Procedural Generation Resources
Last Update: March 2019
I really like procedural content generation. Like - a lot.
Therefore I am constantly collecting and bookmarking everything PCG related I can find on the Internet, be it blog entries, talks or scientific papers.
I also frequently see questions like 'How can I start with procedural generation?' or 'Does someone have information on <PCG topic of your choice>?' on my favourite subreddit, which most often lead to me combing through my bookmarks and copying some of them to reddit.
And since I am pretty lazy, too, I now hereby declare this little piece of the internet to be my official list of references, links and other resources henceforth. I shall maintain and cherish it, so that it may grow to grandness and quality man hath not seen.
Of course there are several other hubs out there, collections of knowledge. Some of them are:
If you find any mistakes or dead links, or if you don't find something you think should be on here, contact me at beyer@firespark.de or on reddit.
Contents
Terrain generated with WorldMachine
In General
- Practical Procedural Generation for Everyone - Talk
A talk by Kate Compton at GDC 2017 in which she explains the many surprisingly simple algorithms of procedural content generation and how to use simple data structures to control complex content-generators that are scalable, flexible, and surprisingly powerful. - Making Things Up: The Power and Peril of PCG - Talk
Nathan Sturtevant, Gillian Smith & Julian Togelius give a general classification of PCD with pros & cons at GDC 2015 - Technical Artist Bootcamp: Introduction to Proceduralism - Talk
Luiz Kruel discusses geometry processing and automation of common art tasks for technical artists at GDC 2017 - Procedural Content Generation in Games - Book
I can recommend this book to everyone doing anything with procedural generation, beginners to experts. It may not cover every single detail in every area, but it gives a nice overview over a lot of PCG topics and might introduce even a veteran to one or two new approaches. It has around 230 pages and I enjoyed the most of it.
This is what the authors say: 'This is, as far as we know, the first textbook about procedural content generation in games, aka PCG. As far as we know it is also the first book-length overview of the research field. We hope you find it useful, whether you are studying in a course, on your own, or are a researcher.'
It is freely available, but can be bought as hardcover version. - Extra Credits: Procedural Generation - Video
Pros and cons of procedural generation in games.
Basic Techniques
Noise
Midpoint Displacement
Poisson Disk Sampling
Curves
Voronoi Diagrams
Cellular Automata
Grammars and L-Systems
Mazes / Labyrinths
Wave Function Collapse
The Creation of...
Here is a list of talks/articles in which developers talk about how they used procedural generation in their games. All of them also fit into Level Generation.
Topics
Terrain
Erosion
Map Generation
Dungeon / Level Generation
Floor Plans / Buildings
Cities
Plants
Modular Level Design
Not directly procedural generation, but might be helpful.
Narrative
Texture
Animation
- Creating the Art of ABZU - Talk
Unsorted Stuff
References for me that still need a look up and a sorting
From time to time I'm sorting through this stuff, but with everything I see and categorize I find new stuff to add to the end of the list...
Disclaimer: Obviously most of the resources linked to on this site are not my intellectual property.
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