Draft the Hydrology Phase

Author: kthecoder

README.md

@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ _Godot 4.4 is currently used Version_
 
 ## Overview
 
-We introduce a comprehensive, user-driven pipeline for generating rich, organic terrains. We employ FastNoiseLite to produce a base height map, which is then refined by a cascade of cellular automata filters that expand flat regions, patch & eliminate outliers, and selectively shrink water bodies. Optional directional bias simulates tectonic tilt, while blocky posterization adapts terrains to isometric grids. Graph-based flow accumulation yields road networks, and a two-tier Poisson disk sampler places large structures and smaller objects. We demonstrate the ability to influence random noise into terrain morphology.
+We introduce a comprehensive, user-driven pipeline for generating rich, organic terrains. We employ FastNoiseLite to produce a base height map, which is then refined by a cascade of cellular automata filters that expand flat regions, patch & eliminate outliers, and selectively shrink water bodies. Blocky posterization adapts terrains to isometric grids & flow accumulation yields road networks. And a Poisson disk sampler places small objects, such as plant life. We demonstrate the ability to influence random noise into terrain morphology.
 
 ## Setup
 
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ gdb --version
 ## Implementation
 
 1. User Control Inputs
+
    1. Seeding : `int32_t seed`
    2. Frequency : `float noiseFrequency`
       1. Allow user to define frequency: Lower-frequency noise gives broad zones; higher-frequency adds detail.
@@ -36,19 +37,26 @@ gdb --version
    5. Water Reduction Value : `waterRemoval`
       1. Water reduction percentage of 0 to 100
       2. Ignore values of 10 or lower
+
 2. Produce Random Noise
+
    1. Using FastNoiseLite
    2. Allow user to define frequency: Lower-frequency noise gives broad zones; higher-frequency adds detail.
+
 3. Generate Height Map
+
    1. Take the Filtered Noise, Normalize and Scale to (0, `elevationMax`)
    2. Assume 0 values are base elevation of Water
+
 4. Noise Processing
+
    1. Noise Conversion (into square patterns)
       1. Send through filters to create blocky patterns useable for isometric 3d grids
       1. Use Elevation Threshold to determine values between 0 to Elevation Threshold
       1. Reduce Resolution by sampling one pixel per block
       1. Posterize
       1. Upscale back to Original Size
+
 5. Cellular Automata (CA) Filter on Noise
 
    1. CA Filter A : Expanding Zones
@@ -68,6 +76,7 @@ gdb --version
       5. Bias reduction on edges to simulate evaporation
 
 6. Hydrology Path Generation
+
    1. Each grid cell in the elevation map is a node in a graph
    2. Downhill Flow
       1. Assign movement cost to each path, using the raw noise for the height map to determine costs by slope descent
@@ -76,21 +85,27 @@ gdb --version
    3. Flow Accumulation : Count the neighbors that flow into our tile as a flow value
       1. Use the high flow values to create major roads && the small values to create minor roads
          1. Done by marking walkable cells that can’t be placed with objects
-7. Open Area Finder / Large Structure Locations
+
+7. Tile Placement
+
+   1. Using a Dual-Grid System
+      1. Determine the correct tile type for each cell in the grid
+   2. Set the Grid map cells using Godot's Grid map system
+
+8. Open Area Finder / Large Structure Locations
+
    1. Find areas that have flat ground tiles of 3x3 cells
    2. Elevation buffer, ensure structures aren’t placed against cliffs and ramps
    3. Store the center cell into a list of available locations
-8. Poisson Object Placement
+
+9. Poisson Object Placement
+
    1. Create a copy of the finalized grid and increase its size by splitting cells into 4 pieces
    2. Finalized grid contains data about each cell's place-ability
       1. Use the data from the previous steps to know cells that can’t have objects placed on them
       2. River Pathing determines non-placeable cells
       3. Elevation changes are non-placeable cell's
    3. Use poisson disk sampling to place non-large objects using the higher density grid
-9. Tile Placement
-   1. Using a Dual-Grid System
-      1. Determine the correct tile type for each cell in the grid
-   2. Set the Grid map cells using Godot's Grid map system
 
 ## Contributing