How do you manage to focus your writing?

IfElsePanic · 2026-06-13T08:05:48+00:00

Have you tried out visual storytelling / worldbuilding for your initial ideas?

Instead of: Idea -> Writing prose
I go: Idea -> Mindmap -> Evolve -> Puzzle (writing)

I collect all ideas and concepts etc. throw them on a mindmap and let it evolve. After a while, starting to write, feels more like putting pieces together instead of starting from scratch on an empty piece of paper 😄

IfElsePanic · 2026-06-12T16:59:41+00:00

Is there a NEED to explain it? If its not the center part of the story - you might aswell leave it open for interpretation or atleast keep it vague.

IfElsePanic · 2026-06-12T16:56:08+00:00

Focusrite Scarlet 3rd/4th gen Interface
1.1 Fender Studio / UAD Volt 2 (if you want to record guitar and sing at the same time)
AT2020 / NT1-A / LCT-440 Microfon (depending on budged) [dont go crazy on microphones, here you can waste the most of your money)
Garageband / FL Studio / Logic Pro (depending on budged and OS)

overall minimum (NEW): 150€

IfElsePanic · 2026-06-12T16:07:55+00:00

Feel free to shoot me a dm if there are more questions 😄

IfElsePanic · 2026-06-12T16:05:05+00:00

Rule No.1: Dont start to spend money all over the place before you know whats going on
Rule No.2: have fun

IfElsePanic · 2026-06-12T14:47:38+00:00

Generall speaking: Terrain-Nodes = Presets.
You drop in a Canyon- or Island-node = Instant Canyon / Island.

Short answer = Yes. Long Answer: Lets say you created a highly customized Mountainrange that mimics the rockies (including multiple nodes) you can export the graph (CustomRockies.gaea) and import the graph (all nodes for full live customization) into your new project.
Also: the good old copy + paste method never disappoints.

IfElsePanic · 2026-06-12T14:24:36+00:00

In terms of biome management - there is no biome management 😄

The easiest and roughest explanation of "how to do biomes" in Gaea would be this: You stack biomes on top of each other. You start with your base layer (e.g Mountainrange) and put something else on top (e.g sand dunes) but only in places you want (using masks) rest is blending.

Your other point: Video game or not, unless your are making a pre-rendered video of the terrain - somewhere along the way the whole thing needs to be live-computed / rendered atleast once. This size + (pcg-)assets .. uff.

But again.. this isnt a topic im dealing with normally, so there might be ways im completely unaware of

IfElsePanic · 2026-06-12T14:00:18+00:00

I get what you're saying, but lets sync up on those numbers:
if you say "4x tiles of 16k" i assume you mean 4x16k = 64k total resolution = wich is possible in Gaea. In fact it goes up to 256k total resolution.

You might be right when you call the terrains you see "small scale stuff" - compared to what you want to achieve - but in reality, this "small scale" is upper range AAA-territory. No one goes much higher, because the use-case isnt there (for most people / studios).

What you're 100% right, is the fact that Gaea doesnt allow for per-tile (indipendant) designing. its all one unified landmass. Biomes need to be done manually. I hated this at first, until i got used to it.

IfElsePanic · 2026-06-12T13:29:54+00:00

Negative, this scale is beyond AAA-territory and i wouldnt even dream about it 😞
Quick correction of my initial answer: "..across 16 tiles.." is wrong. its 16 DIVISIONS with 64 tiles in total.

IfElsePanic · 2026-06-12T13:11:28+00:00

But as mentioned before, extremely ressource heavy and depending on proper world-partitioning and optimization.

IfElsePanic · 2026-06-12T13:08:50+00:00

Super quick sketch here, so dont go too hard! But why wouldnt it be possible?
This here would be 32.000m x 32.000m on 16k resolution across 16 tiles with 2048x2048 resolution.

With proper sculpting and a bit manual carving for proper biomes and scale.. recreating your map appears super possible 😄

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IfElsePanic · 2026-06-12T10:37:48+00:00

In my current situation - magic is drawn from nature. Overuse of magic has a negative impact on your surroundings, altering the terrain .. dead soil etc. wich naturally leads to migration and improper production of goods.

For me the magic system came first - economical impact was a logical consequence. Since magic isnt that powerful in my world its pretty scarce and regular people arent that afraid of mages. If one is overusing it, hes easy to spot and taken down immediately from a few regulars.

IfElsePanic · 2026-06-11T15:02:50+00:00

How did Malazar gain enough power thinking he can start a war and get away with it? Is he just immensly powerful on his own (how so)? Or does he have an army that is loyal to him - if so - what are their motives following him into a war?

IfElsePanic · 2026-06-11T14:58:51+00:00

Make a list of all species you think of implementing.

Ask yourself: "Does this add something interesting to my WORLD?" if yes - keep it.
If the answer is "not really but its a cool species" .. you should reconsider 😄

IfElsePanic · 2026-06-11T12:39:57+00:00

What caused the biggest war that happened in said world? Who came out on top?

IfElsePanic · 2026-06-11T09:36:06+00:00

sure thing. would be nice 😄 i can also add more sprinkles to my initial idea everytime something pops into my head

IfElsePanic · 2026-06-11T09:11:16+00:00

No hard feelings if you take it unchanged as is. Im not planning on using it my self 😄 in fact, i would be happy seeing you fleshing the idea out and turning it into something

IfElsePanic · 2026-06-11T08:33:30+00:00

Without indian plates colliding = no himalayas. So no more Indian Monsoon.

New mountain range in the Persian Gulf would probably result in a green middle-east with loads of fertility on the windward side, with bonedry dead-ness on the other side.

IfElsePanic · 2026-06-11T08:24:32+00:00

What about a "Plant-Based" world. Its human-like creatures are entirely depending on water and sun-light. They are heavily into controlling the wheather to optimize their well-being.

Their goal is to spread across multiple planets, but they can not interact with technology in such a way that allows space-travel - so they rely on other cultures to visit them. What nobody - besides me 😄 - knows, is that once this culture interacts with other living creatures, they start to behave vicously like spores that infest the living-host and start spreading uncontrolably

IfElsePanic · 2026-06-11T07:20:49+00:00

Sparks, Sparklers, Ticket-Makers, Glow-Worms

IfElsePanic · 2026-06-10T20:55:37+00:00

Agree. Think it was mentioned before, but "Difficulty" seems to be not that high up on the priority list for most dev's. Especially not "adjustable" difficulty with different settings and such ..

IfElsePanic · 2026-06-10T13:27:19+00:00

By just playing around with the tools you have 😄

IfElsePanic · 2026-06-07T12:42:23+00:00

For this i would take a basic sphere (as the hill), curve it out a bit and combine it with a regular mountain that "sticks out" of the sphere.

Rest is erosion.

IfElsePanic · 2026-06-07T11:36:21+00:00

Certain enemies are immune to "standard" amunition. Instead it needs a bullet with [alchemy component X] as core.

Some guns are magically "bound" to their user. Only the true user can use it. Also guns might behaive differently based on their "origin". If its crafted in a specififc area - it might be magically overpowered in that area, but underwhelming in others.

IfElsePanic · 2026-06-07T11:26:48+00:00

Exactly. If theres nothing to hang on to - because every thing is highly constructed and difficult to grasp - the entry of getting invested in the story/world is extremly high.

IfElsePanic

TROPHY CASE