Projects:Biome Maintenance

Biomes, consisting of planetary biomes, surface mini-biomes, and underground mini-biomes tend to have a similar layout and style, but there is significant variation that makes it sometimes difficult to understand how to edit / add information and sometimes information is just missing.

Our goals are to establish a consistent look and feel across all biome pages and to establish the basic set of information that should be present.

Glossary / Definitions

TBD

Task Overview

The following are a set of initial tasks in order to establish a basic layout and style. Phase 1 is all about the consistent look and feel. Phase 2 is about the missing information and any corrections.

Phase 1

All biomes

1. Determine the page style for planetary biomes. Decayed is a very complete example. A basic in-progress syle guide can be found here.
2. Determine the page style of mini-biomes. Surface and Underground should follow the same basic style. The only difference is that the intro to a surface mini biome should link back to which biomes can contain it.

Planetary biomes

Establish the basic template. Do not add or remove content. Just rearrange existing content to follow the page style.

1. Use Template:Biomeheader
2. Set the section headers to follow a standard style. Style page is pending. If a section has no content then either it need to be researched to determine what needs to be added. If the research shows that the biomes does not have any content for that section, e.g., Barren has no creatures then it needs to be explicitly stated.
3. All tables should follow a consistent format. Exact format is pending.

Materials Table

Weather Table

Wild Crops Table

Wildlife Table

Treasure Table

Tenants Table

Mini biomes (surface and underground)

Establish the basic template. Do not add or remove content. Just rearrange existing content to follow the page style.

1. Use a banner or a placeholder (there is no biome header template nor is one needed)
2. Set the section headers to follow a standard style. Style page is pending.
3. All tables should follow a consistent format. Exact format is pending.

Materials Table

Treasure Table

Wildlife Table

1. Determine if a microdungeon section should be added.

Misc

1. Determine if an Underground page is needed since all planets except Barren, Moon, and Asteroid Field share the same underground generation.

Phase 2

All Biomes

1. All biomes pages should use the official names.
2. If the biome name is corrected via a MOVE instead of a REDIRECT then all references should be repointed to the moved page. Use Special:WhatLinksHere to check.
3. All biomes should have their content reviewed to ensure it states the correct biome name.

Planetary Biomes

1. Fill in the {{biomeheader}}. If no image exists yet then it is to be named, but left blank.
2. Create any missing Planet or Horizon images. Either a screenshot from in-game that is cleaned and optimized or an image assembled in an image editor. Use assets/celestial.config to determine which files to use for each planet type.
3. Write the intro to the biome.
4. Copy the asset's data for the Navigation Console. Located in assets/interface/cockpit/cockpit.config
5. Copy the asset's data for the Ores (Geological Materials). That information can be found in-game or by checking assets/biomes/oredistributions.configfunctions.
6. Copy the asset's data showing its sub-biomes. Only include secondary biomes and surface mini biomes that are directly attached to the planetary biome. Located if assets/terrestrial_worlds.config
7. Copy data from the <biomeName>.biome assets located in assets/biomes/surface/<biomeName>.biome:
   1. Copy the asset's data for the Primary Material of the biome and the Sub-materials.
   2. Copy the asset's data for it's weather.
   3. Copy the asset's data for it's farmable crops.
   4. Copy the asset's data for it's wildlife (unique monsters, critters, and bugs).
8. Copy the asset's data for it's unique drops.
   1. Use assets/biomes/surface/<biomeName>.biome to get the name of the the overground treasureBoxSets.
   2. Lookup the treasureBoxSets name in assets/treasure/default.treasurechests
   3. Lookup the treasure pool name in assets/treasure/biome.treasurepools and reference it's items.
   4. NOTE: Most other treasure found in the biome comes from it's microdungeons which often use the same treasure pool as the biome, but sometimes use a different chest object.
9. Most biomes have some sort of tenant tag associated with them. Look in Tag to get a list of tags. Associate any tags associated to the planetary biome and its mini surface biomes.
10. Copy the asset's data indicating what large dungeons are present. Located in assets/terrestrial_worlds.config
11. Copy the asset's data indicating what microdungeons are present. You will need to use Tiled to view most of them. Some of the microdungeons are used to add variety to the terrain. Other are small structures with crafted blocks or chests. The latter is what should be listed.
    1. Use assets/biomes/surface/<biomeName>.biome to get the name of the .dungeon file(s) used for the microdungeons.
    2. Lookup the .dungeon file and extract the list of microdungeon files (.JSON files)
    3. Open each dungeon in Tiled. Rather than listing every single microdungeon (there are a lot) instead group and summarize similar microdugeons using 1-2 sentences.
12. Take screenshots with the character offscreen and the HUD hidden.

