[TerrainEngine] Voxel Terrain : Smooth,Cubic,2D,Hexagonal Infinite Procedural Terrain

Wow, the interface looks amazing! I always get worried about the interface when buying a asset like this one.

 

What is the cost for TerrainEngine ???

 

Honestly i think if the developer put a range of cost or something like that in op page, the amount of emails he would get from people that are not serious would be reduced, also, don't forget, many people on community are indie developers, so many of those people you decide as "Not Serious" are dead serious but with very limited budget, people who have big dreams but little money !

 

Hello, this seems to be amazing and well done.

I do not know the pricing, and for that I can email you

But I have some questions before asking for price or additional questions

I thought that this software would be like others that take the plants 3D models from the computer and device itself, and can be used offline if wanted, but it seems that it will always depend on a internet connection and with a good speed to bring the plants from the server

Please, how was done this video using the Manufactura K4 Tropical Jungle Pack? I mean that all the plants included in this pack are put in the server, or do I have to have my own server, or how is done?

Sorry that I did not understand how TerraEngine works yet, Does it mean that all the plants that are in the scene are really NOT in the scene or in the project itself, and not in my computer, and they are brought directly from the TerraEngine server?

If I make a game to be played on tablet or computer with this TerraEngine, the plants and scenery will not be included in the software, and they will be taken from the TerraEngine server?

Do I have to have my own server in my computer if I want to have it local?

Do I need to code it myself? I do not have any experience and knowledge about coding and servers.

Thanks for your help

 

Hi,

TerrainEngine is a voxel terrain framework.
You can have a client that contains plants/trees/etc and server only generate the terrain and send data to clients.
You don"t need to have any gameobjects/mesh server side because server only works with ID.

Example :
On client i drag and drop Tree1 and set it to spawn on Tropical Biome.
Tree1 ID = 1
Tropical Biome ID = 1

Server will just generate multiple 'Object ID 1' on 'Biome ID'1 and send data to clients that will spawn GameObjects at given positions...
When you play in Local (Alone), your client will start and internal server that generate the terrain and your client will build all mesh and spawn all gameobjects.
You can build a Scene called "Server Scene", that can be started on distant PC/Server and you can connect your clients on it, so clients only build mesh and spawn gameobjects without generarting any terrain data. And all data are shared between multiple clients.

You need C# knowledges to create a game (system mechanics etc).
You need Noise knowledges to create biomes (LibNoise).

 

So beautiful!!! Everything I dream of for an infinite terrain. I sent you an email, looking forward to hear your reply soon. I wish Unity could buy your Engine off, and let all Unity users enjoy the best terrain engine

 

Although it maybe good for Indie devs if Unity bought the engine, we would lose the access to the source code. Also many people who have invested money into buying the engine will be annoyed that it has become free, especially those who haven't shipped their titles with this engine yet. I know I wouldn't want him to sell it to Unity or anyone who will make it free, because I will be buying a licence soon.

 

Unity is looking at a new terrain engine, but my guess they need a truly general purpose one. I would think a voxel engine would still have issues with any flight sim sort of game where you need to move fast/see vast (areas). However I certianly would applaud if they did buy it.

 

@dyox hi there, I'm still waiting for your reply.

dinkeytom: I know but some of Unity plugins are open-source. But, I will be buying a license soon too. I agree with u. Right now, TE is an expensive gem. Using it is quite an competitive advantage

Fenris2: I wish Unity make another Terrain, Voxel or Planetary Terrain, since these two are quite popular now. Though, 2D Terrain fits most general need, and fastest among other kinds of terrains.

 

really interested in TE, sent him couple emails and added him on Skype, no response so far for simple questions "how much does it currently cost? Any payments options?", feel ignored ...

 

He's a very busy person I think. I could answer questions, but that would break the NDA he gave me.

 

that's fine. I think for some unknown reasons, he doesn't consider me as a potential customer. I'm looking for another solution, Voxel Farm. Anyway, this forum still brings lots of new ideas to me.

EDIT
He replied to me. Dinkeytom is right, he is quite busy, so if you contact him, please be patient for some business days.

 

TerrainEngine : V10.5 available now
-Voxels Physics optimizations (60% fastest, 40% memory saved)
-Fluids optimizations
-Bug fixes (introduced in V10)
-In Editor Tutorials ( new default heightmap generator with moutains/fluids/examples)
-Compilation time optimizations (25%)
-Generation Time optimizations (<0.5s for 256*256*256 voxels)

 

how much are you selling this for, why is it not on the asset store?

 

Hey Dyox,

I would love to see how your solution differs from VoxelFarm, who now offer a very affordable Indy License.

Edit: Oh and if the price is right, might consider purchasing. Drop me a pm if you like.

