A peek at cellular automata (2/2)

Let’s see how to use a cellular automaton to make a RPG map generator :)

Yesterday, I talked about cellular automata, and more precisely Conway’s Game Of Life. To continue on this topic, I searched for small applications we can derive from the concept of cellular automaton and I eventually settled for one: a RPG-like top-view map generator.

As we saw previously, the idea behind cellular automata is to discretize space and time to model dynamic systems more easily. For this map generator, I decided to only focus on the space-discretization part.

My goal was to make a simple tool to create basic maps. Nothing fancy, just RPG-like top-view area-based maps with a few types of grounds (grass, forest, water…). For example, those maps could be used as a support for a role-playing session where you want the players to travel from city to city, and you present them with an image to help them understand what your fictional land looks like.

I looked at a few tutorials more dedicated to Dungeon or Cave Levels generation (like these three ones), but I adapted the ideas to create top-view maps like this one: