Re: Is this list still alive?

[Jan Ekholm <chakie@infa.abo.fi>]

On Fri, 12 Jan 2001, Joel Utting wrote:

>So...does anyone want to start a competition to see who can write the
>best mathematically generated game ? As little as possible stored data,
>and the focus on huge game worlds (generated) and lots of generated
>objects. 

I would be interested in such a thing. Mainly the random creation of maps
that could be used as a base for a map editor. It is much nicer to create
a map for a scenario if you don't have to start out with just a green
plain...

One way, which is quite common, is to use "fractals" to generate the
height curves for a map. Well fractals are just plain wrong here, plain
recursion is what it really is. Just randomize heights for the corners of
a map, subdivied the map into four equal rects and randomize the heights
of the corners of this submap too. Continue recursion until the submap is
a 1x1 tile. If you want water define the height for a "watermark". All
land above this mark is land, below is water. This algorithm can be nicely
tuned for all kinds of effects, and is very suitable for 3D-landscapes. A
future version of our game Civil will use full 3D landscapes. Currently we
use hexbased landscapes, and I haven't figured out how to nicely map these
kinds of generated landscapes to that format.


--------------------+--------------------------------------------------------
Jan 'Chakie' Ekholm |     Balrog New Media    http://www.balrog.fi/
   Linux Inside     | I'm the blue screen of death, nobody hears your screams


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