Polish for existing biomes, changes/additions/updates
Rosethorns opened this issue · 40 comments
This issue will be updated as I create the relevant specs for each area of polish needed.
Redwood / Fir trees.
Currently these trees lack a certain finesse to their appearance and look overly geometric especially in the leaves department.
this is a WIP of the new redwood concept. Below is a diagram showing how variation can be achieved.
A. shows the height of the tree variation. min and max
B. shows the trunk base thickness gradient variation. compare to screenshot
C. shows the height of the leafy head or more specifically how far down the trunk the leafy section reaches.
D. shows two things, first the max and minimum width of the leafy section at it's thickest point. Second, how the above affects the gradient to the steeple of the trees leaf cone.
E. (not shown) is to simulate how the leaves "umbrella" over the trunk. (see this link)
Comparison between the old and new
Savannah
I have used red power flax to help illustrate my concept here, ignore the tilled soil and the patch of water
whats illustrated here is the concept of having patches of tall grass throughout the savannah type biomes, it shows that the patches of grass grow to a height of 2 blocks in their center and gradient outward to a new type of savannah grass which is very low lying.
A nice immersive element to this is that you can move through this tall grass but it still obscures vision, tall grass like this is a huge feature of the african plains and predators often use it to stalk their prey
Variation for these patches can be handled by their total size, the grass could gather in massive patches or they could be in a snaking shape like a river (this happens in real life from where the wind displaces the seeds)
normal height grass would be removed from the savannah and instead replaced by this low lying stuff. with the ocassional block of normal grass here and there. we also need to not be scared of having patches of svannah where /no/ grass blocks generate, so that the "grass" relies on the grass block of the ground instead.
Not shown here is that the savannah would also have bushes similar to the Shrubland biome.
Bushes would be sparsly placed throughout the savannah and tall grass would be a common feature.
A biome feature for savannah could be a "savannah oasis" a small pool of water surrounded by savannah bushes and 1 or two Acacia trees.
A bonus to making this tall grass is that it can be used in other flat open type biomes. although tall grass patches would be smaller and far less common in these biomes than in the savannah (plains, shrubland, green hills, meadows)
as for the actual tall grass texture, it would be thicker than the red power flax used in the concept so that vision is obscured more, it of course will not be opaque.
Following is an update to the Acacia tree. they are taller and have branches but have a similar canopy width to the original.
variation can come from trunk height canopy width and branches
Below is an example of the savannah oasis feature I mentioned above. obviously i'm working with a flat world and can't control grass color but you get the idea :P
Green Swamp
This biome is one that needs a far greater make over than some of the others.
The general updates to the biomes land is that there needs to be far more frequent pools of shallow water and less overall dry land. while also avoiding massive "lake" formations
Some additions to the land is that there should be small peat formations that generate like clay under the surface. more importantly these formations should lay just below a layer of earth, with a rare block exposed to the earth layer so the player can spot where a peat formation might be hiding. This peat would be interchangeable with Forestry.
vegetation changes include the addition of 3 tree types.
1.
Bald Cypress.
These trees should replace the current standard tree in green swamp land. They also grow much more tightly packed than the current trees as the image below shows, even growing in shallow water.
These trees are very tall and thin with a splayed base to the trunk (represented by the thick bases in the picture) they have very sparse foliage which gives them a patchy appearance.
Other things that the mock doesn't show about the bald cypress is that the bark is a mid grey colour with a light coloured timber, and moss likes to gather on the base of the trunks. this can be done with meta data? with this log type having mossy and non mossy variations? blocks that are mossy should have a chance to drop moss as a useable resource.
More shots of the mockup cypress test patch below
Cypress 2 Cypress 3
2.
Swamp Willow.
The feature tree of the swamp. In the mock I have used Spruse logs to show the dark coloured wood and spruse leaves to emulate the long whispy leaves of the willow which hang low.
Variation in this tree can come through the amount of branches and what direction they spread a lopsided willow isn't uncommon unlike the near symmetrical one I have mocked up below. the only real rules to the willow is that it is wider than it is tall and it's branches arch toward the ground creating the characteristic droop of the tree.
More shots of the mock willow below
Willow 2 Willow 3
3.
Mangroves
Unfortunately there wasn't the blocks even with mods to be able to create a decent mockup of a mangrove.
Essentially the mangrove is the "bush" of the swamp like the bush in the savannah above.
Mangroves grow in shallow water and in thick families that take up large swaths of the shallowest part. the submerged section of the mangroves grows as a thick nest of roots. Below is a RL photo for reference.
I love the use of stairs & slabs to emulate a more organic shape. I imagine they would also work well for branches on other tree types.
Wow, that's quite gorgeous. I like it way better than what I did! My only minor problem is the processed wood planks on the base... A new metadata wood stair type, I suppose?
Either way, I still like it way more.
Yeah the stairs and the slabs are there to emulate blocks I didn't have. Ideally these would be some sort of redwood/fir meta block. Although they can be removed and the base still looks decent if that kind of extra isn't required.
If we did have those meta blocks though I imagine they could be used to vastly improve the look of a root network.
@Rosethorns Love your tree designs!
@ScottKillen the wood bark stairs/slabs could work into the Treehouse/bark uses design document that I did.
