För att underlätta skapandet av spelbanor i spel så används ofta Procedural Content Generation (PCG). Det finns dock en stor mängd PCG-algoritmer med olika tillämpningar. Detta arbete undersöker och jämför tre algoritmer vid skapandet av 2D grottsystem utifrån kriterierna; tidseffektivitet, tillgänglighet och variation. Algoritmerna som jämförs är cellular automata, Perlin noise och Voronoi. Syftet med jämförelsen är att ge en bättre förståelse förde tre algoritmernas för- och nackdelar, med förhoppning om att underlätta valet av PCGal-goritmer i framtiden. Arbetet implementerades i spelmotorn Unity (2022a) och skrevs i C#. Kriteriet tidseffektivitet testades med hjälp av en tidtagarursklass, tillgänglighet med hjälp av en flood fill algoritm och variation med hjälp av en algoritm från Alwidian, Abu-Mansour och Ali (2012). Resultaten visade att Voronoi presterade bäst vid kriteriet tillgänglighet och variation (4x4), (8x8). Cellular automata presterade bäst vid kriteriet tidseffektivitet och variation (16x16). Perlin noise presterade varken bra eller dåligt på något test. Sammanfattningsvis presterade Voronoi bäst, därefter Perlin noise och slutligen cellular automata. / <p>Det finns övrigt digitalt material (t.ex. film-, bild- eller ljudfiler) eller modeller/artefakter tillhörande examensarbetet som ska skickas till arkivet.</p>

Att skapa digitala spel och anställa utvecklare är en kostsam process. Genom att använda procedurell generering av spelinnehåll kan spelföretag skära ner på produktionstid och kostnad. Denna uppsats utvärderar och jämför de olika styrkor och svagheter som finns när man genererar spelbanor för ett 2D pussel- och plattformsspel med en evolutionär generator och en regelbaserad generator. Den evolutionära generatorn använder sig av grammatisk evolution, medan den regelbaserade generatorn är ett strikt kontrollerat system som använder sig av generativ grammatik. Banorna som skapas av de båda metoderna utvärderas genom användarstudier, kombinerat med en analys av tiden och komplexiteten för att utveckla generatorerna. Datan från utvärderingarna visar att den regelbaserade metoden var marginellt mer uppskattad av användare, samtidigt som den var mindre komplex att implementera. Den evolutionära generatorn är dock bättre lämpad för att expandera tillsammans med spelet, och har potentialen att prestera bättre på lång sikt. / Creating digital games and hiring developers is a costlyprocess. By utilizing procedural content generation, game companiescan reduce the time and cost of production. This thesis evaluates andcompares the different strengths and weaknesses of generating levelsfor a 2D puzzle platformer game using an evolutionary and a rule-basedgenerator. The evolutionary approach adopts the use of grammaticalevolution, whereas the rule-based generator is a strictly controlledsystem using generative grammars. The levels produced by eachmethod are evaluated by user studies and combined with an analysis ofthe time and complexity of developing each generator. The datapresented by the evaluations shows that the rule-based approach wasslightly more appreciated by users, and was also less complex toimplement. However, the evolutionary generator would scale better ifthe game would expand, and has the potential of performing better inthe long term

The potential of L-systems is explored byprocedurally generating patterns for use as video game content.By procedurally generating content for video games, thedevelopment costs of game development can be significantlyreduced. An artifact in the form of a tower defense game isdeveloped and tested to evaluate the generation algorithm. Thealgorithm was successful in generating a wide range of pattern anduser feedback indicates a high level of perceived variation. Thealgorithm is highly customizable and could have applications invarious game content such as particle systems or weapons

