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List of games using procedural generation

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Procedural generation is a common technique in computer programming to automate the creation of certain data according to guidelines set by the programmer. Many games generate aspects of the environment or non-player characters procedurally during the development process in order to save time on asset creation. For example, SpeedTree is a middleware package that procedurally generates trees which can be used to quickly populate a forest.[1] Whereas most games use this technique to create a static environment for the final product, some employ procedural generation as a game mechanic, such as to create new environments for the player to explore. The levels in Spelunky are procedurally generated by rearranging premade tiles of geometry into a level with an entrance, exit, a solvable path between the two, and obstacles to that path.[2] Other games procedurally generate other aspects of gameplay, such as the weapons in Borderlands which have randomized stats and configurations.[3]

This is a list of video games that use procedural generation as a core aspect of gameplay. Games that use procedural generation solely during development as part of asset creation are not included.

List

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Roguelike games

[edit]
Further information: List of roguelikes

Games in the roguelike genre all have at least procedurally generated levels.[4]

Other

[edit]
This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.
Title Year Developer(s) Procedural content
.kkrieger 2004 Farbrausch Most of the meshes and textures are procedurally generated, and the music is procedurally generated during runtime.[5][unreliable source]
7 Days to Die 2013 The Fun Pimps Maps (Worlds) can be generated, either randomly, using a seed, or via third party tools.

The distribution of POIs and loot is also generative.

Anarchy Online 2001 Funcom Mission rewards, loot, dungeon layout, and location on the world map can be generated based on selections made at mission terminals.[6][unreliable source]
Astroneer 2019 System Era Softworks Procedural planet terrain.[7]
Banished 2014 Shining Rock Software Terrain map.[8]
Borderlands series 2009–2019 Gearbox Software, 2K Australia Weapons.[3]
Civilization series 1991–2018 MicroProse, Activision, Firaxis Games Customizable world map.[9]
Core Keeper 2022 Pugstorm Explorable underground world[10]
Crypt of the NecroDancer 2015 Brace Yourself Games 2D grid-based top-down dungeons with halls and rooms[11][12][13] with randomly placed enemies and items.[14]
Deep Rock Galactic 2018 Ghost Ship Games Cave systems separated into rooms and tunnels by walls of dirt.[15]
Descenders 2018 RageSquid 3D downhill courses on relatively dirt trails.[16]
Don't Starve 2013 Klei Entertainment Flat 2D world.[17] Later expanded with cavern systems[18] and oceans.[19]
Dwarf Fortress 2006 Tarn Adams Almost entirety of game content[20] based in a layered 3D world with elements like its history,[21] creatures and narrative,[22] religion,[23] etc.
Elite 1984 David Braben, Ian Bell Eight 3D wireframe galaxies consisting of 256 procedurally generated star systems each[24][25]
Enter the Gungeon 2016 Dodge Roll 2D flat dungeon levels made of room "chunks".[26]
Factorio 2016 Wube Software 2D terrain map generation.[27][non-primary source needed]
Islanders 2019 Grizzly Games 3D terrain generation of islands.[28]
Left 4 Dead 2 2009 Valve Gameplay changes to match player's performance, such as enemies, paths, or weather.[29]
Minecraft 2011 Mojang 3D world primarily made of cube blocks.[30] Effectively infinite.[31]
Minecraft Dungeons 2020 Mojang Randomly-generated 3D dungeons filled with monsters, traps and puzzles, and treasures.[32][33]
Mini Metro 2015 Dinosaur Polo Club Abstract 2D levels and audio system.[34]
No Man's Sky 2016 Hello Games 3D galaxies with planets and their flora and fauna.[35][36]
Pixel Piracy 2015 Quadro Delta 2D world,[37] including islands, towns and shops, as well as ship's crew.[38]
RimWorld 2013 (EA) Ludeon Studios Customization 3D spherical world map and flat 2D gameplay map,[39] as well as many elements,[40] notably narrative and events.[41]
Rogue Legacy 2011 Cellar Door Games Side-scrolling castle,[42] made up of interconnected rooms.
The Sentinel 1986 Firebird 3D terrain generation for all 10,000 levels.[citation needed]
Sir, You Are Being Hunted 2014 Big Robot An open world island landscape.[43]
Spelunky 2008 Mossmouth Side-scrolling underground rectangular levels made up of tiles.[2]
Spore 2008 Maxis 3D creatures, tribes, civilizations, planets and terrain, spaceships and galaxies, music,[44][45] award-winning animation system.[46]
Starbound 2016 Chucklefish 2D side-scrolling planets[47] and content on them, such as dungeons and bosses.[48]
Stardew Valley 2016 ConcernedApe Cave areas[49] of increasing difficulty and loot.[50]
Terraria 2011 Re-Logic Side-scrolling rectangular 2D world.[51]
The Binding of Isaac 2011 Edmund McMillen Bird eye view 2D levels made up of interconnected rectangular rooms with random monsters and loot.[52]
Valheim 2021 Irongate Studios A procedurally-generated circular map of an archipelago of islands in an ocean; with the player starting the game in the center.[53]
Vintage Story 2016 Anego Studios A procedurally-generated voxel-based open world of up to 64 million square kilometres with an emphasis on realism. A 2023 update includes "upgraded world generation with various new land forms, a geologic activity system, and large scale mountain regions"[54]
World of Warcraft: Shadowlands 2020 Blizzard Entertainment Torghast, a dungeon with procedurally-generated enemy spawns.[55]
Microsoft Minesweeper 1990 Microsoft Rectangular grid of hidden mines.[56]

