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GPU-based procedural placement in Horizon Zero Dawn

V

vivekTO

Member
Jaap van Muijden describes the GPU based procedural placement system that dynamically creates the world of Horizon Zero Dawn around the player. Not limited to just rocks and trees, the procedural system assembles fully-fledged environments while the player walks through them, complete with sounds, effects, wildlife and game-play elements. Van Muijden shows the entire pipeline, from the graph editor where artists can define the procedural placement rules to the GPU algorithms that create a dense world around the player on the fly. He demonstrates the power of this procedural approach by showing how painting in a tree line and redirecting roads can be just as easy as moving mountains and changing a desert into a tropical swamp.
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GPU based Procedural Placement in HZD

Video

Additional GDC Presentations:

Creating a tools pipeline for Horizon Zero Dawn

Player traversal mechanics in the vast world of Horizon Zero Dawn

Some Screens & Gifs

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This is a good read. The game is a good example of how the Procedural generation is changing the video game development. We can look forward to similar tech in big AAA games likes Star Citizen as well.

Thanks Mods for fixing the CAPS :p
 
P

Pai Pai Master

Banned
I've come across a few instances of invisible terrain, wonder if it's a minor side effect of this implementation.

The game world definitely feels like it's largely hand crafted. Guerilla sure knows how to leverage technology.
 
B

BadWolf

Member
Can't wait to try this game today after work (finally got delivered).

Sounds like this could be very useful for KojiPro and Death Stranding.
 
PLASTICA-MAN

PLASTICA-MAN

Member
I see why Kojima chose this engine. It will suit the new concept of Death stranding very well.

BadWolf said:
Can't wait to try this game today after work (finally got delivered).

Sounds like this could be very useful for KojiPro and Death Stranding.
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I was typing my post before yours came in. :p
 
V

vivekTO

Member
Remind you this is what something at the core of NMS , its just that it lacks in the Assests department as well as optimization. You can also see the similar tech in upcoming games like Star Citizen or ME:A(i am not sure about it)
 
V

vivekTO

Member
BadWolf said:
Can't wait to try this game today after work (finally got delivered).

Sounds like this could be very useful for KojiPro and Death Stranding.
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Yup . Looking forward to the implementation of this tech in Death Stranding.

Also are we sure than none other game is using this engine right now, Not even the Until Dawn developers??
 
A

alba

Little is the new Big
Based GG. I can't wait to play this game, still gotta wait a while until I can get it in rotation but I'm really liking their tech progress on each subsequent game they release.
 
F

franklyshankly

Member
Does this mean an area can be different when you go through it multiple times?

I assume it's not large scale things like settlements, just smaller details?
 
G

gundamkyoukai

Member
I expect to see much more of the tech in upcoming games.
HZD world was done so well i don't think most people would be able to tell.
 
V

vivekTO

Member
franklyshankly said:
Does this mean an area can be different when you go through it multiple times?

I assume it's not large scale things like settlements, just smaller details?
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This is not Random Generation its Procedural. They are entirely Different things(i mean both run on codes). No , they area will not be different as it will always be generated with a fixed parameters.
 
K

Kaako

Felium Defensor
Pretty cool.
GG are tech wizards and utilize their tools very wisely. That wisdom and overall maturity definitely shows in Horizon Zero Dawn.
 
PLASTICA-MAN

PLASTICA-MAN

Member
franklyshankly said:
Does this mean an area can be different when you go through it multiple times?

I assume it's not large scale things like settlements, just smaller details?
Click to expand...

It means the world can be easier to generate than manually placing every asset in the environment. This decreases drastically the time needed to finish an area and this is helpful especially if the game is open world which needs much time by traditional methods.
 
F

franklyshankly

Member
vivekTO said:
This is not Random Generation its Procedural. They are entirely Different things(i mean both run on codes). No , they area will not be different as it will always be generated with a fixed parameters.
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ShdwDrake said:
Procedural. The math always ends up the same so no it will always look the same.
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PLASTICA-MAN said:
It means the world can be easier to generate than manually placing every asset in the environment. This decreases drastically the time needed to finish an area and this is helpful especially if the game is open world which needs much time by traditional methods.
Click to expand...

Very interesting stuff thanks for the explanations.
 
S

Sora the Cat

Member
As someone who didn't play the game, does this mean that the world isn't the same for everyone? Like little details might be different?
 
E

Easy_D

never left the stone age
That's really cool. They obviously put a ton of work into the game, hope it does well for them.
 
B

Blanquito

Member
That's awesome.

We should have several people go to the same location in the game and see what differences are there

Edit - ah thanks, misunderstood what this was
 
Lister

Lister

Banned
That's awesome and I'm surprised it's not how more developers do things. Procedural generate huge worlds, and then have artists touch up critical areas.
 
D

Darkstorne

Member
vivekTO said:
The game is a good example of how the Procedural generation is changing the video game development. We can look forward to similar tech in big AAA games likes Star Citizen as well.
Click to expand...

I'm so glad procedural generation is starting to get a better rep. It's all about the implementation behind the tech. A lot of people were mad about procedural generation when TES4: Oblivion was released, and we even saw it crop up again as a bad term last year with No Man's Sky.

The possibilities are amazing though, since our universe is essentially procedurally generated. A bunch of rules defining where things will be, in a nutshell.
 
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