For Backers Only: Planetary Biome Concepts

Hey all,

This represents 10 different biome styles for the game. They aren't tagged, once again, part of the point of posting it is making sure they're readily identifiable without help.

Since we have a lot of new people, remember, please don't share this out until we've released it publicly. But use it as you want for yourself. Desktops, etc. No sigs for now.

Enjoy, and we look forward to your feedback!

My Thoughts in order of top to bottom;

Desert Biome
Forest Biome
Ice/Water Biome
Rainforest Biome
Island Biome
Mountain Biome
Metal Planet(Not really a Biome as much as planet right?)
Lava/Ash Biome
Moon Biome(Not really a Biome as much as moon right?)
Gas Giant Planet(Not really a Biome as much as planet right?)

Mike

Some planets have their colors marked with dots, some with square and some with both. Is there any logic ?

Nice.

Yay, swirls! :mrgreen:

So desert mesas, temperate forests, polar caps (ice planets), equatorial jungle, tide banks / coastline, mountainous regions, death stars, volcanically active regions, moon / asteroids, and finally gas planets. Sweet

I've no doubt some people might prefer the more realistic style of the mountains / ice concepts over the more caricatured jungle and tide bank styles. My bias is obviously for the swirls, however I completely understand they won't be to everyone's taste.

I'm looking forward to seeing how these are going to mix over the surface of a planet, and how they end up getting fleshed out

Nice, like them.

All I will say is please make sure there is plenty of space to make bases etc, ie not like the top one :lol:

Very good looking concepts, those atoll/island swirls makes me want to be there right now

Also, they are absolutely identifiable, the bioms are what Mike said

I reckon they are in order of appearance

Desert
Forest
Ice
Jungle
Water
Mountain
Metal
Lava
Moon/asteroid
Gas


Looking pretty f*ing good, can't wait for the alpha

I would say what people call Forest is more like Earth and what people call Rainforest is more like a water/earth mixture.


I like them a lot actually. Although, isn't it more like planet TYPE rather than Biome?

Sweet !

But more than a "type" of planet, i see more something like planets with the different thing you can find on them depending of the temperature...

Standard Biome :
High temperature
Temperate zone
Cold temperatures
Tropical zones

Water planet

Mountains

Metal Planet

Lava Planet

A typical moon landscape

Gaz Giant

Ho man, my found is burned again...
Never connect to the forums while cooking...

Enjoyably readable.

Would it be possible to do a steppe biome? Low hills, lots of flammable scrub? Tank country.
How easy will it be for users to generate new biome types of their own?
How complex can reclaimables like plants, machinery, and primitive alien villages be?

I spy with my little eye, a tank in the forest.

It's kinda awkward to call it a 'Earth" biome, considering that our 'Earth' actually has most of these biomes already, thus why I labeled it as 'Forest'.

Depends, obviously some of these can be mixed, and prolly need to be to help hold onto immersion to some degree, because we all know that our Earth has many/most of these biomes and such due to the angle the planet rotates at, our distance form the sun ect ect, so it's not inconceivable that that will be mixed. I also feel it'll make for better gameplay, if you mix say a Forest and Mountain Biome, along with some water, you get much more varied gameplay than just a planet that's entirely desert.

Some of them are more-so planet types than biomes, like Gas, Moon and Metal(Thought it'd be interesting to see some planets with Metal "Patches" here and there).

Also worth considering that even within the Biomes themselves there could be a decent level of variance, some of this could stem from combining Biomes, like a Mountain+Forest Combo would create the area(Lots of smaller mountains and valleys, most covered in trees) I live in right now.

Actually not that I think about it, The list is missing a "Plains" Biome.

Mike

When I first looked at the pic this is what I thought while only looking at the planet pictures (not the scenic pictures on the right):

Desert
Temperate
Ice
Tropical
Water/Island
Airless??
Metal
Lava
Airless??
Gas giant

The tropical and temperate biomes I got mixed up first, but then when I compared the two together I figure which was which.

Then I looked at the pictures on the right and figured that this is what they are:

Desert
Temperate
Ice
Tropical
Water/Island
Mountains
Metal
Lava
Airless
Gas giant

I like these concepts. I see them as:
Desert
Forest
Ice
Jungle
Ocean
Mountain
Metal
Volcanic
Atmosphere-less
Gas Giant

Been lurking for too long, and these pics spawned an idea for environmental toxicity which I'll discuss in a new thread.

Thanks for posting these!

Forgot to ask on the previous post, is the lava planet already doable in your engine or is the picture a mockup?

Looks great. I really like the artstyle, both of the concept and the work in progress game pictures.

You've got some great artists here.

I also love the size difference between the trees and the tanks. It gives a great sense of scale.

Just so you guys are clear a biome is referenced by a planetary archetype. Some planets use more than one biome, others don't.

Adding biomes is fairly easy but the list here is what we are working on for now. In the future adding more variants etc. is easy to do but there is plenty here for the game for now.

A bit offtopic, but since you have the archetypical zones and belts of gas giants, any chance of them either influencing unit movement or work as different terrain?

(Ie. the belts usually rotate against each other, so for example it would work as terrain that moves.)

Desert
Forest
Ice
Jungle
Water
Mountain
Metal
Lava
Airless
Gas