If you enjoyed the post about infinite terrain generation for a horizontal endless runner, and tried to build a physics terrain out of the example I published, you probably faced these issues:

1 – With a 750 pixels wide game, you absolutely can’t build 750 bodies to turn a cosine-generated terrain into a physics terrain.

2 – 750 points are too many even to draw the terrain using grahpics objects.

So we have to find a way to keep our terrain smooth while dramatically reduce the points needed to draw it. Less points mean less bodies.

Here comes into play the Ramer–Douglas–Peucker algorithm: the purpose of the algorithm is, given a curve composed of line segments, to find a similar curve with fewer points. The algorithm defines “dissimilar” based on the maximum distance between the original curve and the simplified curve. The simplified curve consists of a subset of the points that defined the original curve.

Coding the Ramer-Douglas-Peucker algorithm is quite easy, but why should we reinvent the wheel when we can use Simplify.js library by Vladimir “mourner” Agafonkin?

In this example, we have a randomly generated terrain made of more than 1300 points usually reduced – but perfectly working – to less than 50 physics bodies.

There is no interactivity: a terrain is generated, then 60 random polygons fall down, then a new terrain is generated, and so on.

It’s amazing how you can have a perfectly working terrain using less of 4% the original points.

Look at the source code:

var game;

var gameOptions = {
    startTerrainHeight: 0.5,
    amplitude: 300,
    slopeLength: [100, 350],
}
window.onload = function() {
    let gameConfig = {
        type: Phaser.AUTO,
        backgroundColor: 0x75d5e3,
        scale: {
            mode: Phaser.Scale.FIT,
            autoCenter: Phaser.Scale.CENTER_BOTH,
            parent: "thegame",
            width: 1334,
            height: 750
        },
        physics: {
            default: "matter",
            matter: {
                debug: true,
                debugBodyColor: 0x000000
            }
        },
        scene: playGame
    }
    game = new Phaser.Game(gameConfig);
    window.focus();
}
class playGame extends Phaser.Scene{
    constructor(){
        super("PlayGame");
    }
    create(){
        this.slopeGraphics = this.add.graphics();
        this.sliceStart = new Phaser.Math.Vector2(0, Math.random());
        this.drawTerrain(this.slopeGraphics, this.sliceStart);
    }
    drawTerrain(graphics, sliceStart){
        let slopePoints = [];
        let slopes = 0;
        let slopeStart = 0;
        let slopeStartHeight = sliceStart.y;
        let currentSlopeLength = Phaser.Math.Between(gameOptions.slopeLength[0], gameOptions.slopeLength[1]);
        let slopeEnd = slopeStart + currentSlopeLength;
        let slopeEndHeight = Math.random();
        let currentPoint = 0;
        while(currentPoint < game.config.width){
            if(currentPoint == slopeEnd){
                slopes ++;
                slopeStartHeight = slopeEndHeight;
                slopeEndHeight = Math.random();
                var y = game.config.height * gameOptions.startTerrainHeight + slopeStartHeight * gameOptions.amplitude;
                slopeStart = currentPoint;
                currentSlopeLength = Phaser.Math.Between(gameOptions.slopeLength[0], gameOptions.slopeLength[1]);
                slopeEnd += currentSlopeLength;
            }
            else{
                var y = (game.config.height * gameOptions.startTerrainHeight) + this.interpolate(slopeStartHeight, slopeEndHeight, (currentPoint - slopeStart) / (slopeEnd - slopeStart)) * gameOptions.amplitude;
            }
            slopePoints.push(new Phaser.Math.Vector2(currentPoint, y))
            currentPoint ++ ;
        }
        let simpleSlope = simplify(slopePoints, 1, true);
        graphics.x = sliceStart.x;
        graphics.clear();
        graphics.moveTo(0, game.config.height);
        graphics.fillStyle(0x654b35);
        graphics.beginPath();
        simpleSlope.forEach(function(point){
            graphics.lineTo(point.x, point.y);
        }.bind(this))
        graphics.lineTo(currentPoint, game.config.height);
        graphics.lineTo(0, game.config.height);
        graphics.closePath();
        graphics.fillPath();
        graphics.lineStyle(16, 0x6b9b1e);
        graphics.beginPath();
        simpleSlope.forEach(function(point){
            graphics.lineTo(point.x, point.y);
        })
        graphics.strokePath();
        for(let i = 1; i < simpleSlope.length; i++){
            let line = new Phaser.Geom.Line(simpleSlope[i - 1].x, simpleSlope[i - 1].y, simpleSlope[i].x, simpleSlope[i].y);
            let distance = Phaser.Geom.Line.Length(line);
            let center = Phaser.Geom.Line.GetPoint(line, 0.5);
            let angle = Phaser.Geom.Line.Angle(line)
            this.matter.add.rectangle(center.x, center.y, distance, 10, {
                isStatic: true,
                angle: angle
            })
        }
        this.add.text(0, game.config.height - 60, "Bodies to generate terrain: " + simpleSlope.length, {
            fontFamily: "Arial",
            fontSize: 64,
            color: "#00ff00"
        });
        this.polygons = 0;
        this.time.addEvent({
            delay: 500,
            callbackScope: this,
            callback: function(){
                this.matter.add.polygon(Phaser.Math.Between(0, game.config.width), -50, Phaser.Math.Between(3, 10), Phaser.Math.Between(10, 40));
                this.polygons ++;
                if(this.polygons > 60){
                    this.scene.start("PlayGame");
                }
            },
            loop: true
        });
    }
    interpolate(vFrom, vTo, delta){
        let interpolation = (1 - Math.cos(delta * Math.PI)) * 0.5;
        return vFrom * (1 - interpolation) + vTo * interpolation;
    }
}

What about re-introducing the scrolling and adding a car? Wait for next tutorial to see a complete game prototype, meanwhile download the source code and enjoy.