Handling the horizon.

One sort of silly little topic that's been itching in my brain is:

What are some ways you handle the "end of the world" - where level geometry runs out and the skybox or dome becomes visible?

In case study, most classic games used a lot of high walls everywhere. I could do that!

Modern games with the most successful art aesthetic tend to offer grand vistas with convincing transitions.

How might you achieve a nice horizon? Does level geometry really just end such that actors could fall right off were they unrestricted; just far enough away from the camera to be in a fog? You know, so you can't resolve that it ends.

Floating sky islands sidestep the problem, and water to the horizon can help, too.

I don't know know, art is hard. It's another annoying open ended discussion premise, I know.

 

It's an ideal thread for the game design forum. We had a similar chat a while back. It's worth checking out. And reviving if you have more insight.

http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/how-to-make-world-borders-boundaries.315981/

 

Thanks, that's an insightful link.

 

The simplest approach is to simply have distance fog of the same color as the sky, so that geometry on the horizon fades out to the sky color. But that link describes more elaborate options.

 

Depends from your game... if you allow the player to free roam; you have to put natural objects to obstruct the player.

In the past they used invisible walls; they are horrible I usually put something that is blocking the player; without obstruct the view. For example, a medium height barrier (guard-rail for example, or a bush).

This give the player a believable situation where he can see in the distance but can't go through the obstacle.

Fogging out in the distance is also a good approach, or you can put steep mountains/rocks/natural objects. That may work if you have an outdoor environment.
I don't think there is a specific way; it all boils down to the type of game. Just avoid invisible walls, please