References

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  1. ^ Davenport, James (6 September 2017). "From the Elder Scrolls to the US Secret Service: Where videogame trees come from". PC Gamer.
  2. ^ a b Plunkett, Luke (9 December 2013). "See How Spelunky Levels Are Made". kotaku.com.
  3. ^ a b "How many weapons are in Borderlands 2?". eurogamer.net. 16 July 2012.
  4. ^ Fogel, Stefanie (12 June 2017). "7 roguelikes that every developer should study". www.gamasutra.com. Retrieved 2019-06-16.
  5. ^ "Weighing in at just 96KB, this is definitely the lightest 3D game in human history". 11 March 2016.
  6. ^ Venter, Jason (9 October 2013). "Anarchy Online Classic – Blitzing Guide". Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  7. ^ "System Era's Charming Low-Poly Space Frontier Comes to Life in Astroneer". 23 February 2016.
  8. ^ Dean, Paul (28 February 2014). "Banished review". Eurogamer. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  9. ^ Totilo, Stephen (10 March 2010). "Civilization V Preview: Small Changes, Big Differences". kotaku.com.
  10. ^ "Core Keeper".
  11. ^ "Review: Crypt of the NecroDancer". Hardcore Gamer. 24 April 2015. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  12. ^ Thursten, Chris (12 May 2015). "Crypt of the Necrodancer review". PC Gamer. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  13. ^ Matulef, Jeffrey (10 July 2015). "Crypt of the NecroDancer to get jiggy on PS4 and Vita". Eurogamer. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  14. ^ Rob Rich (6 July 2016). "Crypt of the NecroDancer Review: Disco Inferno". Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  15. ^ Wiltshire, Alex (19 March 2018). "How Deep Rock Galactic mines fun from absolute darkness". Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
  16. ^ Bowman, Mitch (2018-02-09). "Downhill biking game Descenders could be the heir to Skate's throne". PC Gamer. Retrieved 2019-05-04.
  17. ^ Meer, Alec (26 April 2013). "Wot I Think: Don't Starve". Rock, Paper, Shotgun.
  18. ^ V, Perry (22 May 2013). "Don't Starve update adds caves and bunnies". pcgamer.com.
  19. ^ Clark, Tim (12 January 2016). "Don't Starve: Shipwrecked is a breath of fresh... Nope, that's a hurricane". pcgamer.com.
  20. ^ Fenlon, Wes (31 March 2016). "Dwarf Fortress' creator on how he's 42% towards simulating existence". pcgamer.com.
  21. ^ "Dwarf Fortress will crush your CPU because creating history is hard". polygon.com. 23 July 2014.
  22. ^ Weiner, Jonah (21 July 2011). "The Brilliance of Dwarf Fortress". The New York Times.
  23. ^ Johnson, Mark (5 August 2016). "Generation Next, Part 2: How To Generate A Religion". Rock, Paper, Shotgun.
  24. ^ Spufford, Francis (2003-10-18). "Backroom Boys by Francis Spufford". the Guardian. Retrieved 2022-09-27.
  25. ^ "» Elite (or, The Universe on 32 K Per Day) The Digital Antiquarian". Retrieved 2022-09-27.
  26. ^ "Enter the Gungeon PC Review: A Fistful of Bullets". USgamer.net. 9 April 2016.
  27. ^ "Map generator - Factorio Wiki". wiki.factorio.com.
  28. ^ Moore, Michael (28 Apr 2019). "These two city-building puzzle games play very differently, but share a grim outlook on the environment". The Verge. Retrieved 2019-08-02.
