Hi everyone!Welcome to the 6th developer diary for Runemaster. Today we’re going to tell you more about exploring the worlds in the game. Details on each of the different worlds will come in future dev diaries, so today we’ll just focus on how the world is generated and how you explore it within the game.We’ve said before that our worlds are procedurally generated, but what does that mean?Initially, we made a procedural landscape made of mountains, plains, highlands and ocean, and we simulated rainfall and placed rivers, swamps forests and arid areas accordingly. Cities, bandit camps, iron mines, farms and other locations were placed based on factors like the availability of fresh water, proximity to the ocean, presence of mountain passes and more. The result was cool, and it could have looked good if it wasn’t done with programmer art and random assets from CK2, but didn't work for the game we wanted to make. We’re making a role-playing game, not a grand strategy game, and while we had some control over the gameplay aspects of this world, we didn't have enough.It wasn't an easy decision, but, as the saying goes, sometimes you have to kill your darlings, be it in writing literature or making software.So making a “realistic” world wouldn't give us the world we thought we needed, but what did we really need? What are the design goals of a Runemaster world? First of all, we needed a world that would support our quests, especially our main quest line. This means one that is plausible, that works with the quest arcs and that has the right sizes and distances to have the quests make sense. Secondly we wanted to be able to create memorable locations that allowed for exploration - we want the worlds to vary because that’s important for replayability but each playthrough has to create something meaningful in regards to the setting. And thirdly, we wanted to be able to control the flow of the game in some way. The world generation needed to be consistent in creating the worlds we wanted. Every player needs to get a world that gives a great gaming experience!The current system starts out with a graph of different regions. That graph is scripted and selected specifically for each world depending on what race you play. A Human and a Troll starting in Midgard will find different versions of Midgard. The graph contains a lot of variations that can differ for each play-through so you won’t get the same regions in every game, but race selection will be a major variable in what is generated.Once the graph is set, we place the regions generated by the graph into the world and make sure they’re connected to each other. This process has a high level of randomness, so the world will be different even starting from the same graph. Then, each region lays out its content, such as cities, NPCs, guard units, Runestones or large glowing crystals. A region can create a natural harbor and build a fishing village inside it or raise a mountain and place an hermit Troll on top of it.At the start, the world is unknown to you and there’s only one way to unveil its secrets. You have to travel the lands and meet its inhabitants, see its monuments and plunder its riches (if your character fancies riches, that is). Some places are connected by roads and others you have to reach by moving through forests, spiky rocks or along the shore of a poisoned lake. Every player will have to do some exploring, even if it just means going wherever the quests tell you to go, but if you find exploration interesting, there will be areas that are more hidden and off the beaten path of the main quest. Here you will find side quests, lore, loot or just an unexpected encounter. This will be especially true for the worlds in which you didn't start your journey and you’ll choose which you’ll delve deeper into.As an explorer you have to be on your watch, though, as areas have different levels of difficulty. If you walk too deep into the forest, the hostiles you encounter might be too difficult for you. We feel that this is an important part of exploring as it gives you choice. If you run into a band of high level Lightelfs, do you turn back, find a way around or are you good enough of a tactician to take them on even if the odds are stacked against you? It also means that you can come back later to fight your way through something that felt like an impassable wall when you and your army were weaker.The region graph and the individual regions are all scripted and moddable. As a modder you’ll be able to control most parts of the world generation and configure how the different regions look and function.Now you have a brief introduction to how we build our world! Stay tuned for more Runemaster information next week.Bonus teaser: An early concept of a Troll in his prime years.