Tools for Landscape Analysis of Optimisation Problems in Procedural Content Generation for Games

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

Abstract

The term Procedural Content Generation (PCG) refers to the (semi-)automatic generation of game content by algorithmic means, and its methods are becoming increasingly popular in game-oriented research and industry. A special class of these methods, which is commonly known as search-based PCG, treats the given task as an optimisation problem. Such problems are predominantly tackled by evolutionary algorithms. We will demonstrate in this paper that obtaining more information about the defined optimisation problem can substantially improve our understanding of how to approach the generation of content. To do so, we present and discuss three efficient analysis tools, namely diagonal walks, the estimation of high-level properties, as well as problem similarity measures. We discuss the purpose of each of the considered methods in the context of PCG and provide guidelines for the interpretation of the results received. This way we aim to provide methods for the comparison of PCG approaches and eventually, increase the quality and practicality of generated content in industry.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number110121
JournalApplied soft computing : the official journal of the World Federation on Soft Computing (WFSC)
Volume136
Publication statusPublished - Mar 2023
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

Scopus 85149060915
WOS 000967888300001
Mendeley 136c2779-575a-3eec-91cd-2821bdfc73ef

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Keywords

  • Exploratory Landscape Analysis, Mario level generation, Optimisation, Search-based procedural content generation, Generation, Search-based procedural content