Att skapa digitala spel och anställa utvecklare är en kostsam process. Genom att använda procedurell generering av spelinnehåll kan spelföretag skära ner på produktionstid och kostnad. Denna uppsats utvärderar och jämför de olika styrkor och svagheter som finns när man genererar spelbanor för ett 2D pussel- och plattformsspel med en evolutionär generator och en regelbaserad generator. Den evolutionära generatorn använder sig av grammatisk evolution, medan den regelbaserade generatorn är ett strikt kontrollerat system som använder sig av generativ grammatik. Banorna som skapas av de båda metoderna utvärderas genom användarstudier, kombinerat med en analys av tiden och komplexiteten för att utveckla generatorerna. Datan från utvärderingarna visar att den regelbaserade metoden var något mer uppskattad av användare, samtidigt som den var mindre komplex att implementera. Den evolutionära generatorn är dock bättre lämpad för att expandera tillsammans med spelet, och har potentialen att prestera bättre på lång sikt. / Creating digital games and hiring developers is a costlyprocess. By utilizing procedural content generation, game companiescan reduce the time and cost of production. This thesis evaluates andcompares the different strengths and weaknesses of generating levelsfor a 2D puzzle platformer game using an evolutionary and a rule-basedgenerator. The evolutionary approach adopts the use of grammaticalevolution, whereas the rule-based generator is a strictly controlledsystem using generative grammars. The levels produced by eachmethod are evaluated by user studies and combined with an analysis ofthe time and complexity of developing each generator. The datapresented by the evaluations shows that the rule-based approach wasslightly more appreciated by users, and was also less complex toimplement. However, the evolutionary generator would scale better ifthe game would expand, and has the potential of performing better inthe long term

The potential of L-systems is explored byprocedurally generating patterns for use as video game content.By procedurally generating content for video games, thedevelopment costs of game development can be significantlyreduced. An artifact in the form of a tower defense game isdeveloped and tested to evaluate the generation algorithm. Thealgorithm was successful in generating a wide range of pattern anduser feedback indicates a high level of perceived variation. Thealgorithm is highly customizable and could have applications invarious game content such as particle systems or weapons

Procedural content generation (PCG) can be a useful tool for aiding creativityand efficiency in the process of designing game levels. Mixed-initiative level genera-tion tools where a designer and an algorithm collaborate to iteratively generate gamelevels have been used for this purpose – taking advantage of the combination of com-putational efficiency and human intuition and creativity. However, it can be difficultfor designers to work with tools that do not respond to the common language of games:game design patterns.It has been demonstrated that game design patterns can be integrated into PCGalgorithms, but formally-defined and hierarchically-arranged game design patternshave not yet been used as a means of increasing gameplay-based control in mixed-initiative dungeon generators. We present a method for evolving dungeon rooms usingmulti-level game design patterns in the objective function of a genetic algorithm, aswell as an instantiation of this method in a mixed-initiative dungeon design tool. Ourresults show that we are able to control the frequency and type of design patterns ingenerated rooms using pattern-related input parameters, enabling us to create dungeonrooms containing a wide variety of patterns on different levels of abstraction.Results from a small-scale user study of professional game developers suggest thatthe use of game design patterns in mixed-initiative level design tools can be a promisingway of providing a good starting point when designing a level, as well as offeringmeaningful gameplay related feedback throughout the design process. We also identifychallenges that will need to be faced if game design pattern-based mixed-initiative leveldesign tools are to become a part of the game designer’s toolkit.

