Level Generation

[danprince]

Generate basic levels that include a variety of objects. Maybe build from prefabs?

[danprince]

Current idea for level generation is to break it down into a level template and a layout template.

The level template will be responsible for setting the size of the stage and keeping track of the objects that can/should be spawned there.

The layout template determines the shape and type of terrain on the stage and can come in multiple different forms:

• Room/prefab layout
  • min/max room constraints
  • required rooms
  • weighted random rooms
• Cave layout?
• Digger layout?
• Maze layout?

There'd be a handler function for each layout type that could be responsible for building a level object from the layout.

A few things to think about:

• Custom conditions
  • Give a level/room/object some way to have a named condition that could be evaluated against the current game state to check whether it was possible
• How would prefabs be stitched together? Mark on entrances and pair them? Or draw connectors?
• Store network connections?
• Do the templates need to be available at runtime? Or can they be flattened into the stage?
• How are seeds passed through this process?

[danprince]

Managed to figure out a few components here:

• The level does need to be available for the stage. That will allow me to add level specific behaviours that don't need to be fully data-driven. E.g. if (stage.meta.level.name === "crypt") { ... }.
• The stage can be built directly from a level definition: Stage.fromLevel(level)
• All terrain types should support prefabs (pretty sure DCSS uses prefabs in their cave levels to make them more interesting—see screenshot below). There's no reason prefabs can't be allowed to overlap