WorldKit: a new real-time terrain editor

WorkldKit is a new tool that provides easy and intuitive terrain editing. It allows users to quickly modify and adjust the main landscape forms and see the immediate results in real-time. It was presented by its creator Adam Brown in January.

Adam Brown about the product: “By removing a lot of reliance on randomly generated noise, WorldKit can produce more deterministic and calculated output. WorldKit starts by quickly filling in the broad strokes of your landforms, and provides real-time visual feedback. You can then refine your map and work your way down to the smaller details, all the time getting relevant feedback as you work. This new way of doing things gives you full control over the world you are shaping, while at the same time handling all of the tedious details for you so that you can focus on being creative.”

Highlighted features

• Quickly generate huge detailed worlds with only a few clicks.
• Change the layout and shape of your landscape with paint-like tools.
• Handy spline tools to place rivers, mountains and terrain features exactly where needed.
• Built-in distinct and interesting looking terrain types .
• Change the scale of the landscape features using an independent slider without disrupting the whole picture.
• Ability to export mesh, terrain textures, texture tiles for elevation and masks ready for direct import into Unreal Engine 4 using World Composition.

At first it was said that the alpha version of WorldKit is going to be available for everyone who backs the project on Kickstarter in March. But last rumors said that there was plans changing and the date might vary. Adam collaborated with GrimFox Games to create the world used in RoboGenesis in order to demonstrate the abilities and features of alpha build of WorldKit.

The WorldKit project for RoboGenesis:

And that's the result:

“The entire world for RoboGenesis took about two hours of work to design in WorldKit. All of the basic landforms and terrain were there on export from WorldKit. About 10 hours were spent in engine tweaking and modifying the terrain to be suitable for gameplay. Modifications included better definition and refining of rivers, smoothing of shorelines, adding ramps to get between some terrain levels, addition of lakes in some areas and smoothing minor anomalies in the terrain.”

The project looks promising, let's hope that it will turn out exactly the way the developers presented it. For now, you can download the modular shading system MicroSplat for terrains in Unity.