PROCJAM 2023
PROCJAM is back! The game jam, that is about making something that makes something, started its 2023 edition on itch.io. I am afraid I won’t have time to submit anything although the rules are very relaxed: You can even submit after the end date of December 10.
Be that as it may, I at least want to get on top of some resources on procedurally generated levels, that have been in my bookmarks for ages:
- Becky Lavender’s talk Applying Generated Content to an Existing Game from PROCJAM 2016
- This talk is a high-level rundown of Becky’s Bachelor thesis The Zelda Dungeon Generator: Adopting Generative Grammars to Create Levels for Action-Adventure Games that deals with the procedural generation of dungeons in 2D-Zelda-likes
- Becky and her thesis advisor Tommy Thompson also submitted this to the Foundations of Digital Games (FDG) conference: Extended abstract of Adventures in Hyrule: Generating Missions & Maps for Action Adventure Games
- Solarus, the open-source game engine they used in their research
- Jamis Buck’s book Mazes for Programmers
- Mapping adventure games with Trizbort.io
If you have the slightest interest in procedural generation or generative art, I can highly recommend checking out PROCJAM’s resources, talks, and zines—it is a magical rabbit hole to go down. Have fun if you decide to enter the jam!
I will report back if I manage to hack something together.
I Did Not Manage to Hack Something Together
I expected as much. But I managed to get on top of the resources mentioned above. So here is a maze I procedurally generated for you to enjoy:
Try to get from the southwest to the northeast corner.
Also: Make sure to check out Rob Dawson’s online Maze Generator that he created after reading Jamis Buck’s book. I recommend both.