Hi everyone!
We wanted to give you a quick update on some of the things we’ve been working on for Nova Roma.
3D Terrain
One of the biggest requests from our previous game Kingdoms and Castles was for terrain with hills and mountains. For Nova Roma, Sam and I have been reworking the map generation algorithms and terrain engine from the ground up (heh heh). We can now fully support 3D terrain (which you may have seen from the trailer). We’re working hard to get interesting cliffs, beaches, and mountain features. None of this is final and there’s still improvements to be made, but here’s a preview of the direction we’re going with the maps:
Water Simulation
The 3D terrain isn’t just for aesthetics and show, it’ll factor directly into the gameplay as well. Michael’s been working on writing a fluid simulation that interacts physically with the 3D terrain. Water starts near mountains and flows through forests and hills down to the ocean.
Because the system is fully dynamic it’s possible for you as the player to affect the flow of the water. Here’s an example of cutting a new channel for a river with our terrain editing tools. Changing the terrain dynamically affects how the water pools up and moves across the land.
We’ll be tying this directly into the gameplay mechanics. You’ll be able to command your citizens to undertake huge projects to change the terrain to alter the course of rivers, build reservoirs and dams, and supply water to your city with aqueducts. We’ll have more to show on that soon. There’s still plenty of polish to do, but we’re very excited about the new possibilities of the 3D terrain and fluid system!
Until next time,
Pete, Michael, and Sam