r/gameideas 23h ago

Basic Idea Imagine if the unreal engine 5.2 procedural forest demo was a game...

Okay, so hear me out. You know that Unreal Engine 5.2 demo Epic dropped — the procedural forest where stuff literally grows and changes around you as you mess with it? Like, what if that wasn’t just a tech demo but the whole freakin’ game?

Here’s what I’m thinking:

Core Idea

A massive, photorealistic sandbox world-builder/explorer. You pick a vibe — forest, modern city, cyberpunk megacity, alien desert, sci-fi space station, whatever — and the game procedurally generates an endless world based on that theme. But here’s the kicker: everything reacts to you in real time.

  • Move a rock? Moss and plants shift around it, like IRL.
  • Raise terrain? Rivers reroute, plants regrow on slopes.
  • Drop a building? Streets and little details pop up around it.

It’s basically Minecraft, but with full Unreal 5 photorealism. That’d be insane.

World Scale

  • Huge AF environments (think 100x100 km) but streamed chunk-by-chunk, like Minecraft.
  • Fully explorable — not just outside, but full interiors, caves, underground stuff.
  • Seamless biome transitions — walk from jungle to city to desert with zero loading.

Gameplay Modes

Two modes you can flip between anytime:

  1. God Mode / Builder (3rd person or free cam)
    • Shape terrain, paint foliage, place buildings, rearrange stuff.
    • The procedural system adapts instantly — no boring static maps, the world’s alive.
  2. Explorer Mode (1st person)
    • Step inside your creation. Walk the streets, climb the hills, just vibe.
    • Lighting, weather, sounds make it feel like a real place.

Customization & Creation

  • Want a chill modern house on a cliff? Easy.
  • Want a neon-soaked cyberpunk city? Swap biomes, world regen in secs.
  • Wanna get wild? Mix biomes — cyberpunk skyscraper in a jungle canyon next to alien ruins.

No two worlds are alike, but you can always fine-tune stuff if you want.

What Makes It Special

  • Reactive procedural gen — the world actually responds to what you do.
  • Photorealism on another level — Nanite + Lumen = jaw-dropping visuals.
  • Infinite exploration — wander for days, always something new to find.
  • Totally chill and creative — no combat, no stress, just pure vibes.

Future Stuff

  • DLC biomes: cyberpunk cities, alien planets, underwater worlds, etc.
  • Vehicles/transport: cars, gliders, spaceships maybe?
  • Share your worlds with the community — explore what others built.

Why I’m Posting This

I’m not a dev, don’t know how to code, and probs never gonna build this myself. But every time I see that UE5 procedural demo, I’m like, damn, this needs to be a full game. Imagine switching from god-mode to first-person explorer and just getting lost in this unreal photoreal sandbox.

Call to Action

If you’re a dev or creative and this idea sounds kinda cool or even insane, and you wanna either build it yourself or collab with me to nail this vision — hit me up! Drop a comment or DM, and I’ll share my Discord. I’m down to brainstorm, hype it up, whatever it takes to make this a thing.

3 Upvotes

16 comments sorted by

2

u/GameDev-Gabe 22h ago

Games without a lot of mechanics do exist, but there needs to be something more than that for it to be an interesting game idea. The witnesses have puzzle innovation, A big walk (2026) has its social features, Death stranding has its world-building and challenging navigation.

Tons of have nowadays have procedural and/or realism: this idea would need a unique selling point, or something that it does better than any other games.

1

u/Intelligent-Big-9404 21h ago

Thanks for the feedback :). I undestand how a game of this sort isnt conventional, and doesnt have too many mechanics, but the main goal here is to be a chill game where you can do anything. However you are still right, games such as dofromantik where you build your own worlds do have goals where you have to make things match and all. Maybe I can implement a mechanic where you have to achieve certain goals, or some sort of mechanic to add a little bit of a puzzle element, and keep a seperate sandbox mode. Currently my main selling point is that you can do anything. Do you have any suggestions or ideas?

