Manual design of levels can be an expensive and time consuming process. Procedural content generation (PCG) entails methods to algorithmically generate game content such as levels. One such way is by using cellular automata (CA), and in particular evolved cellular automata. Existing research primarily considers specifically determined starting states, as opposed to randomly initialized ones. In this paper we investigate the current state of the art regarding using CA’s that have been evolved with a genetic algorithm (GA) for level generation purposes. Additionally, we create a level generator that uses a GA in order to evolve CA rules for the creation of maze-like 2d levels which can be used in video games. Specifically, we investigate if it is possible to evolve CA rules that, when applied to a set of random starting states, could transform these into game levels with long solution paths and a large number of dead ends. We generate 60 levels over 6 experiments, rendering 58 playable levels. Our analysis of the levels show some flaws in certain levels, such as large numbers of unreachable cells. Additionally, the results indicate that the designed GA can be further improved upon. Finally, we conclude that it is possible to evolve CA rules that can transform a set of random starting states into game levels.

Procedural Content Generation (PCG) in games often suffers from a lack of emotional connection with the player as well as a perceived sameness. This thesis aims to design and test a tool for PCG game levels for the game To the Skies! which incorporates an emotional intention based upon the color-emotion theory proposed by Fugate and Franco, 2019.  Russell’s (1980) Circumplex Model of Affect was used as a foundation for the parameterization of emotions, which were implemented in a PCG test level for the game, developed in Unreal Engine. By adopting research through design, this thesis goes through an iterative process where the tool is under constant improvement through quantitative testing using the Self Assessment Manikin method proposed by Lang & Bradley (1994). The tests indicate that, although colors can to some degree elicit emotions, the player’s perception of the test levels did not match the expected emotional response based on color alone for all emotional states tested. The thesis concludes that, while color-emotion association can aid in generating PCG with emotional intent, additional complementary elicitors are likely required, and further tests are needed that incorporate shapes, placement, and weather patterns.

Background: Procedural content generation (PCG) has become an important subject as the demand for content in modern games has increased. Paradox Arctic is a game development studio that aims to be at the forefront of technological solutions and is therefore interested in furthering their knowledge in PCG. To this end, Paradox Arctic has expressed their interest in a collaborative effort to further explore the subject of procedural floor plan generation. Objective: The main goal of this work is to test whether a solution based on growth, subdivision or a combination thereof, can be used to procedurally generate believable and varied floor plans for game environments, while also conforming to predefined constraints. Method: A solution capable of generating floor plans with the use of growth, subdivision and a combination of both has been implemented and a survey testing the believability and variation of the generated layouts has been conducted. Results & Conclusions: While the results of the subdivision and combined solutions show that more work is necessary before the generated content can be considered believable, the growth based solution presents promising results in terms of believability when generating smaller to medium sized layouts. This believability does however come at the cost of variation. / Bakgrund: Procedural content generation (PCG) har blivit ett alltmer viktigt ämne allteftersom kravet på mängden innehåll i moderna spel har ökat. Paradox Arctic är en spelutvecklingsstudio vars målsättning är att ligga i teknologins framkant och de är därför intresserade av att vidareutveckla sin kompetens inom PCG. Av denna anledning har de uttryckt intresse för ett samarbete inom området “procedurell generering av planlösningar”. Syfte: Det huvudsakliga syftet med detta arbete är att undersöka huruvida lösningar baserade på att växa ytor, fördela ytor i mindre delar eller en kombination av dessa, kan användas för att skapa trovärdiga och varierade planlösningar för spelmiljöer, utan att bryta förutbestämda krav. Metod: En lösning som procedurellt genererar planlösningar genom att växa och/eller fördela dem har implementerats och en undersökning, med syftet att utvärdera trovärdigheten och variationen i de genererade planlösningarna, har utförts. Resultat & Slutsatser: Lösningen som baseras på fördelning av ytor och den kombinerade lösningen, visades av resultaten kräva ytterliggare arbete för att anses generera trovärdiga resultat. Lösningen som baseras på att växa ytor däremot, visade positiva trovärdighetsresultat när små och medelstora planlösningar genererades. Detta goda resultat uppstod dock på bekostnaden av variation mellan de genererade planlösningarna.

