How Do Procedural Game Worlds Work In Video Games?

Daikuru

"Procedural generation allows for unlimited content in games. It also eases the work for game devs to create vast and open worlds. Here's how it actually works!"

waynejr2

PG has been around a long time.  It hasn't been a question of can PG be used but are the results reasonable and good enough.

GrumpyHobbit

Interesting, thanks.

Steelhelm

Not my own but here's a small intro and tutorial into procedural landmass generation in unity that I found interesting.

Daikuru

I always get a headache when i watch such videos lol.

H0urg1ass

What I like about the procedurally generated worlds is the randomness.  If a designer sits down and thinks about designing something, then it's much more difficult to be random.  As in, if someone is putting a forest down in an MMO, then they are placing each and every tree, which means that no matter how hard they try, it's not as random as it would be if nature populated the same space naturally.

With procedural generation, you can end up with some pretty awesome stuff that is, in fact, as random as nature is.

Now, for the flip side of the coin.  Nature also produces some pretty incredible outliers.  Things that don't like like anything else on earth due to  weather patterns, water runoff patterns or sandblasting over hundreds of years.

Some things that you will probably never see in procedurally generated worlds that a designer could place in a designed world.  These are all natural geological formations on Earth without the shaping hands of humans. 

Daikuru

H0urg1ass said:

What I like about the procedurally generated worlds is the randomness.  If a designer sits down and thinks about designing something, then it's much more difficult to be random.  As in, if someone is putting a forest down in an MMO, then they are placing each and every tree, which means that no matter how hard they try, it's not as random as it would be if nature populated the same space naturally.

With procedural generation, you can end up with some pretty awesome stuff that is, in fact, as random as nature is.

Now, for the flip side of the coin.  Nature also produces some pretty incredible outliers.  Things that don't like like anything else on earth due to  weather patterns, water runoff patterns or sandblasting over hundreds of years.

Some things that you will probably never see in procedurally generated worlds that a designer could place in a designed world.  These are all natural geological formations on Earth without the shaping hands of humans. 

I think the PG method is perfect for multiple world (planets) games like No Mans Sky because of the amount of planets and its need for randomness.

Phaserlight

Daikuru said:

H0urg1ass said:

What I like about the procedurally generated worlds is the randomness.  If a designer sits down and thinks about designing something, then it's much more difficult to be random.  As in, if someone is putting a forest down in an MMO, then they are placing each and every tree, which means that no matter how hard they try, it's not as random as it would be if nature populated the same space naturally.

With procedural generation, you can end up with some pretty awesome stuff that is, in fact, as random as nature is.

Now, for the flip side of the coin.  Nature also produces some pretty incredible outliers.  Things that don't like like anything else on earth due to  weather patterns, water runoff patterns or sandblasting over hundreds of years.

Some things that you will probably never see in procedurally generated worlds that a designer could place in a designed world.  These are all natural geological formations on Earth without the shaping hands of humans. 

I think the PG method is perfect for multiple world (planets) games like No Mans Sky because of the amount of planets and its need for randomness.

Actually, I think there's a bit of a problem here.  Not to sound pessimistic, brief, and cryptic, but once NMS releases I think you will find the true meaning of "exploring the algorithm" if you play it for long enough.  I hope to be proven wrong.

Anyone interested in PG should check out Dwarf Fortress.  It is the Sistine Chapel of procedural gen; the game Minecraft drew much of its inspiration from.

Fractals, man.  I mean, how many games do you know that bother to procedurally model rain shadows, climate, anthropological history and fluvial erosion?  It's intense.