REASONS GAMES
The world is now open and generated
The game now starts in a world made from a seed. Walk in any direction and the land keeps going: forests, ruins, wasteland, rivers and roads, all generated as you move.
What's new
- A new world each time you start, from a seed. The same seed always gives the same map.
- Seven biomes, from forest and ruins to irradiated wasteland, with rivers, lakes and roads between them.
- Ruined towns and points of interest, and boss rings that mark where the harder land begins.
- Gather wood, stone, ore and berries from the world, and store them in a 24-slot inventory with an 8-slot hotbar.
- Your changes to the world are saved as a set of differences on top of the seed, so the file stays small.
How it was made
- The world generator (scripts/world) divides the map into 32x32 chunks. Each chunk's terrain comes from noise maps, so any chunk can be rebuilt from the seed alone.
- Biomes come from thresholds on those maps. Rivers follow low ground, and roads connect the towns.
- Props and harvest nodes are placed per biome, with spacing rules so they don't stack.
- Tests check that the same seed gives the same chunks, that a different seed differs, that saved changes survive a reload, and how long it takes to walk across 50 chunks.
- The props use the art from update 2. Their placement comes from the generator, not from hand-drawn maps.
Screens
Tools used
| Godot 4.7 | Chunk streaming, the TileMapLayer rendering and the inventory and gathering UI. |
|---|---|
| GDScript worker threads | Each 32x32 chunk is generated on a background thread, so walking doesn't stall. |
| Layered noise | Elevation, moisture, temperature and radiation maps decide each biome. |
How to try it
- Open the project in Godot 4.7 and press Play.
- Keyboard: WASD to move, Shift to sprint, left mouse to use a tool, E to interact, Tab for the inventory, 1-8 for the hotbar.
- PS5 controller: left stick to move, R2 to use a tool, Cross to interact, L1/R1 for the hotbar, Create for the inventory, Options to pause.
- Walk in one direction for a while to see the biomes change.
Known issues
- Frame rate while moving across many chunks has not been measured against the 60 fps target yet.
- Crafting and building come in the next update.
Ironfall dev log · Update 3 of 18 · All updates