Random map generation?

Yeah, random maps are gonna be be Bread and Butter of Elemental :)  We dont have it perfect yet, but we think the results are going to be pretty insane.

Will it be possible to mod random map generation the way civ IV allows us to? (sorry to repeat myself)

I like the word INSANE...  YEAH!!!!!

if insane = good, then that's wonderful.  I'm sure a game like this would find that very useful.  I still get ticked at the early Heroes of Might and Magic games that didn't have it in there.  It was easy to get bored with the same maps over and over.

I assume a map editor, too, as modding will be supported so fully.

The game not only will feature random map generation but our current internal build does feature random map generation. It's nowhere near perfect yet; one of the biggest problems with our approach to map generation is that we want to be able to create really rad looking maps like, say, that of Middle Earth or some of the old-school Final Fantasy games with as little precreated assets as possible. The problem, though, is that getting consistently awesome results takes a lot of tweaking and rewriting of the map generation algorihtm.

It's definitely coming along, though. We will have a map editor (one of our many editors) for the creation/modification of entire maps but we will also have a system in place to create smaller map pieces that can be included in the generation process. So if you want to make a really well thought-out and recognizable island but not an entire map you can save out that island for later use in custom maps or you can add it to the map generation process for inclusion in a random map.

Oooooh, I like the sound of designing just parts of the world to randomly include in random map generation. To my notebook to start drawing random landforms!

Thanks for the info mittens, but will it be possible to write a map generator rather than reuse pieces of maps?

Civ IV allowed to rewrite the whole map generation algorithm. It's pretty complex, particularly the rivers placement, but I'd love to be able to port my civ IV map scripts to Elemental.

Not only will you be able no Mod Random maps, you will be able to save them and share them strait from the game. You will be able to create what we are calling "stamps" which are map regions, which can than be randomly placed. The possibilities should be endless.

Thats great. I was hoping that randomly generated maps would be availible.

That as to be the most awsome thing I have ever heard of. To be able to create my stronghold and always be able to use it. That's way cool.

There's one very important thing that comes to my mind out of random maps:

They are rarely, well, personal. Take Civ for example. Most of the areas are just small plots of random terrain with little feeling to them. There is rarely a large desert or mountain range or something like that. There's a mod to Civ4 called Fall from Heaven, which has a very good random map generator, since the map is a local one, instead of the whole world. This allows things like valleys and jungles and such to be created, and it adds a lot to the immersion of the game.

So, areas that are consistent terrain-wise are cool, especially if there are special things in them AND the game generator names them as well. Let's say there's a huge swamp that has a volcano in the middle of it, the generator then places a name to the area "Smouldering marshes". How cool is that? Very cool, I tell you.

There should be a lot of areas that are impassable, harmful or slow them down to most units, like mountains, huge forests(of doom), bogs, valleys, hills and such. It feels wrong that an area is mostly grassland with a few hills here and there, since they don't really create a "flow" to the area, and you can't place forts and such in narrow passes since the enemy can easily evade them with no harm. If they must go through a poisonous swamp or a harsh desert that kills much of their army, the idea of assaulting the fort seems a lot better.

Fall from heaven 2 is a really great mod from civ4. It's the closest game to MoM in fact. I hope you devs have already played on it.

I agree with Tiavals.

Most randomly generated maps (in other games) seem im-plausible.  Mountains, and forests are in weird places, and landmasses look strange.

The maps on the Media page of Elemental look totally believable and very Tolkienesque.  I also noticed the cool sounding names on the maps, will the random map generator include random names for forests, mountain ranges, etc?  

Will there be random "Lore" included with the map?  I mean, things like a story behind a monster cave, with names given to random creatures/heroes?

To get an idea of what I'm talking about, check out Dwarf Fortress.  The developer of that game has done incredible things with world/lore generation.

Don't worry guys, we have solutions to all your concerns :)  A lot of our work up until now has been in creating beleivable worlds with an 'RPG-ish' feel. We think you all will be pleased

QFT.

Dwarf Fortress may have a crappy interface and I never got used to the Nethack-style (lack of) graphics, but the map generation definitely qualifies as "insane". I'd love to see something like that here.

That's really great, Boogie!  I especially like the ability to plug "stamps" into random map generation.  This will be a really awesome feature and ensure a lot of replayability.  Great forethought.

And Boogie- Can I right now just compliment you as the doing a great job conceptually as project leader?  Keep this up, and you might even get to do an expasion or three!

So where are random maps?

I've started 3 new games so far, and two of them were on exactly same map! Well, I was starting on Large map and didn't explore it yet, but the starting location was exactly same, with only resources spawned randomly.

Third time I got another starting location, but I wonder if it was just because I've made custom nation. Looks like they have pre-set locations for pre-set nations, and the custom ones are spawned randomly.

Or do I miss something??

I believe random map generation is currently based on seed maps and so can produce a lot of similar maps. I believe they are still working on a better random map generator, they where finding their best random map generator just took to long at the moment expect to see it improved.

In Patches We Believe...

The current maps aren't just "similar", they are identical with the exception of resource placement.  The game is picking from a very small pool of pre-made maps based on the size you pick, and then placing the resources randomly.  Some may call that a "random map", others may not.

If random maps are the "bread and butter" of the game, I guess we're stuck with a glass of water and nothing to eat right now.  But I'm not worried, because they "have solutions to all my concerns". 

Seriously though, this was a huge part of the game for me, and the only reason I'm enjoying the game at this point is due to cephalo's random map generator (available in the mods section). 

That whole "stamps" concept sounds cool, by the way.  Too bad it didn't happen.

I didn't explore entire world to date, so what I encountered could be just continent templates or sort of. If someone can prove that maps are random or predefined, input is welcome!

Sigh.  Hope.

Have to admit I play on large maps and have only finished 2 games all the way through so I'm willing to believe it's only random resource placement. Of course there is also a map editor.

But anyway I believe they are still refining random map generating, they where finding either the maps generated where not good enough or with an improved map generator taking to long to generate. Personally I think they should optionally release it anyway. But they do still fully intend for it to be properly implemented in a later patch no eta yet.

Necro much? This is a 2 year old thread.