Procedural Content Generation

Other Courses Ideas
#1

One of the most voted cards in the former Ben’s Trello roadmap, I definitively think this shouldn’t be forgotten. Procedural Content Generation is not only the future of game programming, it’s already here at full speed in title’s as diverse as Civilization, Minecraft and No Man’s Sky. More importantly, although it is not always acknowledged, PCG is also one of the most powerful techniques for indie developers, since it can cut down time and resources for small teams trying to deliver big or diverse content in their game, no to mention re-playability.

Ideas for the course to include:

  1. Dungeon generation
  2. Weapon creation
  3. Terraforming
  4. Random Stats
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Question about this course
#2

I would love this course

2 Likes
#3

I too would love to see this course brought to life. Procedural content is something I really want to sink my teeth into. Preferably with Unity. :grin:

2 Likes
#4

Procedural is a massive topic. What goals do you have for it?

#5

I would like to learn how to create procedural worlds for an 3d survival game like Minecraft (don’t have to be blocks though), 2d procedural map for a multiplayer arena-like game and also use procedural to create random skins/stats for RTS unities. I think that the usage of procedural creation can give deepness to the game and make it feel a bit alive

2 Likes
#6

Although it’s a bit a-typical, I would like to learn how to procedurally generate stories, civilisations and lore, like the legendary Dwarf Fortress world generator. I had an idea a few years ago for a game about discovery that would benefit from randomised in-game history like that.

3 Likes
#7

In a rework of Unity’s course built on 6.0 (know been renamed to Unity 2017), you could make a basic game. Maybe something as simple as Zombie Runner FPS. In another pledge (so we pay seperately to start learning PCG) we take the assets for the different zones (e.g. Forrest Zone, Housing Zone, Carpark Zone) and patch them together.

[Theory, unsure if possible] Learn how to morph the terrain through code (so that it connects the different zones).

Take a empty zone and add 4-5 different spawn points on it, along with a set off assets that could spawn (or not) on each point, so when the zone spawns in, it can be different each time (think Binding of Isacc random-generated floor tiles for each room, random items, random layout).

You could have a project idea as basic as being locked in a building, the corridor layout being procedural generation and the escape requiring a key spawning in a randomized location (if it were on top of the zombie runner then there’d probably also be zombies chasing you :stuck_out_tongue:)

I realize that I’m throwing out random ideas now. The game is not the real priority when it comes to this project. It is more the access to enough assets (so that the procedural generation will have a range of things to choose from) and the a clear comprehensible basis of the code is explained/written with us so that we know how to apply it in most (if not all) situations we can think off.

2 Likes
#8

Some Ideias:

procedural / infinity terrain generation
procedural planet generation

actually this is my goal, be able to create a game where you can explore randomly created planets, with deferent creatures, challenges etc.

3 Likes
#9

I already posted this as a comment elsewhere, but JSON or other external data support for Unity would be awesome, especially for something like procedural content generation! On two of my most recently published games, I’ve used curated procedural content as a way of rapidly creating sufficient content (we’re a two person studio, so efficiency matters!) The idea is you procedurally create the content, but then save it in a data format, so you can hand-edit it later. Yes, you could spend time tweaking your procedural parameters to get better output, but honestly, doing the last stage of editing by hand is faster and better…if you have data support for it! :slight_smile:

Ben, Sam, and team, thank you again so much for these fantastic tutorials!

-Ellen

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#10

I’d like to learn how to create procedural 2D and 3D maps.

1 Like
#11

This would probably be the single most helpful course you guys could do. Hoping to see more about this soon!

1 Like
#12

I’m interested in this subject because I would like to make an endless racing game with 3D terrain. I don’t know how to make the random terrain from a procedurally generated mesh.

#13

Procedural levels, interiors, exteriors, buildings, props e.t.c. Using houdini and houdini engine its interesting idea, i think…

#14

I like Quinn DP idea:

  • “we take the assets for the different zones (e.g. Forrest Zone, Housing Zone, Carpark Zone) and patch them together.”

It would be great to learn how to create these zones / environments similar to what was suggested in the “Environments in Blender” post

1 Like
#15

If you decide to do a PCG course, count me in! I’m really enjoying Harebrained Scheme’s Necropolis with its generated dungeons, so gaining some insights into the tricks of the trade in dungeon generation would be great. Another very interesting topic would be planet generation as in Frontier: Elite series of games.

#16

I wrote a game fully procedurally generated in XNA but Unity is a whole new ballgame. I’d love to learn how to take my dungeon generation and terrain generation and implement them in Unity. Up Vote!

#17

PCG course seems the most promising and practical course idea compared to others! I also vote for this.

#18

I’ve seen some assets in Unity store that work on procedural generated terrain but it doesn’t look like it saves the info once it creates it. I would be nice to retrace your steps and see the same terrain instead of something completely different.

#19

IMO, really interesting course.

#20

I vote for this one!

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