Example: Biome Entity Type

This page walks through a complete entity type to show how templates, rules, layouts, and skills work together. The Biome entity type represents environmental regions — forests, deserts, oceans, caves, tundra — and is used in game worldbuilding, fantasy fiction, nature documentaries, and gardening projects.

The Template

A Biome template defines the fields that describe an environment. Here is a representative BIOME_TEMPLATE.md:

---
entity_type: biome
template_category: entity
display_name: Biome
description: An environmental region with distinct climate, flora, fauna, and hazards
icon: trees
folder_name: Biomes
file_prefix: BIOME
template_version: "1.0"
fields:
  - name: biome_type
    type: select
    label: Biome Type
    options:
      - Forest
      - Desert
      - Ocean
      - Tundra
      - Grassland
      - Mountain
      - Swamp
      - Cave
      - Volcanic
      - Urban
      - Magical
      - Other
    required: true
 
  - name: climate
    type: string
    label: Climate
    description: "Temperature range, precipitation, seasons"
 
  - name: terrain
    type: text
    label: Terrain Description
    description: "Physical landscape, elevation, notable features"
 
  - name: flora
    type: text
    label: Flora
    description: "Plants, trees, fungi found in this biome"
 
  - name: fauna
    type: text
    label: Fauna
    description: "Animals, creatures, insects native to this biome"
 
  - name: hazards
    type: text
    label: Hazards
    description: "Environmental dangers, weather events, predators"
 
  - name: resources
    type: text
    label: Resources
    description: "Materials, food sources, tradeable goods found here"
 
  - name: settlements
    type: text
    label: Settlements
    description: "Towns, camps, ruins within this biome"
 
  - name: neighboring_biomes
    type: tags
    label: Neighboring Biomes
    description: "Names of adjacent biomes for transition zones"
 
  - name: danger_level
    type: select
    label: Danger Level
    options: [Safe, Low, Moderate, High, Extreme, Deadly]
 
  - name: magical_properties
    type: text
    label: Magical Properties
    description: "Supernatural effects, ley lines, cursed areas (if applicable)"
---
 
# Biome Template
 
Biomes are environmental regions that define the physical world of your project.
Each biome has a distinct ecosystem with its own climate, flora, fauna, and hazards.
 
When generating biome descriptions, consider:
- How the climate shapes the landscape and life within it
- What resources attract settlements or travelers
- How neighboring biomes create transition zones
- What dangers make this biome challenging to traverse

An Entity Instance

When a user creates a Biome entity using this template, the resulting file is saved as Biomes/BIOME_thornwood_forest.md:

---
entity_type: biome
name: Thornwood Forest
biome_type: Forest
climate: Temperate with cold winters. Heavy fog year-round. Rainfall 80+ inches/year.
terrain: Dense old-growth forest with thick canopy. Steep ravines cut by seasonal streams. Ground carpeted in moss and fallen needles.
flora: Giant ironwood trees (200+ ft), luminous nightcap mushrooms, thornberry bushes, strangler vines, ghost orchids
fauna: Shadow elk, barbed owls, tunnel spiders, bark beetles (symbiotic with ironwoods), fog serpents
hazards: Strangler vine ambushes, unstable ravine edges, territorial fog serpents, disorienting fog banks, thornberry allergic reactions
resources: Ironwood timber (extremely valuable), nightcap mushroom extract (alchemical), clean spring water, shadow elk pelts
settlements: Millhaven (logging town, pop. 340), Rootwatch Outpost (ranger station), Ruins of Old Caskford
neighboring_biomes: [Ashfield Grasslands, Greypeak Mountains, Mistmarsh Swamp]
danger_level: Moderate
magical_properties: The fog occasionally reveals paths that don't exist on maps. Ironwood bark absorbs minor enchantments.
---
 
The Thornwood Forest stretches across the western lowlands between the Greypeak
Mountains and the Mistmarsh Swamp. Its ironwood trees are among the oldest living
organisms in the known world, with some specimens estimated at over 2,000 years old.

