This post will be about the world and environment in Iktsua, our survival adventure game. It will be split into a post about the form, and a post about the feel. (Like that? I thought it up myself)

Form

The levels in Iktsua are randomly/procedurally generated with the exception of specific areas being precreated (like boss rooms and the main village). This means that every time you enter a new seed the game will recreate a new level. It also means that if you have a particularly interesting level you can give the seed for it to others and let them play it.

The biomes that are randomly generated are:

• Tundra
• Sea
• Blizzard
• Glacier
• Rock
• Deep Snow
• Frozen Lake
• Village

Each of these zones has different weather, different enemies, and different objects to interact with. All of the details can be found in our game dev diary on google docs.

(Man atop procedurally generated hill in procedurally generated environment watching a procedurally generated herd of yak)

Feel

We wanted the tundra to feel very big and lonely. To get this effect we zoomed the camera out (making the player appear smaller), added some fog, and played a low wind sound in the background. The before and after pictures can be seen below.

I think this was a good start, but I am not totally sure the lonely feeling is totally finished. If you have any suggestions to get this sort of feel, please let us know!

-iamscissors

P.S. As always here is some new etc media for your viewing pleasure!

I'm a beautiful ballerina!

P.P.S. Mods: I know I am posting a lot. I try to make every post worthwhile and something new, but If I am hogging too much front page realty let me know and I will post less frequently.