Changed the path generation algorithm.

[hojjatjafary]

Pull Request as discussed in: https://github.com/silverua/slay-the-spire-map-in-unity/issues/18

[silverua]

@hojjatjafary Thanks for making the PR! The path generation seems to be working well, but one regression that I noticed is - it ignores the code that gets rid of the X paths, so we can now get this:

If you know an easy fix for this, feel free to edit the PR. I am traveling till next Tuesday, Dec 13th. Can have a look after 13th and check how to restore X paths elimination.

[hojjatjafary]

Seems the cross edge issue is fixed.

[silverua]

The cross paths issue is fixed. Thank you!

Sorry if I seem overly picky. I was testing it a bit more after the change and noticed that:

• This new algorithm produces less branching on the map compared to the old one. Is it because it generates less paths? Would it be more similar to the old generator if it was set up to generate more paths?
• Really common pattern that I am noticing with this algorithm is this:

  I.e. - some branching on top and a long isolated straight path in the lower part of the map. The algorithm seems to consistently prefer to put this long path in the lower part of the map.

Any thoughts on this?

[hojjatjafary]

The previous algorithm generated many paths in a while loop, I commented in the code where you can add a parameter to generate more paths so you will see more branching and feel more randomness.

[silverua]

To test this out, I've generated 5x more paths by making a small local change: int numOfPaths = 5 * Mathf.Max(numOfStartingNodes, numOfPreBossNodes);

It helped introduce more branching, but the pattern "long single path in lower lane" is still very common:

For example, during this test run, I generated 14 maps. 10 of them had this long lower path. 10/14. Which seems like a lot. I think, it may become a predictable pattern for the users if this is kept as-is.

[hojjatjafary]

Should be fixed now, there was a small issue in random generation.

[silverua]

Thank you! The recent change looks really good. I pushed a commit with the change that you suggested to add an option to generate more paths into the map config. It added a bunch of whitespace changes, so please tick "hide whitespace" when viewing to only see the actual change that was made. Let me know how you find it. I'm happy to merge at this point.

[hojjatjafary]

It is better if the config value just added up to the maximum value, we need to generate at least 'max(startingPoints, prebossPoints)' paths to have a valid map.

[silverua]

Sorry for the delay. Just got back home. How about this version? (I.e. - adding more paths instead of overriding the total amount)

[hojjatjafary]

Looks good.

[Chizaruu]

Close #18 since it's merged :)

[silverua]

@Chizaruu Closed