I'm working on a personal project to create a world generator program for Dungeons & Dragons. My goal isn't just to produce a visible map for the end user, but rather to identify land and water areas, and how they connect. Currently, I take the height of the planet and create a grid of points. For each point, I assign quasi-randomized z-values under specific conditions that limit their range relative to adjacent points. Once this is done, I mark any point above sea level as land and anything below as water.
The problem is that this process takes an incredibly long time, around 18 to 20 minutes! I'm looking for feedback and suggestions on how I can improve the speed of generating this land map.
1 Answer
Have you considered using Perlin noise for your height map? It's a great way to create a smooth gradient for terrain. After generating the height map, you can simply set a height value for sea level. For generating rivers and lakes, you could simulate gradient descent to determine where water flows and check for low points that can hold water.
I actually tried using Perlin noise too, but I ended up with a map filled with thousands of tiny islands. Any tips on configuring it better?