2D mmo sandbox, with enough limits to qualify it as more of a loose game.
Uses the fractal generator to generate islands several layers of zoom down. The islands themselves are spawned in a procedural grid. Nothing here is infinite, but the procedural space is large.
The game has several "stages" which happen incrementally to an area, according to player discretion. Sandbox work is collaborative rather than private, and hinges on players altering higher-level things incrementally to make changes at lower levels.
Various constraints are placed on sandbox tools -- this is either set by top-level standards or are generation-specific so thus requires extra calibration gameplay for fancier stuff.
There's no fixed goal -- it is overall an emergent collaborative sandbox.
islands are generated by running infinite diff-sat/value noise through several stages of fractal generation. Moving around the map is thus very feasible to whatever the procedural limits are, though upscaling/downscaling is faster.
Islands can be claimed -- as a player you can only have one claim (of any type) at a time. Claimed areas can't be modified until the claimant is done with them. They can maybe be explored though, possibly even in real time as the claimant makes changes, and pouch functionality would allow you to talk with them as they work.
At the island stage your goal is changing the island shape. Your limits are, you have a box around it (the full island with some margin to avoid conflicts with other islands) and have to keep the amount of landmass constant. Other than that though you can sculpt with mapbox/shatterloop tools to your heart's content. You can also name the island and provide descriptions and such . Once finalized, none of this can be changed except maybe the name and description -- generation is definitely permanent, or at least maintains it if there are changes made at lower levels.
Shoreline stage
At this stage the island shape is run through the fractal generator a few times to make an overall island shape.
Players can claim the generation here and make alterations, possibly in a downscale/upscale sort of way optionally depending on engine speed. They can also alter the formulas to some extent. Because of how the engine works, a "seed" here is more of a "salt". This will maybe be indicated directly in the UI. Once finalized, the generation is locked.
Players can claim the Resource Initialization mechanic -- given a fixed amount of overall resource density (set maybe by the island at the outset) they can distribute it into some range of amount of "slots". Once finalized, it's final. Players here can set suggestions and maybe constrain word length or whatever else they might want to do. Maybe set a fixed list to pull from on some or all of the slots. Stuff like that.
Slots can then be claimed. This will allow you to name or pick the name of the slot and given its density distribution seed various distributions across the island. The generation here can be tweaked infinitely, and a fixed amount of handcrafted variations can be set, such as putting high-density areas in interesting-looking locations.
Each area connected to water can be defined as a town. I'm not sure what the limits of this are or what the constraints are-- this is still an early concept. Towns can be claimed.
Land and resource pockets can be shifted around again in a limited way. No reseeding however, just a bunch of changes.
Towns generate Districts of different types according to the generation. These districts can be moved around in a limited way or just reseeded.
Districts will also connect with Roads -- these use the stairsteps algorithm and can have the generation or location adjusted, the latter in a fixed way.
Districts will produce satellite Districts according to nearby resource concentrations. They can also be manipulated to exist on them directly, in which case they become wealthier or some other useful set of stats.
Towns can be named and have other properties applied. If there isn't a capitol on the island yet you can claim this town as one, which will improve various stats.
Once a town is finalized, its generation is locked in every way, however there are still changes moving forwards. If you want to be involved in those you can appoint yourself a King or Queen, or alternately can do this elsewhere. You can only be a King or Queen of one town at a time.
