Postmortem Report:

Of the features I planned during Sprint 1: 

I did what I wanted, I didn't get everything I wanted to done or rendered, I didn't get to this at all,

Landscape height-field generator - Houdini

Either SVT or real-time fluid sims for lava - Niagara fluids/Houdini

Simple Structure/Village generator - Houdini

Advanced Landscape Material/Shader - Unreal 5

PCG system (roads, foliage, rocks, buildings) - Unreal 5

Realistic Volumetric Smoke and fire Simulations - Unreal 5 Niagara Fluids, Houdini

Debris system with RBD/Choas sims+SVTs. (sequence-able for cinematic rendering) - Unreal 5/Houdini

Advanced Parallax Painting system for Lava flows and craters - Unreal 5

Cinematic Post Processing and Path tracing - Unreal 5

Colds, Leaky pipes, and Hurricanes:

With everything going on in the world things are expected to go wrong, But what would I have done differently given back the time I lost.

Given an extra day or two to work on this project I would finish up my debris system and cache some fires to create more renders that are focused on the volcanic effects. 

Given a week or two to continue working I would create a Parallax painting system and create geometry for lava flows/rivers in Houdini. 

If I could start this project over I'd have chosen to imitate a less jungle-y Island. I got stuck worrying about foliage for too long because I used so much and made it central to the environment. I'd also change my PCG system to have more parametric control. Using more information, things like height from sea-level, in the generation process. Additionally I'd explore more ways to cover paths in tiles to give a more realistic effect. 

My Feelings:

Overall, I am happy with my project. I am proud of the final videos I produced and I will continue to expand upon this projects documentation because I think theres really cool stuff in it. I wish I could have done more Volcano Focused stuff but I can do that going forward. The skills I learned through my time working with tools new to me and creating new tools in software I'm familiar with are invaluable and I'm sure I'll be putting them to use as I try to fill out my portfolio more.