I think all the trees could use a makeover to some extent...for example all the autumn forest trees are the same shape and height. I think they should be more diverse like in the real world. I have a list started of trees with links to images. Not all of them need to be added...but would give more variety and interest. I would like to do the same with grasses and flowers and vines.
I think that rainforests should look more like a rainforest...for example taller trees with large leaves. The trees there just look like normal trees with vines...same for the green swamp. I think they both need more types of trees...for example willow and cypress trees in the swamp with perhaps moss hanging from them instead of a vine or a combination of the two. Perhaps flowering vines and some type of man eating plant.
The idea I had for marsh was to make it into a bog. We could use quick sand but instead of 3 or 4 blocks deep you make it just 1 block deep and maybe make it difficult to walk thru similar to soul sand. If we darken the color of the quick sand a little bit more we could call it peat. It would be a more swamp looking area but with more land than water. There would be moss blocks which maybe would just be a texture change of grass blocks or make the moss similar to how lily pads sit on top of the water, so that it's more realistic since the moss is normally over water. It would be cool if you could make it more like you are walking thru a squishy mossy/water/mud but I think that might be to much for right now. Moss also had a lot of uses which could be implemented. This could be made compatible with Forestry at a later point as well as IC and BC for biofuels. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bog
Maybe the idea of the little bit of water surrounded by bushes for the savanna could be used in the desert as well as an oasis?
Would love to see this tree put in. It's a paperbark cherry tree. http://pinterest.com...49540690256297/
moss in combo with tree bark could be used to make poultices (a natural bandage) which could be short health regen potions. maybe 10 seconds or so of regen 1. moss could also be found on fallen trees as discussed in the dd wiki
@Rosethorns have you ever thought about having palm trees in the desert oasis biome idea? I think it could work well with that design. maybe a more organic looking pool with a 2-3 block waterfall could really make it look perfect!
Polish to the existing dry biomes is yet to be added here @bkhsk8 but palms are something that will be added sparingly to oasis terrain features there. there almost need to be a different biome which is a desert with vegetation. As deserts with and without vegetation exist and it would be strange not being able to find barren deserts
That looks really good. I didn't have time to look at this before, but I notice that your Savannah is very close to the concept I came up with for the "Bush" biome designs. Do you think it would be better to change this, or work on them as variant types of similar biome? If the latter, would we want to set things up so they tend to transition into eachother?
Sorry to bump this. But I saw the idea about peat in Green Swamp Biomes. My first thought was OP, but if you made it generate the same rarity as coal, not so. Next is that, if you detect Forestry is installed on first run, could you simply add its Peat Blocks to world gen, rather than your own? Saving block ids and all.
Yes, our items already work with Forestry, so I can't see that changing. Not sure that block ID's matter that much anymore. We have 90 mods (I think that is the last count) on our server, with some mods that use over 100 ID's each without having any issues. I don't think it would be OP as it would completely depend on the seed you get and if you had any Green Swamps around. Also, once you use it all, it would be gone, therefore it would be limited....so if you are running peat engines from Forestry you'd still need to make a peat bog to have a continuous source. Also, we have talked about and I have written up information about adding a bog in place of our current marshes which are bugged. This would add another source of peat as well...or bog earth, but that is still in the planning stage.
I was inspired by @Rosethorns designs, and after fiddling about with the XtraBlocks EE mod I came up with these:
The blocks I used were vanilla birch logs & leaves and custom stairs, pillars, poles and fences. The textures are Painterly Pack.
MisterFiber> You know what, this is too amazing to let die: #192
MisterFiber> Whoever sends a pull request with at least the trees done, gets $30 when I can send it
MisterFiber> Well
MisterFiber> $20
MisterFiber> $20 is my final offer
MisterFiber> Whoever sends a pull request with at least the trees done, gets $20 when I can send it
MisterFiber> Feel free to bloody quote me on that in the PR
I'd probably match that if the end result produced was something fiber believed was worthy.
I want it nao
I thought it was a idea that was just open but not pursued. Was this happening all along?
Did I just put $20 on something that was already happening? hsdlhaghsyg8aewhdaughue wyuieg
Scott, if you ever need a test server for whatever purposes to test your shit out on I could give you a 1 or 2 gig free of charge for being awesomesawce.
nuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
(@ Scott's post following my last one)
LOOPHOLE, I SAID "PULL REQUEST". IF IT'S DONE IN A COMMIT, THEN I'M HOME FREE
If it does happen in a PR, I hope the individual doesn't mind slowly getting paid until the eventual amount of $20 is reached. 🐴
Okay, Scott, send me what you have and I'll make a pull. We can split the monies! ;D
Ooooh it is NOT dead, infact through helping CB, I have helped us secure a custom renderer that works with my 3d workflow, Scott ;)
@MisterFiber Actually, at $30 each, this equation is growing to more of 5^2 - 17 🔃 ☎️
Use it to communicate defensive strategies with the Scarecrow.
In other news, I don't care if it was going to happen. The money is just... a well deserved thank you.
But am I?
I just thought it'd be a nice gesture to show my appreciation for all the hard work that's been put into this.
Well, all kidding (and maybe not kidding) aside, these are changes that I'm really looking forward to seeing in action.