Hey guys,
In my game I am using HillHeightMap for the terrain and I have run into a problem that many game programmers face: What to do when the player reaches the end of our terrain.
I know there any many creative people on this forum and I wanted to get everyone's input how you would go about letting the player know that they have reached the end of the in-game world. The only way I can think of at moment is to add invisible walls that the player will bounce off. If it isn't obvious already, I don't play many games. 
Any ideas would be appreciated!
Thanks,
– Methyl
i use high mountains
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You could also be evil and have continuous terrain if they leave the boundaries…they can keep going as long as they like, but they won't ever see anything. You could also couple with more of a FarCry type of approach…helicopter appears out of nowhere and starts firing at you. 
i also thought about a lightning striking right at you 
but that isn't nice.
You could also turn it into an island and make ocean surrounding you.
I like the idea of fighting your way through though. :) It could be awesome if it started showing a "distance travelled" and you can work towards records of travelling further each time. The enemies could become worse and more dense as you travel further.
Fighting idea does sound like fun.
I like impassable terrain. Mountains all the way around can be a bit obvious, can also use cliffs, water, ravines etc. depending on the rules of your game world.
I've played many games and find invisible walls to be no fun at all, especially if the world beyond the boundary seems to continue for a while (i.e. a flat land). Imagine the following. The player sees a house (or any other interesting thingy) far in the horizon. He/she braves countless perils while traveling toward that thingy, only to be blocked by an invisible wall!
Placing something at the location of the invisible wall (fence, mountain, cliff, river, ocean, troll, etc) results in a better game experience.
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<sarcasm>ah the invisible walls, love 'em in the hitman games, especially when they put 'em in dumb areas where a little creativity would produce a far better result. </sarcasm>
the continuous hordes of attackers beyond a point is a good idea though, perhaps add some warning sign dead soldiers' heads or whatever hanging on poles, change the mood of the game different sounds and such
Aye, I hate invisible walls. Some of the worst examples of their use I've found are in MMO's where they're just blatantly obvious and cause frustration to players.
Having more creative barriers like having to fight or create a more realistic "world beyond the playable world" (like you can see structures, towns, or huge mountains/rocks block your way adds to the feel of the world, rather than a flat plan beyond the hill, and you just stop dead in your tracks due to an obvious invisible wall, even though you can walk up much higher in the playable areas).
The thing with the fighting alternative is, in most games it's pretty instant kill. There's a snow map in Halo 3 for example that is surrounded by huge turrets that shoot at you if you go beyond the boundry, and its one or two shots and you're gone.
Of course, there has to be a limit…you can't put so much in making the beyond-the-boundry part looking really good (like putting lots of structures you'd may want to visit, rather they should really melt into the background), else you should just make it a part of the playable world!
To have control over your heightmap, you have to create it in a sculpting program like L3DT, Terragen, Earth Sculptor, or apparently now MonkeyWorld. You can even just use Photoshop or a similar paint program.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heightmap
I haven't used JME's terrain features yet, so I don't know the level of control…but I'm assuming you're generating a heightmap rather than loading one into your program.
Starnick said:
Aye, I *hate* invisible walls. Some of the worst examples of their use I've found are in MMO's where they're just blatantly obvious and cause frustration to players.
Having more creative barriers like having to fight or create a more realistic "world beyond the playable world" (like you can see structures, towns, or huge mountains/rocks block your way adds to the feel of the world, rather than a flat plan beyond the hill, and you just stop dead in your tracks due to an obvious invisible wall, even though you can walk up much higher in the playable areas).
The thing with the fighting alternative is, in most games it's pretty instant kill. There's a snow map in Halo 3 for example that is surrounded by huge turrets that shoot at you if you go beyond the boundry, and its one or two shots and you're gone.
Of course, there has to be a limit...you can't put so much in making the beyond-the-boundry part looking really good (like putting lots of structures you'd may want to visit, rather they should really melt into the background), else you should just make it a part of the playable world!
Thanks for the advice!
Starnick said:
To have control over your heightmap, you have to create it in a sculpting program like L3DT, Terragen, Earth Sculptor, or apparently now MonkeyWorld. You can even just use Photoshop or a similar paint program.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heightmap
I haven't used JME's terrain features yet, so I don't know the level of control...but I'm assuming you're generating a heightmap rather than loading one into your program.
I actually have FreeWorld3D but I think it would be more fun for the players to have a random map every time they play. That is just my opinion though. :roll:
I think what I am going to do is add a fence with some watch towers around the terrain. :mrgreen:
Thanks for all of your suggestions!
-- Methyl
Check my post in user-code for unlimited dynamic terrain loading. I'm planning on having them just keep running and running and not get anywhere (only if they get past the impassible terrain) which for me will be mountains or voids in space.
You might also be interested in this article about “immersion” at GameCareerGuide.com. A very interesting read.