Infinite Terrain Generation

This project was a year-long endeavor (during 2017) that served as the foundation for my honors thesis for my degree (Bachelor of Engineering with Honours in Software Engineering). I concluded the project with a grade of 92%, and the full report is available here.

The report includes all the background research, decision-making processes, and the methodology that led to the final algorithm used.

Why Is This Project Innovative?

This project produced an algorithm capable of generating theoretically infinite (very large-scale) terrain, limited only by numeric precision. In contrast, other approaches to large-scale terrain generation, as seen in games like Minecraft, No Man’s Sky, and World of Warcraft, require a proportional amount of storage on the computer relative to the amount of terrain generated.

What makes this project unique is that the terrain generation requires zero long-term storage, regardless of how much terrain has been generated. The only storage needed is entirely in memory and is a fixed amount (under 1 GB), regardless of the terrain size.

The core innovative features of this project include:

The use of irregular polygons as the base structure for the terrain to avoid obvious patterns
Zero long-term storage required on the computer
Repeatable results given the same initial numerical seed
Theoretical infinite terrain generation in all directions (bounded only by software limits)
Inclusion of biomes and other realistic terrain features such as mountains and water bodies