Floating Island Generation

2024 | University | C++ | Blueprints

An exploration into procedural mesh generation for my thesis project.

This is a project I created during my final year at university. It is an exploration into creating dynamic levels with procedural geometry, specifically for creating floating islands that look interesting and varied.

It covers both run and design time creation of islands, where levels can be generated when the game is started, or alternatively generated directly in the Unreal editor, and saved as a Level. Islands also feature a wide variety of parameters, and when generated, can also have various parameters for placement.

I explored various different techniques for generating the islands, and very rough prototypes existed at one point for point cloud and marching cube based generation, and then soon after the use of the Realtime Mesh Component. Eventually I settled on Unreal’s own Geometry Script for simplicity.

I learned a lot on this project about how to design a tool for use by both developers and designers, but unfortunately ran out of time due to personal circumstances, and there is a lot more I would like to add. Some future features include vines connected between islands, placement of additional props and generation of ponds and waterfalls. Overall, I still believe this is a solid project that shows the various capabilities of Unreal Engine’s mesh generation.