This is kind of interesting. I am not sure how useful it is, but the fact that you can display such huge areas with no memory usage gives me pause:
http://leadwerks.blogspot.com/2009/02/i-had-choice-today-between-playing-doom.html you could define terrain in blocks....
like instead of recording every vertex you could record every 10 vertices, the terrain would be blockier though,
then you could come up with a smoothing algorithm to make each block smoothly transition with the next
I am thinking about maybe using a low-res unique heightmap and then a high-res repeating texture for smaller detail.
Hi Josh,
this idea is great and usefull. Please complete it!
Well, procedural terrain engines have been there since the C64, Amiga (fits into a track :O), ...
If it's reasonable depends on your game design. For a more abstract design you're mostly free to go. For content which needs a specific look and a certain definition it comes down to a) how flexible is the routine to make changes you want, say i want a mountainline here and a base camp there, the path leading from the camp to the mountains is here, b) how easy can an artist access/alter this data for instance for texturing, placing objects, working together with physics and so on and c) how well does the technology scale on different performing cards.