Map generator - how does it work?

[JustasJ]

Is the code of map generator made public? How does it work? How does it's mechanics work?

[FritzPL]

Maps are generated totally randomly I guess. But it may be also made by hand of loftar because we had only 3 worlds before,and each world there is one,new and big map.

[JustasJ]

"Generated randomly" is not an answer. I'm interested in the algorithms they use.

[DatOneGuy]

iirc there's no such thing as truly 'random' in computers.

Don't think it's public, I'm also interested though.

[spectacle]

iirc there's no such thing as truly 'random' in computers.

True, but the difference between true randomness and a well coded pseudorandom generator is purely academic, you'll never notice any difference in real-life applications.

[brohammed]

Guys, I hacked the game code and found the terrain generator.

Code: Select all

10 {spawn [$coniferous_forest] "everywhere"}
20 {spawn [$deciduous_forest] "in blobs"}
30 {spawn [$heath,$grassland,$moor,$swamp,$marsh,$overgrown] "in smaller blobs"}
40 {spawn [$lakes] "in penis shapes"}
50 {spawn [$rivers] "connect rivers"}
60 Supergrid Complete
70 goto 10, repeat till all supergrids are done

[DigDog]

Guys, I hacked the game code and found the terrain generator.

Code: Select all

10 {spawn [$coniferous_forest] "everywhere"}
20 {spawn [$deciduous_forest] "in blobs"}
30 {spawn [$heath,$grassland,$moor,$swamp,$marsh,$overgrown] "in smaller blobs"}
40 {spawn [$lakes] "in penis shapes"}
50 {spawn [$rivers] "connect rivers"}
60 Supergrid Complete
70 goto 10, repeat till all supergrids are done

I lol'd.

[Lothaudus]

I lol'd too but I don't think loftar would defile himself by actually using "goto".

Then again, there was that divide by zero error with the beehives...

[PLEP]

40 {spawn [$lakes] "in penis shapes"}

ROFL
I thought I'm the only perverted one that noticed lakes looking like penises

[loftar]

It would potentially be a bit boring to publicize the code, since it might potentially reveal some secrets that can currently only be found by exploring. I wouldn't mind doing it after it's been replaced with a new map generator, though. Except the potential exploration issues, the current map generator is nothing I feel particularly secretive (or proud) about. :)

I can tell you that it's written in Python, at least. I also wouldn't mind handing out the code that generates the "patch" shapes (it uses libgd for drawing), if that's what you're interested in.

By the way;

[...]I don't think loftar would defile himself by actually using "goto".

While goto's reputation is understandably bad, the reaction against it is often exaggerated, too. The flow control in C is quite limited, and doesn't lend itself well to a lot of things, such as multi-level break or continue, or other non-local exits of structured blocks -- see the Linux kernel source for constant goto usage to emulate unwind-protection, for example.