Procedural RPG Map Generator

I have to say that it was one of my favourite challenges. At the beginning, the idea about AI and content generation was too general and full of layers of development. My first attempt designing a system to generate maps was an idea of covering too much implementation layers. I had to take measures about what a single human can do in a very restricted period of time, sharing time with other five university modules.

I was thinking about a very accurate design of a map, loots, enemy spawn systems, adaptation to the player level.. everything needed to play it. The result of my researches impulsed me to change the point of view of this project to other perspectives.

At last, I decided to proceed designing my final year project following some realistic ideas. How to create a procedural map generator for an RPG game in a limited period of time, programming alone and supposing that I am in a small indie company with a small investment.

And the result: two independent modules working together. The first, a windows executable file programed in C++, generating the topologies and all required tests for a correct playable map. The second, a tile-based system created in Unity3D that generates the visualisation and navigation of the map from the Unity executable file. It was a kind of simulation of a server that creates maps in a very light format and, a device executable taking that sent data to generate the visual environment. I have also developed a tool for designers to create the map from a png file with a simple color code of pure white and black for locked and open tiles.