 

How much is this, also I heard there was going to be a 2d version, coming any idea if that out yet ? I'm looking into both. Thanks.

 

Expect over $6500 for it - could be past $7000 at this point. The target audience is businesses, not indies.

 

its alot thats why its not on the asset store its not indie friendly, unless you have fat pocket book from what I heard.

 

lucky for me, i'm more of a business since I own two .

 

Really dude, I personally do not think what you are doing is very cool at all. You spam this forum with this awesome looking terrain engine, then you jerk these poor people around who have serious business inquiries, ignoring them because you do not think they can afford your "incredible" terrain engine priced for AAA big time studios.

What? Unity won't let you sell it on the asset store or say what the price is here for some legal reasons?

I'm just getting tired of looking at your teaseware.

Just tell us how much.
Or are you afraid the price will scare off all potential customers?

Really, folks gotta stop pricing things as if Fortune 500 corporations are their primary clients.
It reeks of big guys trying to push indies out.

You know darn well a vast majority of people here can't afford TE, why are you messing with us by teasing us with something we can't afford?

have a nice day, dyox.

 

You can decide to not look at the thread, buddy. But, I must admit all these features are so charming to ignore them completely. I'm dreaming to get my hands on TE every day hehe. It sucks to be poor man, agree. But, don't blame the price, his product his choice.

 

I'm not your "buddy", pal.
Businesses keep selling for inflated prices if everyone just passively goes along like you.
You have to speak up and let a business know they are not being cool. Or they may never change.
Business is a two-way relationship. Sometimes negotiations get rough.

It's douchy to wave an expensive item around a bunch of people who can't afford it.
I look for voxel terrains in unity, and I see this guys spam everywhere, youtube too.
Tired of stumbling over this thing I can't afford.

If you're going to advertise so much dyox, then lower the price and TELL us.
All we have is the rumor it's over $6000 WTF dude?

This isn't Autodesk. Go schmooze at some Hollywood parties if you want to sell things for that much money, don't post on a forum full of broke indie developers and highly technical kids. I get the impression there are not a lot of rich people around here.

You are trying to sell a Lamborghini at a swap meet.

Probably sell a LOT more if you charge $600 instead, and not be cryptic about how & where to get it.
Unity might even let you sell it on the asset store.

 

I don't understand why people attack him for asking the price he wants. As an owner of TE, I'm glad he's not selling it for a couple hundred dollars, so that he doesn't have tens of thousands of users to answer support tickets on. I see the price as more than just paying for the TE software, it's for his time and expertise as well to help integrate it with our project. He quickly answers support issues, and is always available to help us through issues when they arise. If he sold this for a cheap price so everyone could get it, then I'd have to wait weeks for responses as he'd be completely overwhelmed with people asking questions.

It's extremely rude to come into his thread and say he's "spamming" the internet, and dangling this in front of people who can't afford it. Here's how to apply some common sense to this: If he wasn't selling licenses for the price he's asking, then he'd lower his price wouldn't he?

I'm sure he'd definitely sell a lot more at $600, but the support aspect that goes along with that wouldn't be worth it.

If you have no intentions of purchasing his software, then move along, there's no need to be a troll in his threads. Anyone who's purchased his software would back him up with his pricing, and his support to them. Good day sir

 

He's actually very understanding. I was meant to purchase the engine last month, but I got paid late and then had money coming out of my account. He still treats me as a serious customer though even if I haven't bought the engine. And I'm just some 18 year who doesn't have a proven portfolio of games. What you must understand is he is really busy with work as he dedicates most of his time to coding the engine and his other projects. Same with me, I charge around the same price to my clients for the work I do, cause I put 100% of my attention on them and work crazy hours. Dyox is quite an interesting guy, cause like me, he left school at 16 to be self-employed and he is very talented to program a AAA voxel engine by himself aswell as a procedural city engine and an MMO.

 

Keep it civil. Criticism isn't illegal but make your point clearly once, and move on.

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!!! My new year's resolution is to save enough money to buy TE soon. If you consider full source code & 6 months supports, that's worth every penny.

 

I need to say that I would at least like to see a specified price tag posted here in the thread myself. As an indie I can't afford the price out of pocket but I am perfectly capable of raising the money if I can actually SHOW the costs to investors, unfortunately nobody accepts "I don't know how much it costs but it is over $3000". I originally was speaking to dyox on skype, he seemed quite friendly at first, and then after a day or two totally froze me out and would not reply.

In my case, if you were more up front about pricing I would be able to purchase this product, but as you've decided to obfuscate the pricing I have no means to do so.

There is no information given for how purchases are made, am I supposed to send you a direct money order? Paypal? Just trust you with my CC number?