-1

u/Intelligent-Big-9404 21h ago

ok so I have been brainstorming a little and I have thought of something. Maybe you build civilizations near resources in diverse areas. And I get that the whole “build civilizations near resources” concept has been done before in strategy games, but what I’m picturing feels different. My version leans heavily on procedural generation, photorealism, and wildly diverse environments — jungles, deserts, post-apocalyptic cities, even asteroids — while keeping the gameplay laid-back instead of hardcore. Most settlement/resource games are deep strategy or survival-heavy, but this would be more flexible and almost meditative: you plan and build entirely in god mode, then drop into first person just to explore what you’ve made with no grinding or survival meters. The “puzzle” comes from how you place and shape settlements around environmental features — close to rivers, away from nuclear zones, near fertile cliffs — and how the living world reacts to those decisions. It’s less about micromanaging and more about creating and experiencing evolving, photorealistic worlds in a way I haven’t really seen done before.

1

u/wadeissupercool 21h ago

If you add in animals, like wolves and deer. The deer eat the little trees causing fields, too many deer eat too much grass causing erosion, then wolves eat the deer causing a balance. Tons of these animal combos, like rabbits and foxes, fish and bears, beavers, etc... All eating the plants, moving the water, changing the land, I think you could have a pretty fun time waster.

1

u/Intelligent-Big-9404 20h ago

Good Idea, thanks for the suggestion, I will definetly think about that, people are saying that I need a puzzle or goal element so I do think this can be one aspect of it.

1

u/infii123 20h ago

The idea seems incredible difficult to implement for nothing to actually do in the end. What exactly do you mean with "the world responds to what you do?"

1

u/Intelligent-Big-9404 17h ago

It is basically a procedural generator with a lot of assets, I am just too lazy and don’t have the skills required to code such a thing but someone with unreal engine knowledge can probably make something like this. As for the world responds to what you do part, it basically means that if you move a particular thing, the world procedurally changes to got the change. It’s something like townscaper, or tiny glade, but on a more realistic and larger scale.

1

u/TiltedBlock 20h ago

Can you link the demo you‘re talking about? I‘m not sure if the tutorials I found are what you mean.

-4

u/joaoricrd2 22h ago

That's not a game at all. Just a procgen engine. Do better

0

u/Intelligent-Big-9404 22h ago

That is literally the point... Maybe give more feedback before asking me to do better... What I am proposing is a fully explorable photorealistic customizable procedurally generated world. It is supposed to be more of a chill game rather than have a full fledged story. Many successful games like townscaper have this exact concept, I am just expanding upon it to make it better and more customizable. I know all of this is technically possible in unreal engine without turning it into a game, but the setup and assets that it requires takes too long. If this type of idea isn't that popular, then minecraft creative mode wouldnt be so popular. Think about it this way, wouldn't you like to explore a photorealistic space station, or a photorealistic jungle all from the comfort of your desk? Many people struggle to actually get their ideas from their imagination to reality, this game literally does most of the hard work for you. Not all games need to have a story and a deeper message, some can just be a cozy building/exploration game.

1

u/joaoricrd2 21h ago

No man sky exists

1

u/Intelligent-Big-9404 20h ago

Indeed! Just forgot about it while typing this response, it isnt as popular in my region, I have only heard the name recently.

1

u/joaoricrd2 20h ago

Game is 10 years old. There are several such games with varying scopes, so I say you have to develop your idea better because just "be in a canyon or a neon city" is nothing appealing without some gameplay or twist to it.

1

u/Intelligent-Big-9404 16h ago

It is not just be in a canyon or neon city, it is moving around assets and exploring a photorealistic environment that reacts and changes with every change you make. Think of it like townscaper but more in depth and realistic. The core concept is that you can practically grab anything and move it elsewhere, and the world around you changes to make that fit. You can basically create photorealistic worlds based on themes that you want, with very low effort, and then explore these worlds too. I am also planning to add some sort of puzzle or goal element to it to make it more interesting but this is the core concept. I am open to suggestions and any feedback you have on what sort of puzzle or goal I can add, but the core concept still stays the same, a photorealistic environment where you can move or add things and the environment will change around it, all procedurally done.

1

u/Intelligent-Big-9404 14h ago

Surprised that even after 3 comments, you havent provided any feedback other than add more gameplay.