by ArguablySane » Fri Dec 12, 2014 19:41
Since I'm currently in the process of writing a mapgen, this is definitely something I support.
That said, I'd suggest a different way of describing where the ores should be placed. Mods which add ores generally should be mapgen-agnostic. This means that they should work just as well in a world made of floating islands or a giant maze as they do in the normal world. The current system of specifying maximum y coordinate, cluster size, etc, only really works with a normal world, and even then it restricts what mapgens can do when generating ores.
Instead, I propose a system more like that used by LaTeX and other markup languages. The ore definition should specify the gameplay purpose of the ore, while the precise implementation details should be left to the mapgen. For example, coal is essential in the early game and is required in large quantities. Iron is also required in the early game, but shouldn't be quite as abundant. Gold and mese are both late game ores, but mese is generally more useful than gold. With this knowledge a mapgen could easily determine where to place the ores and in what quantities, regardless of how unusual or insane the map topography is. Maybe in a floating islands map mese should only be found on high-altitude islands which are difficult to reach, or in a labyrinth the gold might be guarded by more dangerous traps.
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