Random Map Generatin'

Just thinking about it today, wondering if there's a way to make a map that randomizes so it's different every time you load it.

Does anyone have any ideas as to how it might be done? Spawning units in random areas would be easy enough, but are there actions that will let you effect the terrain of the map, like building cliffs? Or would you have to use doodads for walls? Could you perhaps have the whole map start underwater and raise the ground in a random but controlled fashion?

I guess the problem is making the map so it will still work as a game, and not just a bunch of nonsense.

Ideas?

// Ligature

i dont think there is a way to do that... EVEN if there was, the map would look like **** and ppl would probably get bloked in places... it would just be a mess.

I don't know about modifying actual terrain by trigger, but I know you can add doodads that way.

So what you could try is setting it so there are several terrain "templates" that your map can use. Then every time it loads, it picks a random "template" and sets itself up for that.

And by "template" I mean you could have triggers that place a forest in one area one time and another "template" that puts the forest somewhere else. Etc.

(And the reason I suggest "templates" rather than just pure random doodad placement is so you're sure nothing is blocked and the pathing will make sense).

I've seen that method used in other games - like Dark Cloud, Dragon Crystal, and Azure Dreams... The trouble is that the "templates" quickly become recognizeable. I think it would be fairly easy to implement that idea though... Templates could be stored as GameCaches and loaded and placed at map initialization... You could even swap the tileset randomly to change it up (a little).

Hmm, to make it unique every time, it would require 60-70 templates, each small parts of the whole. I would suggest makeing the map small at first and if it works out well, make it a size bigger and so forth. Sounds really good for RP games.

My map uses a huge random trigger.. at the begging it does random 1-125 of 125 different scenarios for the main arena, and diffrent ones each time... i plan too add even more, there are 15 random arena terrains also.

1 Big map with different areas, randomize it? Simple enought.

best way to make random maps:
create multiple vers of the same map, with difrent terrain. hide the minimap.

But then the map would be big and it would take long to load. Also when the player played the map a few times he knows all maps.