Abstract
This work demonstrates the potentials of procedural content generation (PCG) for games, focusing on the generation of specific graphic props (reefs) in an explorer game.
We briefly portray the state-of-the-art of PCG and compare various methods to create random patterns at runtime. Taking a step towards the game industry, we describe an actual game production and provide a detailed pseudocode implementation showing how Perlin or Simplex noise can be used efficiently.
In a comparative study, we investigate two alternative implementations of a decisive game prop: once created traditionally by artists and once generated by procedural algorithms. 41 test subjects played both implementations. The analysis shows that PCG can create a user experience that is significantly more realistic and at the same time perceived as more aesthetically pleasing. In addition, the ever-changing nature of the procedurally generated environments is preferred with high significance, especially by players aged 45 and above.
- Matthew Belinkie. 2010. What makes Minecraft so addictive? Overthinking It (November 2010).Google Scholar
- Geoff Boeing. 2016. Visual analysis of nonlinear dynamical systems: Chaos, fractals, self-similarity and the limits of prediction. Systems 4, 4 (November 2016), 37.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Mihály Csíkszentmihályi. 1975. Beyond Boredom and Anxiety, San Francisco, USA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.Google Scholar
- Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, Sami Abuhamdeh, and Jeanne Nakamura. 2005. Flow. In Handbook of Competence and Motivation. New York, NY, USA: Guilford Press, 598--608.Google Scholar
- Markus Funk, Oliver Korn, and Albrecht Schmidt. 2014. An augmented workplace for enabling user-defined tangibles. In Proceedings of the ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI'14). ACM, New York, NY, USA. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Mark Hendrikx, Sebastiaan Meijer, Joeri Van DerVelden, and Alexandru Iosup. 2013. Procedural content generation for games: A survey. ACM Trans Multimed. Comput Commun Appl 9, 1 (February 2013), 1:1--1:22. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Claire Hosking. 2013. Stop dwelling on graphics and embrace procedural generation. Polygon (October 2013).Google Scholar
- Olly Jones. 2013. Polygons to pixels: The resurgence of pixel games. Gaming Illus. (September 2013).Google Scholar
- Oliver Korn, Markus Funk, Stephan Abele, Thomas Hörz, and Albrecht Schmidt. 2014. Context-aware assistive systems at the workplace: Analyzing the effects of projection and gamification. In Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Pervasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments (PETRA’14). New York, NY, USA: ACM, 38:1--38:8. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Oliver Korn, Markus Funk, and Albrecht Schmidt. 2015a. Assistive systems for the workplace: Towards context-aware assistance. In Assistive Technologies for Physical and Cognitive Disabilities, Lau Bee Theng (Ed.). IGI Global, 121--133.Google Scholar
- Oliver Korn, Adrian Rees, and Uwe Schulz. 2015b. Small-scale cross media productions: A case study of a documentary game. In Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Interactive Experiences for TV and Online Video (TVX’15). New York, NY, USA: ACM, 149--154. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Benoit B. Mandelbrot. 1982. The Fractal Geometry of Nature, San Francisco: W.H. Freeman.Google Scholar
- Marc Olano, John C. Hart, Wolfgang Heidrich, Bill Mark, and Ken Perlin. 2003. Real-time shading languages. SIGGRAPH 2002 Course 36 Notes (March 2003).Google Scholar
- C. Pedersen, J. Togelius, and G. N. Yannakakis. 2010. Modeling player experience for content creation. IEEE Trans. Comput. Intell. AI Games 2, 1 (March 2010), 54--67.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Ken Perlin. 1985. An image synthesizer. In Proceedings of the 12th Annual Conference on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques (SIGGRAPH’85). New York, NY, USA: ACM, 287--296. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Ken Perlin. 1999. Making noise. (September 1999).Google Scholar
- Markus Persson. 2011. Terrain generation, Part 1. World Notch (March 2011).Google Scholar
- Jesse Schell. 2015. The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses Second edition., Boca Raton: CRC Press. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Noor Shaker, Julian Togelius, and Mark J. Nelson. 2016. Fractals, noise and agents with applications to landscapes. In Procedural Content Generation in Games. Computational Synthesis and Creative Systems. Springer International Publishing, 57--72.Google Scholar
- Gillian Margaret Smith. 2012. Expressive Design Tools: Procedural Content Generation for Game Designers. Santa Cruz, USA: University of California.Google Scholar
- David Thue and Vadim Bulitko. 2012. Procedural game adaptation: Framing experience management as changing an mdp. In Eighth Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment Conference.Google Scholar
- Julian Togelius, Tróndur Justinussen, and Anders Hartzen. 2012. Compositional procedural content generation. In Proceedings of the Third Workshop on Procedural Content Generation in Games (PCG’12). New York, NY, USA: ACM, 16:1--16:4. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Julian Togelius, Emil Kastbjerg, David Schedl, and Georgios N. Yannakakis. 2011. What is procedural content generation?: mario on the borderline. In Proceedings of the 2nd International Workshop on Procedural Content Generation in Games (PCGames’11). New York, NY, USA: ACM, 3:1--3:6. Google ScholarDigital Library
- G. N. Yannakakis and J. Togelius. 2011. Experience-driven procedural content generation. IEEE Trans. Affect. Comput. 2, 3 (July 2011), 147--161. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Günter M. Ziegler. 2013. Mathematik - Das Ist Doch Keine Kunst, Munich, Germany: Knaus.Google Scholar
Index Terms
- Procedural Content Generation for Game Props? A Study on the Effects on User Experience
Recommendations
Understanding procedural content generation: a design-centric analysis of the role of PCG in games
CHI '14: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing SystemsGames that use procedural content generation (PCG) do so in a wide variety of ways and for different reasons. One of the most common reasons cited by PCG system creators and game designers is improving replayability by providing a means for ...
Design metaphors for procedural content generation in games
CHI '13: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing SystemsProcedural content generation (PCG), the algorithmic creation of game content with limited or indirect user input, has much to offer to game design. In recent years, it has become a mainstay of game AI, with significant research being put towards the ...
Adaptable game experience through procedural content generation and brain computer interface
SIGGRAPH '16: ACM SIGGRAPH 2016 PostersFor high skilled players, an easy game might become boring and for low skilled players, a difficult game might become frustrating. This research's goal is to offer players a personalized experience adapted according to their performance and levels of ...
Comments