I know it might sound strange, but I really liked map boundaries in MARDEK - for example, simple masses of trees or rocks. I don't know, just being next to those borders really made me feel that something is really there, but I just can't see it. All of this despite the fact that they are just copied and pasted trees. Of course, now if you decided to go with similar thing you could make it tiny bit more detailed (nothing serious, just throw a rock in between trees or something) so its not that repetitive. I just think that it would be the best option to build "real world" in a standard, everything-is-visible format and leave procedural generation for more dreamy encounters. This would allow you to keep "vast land" feeling and highlight weirdness of drealm at the same time - two birds with one stone, if you ask me! Of course, its just my silly suggestion. I didn't really considered issues it would cause, but I look forward to your response regardless.
2
Tobias 1102~4Y
I definitely get the wide, immersive feeling of seeing hints of the world beyond where you're exploring, but the problem with this is that I'd have to make all these non-accessible areas manually, taking into consideration the 3D angling that reveals a lot more of the distant world than the top-down 2D did, and the fact that drawing a whole bunch of stuff would dramatically increase the number of polygons on screen, possibly causing slowdown.
I might have a think about other possibilities, like having low-poly 'background' meshes or something. The main reason I wanted to stick with the chunks thing was to avoid that challenge, but I think it might be worth at least experimenting with other possibilities. Maybe.
1
MarninPL33~4Y
It would be great! Even if it's just meshes you mentioned, I believe it is worth a try! In fact, I think it would have been more than enough. Also, 3D angling does reveal a lot - but you can still play with the perspective. Maybe you could change the angle so it's more... from the top? (I don't know how to explain it properly. Hopefully you will understand what I mean).
1
Metrux3210~4Y
Just a thought I've had while reading this reply: Maybe you don't need to really make the areas beyond? As in, you could use the trees and rocks, as talked before, but you could also use some kind of fog, that get's stronger and stronger until you can't see much, meaning you'd only get vague outlines and it wouldn't stretch as far as the player can normally see with the angle. It's also possible to make it some kind of picture that changes slightly with the angling, but this could be hard to do, dependind on methods. I still prefer the smaller rooms, but just throwing ideas your way.
I might have a think about other possibilities, like having low-poly 'background' meshes or something. The main reason I wanted to stick with the chunks thing was to avoid that challenge, but I think it might be worth at least experimenting with other possibilities. Maybe.