Randomly Generated Maps for GW

[Duck_42]

I wonder if you could generate many maps that are all very similar to each other. This way you could create a planetary look and feel and each time you jump in, it's a slightly different map. Eg: Sometimes there is a river, but there are always big shiny green mountains, and there are lots of purple lakes. There are no trees.

With some tweaking, yes this is achievable. However, someone would have to create planet templates for every planet. A planet template would need to include the height map template, a list of stratum, the lighting parameters, the water parameters, and the list of possible props.

I'm already doing that for the stratum and props, and it wouldn't be a big change to add water and lighting.

The real challenge would be in designing the height map templates. Ideally, there would be one for each planet, and it would be meaningfully distinct from the other height map templates. Obviously, we could re-use some and just change the other variables, but that's still a lot of new height map templates that need to be created.

In order to do this "on the fly" though, the map generator will need to generate a playable and "mostly" balanced map every time. I don't have it at that point yet (not saying it isn't doable, just that it's not there yet).

I do appreciate the suggestions. Unfortunately, it'll take a while to get these types of improvements in the map generator if I'm the only one working on it.

[nine2]

In two weeks I will have some free time for the first time in a few months, and then I'm in.

[pip]

I've checked some of the maps, and aside some small issues, they seem indeed decent enough for GW.

Here is an issue I got with one of the map though, Itania VII : shader on cliff is pink, looks a bit weird.

Also, there a lot of maps with green theme in GW already, so maybe you can generate more red theme and gray theme maps.

EDIt: other issue I spotted : on Ledan IX, some trees are in the air, when they are on slopes. Maybe it can be fixed in your code.

[Iszh]

I checked some maps from this collection:
Erusc VIII
Zeludon II
Verde Prime
Athon II
Itania VII
Stafar Gamma Minor

They all look very nice and good playable, no matter if teamgame or 1v1. They are not 100% balanced like the 1v1 map Staffa Gamma Minor because the mass spots are spread equal in ammount to player but not in position. But for GW absolutely no Problem! Everybody got the same number of mass spots one on the backside the other one in front. The distance is the same from the own base. I guess i will try (to prove that they are good playable) to play some teamgames on such Maps 1600+ when i have time. i think people who like team games on maps like pyramid and wonder also would enjoy a game on such maps.

Would be nice to get a setting like loki. A lot of different heights with connections. So far the Maps look mostly very flat and with big Mountains in between. Not much different height levels to enjoy. Also the start point mass spots could differ a bit. Maybe you could do several different settings for this. The reclaim arround the spawn points is a nice idea and looks good.

p.s. in some maps there are 9 spawn points, please make even and not to often odd number of spawn places because thats difficult to make a normal teamgame on such a map. Zeludon II looks for example very nice for a 3v3 teamgame

[Duck_42]

...some trees are in the air, when they are on slopes

Yes, I know. I noticed this when I was writing the prop placement code. The problem is the tree groups. They're fairly large, so they stick out in the air if they're on a slope. I could rotate the prop based on the normal vector of the terrain, but then you'd have trees growing out at an angle (which would look weird too). The best solution will probably be to avoid placing tree groups on slopes.

shader on cliff is pink

I've noticed some weird shader colors too. I'll have to research that. AFAIK, It doesn't show up in the map editor.

[Duck_42]

shader on cliff is pink

As I was looking through the FA terrain pixel shaders (for a totally different reason), I came across the specular color value. I loaded up the value for Itania, and it was that exact shade of pink. So, I'm pretty sure that's the problem. I've been choosing a totally random color value for it which as you noticed, can lead to some weird lighting. I'll see if I can figure out a good value to use for that setting.

[Zock]

...some trees are in the air, when they are on slopes

That is the case on some official maps too (Setons i.e.)

[Iszh]

Duck 42 your latest Maps have a problem. It is a result of the problem i already told you, you have some landscape which is slightly under water but not very deep. Also the opposite exists it is land but not high enough over water level. So far it lead only to visual effects, but for example on your map Optera III the connections to the middle island can neither be crossed with land units nor with ships. The only unit which can enter this area at all are hover units. This is definately imba.

[Hawkei]

Another way to achieve this might be to have an 81x81 height map. Then a unique map can be created every time, by cropping a region of this map of the desired size. That size being dependant on the number of players involved.

- 1v1 games are played on a 5x5 cropped map
- 2v2 games are played on a 10x10 cropped map
- 3v3 and 4v4 games should be played on 20x20 maps
- 5v5 should be played on 40x40 maps.

Once the map has been cropped to the desired size. A simple coordinate algorithm could be used to generate a balanced distribution of mass/hydro markers. Based on the location of buildable areas, and underwater regions.

[Kalvirox]

Is this project still under development?
I want progress report!