Current release · Build 4059 onward
Dragontail Peak
Terrain that is no longer a heightfield: overhangs, caves and real cliffs. Native on macOS and Linux for the first time, and a refreshed UI.
Where World Machine is going
World Machine is actively developed. Sometimes, we've gone too quiet while heads-down on a release. This page is where you can see what's being built now, what's coming next, and even have a say in where we go after that.
Last reviewed September 2026.
Just shipped
October 2024 – December 2025 · Builds 4041 – 4051
Hurricane Ridge
Erosion rewritten: up to 100x faster at 8K and above, controllable by map, and repeatable between builds.
In progress: Dragontail Peak
Most of Dragontail Peak is complete, but there are a few finishing touches still in progress. Features are shipped if they're ready.
Coming soon in Build 4067
- Meshify runs up to two orders of magnitude faster (200x!) depending on the machine and the scene. It also produces cleaner triangles around water and waterlines.
- The background previewer now manages its own memory. When it runs short, it stops refining or starts paging instead of taking the rest of the machine down with it.
- Dozens of quality of life changes and bug fixes.
Still planned
- Flow Restructure gets its ridge-cutting mode back, with a much faster implementation.
Where it goes after that
The next named series has not been announced yet. These are some of the larger things we intend to tackle after Dragontail.
Improved river systems
Bring the water devices onto VDM terrain, improve waterline geometry, and add long-requested features such as braided river channels.
Mesh input and modification
Import a mesh and use it directly as a heightfield or VDM, then export it again after World Machine has changed it.
Enhanced VDM simulations
Further improvements to the quality of the erosion simulations, including distribution of falling material.
Integration plugins
An API and plugins that connect World Machine directly to tools such as Unreal and Unity.
Have your say
The feature board is one of the places we look when deciding what to build next. Vote for the things you want, or add something that isn't there yet. These are some of the most-voted open requests.
- 74 Braided rivers, distributaries and deltas Planned
- 58 Direct sculpting support for terrains Planned
- 34 Loop / feedback device
- 32 Python scripting support
- 21 Portal devices (workview) Planned
- 19 Better device graphics in the Workview
- 17 A translated interface
- 15 Customisable hotkeys
- 14 UV coordinates for rivers
- 13 Import a heightfield from a mesh Planned
- 11 Zoom in to a render extent Planned
- 5 A one-time bake data device Planned
Vote or ask for something new
Another 68 open requests are on the board. Vote on what you want, or add something nobody has asked for yet.
Open the feature boardTake part in the conversation
Tell us what would make a new device useful, what would make it useless, or what World Machine is missing entirely.
The developers read and take part in these discussions.
Discuss on the forumRead what we're working on
The development blog is the informal, day-to-day version of this page. It also meanders into math, graphics and whatever coding problem is interesting that week.
Read the blog