Firstly within FrostEd using its terrain toolset, a terrain is roughly sculpted with gameplay and broad, natural landscape formations in mind to get a quick visual idea of which direction we want to take the level. At this early stage strong reference material is of high importance as to not deviate too much from what is naturally possible in the real world.
Height information we have sculpted in FrostEd is then taken into WorldMachine, where we erode the landscape via an assortment of erosion tools to produce more natural results than what is possible by hand sculpting 8 kilometres of terrain directly within FrostEd. Various assets are produced in WorldMachine, such as a Heightmap, basic Colour information and Masks which define the natural flow of erosion across the landscape. Taking these newly generated assets back into FrostEd we can start piecing it all together. The new naturally eroded height information serves as a great base from which we can hand-sculpt gameplay features where needed, and the masks serve as the starting point from where we define where grass grows, rock protrude the earth, and any other related natural features.
Into the details, we further use these masks for more defined features such as the formation of sediment sliding down the surface of the landscape, or where water and puddles would accumulate. Where landscape surfaces meet each other, such as snow to rock, the surfaces now behave in a more convincing manner. Snow and grass fall between rock, for example, instead of a gradual linear fade between the two. Finer details have worked their way into each surface, such as snow and desert sand sparkling in the sun, or ice distorting and reflecting the environment. The strong focus on such small details throughout the entire landscape really pays off when most of the players time is spent with the environment filling the entirety of their screen.
