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Infinite World using Procedural Content Generation

Infinite World using Procedural ContentGeneration

Jackie Engberg Christensen

University College NordJylland

[email protected]

November 27, 2014


Overview

1 Procedural Content GenerationProblem StatementWhat is it Procedural Content GenerationApplications

2 NoiseUsage of NoiseManipulating Noises

3 The ProductChunksBiomesDemonstration

4 Conclusion/Future WorksProject Period ReviewConclusionFuture Works


Procedural Content Generation







Problem Statement

Motivation

Optional topic

Huge interest in games such as Minecraft

Very little background knowledge

Seems to be popular on the game market

Infinite/open world to play on may appeal the player(s)



Problem Statement

General Problemstatement

How can we create infinite and highly detailed gameworld(s) automatically that can provide the playerswith new unique experience at each game start?



What is it Procedural Content Generation

What is Procedural Content Generation?

Wikipedia’s Definition:

Procedural content generation is generating contentalgorithmically rather than manually.

My Definition:

Procedural content generation is an algorithmically way ofcreating (often pseudo random) content at runtime.

Dictionary’s Definition:

Procedural: Something that is generated from some kind ofprocedure/algorithm instead of being predefined.



Applications

Usages of Procedural Content Generation

Mostly used in 3D graphics and games.

Different kinds (more about this in a sec.)

First game using procedural content generation was Elite(1984 by FireBird).

The BBC Micro version of Elite,showing the player approachinga Coriolis space station.



Applications

Types of Procedural Content Generation

Everything is generated at runtime.

Modular generation - Everything manually created butrandomly/procedurally placed in the world.

Mixed between the two - Something is purely created fromscripts only, other things have been manually created.


Noise






Noise

Usage of Noise

Perlin Noise

Created by Ken Perlin for the Tron movie

Industrial standard

The most standard noise used in special effects

Is supported by multiple new GPUs


Noise

Usage of Noise

Types of Noise

Perlin Noise


Noise

Usage of Noise

Types of Noise

Ridged Noise/Fractal Noise


Noise

Usage of Noise

Types of Noise

Billow Noise


Noise

Usage of Noise

Types of Noise

Voronoi Noise


Noise

Usage of Noise

Game related Usage

Height map

Special effects/post rendereffects

3D, texturing, image/videoediting


Noise

Manipulating Noises

Noise Opperarions - How it Works

Works the same as in basic math

The noise maps value are between -1 - 1 or 0 - 1 or 0 - 255

1 + 1 is automatically (in Unity) clamped back to 1

More advanced operations such as displacement/turbulence,blending, select, more...


Noise

Manipulating Noises

Example - Turbulence

Turbulence(0.25)

Turbulence(1)


Noise

Manipulating Noises

Examples - Select


The Product






The Product

Chunks

What is it?

A chunk is part of a larger area, terrain or object

Is used to create the illusion that a terrain is infinite

Is controlled by a chunk loader

Each chunk is generated as an individual level


The Product

Chunks

How it Works

The chunk loader works as a world manager and a garbagecollector

Every time the player moves towards the end of the world newchunks are generated and old ones removed

The current solution could be reworked (more about this in abit)


The Product

Biomes

Biome Mapping

Biomes is often specified areas in the world

The biomes in the product is ecozones

Each biome is defined by temperature and humidity

Each biome can be unique and have its own foliage, event andheights


The Product

Biomes

Biome Mapping

+ =


The Product

Demonstration

Demonstration


Conclusion/Future Works







Project Period Review

Process

4 iterations with 3 weeks in each

Kanban flow to manage tasks and schedule

Helped to see where we were and if we were on time

Used practices from XP

Possibly nothing we would have changed

Huge learning outcome



Conclusion

The Result

An expandable world generator

Not very optimized

Optimization would require a larger rewrite

More content can create more unique worlds



Future Works

Future Works

Voxel Engine/Terrain

Multithreaded or asynchronized generation

Better biome generator (to avoid banding issues)

More content and user tasks



Thank You!

Thank You!

Questions?



Thank You!

Thank You!

Thank you for listening!

@Jacksendary

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