Astral Terra - Update #4, Terrain & Q&A

Tethys Interactive posted a new update for Astral Terra that goes into detail about the games procedural voxel terrain, and includes a new Q&A.

Voxel Terrain Details &  A Juicy Q&A

Thanks for the continued support - we really appreciate it. We are going to need a huge push from all of you in order to reach our goal by the end of the campaign. It's going to be a very long road, but we know it's possible with 28 days left as of the time of this posting. 

Procedural Voxel Terrain

For our first big update, we want to show off thee sheer scale of the game world when a new seed is created, specifically in the Fey Vale. Here is a nice screenshot showing that off:

(Voxel Terrain Map)

If you're one of those techie people interested in how we are able to adapt voxels and use them how we do in Astral Terra, then allow us to explain. The terrain in our worlds is made of voxels, generated on the fly using Marching Cubes, and that voxel data is stored (for example broke into chunks). We are also using standard 3D-type meshes as well for many of the terrain decorations such as tree's, bushes, grass, pre-fabricated buildings and dungeons. 

However, the player can build out of voxels as well using cubes or a clay like blob method. You'll probably notice that, graphically, it looks a lot different (in our opinion, more detailed and better) than most voxel-based games that are blocky and overly saturated colors. We really put a lot of work into making the game look great, as well as play great.

Detailed Q&A with RootGamer.com

Check it out right here - http://rootgamer.com/8093/interviews/interview-astral-terra-developers

They asked a lot of good questions, so you all should definitely go check that out when you get a chance!