Procedural Map Generation

Inspired by the Wave Function Collapse Algorithm, this project delves into the generation of simple maps using rulesets.

Top Level Algorithm

1. Initialize a grid of tiles with a specified width and height. Initialize every tile with a set of tile type options O.
2. While a tile exists with a set size larger than 1:
   1. Choose a tile t and choose a tiletype o from the options for t. This step is called collapsing.
   2. Update tiles recursively with a given rule set R, which defines the possible neighbour relationships of possible tiletypes.

Choosing a tile t in step 2.1 can be implemented in several different ways. In this project it is implemented by choosing one of the tiles with the least possible options left.

Choosing a tiletype o can be implemented in several different ways. In this project o is choosen randomly from O_i.

Prerequisites

• Install gradle
• Install Groovy

How to use

• Clone the repository to your drive.
• Run cd proceduralmapgen.
• Run gradle run to run the example in the App.groovy.

Map Settings

In the App.groovy you can change the WIDTH (Width of the map), HEIGHT (Height of the map) and the SCALE (Size of the Tiles in Renderer.)

Renderers

You can choose between two renderers in the App class.

1. StepWise will show every intermediate step of the algorithm.
2. Finished will show the end result after the algorithm has completed. This will take time till the result is visualized.

Rules

Rules are tuples (TileType, TileType, Orientation), which allow defined TileType to be neighbours in a specific Orientation.

Example: The rule (T2, T1, LEFT) defines that tiles of type T2 can have left neihbours of type T1.

If you choose too strict rules, the algorithm may come in a state of contradiction, and will terminate with an error. In the future there may be a back tracking approach to reduce contradictions.

What to expect

The algorithm is not optimized yet. For large maps the algortihm will take longer time.

A good start is a 20x20 Map.

Examples

For both examples, the same ruleset was used. It is the standard ruleset defined in the App class main function.