This research evaluates two-dimensional top-down dungeon generated levels regarding fundamental and micro dungeon design patterns. Additionally, it investigates the meaningfulness of the evaluation results in terms of accessibility to level designers and similar. The research method concentrates on two dungeon-generation techniques – Cellular Automata and Drunkard Walk. Each generated level gets evaluated based on three evaluation stages that build on top of each other: the passability of each tile; categorization of each collection of tiles with the same attributes; and player-centric gameplay data. The results show key differences between Cellular Automata and Drunkard Walk as the risk of using Cellular Automata to generate up to 90% unreachable space, while drunkard walk always has a playable relative space size of 100%. The evaluation also shows results that depend on the requirements of a game or constraints of a level designer. Cellular Automata generates more rooms, while Drunkard Walk provides more decisions per room. In conclusion, the evaluation results show differences between the two algorithms, presented using a vocabulary that is familiar to a level designer.

Procedural Content Generation (PCG) is a tool for developers to take advantage of the computational power of the computer in order to create new content. There are many different method that a PCG program is able to utilize but finding the most optimal may be very challenging. In this paper we improved Evolution Dungeon Designer (EDD) by integrate symmetry and similar fitness function. We evaluated them with experiments and a user study that involved participants that are active in the field of game development. We can see that both symmetry and similar functions can easily be integrated for creating 2D dungeon rooms but has the potential of overwhelm the existing functions.

An Evolutionary Algorithm was run in real-time for the procedural generation ofenemies in a third-person, wave based hack and slash and shoot 'em up game. Thealgorithm evaluates enemies as individuals based on their effectiveness at battlingthe player character. Every generation is presented as a new wave of enemieswhose properties have been adjusted according to the fitness of the last wave. Byconstantly making new enemies more adept at the task of the defeating the currentplayer, I attempt to automatically and naturally raise the difficulty as the gameprogresses. The goal is also to improve player satisfaction as a result. By analyzingthe response from players and observing the changes of the generated enemies, Idetermine whether or not this is an appropriate implementation of EvolutionaryAlgorithms. Results showed that the success of the algorithm varied substantiallybetween tests, giving a number of both failed and successful tests. I go throughsome of the individual data and draw conclusions on what specific conditions makesthe algorithm perform desirably.

Procedural content generation is a useful tool to use when generating content for games. An issue with this type of content is often the lack of realism and purpose, especially regarding procedurally generated worlds or levels, aswell as outlier bugs, that can block the players progression, that can be hard to find since they could only show up in a few select seeds of the randomized world. This thesis examines the best use of procedural content generation for a game that features an endless world, as well as evaluating the final product against established definitions of the terms "realistic" and "purposeful", while also taking into account the prevention of outliers. The world is constructed as a series of interconnected sections that are generated incrementally as needed, with each section's landscape using Perlin-noise for its topography and A* pathfinding to build paths that ensure that the player can navigate through the randomized terrain and not get stuck. The topography is also modified by different techniques to generate a realistic coastline and feature different areas of interest within a section. The world was evaluated against the established definitions of realism and purposefulness by eight participants that gave the world a high score on all aspects of both definitions. To ensure the validity of the generated content, iterative evaluations were performed that showed no outlier bugs that prevented progressing through the world. The techniques used in this thesis can serve as a good starting ground for continued development of endless worlds.

Occupancy Regulated Extension (ORE) är en algoritm som används för att procedurellt generera banor till spel. Detta arbete undersökte användning av ORE för att skapa byggnader med tätt packade rum, specifikt från ett prestandaperspektiv. Detta genomfördes med treimplementationer av olika varianter av ORE. Dessa varianter är rutnät, svepande linje, och AABB. För små rum var rutnät snabbast, med svepande linje därefter och AABB den långsammaste. Med större rum var svepande linje i stort sett oförändrad och därmed snabbast, medans de andra två visade en ökning i genereringstiden. Rutnätsgeneratorn påverkades mest av rumstorlek, men inte tillräckligt för att vara långsammare än AABB. Resultatet var inte betydligt nog för att definitivt utse en implementation som bäst, eftersom skillnaderna var för små för att utesluta problem med implementationerna. Ytterligare arbete krävs för att uppnå ett mer exakt resultat. / <p>Det finns övrigt digitalt material (t.ex. film-, bild- eller ljudfiler) eller modeller/artefakter tillhörande examensarbetet som ska skickas till arkivet.</p>

The development of video games is a long and expensive process, and it is not uncommon for studios to require their workers to work overtime to meet deadlines, resulting in stressful work environments and reduced worker performance. Recent advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) research have people excited that perhaps this might change. Perhaps AI could supplement game developers, saving time and resources. A case study was performed to explore the use of AI models Chat-GPT and DALL-E in computer game development, assessing their viability in different computer game development areas such as programming, game development and 2D art. With predetermined criteria, based on feedback from professionals and students within the area of game development, the AI models were tasked with ten separate challenges for each category. The results showed that the AI models are not yet ready to become full-fledged developers. However, they are viable collaborative partners for a wide array of game development tasks.

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