Procedural Dungeon Generation Algorithm
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Procedural Dungeon Generation Algorithm
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Re: Procedural Dungeon Generation Algorithm
#2I've seen algorithms that produce results similar to this before, and I find them lacking in any sort of feeling of purposeful design.
Dungeons are (in theory) built by intelligent people for a reason. There needs to be distinct working, eating, socializing, farming areas. There needs to be wider or thinner pathways between areas based on flow of people & goods.
A good starting place to look for amazing looking dungeons is to look at people who play Dwarf Fortress, and how they build & organize their forts, which are essentially dungeons.
Here are a few good links:
http://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/slave-to-armok-god-of-blo...
https://leelubutterfly.wordpress.com/2013/01/01/dwarf-fortre...
etc. just google image search for "dwarf fortress" and you'll see a lot.
Good algorithmic dungeon design should take into account some of these factors, like good city design would.
Re: Procedural Dungeon Generation Algorithm
#3I've seen algorithms that produce results similar to this before, and I find them lacking in any sort of feeling of purposeful design. Dungeons are (in theory) built by intelligent people for a reason. There needs to be distinct working, eating, socializing, farming areas. There needs to be wider or thinner pathways between areas based on flow of people & goods. A good starting place to look for amazing looking dunge…
> There needs to be distinct working, eating, socializing, farming areas. There needs to be wider or thinner pathways between areas based on flow of people & goods.
put those constraints as a starting point and use genetic algorithms?
Re: Procedural Dungeon Generation Algorithm
#4I've seen algorithms that produce results similar to this before, and I find them lacking in any sort of feeling of purposeful design. Dungeons are (in theory) built by intelligent people for a reason. There needs to be distinct working, eating, socializing, farming areas. There needs to be wider or thinner pathways between areas based on flow of people & goods. A good starting place to look for amazing looking dunge…
> Dungeons are (in theory) built by intelligent people for a reason.
Well, in the make believe universes you frequent anyway. Others have different tastes.
I mean, in the realm of software there's a whole genre of these things going back to the original Rogue which never pretended to have any purpose at all. And digging even farther back you'll find a dice-driven (and, relative to modern standards, really terrible) random dungeon generator in an appendix at the back of the 1e AD&D DMG. Likewise even earlier TSR products like "Dungeon Geomorphs" were clearly aimed at random-or-at-least-mostly-sensesless generation.
That's not to say you can't do better, just that "not random" is probably not exactly the right aesthetic to chase.
Re: Procedural Dungeon Generation Algorithm
#5I've seen algorithms that produce results similar to this before, and I find them lacking in any sort of feeling of purposeful design. Dungeons are (in theory) built by intelligent people for a reason. There needs to be distinct working, eating, socializing, farming areas. There needs to be wider or thinner pathways between areas based on flow of people & goods. A good starting place to look for amazing looking dunge…
Dungeons are (in theory) built by intelligent people for a reason.
That reason is typically to store something behind a lot of very dangerous traps, trick architecture, and maybe enemies.
Unless you're concerned with maintenance, you don't worry about farms and all that other nonsense--that's gold you should've been spending on golems, pit traps, and other self-maintaining defenses!
Re: Procedural Dungeon Generation Algorithm
#6I really like the idea to just use a physics engine as a means of randomizing the layout. Smart, succinct, and easy to implement.
Re: Procedural Dungeon Generation Algorithm
#7I've been working on an algorithm to make more playable dungeons with included puzzles (e.g. locked door/key quests etc.). The math is there to ensure everything is solvable and relatively interesting (you're guaranteed to run into a puzzle before you find all the elements you need to solve it, for instance) but I got bored when it came time to make an example game to illustrate how it works. I'll pick that back up at some point...
Re: Procedural Dungeon Generation Algorithm
#8I've seen algorithms that produce results similar to this before, and I find them lacking in any sort of feeling of purposeful design. Dungeons are (in theory) built by intelligent people for a reason. There needs to be distinct working, eating, socializing, farming areas. There needs to be wider or thinner pathways between areas based on flow of people & goods. A good starting place to look for amazing looking dunge…
Dungeons as portrayed in every video game ever are a fantastic concept. It's not like there are actually anything like real dungeons outside of our imaginations (digging through rock is hard). The closest real analogues would probably be cave systems, like Carlsbad Caverns or Mammoth Cave, which are formed by irregular natural processes.
Re: Procedural Dungeon Generation Algorithm
#9I've seen algorithms that produce results similar to this before, and I find them lacking in any sort of feeling of purposeful design. Dungeons are (in theory) built by intelligent people for a reason. There needs to be distinct working, eating, socializing, farming areas. There needs to be wider or thinner pathways between areas based on flow of people & goods. A good starting place to look for amazing looking dunge…
Dungeons as portrayed in every video game ever are a fantastic concept. It's not like there are actually anything like real dungeons outside of our imaginations (digging through rock is hard). The closest real analogues would probably be cave systems, like Carlsbad Caverns or Mammoth Cave, which are formed by irregular natural processes.
Mines?
Re: Procedural Dungeon Generation Algorithm
#10Here's a link to the original dungeon generation demo that Phi Dinh posted using this algorithm: http://tinykeep.com/dungen/ (Flash required).
He kept an interesting blog about the development of Tiny Keep and added other posts about improvements to the generation mechanics for the dungeons, including this nifty one about generating locked areas that Ben Jones worked on: http://blog.tinykeep.com/2013/09/just-sneaky-quick-update-fr...