Procedural Generation of Mountains and Tracks in SSX

with Caleb Howard

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Procedural Generation of Mountains and Tracks in SSX

with Caleb Howard

Challenges

Automatic vs. Procedural

How do procedural techniques fit in to the game development process? Are we trying to replace

artists and designers?

Elevation Data

Elevation Data

Agenda

1. Tracks & Gameplay

2. Surrounding Terrain

3. Tool Pipeline

4. Workflow

5. Discussion

TRACKS & GAMEPLAY Part 1.

The Track

Track “Ribbons”

Ribbon Controls

Ribbon Parameters

• Difficulty is set first.

• Parameters:

► Slope.

► Turns.

► Hazards.

• Branch Probabilities.

Track Geometry

Swept Profiles

Meshes

Advanced Profiles

Dynamic Profiles

Subtracting Tunnels

Underlying Representation (1)

Underlying Representation (2)

SURROUNDING TERRAIN Part 2.

Skirt Generation

Skirt Generation

Texturing

Surfacing

Mesh Decimation

Rocks

Trees

Instance Placement

Manual Placement

Are all trees placed automatically? Did the artists need tools to move trees that were generated?

Surface Alteration

Distant Mountains

TOOL PIPELINE Part 3.

Houdini

Houdini

Node-Based Pipeline

SSX Pipeline

Path Terrain Instances Mesh Lights Audio Effects

Procedural Benefits

What are the benefits of node-based pipelines for procedural generation?

Houdini and SSX

How many custom nodes were written for Houdini to implement the SSX pipeline?

WORKFLOW Part 4.

Old Ways

Build Pipeline

Test Pipeline

Lock Pipeline

Proof Of Concept

Proof Of Concept

With Designers

How difficult was it to get designers on board with procedural generation?

With Artists

Similarly, was it more difficult for the artists that were not familiar with procedural generation?

DISCUSSION Part 5.

Credits

• Tom Munro

• Ryan Ackert

• Brendon Vitz

• Craig Hall

• Carlos Lemus

• Bryn Wyka

• Demetrius Apostopoulos

• Ivan DeWolf

• Carlos Lemus

Procedural Generation of Mountains and Tracks in SSX

with Caleb Howard