University Dissertation Artifact

PCG Dungeon Generator

Key Responsibilities & Contributions:

Complete Project Development

As the sole developer, I was responsible for the entire lifecycle of the project, from research and planning to execution. This included conducting in-depth research on established PCG algorithms, understanding their mechanics, and implementing these algorithms within the Unity framework to create a functional and informative artifact.

• Algorithm Integration: Researched and integrated multiple PCG algorithms, implementing each to demonstrate their unique approaches to dungeon generation.

• User Interface Design: Designed and implemented a minimalistic, grey-boxed UI layout using Unity's default assets, prioritizing functionality over aesthetics to focus attention on the algorithms' output.

• Project Demonstration: Developed a flexible, parameter-driven system that enables users to dynamically adjust dungeon generation characteristics. This system allows for hands-on exploration of how different algorithms handle changes in dungeon size, room count, and corridor layout.

Recursive Backtracking algorithms.

Platform: PC
Team Size: 1
Project Duration: 5 months
Engine & Tools: Unity, Photoshop, YouTube

Project Overview:

For my university dissertation, I developed a PC-based artifact focused on procedural content generation (PCG) methods for dungeon generation. This project explored various PCG algorithms commonly applied in dungeon generation, analyzing their strengths and limitations. The artifact is an interactive application that demonstrates each algorithm's capabilities by allowing users to adjust map parameters, such as dungeon size, number of rooms, and corridor configurations. This adjustable functionality offers insight into the flexibility and constraints of each algorithm.

In this project, each algorithm includes a visual demonstration of its process, with real-time prompts at the top of the interface that allows users to customize dungeon parameters. Users can adjust room sizes, add doors, and modify corridor layouts, enabling a highly interactive and tailored experience. This functionality provides users with the flexibility to configure the dungeon layout according to their preferences, showcasing the unique characteristics and adaptability of each algorithm.

Gameplay & Mechanics:

This Project Demonstrates six of the most commonly used PCG methods in the game industry these being The Cellular Automata, Binary Space Partitioning, Perlin noise, Recursive Division, Drunkard walk Algorithm, and the Recursive Backtracking algorithms. This project explored various PCG algorithms commonly applied in dungeon generation, analyzing their strengths and limitations. The artifact is an interactive application that demonstrates each algorithm's capabilities by allowing users to adjust map parameters, such as dungeon size, number of rooms, and corridor configurations. This adjustable functionality offers insight into the flexibility and constraints of each algorithm.

The Algorithms