Frontier broadcast an amazing live stream last night, discussing how they are making worlds for the Horizons update of Elite. There's a summary of the video's salient details below.
[video=youtube;-Et5Ivi_yIg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Et5Ivi_yIg[/video]
Credit to CMDR Anton Sugar for compiling the following information.
General Info - Started Horizons planetary landing work about nine months ago
- Stellar Forge is their engine/generator that creates their planets procedurally
- 61% of the planets in Elite: Horizons galaxy are airless and can be landed on in Horizons
Surface Features - Not just noise maps/patterns for terrain--planets are shaped by scientific information (for example, tectonic plate simulation determines location of canyons, mountains, etc.)
- Tectonic Plates 1 (http://i.imgur.com/342Sriw.png)
- Tectonic Plates 2 (http://i.imgur.com/rvBrkEi.png)
- Use noise patterns but Stellar Forge intelligently knows when and how to utilize them based on the planet's make up
- Created series of colour/terrain swatches based on the chemical make up of the planet and its surface, which makes it easier to identify types of planets
- Surface detail of red planet w/icy peaks (http://i.imgur.com/pjkc5Xk.png)
- Wider shot of red planet w/icy peaks (http://i.imgur.com/wj7cEQV.png)
- Orbit shot of red planet w/icy peaks (http://i.imgur.com/4MJwk2C.png)
- The chemical make up of a planet is based on its simulated "history" and place in the solar system
- Crater simulation considers the "history" of the planet--so craters within craters, on top of other craters, etc.
- Largest terrain structures (like 30 km mountains) are determined (again, scientifically) based on the planet's size, gravity, and make up
- Canyons can be kilometres deep
- Can find mountains that dwarf Mt. Everest (shows a 30 km mountain)
- 30 km mountain (http://i.imgur.com/Siia2vu.png)
- Used real planets as basis for simulation factors--for example, showed how they were simulating "Europa lines" for liquid flows
- Europa lines on a planet (http://i.imgur.com/1Zl40QU.png)
- Ice caps, again, can appear/form based on the planet's mass, orbit, etc.
- Some craters have "ejecta lines" from ancient collisions that scattered new materials across the area
- Ejecta lines on a planetoid (http://i.imgur.com/wb9N8u3.png)
- For stations and pirate bases, they have algorithms that help them choose the most interesting locations to place them
- Tidal locking is in game
- Older planets will have more weathered down features
- Sun rises, moon rises, Earth rises--that's old hat. Some planets will have "nebula rises" which are fantastic to look at
Planet Sizes - Smallest planetoid is ~100km in radius. For reference Earth is ~6400km in radius, and there are planets bigger than Earth to explore
- 22,000 km radius is largest they've found, but they can go up to 24,000 km in radius--they actually don't know what the largest planet is, they just have an idea of what it could be
LOD - Land-able planets will have noticeable geometry upgrades from space
- Continually improving "LOD snapping" so pop-in is decreased--it wasn't enabled/shown in this Live stream
- There will be different LOD graphics settings to accommodate lower specification machines
- Generate geometry meshes to form the terrain, then they have a material mesh on top of that
- Planets are "persistent"--they don't generate terrain/new terrain as you approach them
- Video that David Braben shared last week (which was a week-old build) is already outdated and has been improved upon
- Landings sound pretty much seamless--specifically say there won't be any clouded view or anything as you transition from space to the planet
Not available or delayed availability in Horizons upon release - Volcanoes are "not in 2.0" (https://youtu.be/-Et5Ivi_yIg?t=2995) but it is definitely in the plans--it's unclear if this means it will be in 2.x or the next season
- Cannot land on Earth's moon in 2.0 (permit restricts you) ON RELEASE but it is coming later in Season 2
- No caves in Horizons/Season 2--maybe later; say they actually haven't missed not having caves since there are so many other environment structures to explore
- Earthquakes are not in Horizons/Season 2
Other Pictures - Rocky planet 1 (http://i.imgur.com/pW1L79B.png)
- Rocky planet 2 (http://i.imgur.com/vq4Yefg.png)
- Rocky planet 2 in detail (http://i.imgur.com/rTbUqyZ.png)
- Flyover canyon shots (http://imgur.com/a/ONhAL) (thanks, /u/MildPeril (https://www.reddit.com/u/MildPeril))
Here's a better quality video of the raw footage.
[video=youtube;8jIrUQnUM0M]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jIrUQnUM0M[/video]