Cubic chunks

[alexanderyou]

Does anyone remember the cubic chunks project from minecraft? Someone was trying to redesign the game engine to make chunks 16x16x16 and let them generate infinitely up/down along with the normal n/s/e/w.

What I'm wondering is if the Boundless game engine would support generation in all 3 dimensions like this, because if so I think it would be awesome if there could be a couple worlds like this, even if they're separate from the main universe.

[NerArth]

Yeah I remember that project, it was an interesting idea for MC. But I'm not sure what you're suggesting... That chunks could generate without limit in a vertical direction?

With the current beacon system that wouldn't go well together, since there can be only 1 beacon per vertical chunk. (Plus it sounds like it would be performance-heavy, on the server side of things)

What advantages do you think that would provide, anyway?

[alexanderyou]

It would be interesting as an exploration mechanic, maybe have it be a shattered world that is made up of tons of floating islands. Of course the vertical beacon prevention limit would have to be reduced to a certain distance or removed, but I see it as a great way to have an interesting world type.

I don't know how the engine is built, but logically it should be the same server load as having the chunks generate the max height up/down all the time.

[michaelb]

The biggest limiter is actually the sun light. It does a flood fill from the top of the world. As the world get taller and taller the cost increases. We already chop some bits in to 16x16x16 and may do more to save more ram and some speed wins.You can strand at the top of a chunk and look down the level of detail in the same chunk change.

[alexanderyou]

I never thought about the lighting, that makes sense.

What if there was no sunlight, like the sun had been destroyed?