Terra (layoutit)
Creative
terrain generator
SHOW HN2025
371points
82comments
#130of 3,837 in 2025
Top 4%of 2025 by points
How HN took it
MixedNo clear lean
22 positive, 18 neutral or asking, 2 mixed, 5 critical, out of 47 comments about the project. Thread score +0.33.
Design: 14 for, 0 againstIdea: 2 for, 2 againstExecution: 1 for, 2 againstPerformance: 0 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Impressive CSS-only rendering achievement that looks like classic sim games
From 4 comments
Wow this really feels like roller coaster tycoon!!! (I can see lots of people refer to this to their favorite sim game though) Great work!
forthwall on HNThis is incredible - looks like SimCity 2000.
julius-fx on HNYou can open up your terrain in codepen with nothing but CSS/HTML, and it renders fine. It's just not interactive / draggable anymore. So the JS is only being used, essentially,…
jonahx on HNReally cool, especially when I realised you could rotate the terrain and do some zooming as well.
paulbjensen on HN
Evokes Populous, Transport Tycoon and SimCity 2000
From 3 comments
Reminds me of Populous! Very cool
mpeg on HNFunny, my mind went to OpenTTD
andruc on HNWhile close to SC2000, it's much closer to Transport Tycoon (OpenTTD). https://www.openttd.org/screenshots
petepete on HN
Objections
Not CSS-only: the editor requires JavaScript; only the rendered output works without it
From 3 comments
Lots of javascript for a "css-only" tool. Looks like just the rendering is css-only.
cmiller1 on HNYep. Can confirm this does not work with JS disabled. I'm disappointed by the misleading title.
MarsIronPI on HNYeah, it worked, it seems to be a static rendered html with no interactivity though.
senfiaj on HN
Lag and high CPU use when modifying terrain or rotating
From 3 comments
This thing is killing my CPU, what's the actual bottleneck here for CSS? Is it the number of elements visible and rendered at once? Is it the calculation engine backing CSS is…
ModernMech on HNImpressive, but there is a noticeable lag after modifying the terrain or moving the camera. Is there a way to know if the browser is using the GPU or CPU for rendering, and is…
em3rgent0rdr on HNIt looks like a layout/style/composition issue with the browser engine. In Safari I'm seeing 91% CPU time on paint, 6% on layout, 2% on styles. It looks like it's taking…
bob1029 on HN
Rendering glitches, including with Dark Reader
From 3 comments
Really reminds me of openttd, especially the sandy border around the water Looks really cool and runs great on my phone. Seems like there's some kind of rendering bug in the…
RugnirViking on HNI got some rendering issues, but otherwise very cool ! https://i.imgur.com/qT6ozyh.png Firefox 144.0.2, Windows
w4yai on HNDark Reader mutilates the rendered output, but only certain tiles. No clear pattern as to what tiles get mangled. Peculiar.
ryukoposting on HN
Requests
Add lakes, rivers and waterfalls
From 2 comments
Very cool! Do you think it’s possible to do lakes and waterfalls?
nefarious_ends on HNDefinitely! I'm planning for more landscape features for next versions. I think rivers will be a great addition, and waterfalls/rapids sound really interesting too. In the end…
rofko on HN
Add a flatten tool
From 1 comment
1. what's a layou tit? 2. does it sometimes raise / lower by 2 units? 3. the "flatten" tool is missing.
stefs on HN
Questions
Is it really CSS-only given the JavaScript?
From 2 comments
When I turn off JS, it shows a loader instead of the terrain. Is this really CSS-Only? I mean it's still a high achievement even with JS, but was expecting it would also work…
senfiaj on HNLots of javascript for a "css-only" tool. Looks like just the rendering is css-only.
cmiller1 on HN
Is the bottleneck CPU or GPU rendering?
From 2 comments
This thing is killing my CPU, what's the actual bottleneck here for CSS? Is it the number of elements visible and rendered at once? Is it the calculation engine backing CSS is…
ModernMech on HNImpressive, but there is a noticeable lag after modifying the terrain or moving the camera. Is there a way to know if the browser is using the GPU or CPU for rendering, and is…
em3rgent0rdr on HN
Alternatives named
OpenTTD / Transport Tycoon Deluxe
From 2 comments
Funny, my mind went to OpenTTD
andruc on HNWhile close to SC2000, it's much closer to Transport Tycoon (OpenTTD). https://www.openttd.org/screenshots
petepete on HN
Populous
From 2 comments
Reminds me of Populous! Very cool
mpeg on HNReminded me quite a bit of Populous[1] as well. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populous_(video_game)
devmor on HN
SimCity 2000
From 2 comments
This is incredible - looks like SimCity 2000.
julius-fx on HNThe colouring is brown for SC2000, but the geometry is basically identical; I definitely got the same energy from it.
mikepurvis on HN
Benjamin Aster's CSS Minecraft
From 1 comment
When I turn off JS, it shows a loader instead of the terrain. Is this really CSS-Only? I mean it's still a high achievement even with JS, but was expecting it would also work…
senfiaj on HN