An Introduction to Terrain

While I am still working on the terrain editing system, I wanted to provide some basics into what the plan is for the terrain system.

HOW IT'S CONSTRUCTED

To give the illusion of 3D depth, the terrain is made of a series of isometric tile maps layered on top of each other. Each layer has 15 options for the shape. (If you've seen devlogs on Transport Tycoon or RCT1/2, you know that there's actually 19 options in those games, but I got rid of the last 4 because they cause problems with heights.) How do I allow for multiple types of terrain? Each set of 15 options is stored in an atlas under a type of terrain, i.e. GRASS, SAND, SNOW, etc. I can then use the atlas of the tiles to place a specific shape. This allows me to maintain all 15 tiles of a single type easier than having to have a separate tile for each subtile. The edges for the tiles are held in a separate tile map on the layer. Each layer is constructed in the following manner:

Layer

|-- Edges Map

|-- Surface Map

|-- Water Map

The edges work in the same manner as the terrain. Water has yet to be implemented but presumably will work in a similar manner.

TERRAIN TYPES & EFFECTS

In terms of RCT, the terrain types are pretty useless beyond visuals. I want my game to be able to have an effect from the terrain due to it being about parks. There will be three major biomes - grasslands, desert, and tundra. Each biome has its own specific type of terrain on how it can be handled.

Biome : Grasslands - The plan for grasslands is to have the water initially dead and you have to have handymen to water it so it goes from DEAD to DYING to HEALTHY. If you don't maintain your land, the health of the grass will head back toward DEAD. If your park has enough pollution, the same thing will happen. The temperature won't really be affected much by this biome. It will be temperate year round. There will be an option to replace grass with artificial turfs that will not die (but they may affect your rating).

Biome : Desert - There will be no health to the terrain. It simply will have that the temperature is very warm at all times and this will affect your guests. You'll often need more in your parks to account for the heat.

Biome : Tundra - There will always be snow everywhere. If your park becomes polluted, the snow will become polluted and discolored. This will send guests running from your park. Similar to the Grasslands biome, there is the possibility to replace with artificial snow (which will not be polluted), but again this may affect your rating.

As for the edges of terrain, this will purely be aesthetic and left up to the player to decide. You will not be able to change the main land type in a park, but you can change certain aspects to the color (if artificial) and you can raise/lower land and water as you see fit.

Image 1 : healthy grass with dirt edge

Image 2 : sand with brick edge

Image 3 : healthy snow with dirt edge

Image 4 : levels of grass health (left to right) - dead, dying, healthy