Procedural Terrain Generation With Biome Ecosystem and Dynamic Weather
Yanyan“ Yenna”
Yanyan“ Yenna” ZHOU
Software Development
Procedural Terrain Generation With Biome Ecosystem and Dynamic Weather
For my Master’ s thesis, I developed a procedural terrain generation editor focusing on heightmap generation, biome ecosystems, and dynamic environments. This project aimed to create a tool for users to adjust parameters for terrain shape, biome distribution, vegetation placement, and weather states by processing the generation of realistic landscapes using procedural noise and heightmaps in real-time. The system also implemented advanced rendering techniques, including central difference normal calculation, dynamic water rendering, mipmapping texture generation, and cube mapping.
I chose this project because I have always been passionate about immersive natural game environments. I wanted to explore how procedural content generation could support artistic control and technical
depth, inspired by games like Skyrim and Ghost of Tsushima. The project took place over several months and involved 247 hours of development time.
Throughout the process, I enhanced my C ++, DirectX 11 rendering, and shader programming skills. I also deepened my understanding of procedural noise algorithms, the communication between CPU and GPU, and real-time biome logic. This project challenged me to solve technical problems like terrain blending and texture sampling limitations while maintaining visual quality.
This tool could benefit open world or sandbox games. It allows artists and designers to prototype terrains rapidly while preserving artistic direction, accelerating level design and worldbuilding workflows.
90 SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT