The replayability of a game (which is the measure of how often the game can be replayed without becoming an unengaging experience) is absolutely important to the development and design of the project. If the replayability is high, the game can double or triple in value, since it can be played again and again. The most recent approach for improving replayability of a game has been randomizing the content of the game, such that each playthrough of the game is unique from all other playthroughs. But the algorithms for randomization can be complex, and if not implemented with care, may randomize a game that is impossible to win or isn't engaging to play. Inspired by the design of the "Legend of Zelda" for the NES, we've assembled an algorithm that will procedurally generate a random dungeon for our game. The dungeon is an orthogonal data structure of rooms, each room connected with other rooms as a part of the critical path to defeat the game. The algorithm supports a system of distributing keys and locks, methods of increasing or decreasing the length of the dungeon, and an engine for decorating each room via templates. By randomizing the dungeon, we improve replayability by 200%. The algorithm will be featured in the game our university is submitting to the Indie Game Festival Student Competition this year.

1. The Legend of Zelda and
the NullPointerException
Procedurally Generating Game Worlds
Using Critical Path Algorithms

2. Outline
● Examples of Randomized Games
● Introduction of our IGF Submission
● Analysis of Procedural Generation
● Breakdown of Critical Path Algorithms

6. Andrew McPherson
● I study at UTC.
● I work for Bellhops.
● I make videogames.
● I talk really fast when I get excited.
(that’s me!)

8. five students, eight weeks, a lot of stress

10. Random Zelda-esque Dungeons

11. DunGEN(for generating dungeons!!)
● Dungeon Structure
● Critical Path Algorithm
● Key/Door Distribution
● Room Layout Design
● Tile Set Definition

13. DunGEN: Dungeon Structure
● Tiles had an image of 32x32 pixels.
● Rooms had an array of 11x9 tiles.
● Dungeons had a hashmap of rooms.
○ tiley vs roomy
○ r-coords vs d-coords
○ room-2-room

14. DunGEN: Critical Path Algorithm
1. Initiate the dungeon with a room.
2. Drop the hero into that room.

15. 3. Append rooms for the critpath.
4. Put the objective in the final room.
DunGEN: Critical Path Algorithm
“critical path”
The shortest path
for the players to
reach objectives.

16. DunGEN: Critical Path Algorithm
4. Add rooms along the critpath.
major vs minor
A major room is
essential. A minor
room is optional.

17. 5. For each segment, put a door on the
last major room, and a key in a
random minor room.
DunGEN: Key/Door Distribution

18. DunGEN: Room Layout Design
Each room was “predesigned” as data.
TileD for .tmx Notepad for .xml

19. DunGEN: Tile Set Definition
Each room (or segment
of rooms) are assigned a
tileset, which provides the
images to the tiles.

20. To Conclude
1. Randomizing your
game can improve
your replayability.
1. Developing a game
can be a lot of fun!
(and we’re not done yet!)

23. Thank you!!
Craig Tanis Joey Shiraef

24. Thank you for listening!
● Github: github.com/computc/nothingness
● Trello: trello.com/b/rzCWqT18/gamedev
● Website: arcym.github.io/nothingness
● Tumblr: mocsarcade.tumblr.com
Any Questions? :D