Godot RetroTerrain (GDScript)

An example of how to build terrain similar to old strategy or management games, like Rollercoaster Tycoon. It also includes a water shader and basic terrain generation. Rewritten for Godot 4.3 and GDScript!

This implementation is based on the fantastic tutorial by Eric Schubert. Please watch the video for a full guide on how this works (linked below).

Features

• Generation of terrain mesh and normals
• Simple terrain shader based on height of vertexes
• FPS and RTS camera implementations
• Basic map generation using FastNoise
• Optional smoothing of normal maps, so the shading looks less blocky
• Optional grid lines for more retro look

What's missing?

This example should be a great starting point, but if you wanted to take this further:

• Chunk-based map rendering
  • Tying to render huge maps (e.g. 1000x1000) ends up crashing Godot. Try breaking the map into several smaller meshes as needed.
• Collisions
  • Using a similar technique to the mesh generation, you should be able to easily generate a collision shape.

Credits

• Eric Schubert for the original tutorial in Unity
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55fGgHhF2DM
• StayAtHomeDev for the water shader tutorial in Godot
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7L6ZUYj1hs8
• Myself (NickToony / Nick Hope) for bringing this all together in Godot 4.3