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Tesis por compendio / [ES] Los videojuegos son proyectos multidisciplinares que implican, en buena medida, el desarrollo de software. Esta tesis trata la faceta del desarrollo de videojuegos relativa al software mediante la Ingeniería del Software basada en Búsqueda (SBSE, Search-based Software Engineering). El objetivo específico de este trabajo es valerse de las características de los videojuegos en pro de una Ingeniería del Software de Videojuegos basada en Búsqueda (SBGSE, Search-based Game Software Engineering), incluyendo el uso de simulaciones de videojuegos para guiar búsquedas, codificación de granularidad fina y operaciones genéticas de mejora. Las aproximaciones propuestas superan a las de referencia en mantenimiento (trazabilidad de requisitos) y creación de contenido (generación de NPCs). El mantenimiento y la creación de contenido son, a menudo, tareas esenciales para garantizar la retención de usuarios por medio de actualizaciones o expansiones. Además, esta investigación aborda la necesidad de estudios de caso industriales. Esta tesis presenta un compendio que incluye tres artículos realizados durante el proceso de investigación y publicados en revistas académicas, con resultados que muestran que las aproximaciones de la Ingeniería del Software de Videojuegos basada en Búsqueda (SBGSE, Search-based Game Software Engineering) pueden mejorar la calidad de las soluciones generadas, así como reducir el tiempo necesario para producirlas. / [CA] Els videojocs són projectes multidisciplinaris que impliquen, en bona part, el desenvolupament de software. Aquesta tesi tracta la faceta del desenvolupament de videojocs relativa al software mitjançant l'Enginyeria del Software basada en Cerca (SBSE, Search-based Software Engineering). L'objectiu específic d'aquest treball és valdre's de les característiques dels videojocs en pro d'una Enginyeria del Software de Videojocs basada en Cerca (SBGSE, Search-based Game Software Engineering), incloent-hi l'ús de simulacions de videojocs per a guiar cerques, codificació de granularitat fina i operacions genètiques de millora. Les aproximacions proposades superen a les de referència en manteniment (traçabilitat de requisits) i creació de contingut (generació de NPCs). El manteniment i la creació de contingut són, sovint, tasques essencials per a garantir la retenció d'usuaris per mitjà d'actualitzacions o expansions. A més, aquesta investigació aborda la necessitat d'estudis de cas industrials. Aquesta tesi presenta un compendi que inclou tres articles realitzats durant el procés d'investigació i publicats en revistes acadèmiques, amb resultats que mostren que les aproximacions de l'Enginyeria del Software de Videojocs basada en Cerca (SBGSE, Search-based Game Software Engineering) poden millorar la qualitat de les solucions generades, així com reduir el temps necessari per a produir-les. / [EN] Video games are multidisciplinary projects which involve software development to a significant extent. This thesis tackles the software aspect of video game development through Search-based Engineering. Specifically, the objective of this work is to leverage the characteristics of video games towards Search-based Game Software Engineering, including the use of video game simulations to guide the search, a fine-grained encoding, and improvement genetic operations. The approaches proposed outperform the baselines in maintenance (requirement traceability) and content creation (NPC generation) tasks. Maintenance and content creation are often essential tasks to ensure player retention by means of updates or expansions. In addition, this research addresses the need for industrial case studies. This thesis presents a compendium that includes three papers produced through the research and published in academic journals, with results that show that Search-based Game Software Engineering approaches can provide improved solutions, in terms of quality and time cost. / This work has been partially supported by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) through the Spanish National R+D+i Plan and ERDF funds under the Project ALPS (RTI2018-096411-B-I00). / Blasco Latorre, D. (2024). Towards Search-based Game Software Engineering [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/203655 / Compendio

Games get boring when they start repeating themselves and do not offer players new content. Procedural content generation (PCG) is increasingly used to generate this content. PCG-based game design decreases the need to have a human designer or a writer to generate the content. Algorithmic creation of game content can augment the creativity of human designers and this makes it possible small so-called indie teams to create the content for their game without the big resources. In this work, the field of PCG is introduced. Application of PCG is shown through a mobile game implementation. The implementation details of the mobile game Rush Hour will be presented that makes use of Foursquare, Twitter and Mapbox APIs, which eases the content creation using open data as the input of PCG.

Procedural content generation is a technique used to produce a wide range of computer-generated content in many industries today, the video game industry in particular. This study focuses on how procedural content generation can be applied to create emotionally interesting non-player characters and through this, generate narrative snippets that can immerse and interest a reader. The main points examined are how to achieve this using a modular approach to personality and behaviour, how well readers can distinguish whether motivations and interactions are generated by a computer or written by a human, and to what degree a reader can be immersed in a computer-generated narrative. Procedural narrative could help to reduce workload on large projects or lower costs, and is an area in which there is much room for further research. To answer these problems, a literature review of existing techniques for the creation of emotionally interesting non-player characters was conducted and used to design and construct a prototype implementation for generating procedural narrative. The output of this narrative was dressed up to match the style of a human text and A/B testing was conducted utilising a survey in order to evaluate and compare responses to the two texts. Ultimately, the results showed very little difference between the perception of the human-written text and the computer-written text, with the only aspects found lacking in the computer-written text being clarity of emotion and foreshadowing.