BehindTheHedge: Random Maps

Sun, 2014-06-08 16:04 — sheepluva

In a recent post I briefly mentioned that unC0Rr and nemo are working on improving random map generation.

In this post I will talk a bit more about this topic. Big Grin

First of all I collected some new previews, in order to make this little gif-animation, which will keep distracting your eyes while you read this post (you're welcome!):

As you (hopefully) can see, the resulting maps look more diverse than those we had in the past.

How does Hedgewars generate random maps?

Randomly generated maps are mostly just random changes to curves that describe the shape of the landscape.
Those curves are predefined in templates.
Two generated maps will sometimes look similar, if they are based on the same template. Even although the maps are not actually the same.

Why did you decide to change map generation?

We want the generated maps to be as interesting and diverse as possible.
And we hope to reduce the amount of "déjà vu"-experiences while generating maps.
Also: Geek

Science must be done!

What about map generation is being changed?

We started to use Perlin noise (explanation by Matt Zucker - pictures!) to make the landscape curves curvier; to give them more detail. This results in more interesting shapes.

We also have been experimenting with "pure" Perlin noise maps.
Those are maps that are not based on any curve templates:

Perlin noise is generated for the whole map
The result is split into its bright and dark areas to decide where land is and where isn't.
After that some parts are added/removed/tweaked to make it an interesting battlefield (e.g. removal of ceilings in a non-cavern map)

nemo predicts/hopes there will be "perlin land" and "perlin tunnels" in next release.

Talk about release... next release date plz?

MuwahahahahAHAHAHAHA... we'll see.

Or as Koda said: "we cannot confirm nor deny that there will be a release"

Girder

Feel free to let us know of your opinion or any arising questions!

PS: I plan to make BehindTheHedge a series about hedgewars development.
The idea is to give insight into what the developers are doing without getting too technical.
(But there might be links to deeper, technical explanations - for those who care).

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Mon, 2014-06-09 00:15

Star and Moon

This is really awesome, making random more random. In an unrelated note I want to play hedgewars again and make hedgewars comics again but I keep forgetting to rip the files off my old cpu's hard drive...

In an even unrelateder note how do you make those images or use inkscape in general.

Mon, 2014-06-09 01:00

sheepluva

Star and Moon allegedly wrote:

In an even unrelateder note how do you make those images or use inkscape in general.

Hm.

first I image-search stuff so that I have a better idea of how it should look (e.g. in this case sherlock holmes hat, maybe also should have searched hedge, in hindsight...)
I Then I start off Hedgehog.svg or any previous svg I used for those blog banners.
I keep stuff in layers, so that I can LOCK the stuff that I don't want to touch by accident. (I had 4 layers here: hat, hog, glass, and hedge).
for tricky situations I started using masks. E.g. for the binary text in the glass: I put a white filled circle on a block of text, selected both, right clicked -> set mask. that way only the text within the circle stays visible. (and masks can even be released again! =D)
when I get to a point where the absence of artistic talent/skill becomes a problem I either give up, try harder or try to find another solution/workaround to make the picture look less horrible. In this case I used "another solution" for the hedge -> because I can't draw a hedge I took the LandTex.png of jungle theme, colorify'd it green in gimp and slapped in on the hedge

Tue, 2014-06-10 23:39

mikade

Nice post! The experimental terrain gen is one of the first things I noticed last time I spun up my development clone. It will be neat if this can make it into the next stable release, whenever that is.

Lately I've been updating my old HedgeEditor and making it compatible with the latest version(s). I'm also working on the concept of a few racer maps that use weapons/utilities outside of rope.