Procedural Planet Generator PRO
Procedural Planet Generator PRO is a robust Unity asset for creating dynamic, spherical planets generated at runtime, with customizable terrain, oceans, and vegetation. The asset is designed for procedural and sandbox-style gameplay, allowing planets to be generated, modified, and optimized dynamically during play.
It features a procedural generation system using layered noise functions (Perlin-based FBM) to craft varied landscapes with mountains, valleys, and fine details. A dynamic Level of Detail (LOD) system optimizes performance by adjusting planet chunk resolution based on player distance, supporting multiple LOD levels.
Oceans can be generated procedurally with adjustable depth and resolution, while vegetation (trees) can be spawned at runtime with customizable density and slope constraints. A dedicated first-person planetary controller aligns gravity and movement to the planet’s surface, enabling seamless exploration with walking, sprinting, and jumping mechanics tailored for spherical worlds.
Key Features
- Runtime Procedural Generation: Planets are generated during runtime, ideal for procedural, sandbox, and exploration-based games.
- Procedural Terrain: Customizable planet radius, height, and noise-based terrain (mountains, valleys, fine details).
- Oceans: Optional procedural oceans with configurable materials, depth, and resolution.
- Vegetation: Runtime procedural tree spawning with adjustable density and terrain slope limits.
- LOD System: Dynamic chunk-based LOD with multiple levels, optimized for performance.
- First-Person Controller: Planetary movement system with gravity aligned to the planet’s center, supporting multi-planet scenes.
- Customization: Extensive Inspector settings for terrain, noise, colors, LOD, and performance tuning.
- Scalable Objects: Supports scaling of additional objects (e.g., atmosphere) based on planet radius.
- UI Integration: Optional UI panels for underwater effects and loading screens.
Customization
The asset is highly customizable through the Inspector:
- Terrain: Adjust noise scales, octaves, persistence, lacunarity, height multipliers, and domain warping.
- Visuals: Customize colors for water, sand, grass, forest, rock, and snow with slope-based blending and ambient occlusion.
- Oceans: Toggle ocean generation, set ocean depth, and adjust resolution.
- Vegetation: Use custom tree prefabs or the included simple tree, with control over spawn probability and slope constraints.
- Performance: Tune LOD distances, chunk sizes, and collider usage for different target platforms.
- Controller: Adjust movement speed, jump height, mouse sensitivity, and gravity settings.
Suitable Genres
- Sci-Fi Games: Space exploration, colonization, and planetary adventures.
- Simulation Games: Scientific, educational, or visualization projects.
- Adventure Games: Exploration-focused gameplay on unique worlds.
- RPGs: Immersive planetary environments for quests or survival mechanics.
- Sandbox Games: Dynamically generated worlds with varied terrain and vegetation.
Use Cases
- Single Planet: Create a detailed, explorable planet.
- Multi-Planet Systems: Seamless player transitions between multiple planets using automatic gravity detection.
- VR Experiences: Suitable for immersive planetary exploration.
- Procedural Worlds: Integrate into larger runtime procedural generation pipelines.
Limitations
- Planets are generated at runtime (not pre-baked in edit mode).
- Requires a material supporting vertex colors for terrain coloring.
- Performance may vary in multi-planet scenes; optimize using LOD and chunk settings.
- Custom vegetation prefabs should be lightweight for best performance.
