Revealing world as it's explored

[gritty parrot]

(Copying from #💻┃code-beginner message, since this might be outside the scope of just one question)

Hey all! I'm a new developer, trying to implement a simple exploration system in my game. The entire map should be hidden at the start besides where the player is, and anywhere where the player goes gets revealed permanently.

How would I go about doing this? I've currently got a large, flat cylinder attached to the player that represents their vision. How do I go about storing where they've explored, and only revealing areas after the fact?

The closest example I can think of is the mobile game Boom Beach's world map - the rest of the world is shrouded in clouds until explored.

One additional thing that would be nice is limiting the range of the player camera to stay within the explored area. This limit should grow as the explored area does.

[proper umbra]

basically just have an overlay texture mask that you erase away as you explore

so learning how to make your own alpha erasing brush is something to look into

[gritty parrot]

Thanks, will look into

Oh, I should mention that the world is semi-infinite - is it possible to dynamically size it up as new sections are revealed?

I was following this tutorial initially - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbPLfmp9SwU - but it seems to be for a minimap. In the game I'm working on, the map IS the main scene.