I'm really happy how my little random island generation experiment turned out so far!
All it takes is a tiny sprite (up to 96x96 pixels) with specific colors representing things like beaches, ponds and cliffs, and a 5-letter code that defines things like
-the source image (=shape of the island) used
-if the island should be mirrored / rotated in various ways
-the biome (grassland, desert, snow...)
-the weather.
I made sure to not use actually random numbers but a fixed seed that is also generated from the Island code, so the island will look the same when you visit it again (or when it reloads after a battle).
You can see more examples below.
Please keep in mind that these screenshots are taken from my prototype and lack lighting and other stuff since I did not transfer over the code to the game project yet.
I also improved the look of frozen ponds a bit with a cool reflection. The ice sparkles even!
Other small improvements:
-footsteps have an echo in caves now
-I made a new textbox with a neat walkie-talkie design. The idea is that Herby, the helicopter pilot hands you a walkie-talkie so you can communicate with him. He will take you to the randomized islands (and bring you back, hopefully!) and you can also use the walkie-talkie to fly back to an Abstrácto-Center.
The item is in the game already, now I only have to create the conversation and some additional helicopter action!
Phew, that's all for today's post! Thanks for reading!