Hey World Machine Team,
I’ve been using the Code Device, but many features still incomplete right now. So I wanted to ask: are there any plans to add a time-stepping feature?
Some algorithms, like shallow water simulations, rely heavily on time steps. Because of this, I can’t achieve these effects in the current version. I really need a time-stepping function added.
Hi there,
World Machine is focused around the concept of equilibrium state. A variety of the simulation devices timestep internally for N timesteps or whatever. However, that’s pretty obvious so I’m assuming you’re asking for more 
Can you explain more about what you have in mind? I’ve pondered exposing a timeline before, but since most terrain evolution is on timescales of “thousands to millions of years”, that’s just a completely different application than shallow water sim.
I’ve been seeing some terrain evolution effects in a game called Terra Firma 2 recently, and I suspect they’re using a 2.5D shallow water simulation for erosion — compared to traditional methods, it seems to simulate terrain changes on a much smaller timescale, and the results look totally different. Especially in things like river meandering and delta formation — the evolution feels way more realistic.
WM is unlikely to include a “realtime” mode for simulation anytime soon - I’d recommend just wrapping your shallow water flow kernel in a loop in the lua host to timestep your desired amount. This does of course mean that it has to recalculate from time 0 on any change, but that’s consistent with the equilibrium approach of WM. For now, you could sort of “checkpoint” your simulation results by using multiple code devices, so that the first 500 timesteps are in device 1, the next N are in device 2, etc.