I'm a fan of RTS (real time stragy) game, and i'm working for a rts game myself! I can produce a simple terrain map from triangle/quad. with texture tile/ blending... Now I want to move to a new level. Currently i'm using only lighting shader, with Phong shading I think with specular,diffuse color... very basic shading!
And the result is not bad, but still cant compare to current game today (like starcraft2, civilization V, shogun 2 campaing map....). For example the terrain in starcraft 2 look very shining, rich color, sharp, and cool. It doesnt need to look reality in this kind of game. It just look nice, beautiful! For example : https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-zNtnsUV02wc/UkxFLpKmJJI/AAAAAAAAAEE/USuWhYK8JfE/w1049-h831-no/Terrain+001.jpg https://i.stack.imgur.com/0Wb2j.jpg
So I know that just sampler (linear/point...) the texture is not enough (even the how nice the texture). There must be some high technique behind for current game. Like Bloom, HDR, directx 11 lighting, Bump Mapping... Cause I'm quite new to 3d, so I'm not sure what technique is to be used. Just give me the keyword, I can search google for it (doc,source code...). Thanks!