By Joseph Alexander Brown & Valtchan Valtchanov @jb03hf
Diablo’s initial pitch document highlights the use of Procedural Content as a prominent feature of the game: “The heart of Diablo is the randomly created dungeon. A new dungeon level is generated each time a level is entered, using our Dynamic Random Level Generator (DRLG) System. Rooms, corridors, traps, treasures, monsters and stairways will be randomly placed, providing a new gaming experience every time Diablo is played. In addition to the random halls and rooms, larger ‘set piece’ areas, like a maze or a crypt complex, will be pre-designed and will appear intact in the levels. This system facilitates the inclusion of puzzles and traps, and helps the addition of thematic elements. Deeper levels will contain progressively more difficult creatures and hazards. A character’s quest must end with the defeat of Diablo, located deep in the dungeon”[1].
“Through the control of an objective function which can develop levels which meet with narrative or technical requirements.”
In reflecting on the success of Diablo, the DRLG would later be praised by those working on subsequent editions as being a major selling feature, due to such elements as the extended ability for replaying the game. Jay Wilson, lead designer for Diablo III, would remark that “games that have randomly-generated environments with randomly-generated encounters. Not easy things to do, but those things are key. It's what keeps Diablo interesting over time”[13]. To this end we developed a PCG placement algorithm for tiles. The construction is based off a Genetic Programming approach which controls the underlying connective graph. Through the control of an objective function which can develop levels which meet with narrative or technical requirements.
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