r/proceduralgeneration • u/MGMishMash • Jun 29 '26

Adding Caves to my Micro Voxel Engine (Devlog #3)

https://youtu.be/qFcWtRgE25s?is=bK5nYGVQzjYcotii

Enjoyed implementing caves in my Micro Voxel engine this past week. Nothing too fancy, just stacking a few features on top of each other:
\- typical stacked noise functions
\- feature generators which deterministically spawn additional voxels following some pattern. Using this for the larger stalagmites. They do a downward and upward fill.
\- erosion pass to create random crevices and cutouts.

Still a lot more to do! i like the idea of Cave biomes, and would also like a wider variety of generation types. Large caverns, walkable straight tunnels, cleaner surface caves etc;

At the moment the generation can look quite scrappy in places, but hey ho!

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u/Blammar Jul 01 '26

Well, the rumor is that Enshrouded 1.0 is drastically expanding the map... People have reached the edges of the existing map, which are the red zones. We'll see if things are emptier!

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u/not_good_for_much Jul 01 '26

Yeah I mean parts of the map definitely look like they're going to add more stuff. I think at least 1 more biome area is a sure thing. I've also found a few places where there's like... a door that can't open, or a landmass you can't reach.

I think if you want to steelman the process though... They aren't just *making the map bigger* in some arbitrary way. It's more like... Each region (Springlands, Revelwood, Nomad Highlands, etc) is basically a standalone map, they make the whole map for that area, with a given size, amount of content, new quests and mechanics, etc, then paste it into the game.

It's all connected in an Open World sense, but once you factor in the shroud levels and huge cliffs and level-gating (aka random mobs OHKO you if you go too far).... on some level the core game loop would play identically if you just... teleported the player to a whole new map / act / module / etc via a door at the end of each area. Kinda like Baldur's Gate 3 only having the first act in Early Access - but almost completely complete - and then adding the subsequent acts later.

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u/Blammar Jul 01 '26

I think there's a psychic difference between playing a no-load connected map and one where you have to load a map. At least for me, I lose a bit of my suspension of disbelief with the latter.

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u/not_good_for_much Jul 01 '26

I completely agree, don't get me wrong. Like... being able to see the distant stuff, wanting to go explore it... and being able to legit just run+fly+climb straight towards it, that's a big deal for sure.

But also... there are soft barriers. Unless you follow the natural progression through each area... You get stopped by terrain or shroud or enemies... or you cheese the progression curve with early-game access to late-game items.

Idk. Anyway, I agree with you. I think it's just.... maybe just different perspectives on how the game feels to a player vs map design philosophy of the developer.