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Seeing maps like this make me a bit wistful for the random "New Worlds" (i.e., alternate North & South Americas) generated by the old video game Seven Cities of Gold. Ah, the Commodore 64...
Thoughts on role-playing games, Hermann Hesse's Glass Bead Game, and other stuff that I find cool
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Random Destinations
In my last post I mentioned an old fractal algorithm for making randomized world maps for hypothetical planets. I probably have some old printouts somewhere, but I remembered enough to reconstruct it and give it a whirl. Here's an example...
Somebody who knows a thing or two about plate tectonics will surely see nothing at all realistic here, but it's pretty cool for about a half hour's work. If anyone would like more details, I can easily send you a code written in IDL that will create as many random maps as you'd like. (Creating the color image is a separate step; I could automate that in IDL too, but to make the above I just screen-captured it and played with the color table in xv.)
Seeing maps like this make me a bit wistful for the random "New Worlds" (i.e., alternate North & South Americas) generated by the old video game Seven Cities of Gold. Ah, the Commodore 64...
Seeing maps like this make me a bit wistful for the random "New Worlds" (i.e., alternate North & South Americas) generated by the old video game Seven Cities of Gold. Ah, the Commodore 64...
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I think you might need to read the novel I told you about this past weekend. (Not Replay.) I'm being all Mys Mysteriosa in the comments box because I'm probably going to do a write-up on it for the Coffeehouse. (I tend to be an unveiling type.)
ReplyDeleteI understand you. I'm also blown away by one of the brief reviews of the book on amazon (search for the phrase "mystical center"). Enough to go out and look for a copy before picking up my son for karate class later today, I think!
DeleteMystical center? No dice.
DeleteGlerp... I might be thinking of the wrong book! :-)
DeleteAll clear.
DeleteI have it now, too, but I've GOT tot finish my Hofstadter first. :-)
DeleteDigging it thoroughly -- savoring it, really. I read 'Replay' over a weekend or so and tried to slow down at the end but I gobbled up that sucker.
DeleteThis one is different because it's not paced all breakneck. It's a lyrical novel with *most* elegantly-executed metaphor. I actually put the book down and reread passages then put the book down again just to indulge in the knowledge that there is something this unassumingly satisfying in the world.
Sid Meier's Civilization games are also wonderful for random world building. I have no idea if they're realistic but they're fun.
ReplyDeleteI've actually never played one of these, but I've heard high praise. (Realism isn't verisimilitude, and sometimes neither one makes for good game play!)
DeleteCivilization is quite interesting. Worth trying alhtough it tends to suck you in.
DeleteThese days, I'm wary of taking on something (even a fun video game) that has the prospect of gobbling up so much time...
DeleteI'll admit it. I had to look up verisimilitude.
DeleteCiv is fun, though as Laoch says, highly addictive. I'd recommend it but on the other hand... Be smart, don't start.
This is an interesting offshoot from Civilization and running the game to its logical (possibly) conclusion:
Deletehttp://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/brainiac/2012/06/the_end_of_civi.html
http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/uxpil/ive_been_playing_the_same_game_of_civilization_ii/
Holy crap! Someone didn't just dream up a dystopic world in the year 3991 AD, they played it out continuously from the present day (or even some point in the past?) up to that point. And it's amazing how the situation changed so drastically with crowdsourcing brought into the fray.
DeleteI'm going to try to "be smart, don't start," but stuff like this makes it reeeally tempting! :-)
The most recent version I've played was Civ 3. I've thus far resisted temptation to buy the newer ones.
Delete