  29. ^ Walker, John (1 June 2009). "Left 4 Dead 2: Exclusive RPS Hands-On Preview". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  30. ^ "Here's how 'Minecraft' creates its gigantic worlds". engadget.com.
  31. ^ "Just how big is a Minecraft world? Big, as it turns out". PCGamesN.
  32. ^ "'Minecraft Dungeons' is a blocky, smash-and-slash adventure". Engadget. Retrieved 2019-06-11.
  33. ^ Campbell, Colin (2019-06-10). "Minecraft Dungeons is simple, Diablo-inspired fun for the family". Polygon. Retrieved 2019-06-11.
  34. ^ Curry, Peter (15 June 2016). "Postmortem: Dinosaur Polo Club's Mini Metro". www.gamasutra.com. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  35. ^ "After two years, is No Man's Sky everything Hello Games originally promised?". gamesradar.com. 10 August 2018.
  36. ^ Alexandra, Heather (18 October 2016). "A Look At How No Man's Sky's Procedural Generation Works". kotaku.com.
  37. ^ Boccher, Mike (21 January 2016). "Pirate simulator Pixel Piracy headed to Xbox One and PS4". Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  38. ^ "Pixel Piracy Review: What Shall We Do With The Drunken Sailor?". Player.One. 11 August 2014. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  39. ^ Smith, Adam (20 December 2016). "RimWorld's huge Wanderlust update is world-changing". Rock, Paper, Shotgun.
  40. ^ Moser, Cassidee (11 August 2016). "How RimWorld fleshes out the Dwarf Fortress formula". www.gamasutra.com. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  41. ^ Wiltshire, Alex (12 August 2016). "How RimWorld Generates Great Stories". Rock, Paper, Shotgun.
  42. ^ "The making of Rogue Legacy". eurogamer.net. 29 July 2013.
  43. ^ "Sir, You Are Being Hunted, and the advantages of procedural generation". 27 May 2014.
  44. ^ Garst, Aron (11 September 2018). "Developing Spore : An oral ('Sporal'?) history 10 years on". www.gamasutra.com. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  45. ^ Kohler, Chris (13 March 2008). "Designer Will Wright Walks Us Through Spore". Wired. Retrieved 23 January 2019 – via www.wired.com.
  46. ^ IGN Staff (15 October 2008). "Spore Honored with 2008 Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award". Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  47. ^ Grayson, Nathan (4 August 2016). "Starbound: The Kotaku Review". Kotaku. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  48. ^ Sykes, Tom (18 December 2016). "Starbound's Vault update adds procedural dungeons, procedural bosses". PC Gamer. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  49. ^ "How did indie farming sim Stardew Valley top the Steam sales chart?". polygon.com. 29 February 2016.
  50. ^ "Stardew Valley review". eurogamer.net. 10 October 2017.
  51. ^ Mc Shea, Tim (May 31, 2011). "Terraria Review, Terraria PC Review".
  52. ^ "The Binding of Isaac takes on religion in a randomly generated Zelda-styled Roguelike". arstechnica.com. 29 September 2011.
  53. ^ Toms, Ollie (11 February 2021). "Valheim map: Biomes, placing map markers, how to ping the map". Rock, Paper, Shotgun.
  54. ^ Dawe, Liam (18 April 2023). "Survival game Vintage Story set for a huge update with a big story event". Gaming on Linux.
  55. ^ "Polygon article on Shadowlands". Polygon. 20 April 2020.
  56. ^ "The most successful game ever: a history of Minesweeper". TechRadar. 28 May 2022.
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