Mini Biomes

1. Add a banner showcasing the biome's look.
2. Write the intro to the biome.
3. Copy data from the <biomeName>.biome assets located in assets/biome/surface_detached/<biomeName>.biome and assets/biome/underground_detached/<biomeName>.biome
   1. Copy the asset's data for the Primary Material and the Sub-materials.
   2. Copy the asset's data for it's farmable crops. L
   3. Copy the asset's data for it's wildlife. assets/biome/surface_detached/<biomeName>.biome and assets/biome/underground_detached/<biomeName>.biome
4. Copy the asset's data for it's unique drops.
   1. Use assets/biome/surface_detached/<biomeName>.biome and assets/biome/underground_detached/<biomeName>.biome and to get the name of the the chest treasureBoxSets.
   2. Lookup the treasureBoxSets name in assets/treasure/default.treasurechests
   3. Lookup the treasure pool name in assets/treasure/biome.treasurepools and reference it's items.
   4. NOTE: Most other treasure found in the biome comes from it's microdungeons which often use the same treasure pool as the biome, but sometimes use a different chest object.
5. Most biomes have some sort of tenant tag associated with them. Look in Tag to get a list of tags. Associate any tags associated to the planetary biome and its mini surface biomes.
6. Copy the asset's data indicating what microdungeons are present. You will need to use Tiled to view most of them. Some of the microdungeons are used to add variety to the terrain. Other are small structures with crafted blocks or chests. The latter is what should be listed.
   1. Use assets/biomes/surface/<biomeName>.biome to get the name of the .dungeon file(s) used for the microdungeons.
   2. Lookup the .dungeon file and extract the list of microdungeon files (.JSON files)
   3. Open each dungeon in Tiled. Rather than listing every single microdungeon (there are a lot) instead group and summarize similar microdugeons using 1-2 sentences.
7. Take screenshots with the character offscreen and the HUD hidden.

Phase 3 Standard / Default Pages

TBD, but the planetary ones seem to have information missing regarding what can be found at the various layers. Also, some inaccuracies.

Biome	Space	Atmo	Subsurface	Under1	Under2	Under3	Core
DEFAULT	asteroids	atmosphere	subsurface	shallowunderground	midunderground	deepunderground	core
asteroidfield	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
alien	Asteroids Mini Biome + Flying,precedural creatures		DEFAULT SUBSURFACE & UNDERGROUND
arctic			arcticoceanfloor	STANDARD UNDERGOUND AND CORE
barren			barrenunderground	barrenunderground	barrenunderground	barrenunderground	barrenunderground
desert			desertsubsurface	STANDARD UNDERGOUND AND CORE
forest			ALL DEFAULTS
garden			ALL DEFAULTS
jungle			ALL DEFAULTS
magma			magmaoceanfloor	STANDARD UNDERGOUND AND CORE
midnight			ALL DEFAULTS
moon			moonunderground	moonunderground	moonunderground	moonunderground	mooncore
ocean			oceanfloor	STANDARD UNDERGOUND AND CORE
savannah			ALL DEFAULTS
scorchedcity			ALL DEFAULTS
snow			ALL DEFAULTS
tentacle			tentacleundergroundtentacles	tentacleundergroundtentacles	tentacleundergroundceiling	tentacleundergroundfloor	tentacleundergroundcore
toxic			toxicoceanfloor	STANDARD UNDERGOUND AND CORE
tundra			ALL DEFAULTS
volcanic			ALL DEFAULTS

