In world-building, scale is everything. To make Metal Throne feel grounded in reality, I decided to bypass manual "guessing" of building dimensions. Instead, I went straight to the source: real-world geospatial data. By using the coordinate of a real world location, I’ve established a 70x70m play area that perfectly mirrors its real-world counterpart.
The Workflow: Blender-OSM
The bridge between Google Maps and A-Frame was built using the Blender-OSM addon. This tool allowed me to pull OpenStreetMap data directly into Blender as 3D geometry. Within minutes, the flat satellite imagery was populated with accurate volumetric graybox buildings.
Once the geometry was generated, I exported the entire layout as a single .glb file. The challenge was ensuring that when this object landed in the A-Frame scene, it remained perfectly aligned with the top-down satellite ground plane. By locking the origin points in Blender before export, the digital "Machine Hub" now sits exactly where the real buildings exist on the map.
Visualizing the Layout
To test the accuracy, I've put together a flythrough showing the progression from raw map data to 3D geometry. Seeing the silhouettes of the fuel tanks rise out of the flat satellite textures is the first step in making this world feel "lived in"—even if the only things living there now are the machines.
"The map is not the territory, but in game dev, the map is the foundation upon which the machine's logic is built."
The Next Step: Individualization
While having the entire hub as one single object is great for visual alignment, it’s not practical for gameplay. Each building needs its own identity—and its own collision box. My next task involves isolating each building model within the scene.
In the coming update, I’ll be breaking this massive GLB into individual components and importing them into A-Frame with unique coordinates that correspond to the map. This will allow for granular interaction, specific AI patrol paths around certain structures, and eventually, the ability to plant detonators on individual silos.
The graybox is alive. The grid is set. Now, we begin to build the detail.
Technical breakdown by Scott Grocott · Tools used: Blender, OSM, A-Frame