Outerra is a Slovak computer software company best known for its

middleware Middleware is a type of computer software program that provides services to software applications beyond those available from the operating system. It can be described as "software glue". Middleware makes it easier for software developers to imple ...

3D planetary graphics engine, called Outerra engine, in development since 2008. The engine renders high-quality

terrain Terrain (), alternatively relief or topographical relief, is the dimension and shape of a given surface of land. In physical geography, terrain is the lay of the land. This is usually expressed in terms of the elevation, slope, and orientati ...

, terrain texturing,

flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...

and

water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...

flow normal maps using relatively sparse and highly compressed data through fractal processing and other types of

procedural generation In computing, procedural generation is a method of creating data algorithmically as opposed to manually, typically through a combination of human-generated content and algorithms coupled with computer-generated randomness and processing power. I ...

. The game ''Anteworld'' uses real world data to create a virtual replica of planet

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

Features

Features of the engine and its tech-demo ''Anteworld'' include: * Fractal refinement of preexisting terrain data * Support of

vector Vector most often refers to: * Euclidean vector, a quantity with a magnitude and a direction * Disease vector, an agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen into another living organism Vector may also refer to: Mathematics a ...

-based data, such as

road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

s * Seamless transitioning from outer space to planet surface *

Chromium Chromium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Cr and atomic number 24. It is the first element in Group 6 element, group 6. It is a steely-grey, Luster (mineralogy), lustrous, hard, and brittle transition metal. Chromium ...

browser integration *

Land vehicle A vehicle () is a machine designed for self-propulsion, usually to transport people, cargo, or both. The term "vehicle" typically refers to land vehicles such as human-powered vehicles (e.g. bicycles, tricycles, velomobiles), animal-powered tr ...

physics and JSBSim flight dynamics model library for

aircraft An aircraft ( aircraft) is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or, i ...

physics * Unlimited visibility * Dynamic and adjustable time flow * FreeTrack support * FBX importer and export of models in self-installing OTX format *

Oculus Rift Oculus Rift is a discontinued line of virtual reality headsets, virtual reality headsets developed and manufactured by Oculus VR, a virtual reality company founded by Palmer Luckey that is widely credited with reviving the virtual reality indust ...

support

Anteworld

The developers of Outerra in 2012 released an

alpha Alpha (uppercase , lowercase ) is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of one. Alpha is derived from the Phoenician letter ''aleph'' , whose name comes from the West Semitic word for ' ...

tech-demo for the engine called ''Anteworld'' (the name comes from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

prefix ''Ante-'', meaning ''prior-to in time'' - "A world that was") that consists of a digital replica of the whole planet Earth at a 1:1 scale. The

virtual world A virtual world (also called a virtual space or spaces) is a Computer simulation, computer-simulated environment which may be populated by many simultaneous users who can create a personal Avatar (computing), avatar and independently explore th ...

can be explored in a free-camera mode as well as in vehicles such as planes, boats and cars. It also features a first person walking mode. For the mirror world real world data was used - ingame the user can blend in an embedded

Google Maps Google Maps is a web mapping platform and consumer application offered by Google. It offers satellite imagery, aerial photography, street maps, 360° interactive panorama, interactive panoramic views of streets (Google Street View, Street View ...

of real Earth that is synchronized with the current camera position. Since June 2013 Anteworld provides support for

. Furthermore, user-made objects such as houses and vehicles can be spawned and used in the

sandbox game A sandbox game is a video game with a gameplay element that provides players a great degree of creativity to interact with, usually without any predetermined goal, or with a goal that the players set for themselves. Such games may lack any objec ...

. While the tech-demo is free some features require an upgrade to the $15 full version. An accompanying

novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most novelettes and short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) ...

that is loosely tied to the game written by C. Shawn Smith is planned as well.

Middle-Earth DEM Project

In 2013 a separate non-profit motivated group of hobbyists released a first version of terrain data of

Middle-Earth Middle-earth is the Setting (narrative), setting of much of the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy. The term is equivalent to the ''Midgard, Miðgarðr'' of Norse mythology and ''Middangeard'' in Old English works, including ''Beowulf'' ...

compiled for Outerra. The goal of this

digital elevation model A digital elevation model (DEM) or digital surface model (DSM) is a 3D computer graphics representation of elevation data to represent terrain or overlaying objects, commonly of a planet, Natural satellite, moon, or asteroid. A "global DEM" refer ...

project, which was launched by Oshyan Greene and Carl Lingard in 2006, is what they summarize as a "living, breathing Middle Earth" - a highly detailed model which includes rivers, vegetation, buildings, roads and subterranean features. The sources for the maps include

Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlinson ...

's maps (such as the ones in ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an Epic (genre), epic high fantasy novel written by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's book ''The Hobbit'' but eventually d ...

'' and ''

The Silmarillion ''The Silmarillion'' () is a book consisting of a collection of myths and stories in varying styles by the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien. It was edited, partly written, and published posthumously by his son Christopher in 1977, assisted by G ...

''), Strachey's '' Journeys of Frodo'', Fonstad's ''

The Atlas of Middle-earth ''The Atlas of Middle-earth'' by Karen Wynn Fonstad is an atlas of J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional realm of Middle-earth. It was published in 1981, following Tolkien's major works ''The Hobbit'', ''The Lord of the Rings'', and ''The Silmarillion''. ...

'', the locations used in

Peter Jackson Sir Peter Robert Jackson (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand filmmaker. He is best known as the director, writer, and producer of the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003) and the ''Hobbit'' trilogy (2012–2014), both of which ar ...

movies A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, since ...

as well as fan made maps.

Virtual Mars

In February 2014 the developers announced ongoing development, which was planned since October 2009, to add another planet to the two already existing ones (Earth and the fictional Middle-Earth) –

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

. Additionally in 2014 they stated that "ultimately the whole solar system should be accessible" in a single game on Twitter.

TitanIM

TitanIM (Titan Integrated Military) is an Outerra-based

military simulation Military simulations, also known informally as war games, are simulations in which theories of warfare can be tested and refined without the need for actual hostilities. Military simulations are seen as a useful way to develop Military tactics, t ...

platform that was revealed in December 2014 at the world's largest modeling, simulation and training conference oriented at military use, I/ITSEC in

Orlando Orlando commonly refers to: * Orlando, Florida, a city in the United States Orlando may also refer to: People * Orlando (given name), a masculine name, includes a list of people with the name * Orlando (surname), includes a list of people wit ...

. TitanIM was granted exclusive license to the Outerra engine for military use. The initial public release version of the software is known as Titan Vanguard.

Microprose

In 2022, the Outerra game engine was acquired by

Microprose MicroProse is an American video game publisher and video game developer, developer founded by Bill Stealey, Sid Meier, and Andy Hollis in 1982. It developed and published numerous games, including starting the ''Civilization (series), Civilizat ...

, with the aim of finishing and publishing the game after more than 15 years of development, and publish the game both as a sandbox and as the game engine for microprose.

References

External links

* *
/r/Outerra
-

Subreddit Reddit ( ) is an American Proprietary software, proprietary social news news aggregator, aggregation and Internet forum, forum Social media, social media platform. Registered users (commonly referred to as "redditors") submit content to the ...

for the engine and Anteworld
User submitted mods
{{Video game engines Video game engines Virtual globes Virtual reality companies Video game companies of Slovakia Video game development companies