Rules for Biomes

A rule file ensures AI-generated biome content stays ecologically consistent:

# _Rules/Standard/biome_generation.yaml
rule_id: biome_generation
entity_type: biome
version: "1.0"
description: Ecological consistency rules for biome generation
priority: 10
 
rules:
  - id: climate_flora_match
    description: Flora must be ecologically plausible for the stated climate. Desert biomes should not have water-dependent plants without explanation.
    severity: error
    applies_to: [flora, climate]
 
  - id: fauna_habitat
    description: Fauna must be suited to the terrain and climate. Aquatic creatures should not appear in desert biomes without water features.
    severity: error
    applies_to: [fauna, terrain, biome_type]
 
  - id: transition_logic
    description: Neighboring biomes must share a plausible transition zone. A desert cannot directly border a tundra without an intermediate biome.
    severity: warning
    applies_to: [neighboring_biomes, biome_type]
 
  - id: hazard_consistency
    description: Hazards must relate to the biome's climate, terrain, and fauna. Fire hazards in a swamp need justification.
    severity: warning
    applies_to: [hazards]
 
  - id: resource_availability
    description: Resources must be consistent with the biome type. Mineral resources require appropriate terrain features.
    severity: warning
    applies_to: [resources, terrain]
 
  - id: settlement_justification
    description: Settlements should have a reason to exist in the biome (trade route, resource, strategic position). Deadly biomes should have minimal or fortified settlements.
    severity: info
    applies_to: [settlements, danger_level]
 
defaults:
  min_flora_entries: 3
  min_fauna_entries: 3
  danger_levels: [Safe, Low, Moderate, High, Extreme, Deadly]

Layout for Biomes

A layout file controls how the Biome edit page is organized:

{
  "entity_type": "biome",
  "sections": [
    {
      "id": "overview",
      "label": "Biome Overview",
      "tab": "overview",
      "fields": ["name", "biome_type", "climate", "danger_level"]
    },
    {
      "id": "hero",
      "label": "Biome Image",
      "tab": "overview",
      "component": "primary-image"
    },
    {
      "id": "terrain",
      "label": "Terrain & Landscape",
      "tab": "environment",
      "fields": ["terrain", "magical_properties"]
    },
    {
      "id": "ecosystem",
      "label": "Ecosystem",
      "tab": "environment",
      "fields": ["flora", "fauna"]
    },
    {
      "id": "survival",
      "label": "Hazards & Resources",
      "tab": "survival",
      "fields": ["hazards", "resources"]
    },
    {
      "id": "civilization",
      "label": "Settlements & Neighbors",
      "tab": "survival",
      "fields": ["settlements", "neighboring_biomes"]
    },
    {
      "id": "relationships",
      "label": "Related Entities",
      "tab": "relations",
      "component": "entity-relationships"
    },
    {
      "id": "assets",
      "label": "Maps & Reference Images",
      "tab": "assets",
      "component": "entity-assets"
    }
  ],
  "tabs": [
    { "id": "overview", "label": "Overview" },
    { "id": "environment", "label": "Environment" },
    { "id": "survival", "label": "Survival" },
    { "id": "relations", "label": "Relations" },
    { "id": "assets", "label": "Assets" }
  ]
}

Use Cases Beyond Games

The Biome entity type is not limited to fantasy RPGs. The same template structure works for:

Domain	How Biomes Are Used
Game development	World regions with gameplay-relevant attributes (danger, resources, encounters)
Fantasy/sci-fi fiction	Environmental settings for scenes and story arcs
Nature documentaries	Ecological zone documentation with species catalogs
Gardening	Growing zones with climate data, compatible plants, soil types
Education	Geography curriculum with real-world biome data
Tabletop RPG	Hex-crawl regions with encounter tables and resource nodes

StudioBrain is a universal content platform. Templates like Biome work across any domain because the schema is user-defined. The same engine that powers game worldbuilding drives recipe management, production tracking, and academic research.

Next Steps

Template System Overview — How templates work
AI Generation Rules — Writing rules for your entity types
Template Packs — Installing complete template sets