World generation

If I remember correctly, Bioxx mentioned something about nutrition to me earlier. To explain this properly, I have to let you into the world of the [far] future of TFC, so let's begin.

Imagine a world where biome isn't random as it is now. Where there aren't deserts that meet jungles and tundra next to temperate forest. The future of TFC finds itself on a new world, a globe about the size of our moon. The current terrain generator builds land with a noise generator then using a random generator based on seed to determine which biomes go in specific places, and altering the top layers of stone into the appropriate dirt (in vanilla at least, TFC is a bit more complicated, but you get the idea). This new generator would start with continents. It would build mountains and hills and valleys and plains. Assuming that coastal areas would get average precipitation and that precipitation can be affected by moderately sized bodies of water, a moisture level would be determined by chunk for the world (currently, each biome has a temperature and moisture level, which determines which biome it is). In this new TFC, moisture will be relatively high near the ocean, but also would take into account factors such as prevailing winds which would blow moist air and then low pressure systems which would cause precipitation. (Don't expect this to be some huge, lag shitstorm in-game, it will only be calculated at world gen) Mountains will cause rain shadow. Because globes have latitudes, we can obviously combine this with the moisture system to generate biomes that flow and break apart completely realistically. Instead of defining where biomes are in code, they form based on the climate of the area. The soil layer (either sand, dirt, peat etc) will form based on temperature (although soil might also take into account the rock types). The flora and fauna that inhabit an area are dependant on the temperature and climate of that area.

Originally, we considered using a much smaller globe, but if you think about it, anything that allows the players to easily traverse from biome to biome results in a very small world and causes severe climate change over a small distance. (essentially, you'd be able to tell if you were walking north-south by the climate change, which we don't want) What this means though, is that where ever you spawn is probably where you will stay. You won't get a choice in the matter (although in the future, you might have an option to select a range you want to spawn in, probably down to a 10 degree latitude difference). This means that you obviously won't have access to the same trees and animals that others will, but we plan to give you your own way to survive. If you spawn up north, you'll find that you'll need to eat more proteins and a higher calorie diet. You'll need to make clothes and a well insulated shelter. Farming won't be a huge option to you as it will be cold for a large part of the year. The people up north would have more access to large animals such as bears and deer, providing ample fur and meat to sustain themselves. Further south, you might find yourself in a more tropical climate, where heavy fur or wool clothes are not only unnecessary, but cumbersome, and hot. You might prefer to manufacture light clothes from cotton, which would shade you from the sun, but fit loosely. You would probably farm more and have more bread, but would probably have a more limited access to large animals to hunt.

TFC certainly adds more to minecraft to do and explore, but we want to take it a step further. Some mods add a slew of new and interesting features, but the one thing I was always disappointed about was how it was handled. A lot of other mods just throw it in your face, overwhelming you and forming clutter. What we plan to do is partition the new features so that depending where you start in the world, you have access to and can master totally different materials and tools. Two people, one who starts in the tropics and one up north can master their world and build great cities, but they will achieve this in an entirely different way. We feel this adds a realism and replay-ability to the game which just adds that much more.

(so you see why some things need to change. Diet can't buff you or harm you, so to speak, but how you move and function might affect your dietary needs in a different way)

PS. I'm not entirely sure if I should have told you all this. If you take this as a guarantee for future additions, you might end up being sorely mistaken. We haven't tried to implement this yet and we're not sure it will even work.