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Description
In this paper a comprehensive methodology for procedural generation of cave-like areas is introduced. The method focuses on creating interchangeable tiles that can be used in applications such as computer games. When this field is considered, any algorithm needs to both, follow the user specifications and be able to produce satisfactory and modifiable content at an interactive rate. Solution presented in this paper aims to meet both of those requirements.
Schematic images are incorporated as input, with each specifying the main path that the cave should take, along with passages to neighbouring tiles. This data can either be provided by the user, or generated according to specifications from basic pre-sets, stating connections and types of passages. After generating or uploading the main route that traverses the tile, the system is then extended to incorporate natural looking shapes with cave-like features. The approach uses cellular automata to build the overall system shape, making sure that it will follow a specified path, realizing user defined connections. The basic version of the algorithm can produce realistic looking shapes, but is hard to control, and can take significant amount of time to compute for larger tiles. Therefore a modified version was used, where instead of running the method on the entire tile, smaller sub-shapes are generated and connected to the basic system sketch. Such operations successively extend the general layout, ensuring that it will follow the specified path, while still obtaining the natural-looking and visually interesting shapes created by the Cellular Automata algorithm. With the final system prepared, the model is ready for further edition, including the assignment of material and texture, inserting various game-related objects, and final preparation of the resulting model for the incorporation in the actual computer game.
The generation process and results visualization was prepared in Blender application using custom scripts and Blender Geometry Nodes. The application was chosen since any model prepared with it can be easily converted to various game engines. At the same time, since it is mainly used for 3D modelling, the generation results can be further edited and modified straight away, without any additional steps. Furthermore, different versions of the generated tiles can be obtained at an interactive rate, allowing the designer an easy choice between them, or readily available, interchangeable tile set. During the experiments, different generation parameters were tested, with design and game-related requirements in mind. Final objects generated by the solution can be used either as a base for further modelling, or as a stand-alone terrain model for 3D games.
