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Automated video game world map synthesis by model-based techniques

Published:26 October 2020Publication History

ABSTRACT

World maps contribute a significant part of the interactivity and entertainment to modern video games. While large-scale industrial world map generation tools exist, their use usually implies a substantial learning curve, and the cost of licences restricts the accessibility of these tools to individual game developers.

In this paper, we introduce a world map generator for Unity-based games that exploits model-based techniques. After the game-specific concepts of the world map are captured and turned into a metamodel, the world map generation problem is first formulated as a consistent graph generation problem solved by a state-of-the-art model generator. This graph model is subsequently refined into a concrete world within the Unity game engine by (1) mapping the abstract graph elements into Unity game objects and (2) creating a height map based on user-defined properties with the Perlin Noise technique. Demonstration video: https://youtu.be/03BbD61EKpk

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          cover image ACM Conferences
          MODELS '20: Proceedings of the 23rd ACM/IEEE International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems: Companion Proceedings
          October 2020
          713 pages
          ISBN:9781450381352
          DOI:10.1145/3417990

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          • Published: 26 October 2020

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