Some conclusions:

• All worlds have an asteroid field if you go high enough (asteroid.biome) with the same ores, monsters, and status effect (erchius ghost can appear oddly enough)
• All worlds have procedurally generated monsters, at least in the atmosphere which contains large flyers
• All worlds except Barren, Moon, and Tentacle have the exact same underground designs.
• Most worlds share the same sub-surface design.
• Main differences are in threat level and thus ores generated at varying levels.
• A standard description of the default layers should be made so it can be used across biome pages

What do the defaults look like? In fact Should there be an Underground biome page since so much is shared between biomes?

• Space = asteriods.biome, the asteroids minibiome
• Atmosphere = atmosphere.biome, spawns large passive and aggressive flying creatures
• Subsurface = underground0a underground0b, underground1a, underground1b biomes. Not sure how they are chosen. Does NOT contains any underground mini-biomes.
  • 0a = gleap, batong, crustoise, peblit, bobfae possible. hedgehog, snail, tortoise, mouse, bunny critters. Made up of dirt, clay, and cobblestone. Contains copper and silver geodes. No special treasures, but as all undergrounds can have, it has challenge doors. Contains microdungeons that all some sort of mined and reinforced chamber with a wooden theme.
  • 0b = paratail, snaggler, tintic, peblit, voltip, spookit possible. armadillo, mouse, groop, wurm critters. Made up of sand, cobblestone, and loost silt. Contains copper and silver geodes. No special treasures, but as all undergrounds can have, it has challenge doors. Contains microdungeons that all some sort of sandstone tunnels and chambers.
  • 1a = wisper. No critters. Made up of clay and cobblestone. Contains copper and silver geodes. Microdungeons are tombs with chests often hidden inside walls. Also possible to find underground merchants, bandit camps, and cultists.
  • 1b = iguarmor, crutter, snaunt, bobfae, batong, peblit possible. Frog as a critter. Made up of rough stone (rock19, drops cobble), plant matter, and gravel. Copper and silver geodes. Contains tech chests, stalagmites and stalactites. Contains microdungeons that are hollowed out rooms containing urns and other breakables. Surrounded by plant matter, occasionally containing valuable treasures. Chests are hidden behind plant matter and gravel. Also possible to find underground merchants, bandit camps, and cultists.
• Shallow underground = Contains same biomes as sub-surface but also has Tar Caves, Mushroom Patch Caves,Verdant Caves, and Gnome Caves.
• Mid underground = underground0c, underground1c, underground1d, underground3a, underground3b, underground3c, underground3d. Also contains mini-biomes for Bioluminescence Caves, Stone Caves, Bone Caves, and Glacial Caves
  • 0c =
  • 1c =
  • 1d =
  • 3a =
  • 3b =
  • 3c =
  • 3d =
• Deep Underground = underground0d, underground5a, underground5b, underground5c, underground5d. Also contains mini-biomes for Cell Caves, Flesh Caves, and Slime Caves.
  • 0d =
  • 5a =
  • 5b =
  • 5c =
  • 5d =
• Core = Lava + 4 possible core biomes: gardencorelayer, blaststonecorelayer, magmarockcorelayer, obsidiancorelayer. Again, not sure how they are chosen. No mini-biomes.
  • gardencorelayer =
  • blaststonecorelayer =
  • magmarockcorelayer =
  • obsidiancorelayer =

Phase 1 Progress

• Setting a basic layout, similar to decayed for all primary biome pages (WIP Katzeus) (16/19 complete)

Phase 2 Progress

• Add planet and horizon images to Savannah page - NOT STARTED
• Add planet and horizon images to Snow Biome page - NOT STARTED

Project Participants

• User:Blackwood
• User:Katzeus
• User:Velotican