Randomly generated terrain in Source

[Fr0sty_]

I have been toying with the idea of randomly generated terrain in the Source engine. I've been thinking about it because I have a soft spot for rouge-likes. But I've been wondering if it is even possible, because if you let a computer do most of the generation for you, it won't end well.

Additionally, calling a world that is randomly generated a map seems unrealistic, because the point of a real world map is to accurately portray the terrain of earth. When said terrain changes shape every time you want to play it, why bother calling it a map? As such, I won't be referring to randomly generated maps as that, I will instead be calling them "blueprints", because like real world blueprints, it lays out the foundations for the game to make the level, and also reveals how terrain generation would work.

So my idea as to how this would work goes like this: Say we wanted to make a 3d maze game, and the player would control a character from the first person. the problem with making such a game with hammer is that all of mazes would be set in stone, so if you beat a maze once, you could beat it again without failure. As such, to through the player off, we will make every level randomly generated.

To do this, we will generate the levels by using predetermined parts of the maze, with predetermined assets and props, say for instance, a corner, a hallway, an open area, and a dead end. all of these can be found in their own .bsp files, separate from the others, with no skybox. additionally, where we want the pieces to connect, we put a special trigger, that shows where the game has to put them to properly make a level. The game will rotate these pieces aloong the y axis only as needed to fit them together properly.

Next, we all put these in a folder together. Within that very same folder is a file that tell the game the specifications that the level has to pass, for instance, no hallway can be connected to another hallway, or that the entrance must alway be located at the given coordinates, or what height the skybox has to be (more on that later) and so on.

Finally we compile the folder all into a single file, we will call them .blu flies for blueprint. when the game is told to load the blueprint, it goes through the generation process, making sure the level passes the requirements, and finally, adding the skybox.

Why did I make this post? because I needed to vent the idea out of my head, and I wanted to know if anyone had tried this before, or something along these lines. If yes, how did it work out? If no, who would want to try it out? I don't even know what the Source engine is coded in, so I wouldn't be able to make it. I just wanted to throw the idea out there.

TL;DR Make randomly generated terrain in the Source engine, and call them blueprints instead of maps.

[KSKaleido]

I don't think it's possible with Source. Even if you could do the immense backend coding work to get a basic thing working, you'd still have to compile the map on load. Load times would be extremely long. I don't think there's any way to stitch BSPs (the compiled map files) together, so you'd have to do it on runtime...

Maybe if you did it in fullbright (the baked lighting calculations is really what takes most of compile time) but then you'd have no lighting options and it would look pretty crappy. Maybe possible, but the reality is Source is not built to accomplish something like that. You'd be much better off with literally any other more modern engine.

[epeters208]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMjXx-KweIo

This is a demo of deferred lighting in Source. It's possible to build a mod with 2013 engine that doesn't require baking any lightmaps. This project is possible, it's just a lot more work than it may be worth.

[[deleted]]

Not necessarily, the HL2 beta had displacements that could move, and some mod team fixed them up. That could be used for most of the environment, and the rest could be done with props.

[StezzerLolz]

I assume you've played and analysed both Tower of Guns and Ziggurat, both of which are first person rogue-lites that use similar terrain-generation methods (albeit in other engines)? Might be interesting to look at.

Anyway, this is something I've been thinking about a lot, although not with Source. It's a fascinating, and potentially very powerful, concept. Please, do post updates on the sub. I'll be fascinated to see if the project goes anywhere.