.

That would be boss. Get on it, modders

[QuadroMan1]

There's no beginning to explaining how difficult and time consuming that would be....

[Toaster Fu]

The Devs are waiting to make the world bigger until they have more content to fill it out.

[Lady Tyrantess]

I also have a question about world generations, so I figure stick it here rather than make a whole new thread, less space you know?

What if you had an old world, would the new updates like beehives and spider queens be able to coincide with the old world without any problems or would I have to remake a whole new map altogether? I've kind of had this map since I bought the game, and so far updates like spider queen, exc. seem to work okay with the old map, but I'm not sure if there would be any repercussions such as the map would be smaller or glitches would be created or what. Help would be appreciated.

[GreyWolf]

There's no beginning to explaining how difficult and time consuming that would be....

Yeah. Not so much actually. Under the old world generator it is ridiculously simple math assuming one understands basic trig. Under the New World generator however I can't say. I've only done limited exploration in some 40 days so I have no definitive opinion as yet.

[Sliver]

Yeah, not knowing any code I could plot out the basic idea right now.

To spawn a new island, execute once the last island generated is reached:

Determine how many islands are to be connected with the current island
*Pick a random direction from the current island's center.
Pick a random distance from the current island's center
Place a new island at that point with X circumference
If that new island conflicts with an existing island, start from the *
If another island is to be connected, start from the *

Once island is spawned, generate a random number Y
if Y==1, island becomes swamp
if Y==2, island becomes plains
if Y==3, island becomes forest
etc.

I'm sure it's more complex than that, but I could easily map out the general idea without having any formal programming training. I'm sure the current map generation works in a similar way (even the test one), and you could just continue executing whatever generates each island individually over and over again.

Edited December 27, 2012 by Sliver

[Sliver]

Yeah. Not so much actually. Under the old world generator it is ridiculously simple math assuming one understands basic trig. Under the New World generator however I can't say. I've only done limited exploration in some 40 days so I have no definitive opinion as yet.

For it to spawn in specific things, you would have to generate a new world. Like, if your world was generated before beehives were, you would have to re-generate to get beehives.

The only way to not have to do that is if the devs wrote code that spawned beehives into an older map. And to be honest, they probably have better things to program.

[Sim...]

The major difference is that MC generates the world on the fly. So generating new terrain or adding new things to an existing map is as simple as walking to a new area and generating new chunks. Don't Starve generates the world when you start a new game so it doesn't really lend itself to this sort of thing.

[Sliver]

I wouldn't mind a short loading screen when it is generating.

[Bigulp]

Could just have a new part added to the map every time you load a saved game.