You make this out to be a professional product however run your business like it is an upstart in a back alley.

 

+1

 

It's confirmed at $6k as of a year ago. May be more now. But it's fact and not a rumor. Bank wires are common for deals like this.

>>You make this out to be a professional product however run your business like it is an upstart in a back alley.

Communication is an issue, and it's given me pause. Feels very much like one person who is way over worked. If it was 2k I'd take a shot and not care about details, communication, etc.

 

I have provided an email, you can contact me for more details.
I am a programmer, I spend more time working on TerrainEngine and provide support rather than on advertising, and respond to someone who debate about the price.
You're free to use another tool like Voxelfarm, UTerrain or Voxeland.

@dagarath : I have you on skype, you're never connected, i think you've blocked me.
I'm on skype everyday and available by email.
I help TerrainEngine's users and I provide systems for their games.

About TerrainEngine V11 :
-Dx11 Triplanar Shaders (Tessellation, Occlusion, Normal, Splatmap )
-Voxels Shattering : Destroy walls and mountains, multiple voxels objects will fall to the ground (Splash on water and correct collisions)
-Voxels Objects : Voxels are now destructible even if they fall, with the new unified terrain deformation system
-HeightMap Resolution : It's now possible to select a resolution for the heightmap and optimize the loading time for complex biomes

-Planned : In Editor voxel object creation tool, works with unity terrain.

 

I am really hoping the $6000 isn't true. I Just talked my team into the $3000 ish price but it seems I was in an old thread for this engine. We share the upstart costs as we have decent paying day jobs, so any financial costs gets split 3 ways unless it is trivial. This by far would be the biggest investment (Costing more than the lawyer to legalize the business and register a trademark.) Is the price negotiable or is it 100% solid on it's current rumor?

 

Is there a demo available that showcases this engine?

 

You guys need to get over the price being a "rumor". It was 6k last time I checked in. I have the email. I didn't pull the trigger due to demos for what I wanted to do and communication was too spotty. I'm more than capable of paying, but if you want 6k I need to feel more comfortable with the purchase.

It should be trivial to email dyox and find out. Just be professional, email and ask for price and payment options, etc. He may not respond if you clearly sound like someone who's not serious or capable of paying. I really have no idea why he doesn't just state current price here to weed people out. He'd get less non serious email spam and less forum conjecture.

 

We have used Terrain Engine for 2 years, and our Early Access game is live on Steam if you want to see a project that's using the technology. We are still on version 9 and our scale is 1.5 so the tree Density and stuff won't be as awesome as v10, but you can still see, it works just by watching our video. Some stuff changed with version 10 (well that effects our custom development anyway) so we are working through the integration into our game currently. I'll probably have some new screenshots and video within the following weeks and will update.

Project on Steam:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/266190

 

What's with all the CRAZY WHINING about price on this forum?

For hell's sake -- THIS IS THE VIDEO GAME INDUSTRY.

Six thousand bucks IS A JOKE, you're going to spend that much on having an icon designed.

Any model, character design, illustration, whatever in a project is tens of thousands of bucks.

For goodness sake, it's thousands of dollars a year for Unity licenses, and any phone developer has to spend thousands and thousands a year on devices just to be able to work.

For like 20 years now the game industry has been financially bigger than the film industry, of course. Literally the biggest products on Earth are games (GTA is literally the world's fastest selling product by dollar) and Minecraft is the biggest ever entertainment industry purchase. Even the most inexperienced freelancers command tremendous day rates and obviously iPhone and Android are one of the world's current major industries, and the fact that hit games make unbelievable amounts of money (far more money than, say, hit songs did in the pop music era of our parent's generation) is a basic economic aspect of our times...

OK, SURE there are hobbyist and beginner programmers, and there are folks who make "art" games just for fun and not as product.

But this is a paid product. And it's not a consumer product, it's a deal-by-deal "installation" product.

Really, it's surprising to see whining about price on a video game industry site, goodness.

 

Pete, it's like you'r from Mars, man! What are you talking about? Almost everyone on this list is a grossly overpaid GAME DEVELOPER. It's simply the financially biggest entertainment industry on Earth, and it's swimming in money. When you say "this isn't Autodesk" this is precisely Autodesk, the companies and individuals who pay for Autodesk licenses - and other expensive licenses, such as Unity3D - are right here packed on these lists (usually trying to figure out bugs in Unity! heh)

Like, maybe you're even older than me?! You're living in the ..70s? or something. For example you mention "hollywood party" as a cliché of "rich" people, that cliché is now the game industry, from Notch down. Who do you think they sell Lamborghinis to these days? To jokers with thumbcandy hits.

"highly technical kids" who are software engineers make a fortune! Good grief.

 

Early test of V10.6 features :
-WIP rewrited GameObject LOD : (now up to 500 000 trees, 0 GC impact, solid 60fps)
-WIP ConstructionKit network
-New biome functions/values
-WIP Fastest Batching system (new Cell System)

 

how many LODS? how aggressive each LOD should be? any Imposter background support? any ideas how to reduce Skinned Meshes frame-rate impact? So many questions in mind. I can't wait to figure it out soon in future when purchasing your TE. Man, why I have so many other expenses to take care of haha Keep updating

 

Am I missing something? I can't fine this on the asset store anywhere

 

It isn't on the Asset Store, you have to PM Dyox.

 

Two unreachable! not very serious for someone who sells an asset to more than $ 6,000...
The videos are beautiful and make envy but terrainengine suffers from numerous bugs, optimization, terraforming (Astral Terra)
terrainengine seems not finished me, still in alpha! or beta! the developer should offer a much lower price to attract the world by serving as guinea pigs to test or as do game publishers with their Early Access

Astral Terra?!
-The Terraforming is very random, you never know where and how it's going to work, if it works, because most of the time nothing happens and we do not know why...

Buena continuación!

 

Hello Blender007.
Astral Terra is not TerrainEngine. There are a lot of features in TerrainEngine who are not used in Astral.
Game is still WIP, just give astral team the time, and the game will be awesome.

If there are bugs on TE, i'm in contact with the team and we will fix them.

 

This actually isn't true. I can reliably terraform 100x over, on video even, if need be to prove the point. Of course I do not have to because there are videos on Twitch, Steam and YouTube of people terraforming just fine. The video trailer for the game was captured in real time from the game, not the Unity editor, and you can see there as well that terraforming works just fine and reliable. Sometimes there is a difference in result over the network in real time, but then when the world is loaded it is the same. This is a bug that we are working on and is not Terrain Engine related, but our custom development. People sometimes just need to take the 2 minutes it takes to read the getting started guide and the tool tips that are displayed on the UI for the terraformer. When we launched the controls were rough for the terraformer, for all of 2 weeks, and then we smoothed them out. There is an issue where when you go into terraforming mode the cursor is aligned to the ground, so if you are facing a hill sometimes the cursor is IN the ground and you cannot see it... until you simply scroll wheel it in or out to be closer or further away, or the player just simply moves and then you see the cursor. We will probably add a 1 unit offset to the cursor placement at start to help prevent this from happening. People who WANT to play the game seem to not have as many issues as people who have no patience, don't want to read and expect something like the game Ark (a 25+ man AAA team) from a 4 man indie team, out of Astral Terra.

 

Hi Tethys.
Why not terrainengine V10? you do not for updates to V9 V10?
Astral Terra therefore operates on UNITY UNITY 4 and not 5 !?
Astral terra semple me a very good project with lots of thing to do! but can be a little too ambitious for a small developer but for (a 25+ man AAA team) from 4-man indie team
Your game is promising, Good luck to you 4!

Buena continuación!

- I'll wait a promo steam to redeem myself ASTRAL TERRA

 

Oh we have been on Unity 5 for a while now, it works with v9 (well Unity v 5.1 anyway heh). We have been moving over to v10 over the last couple weeks, but we have a bunch of custom stuff to update so that's why it's taking time. Regardless, thanks, we're trying to keep the game small - just a little multiplayer, co-op sandbox with some RPG and survival elements with a focus on exploring, crafting and building.

 

@dyox any new updates dyox?

 

I'm working on V10 bug fix, and V11 features.
No screen for the moment. But the next update will be incredible.

Up to 1 000 000 trees (batching, LOD, fading, speedtree support)
New Procedural noise interface
DX11 shaders, tesselation.
Multiple HeightMap resolution
New host system,it's now possible to play and distant players can connect to your game.
A new unified building tool, working with all systems.
And more...

 

Even though Mobile supports (mobile shaders, etc.) may not be your optimal goal. But, I hope you could consider it in your development roadmap. I can't wait to see what V11 features are. Keep updating.



I remember you used to plan to support Cube Planets universe, kind of. Any news for this, to be implemented in future?

 

We spend around 6K to 7K on every character in our game. So, 6K for such amount of work and code is a bargain.

 

Wow, $6-7k is highly overpriced for characters. You can find plenty of artists on Art Station or deviant who will do the concept art to 3d completion, great characters (former Blizzard employees in fact), textured and everything for $1000 or under a piece. That's not a stretch either, this is pretty standard from the game dev circles we hang out in. :/ I am our art director, but also used to be a working 3d artist as well - never have seen nor asked for that much money to model a character heh.

That said, Terrain Engine is worth whatever Dyox is asking for heh.