Procedural world potentials: The simulation, functional and planning approaches
Procedural generation has gotten a lot more popular since my interest in it started 10 years ago. Today most game developers and even many gamers know what it means in broad terms. In this piece I want to highlight fundamental differences between three approaches to procedural world generation: The simulation approach, the functional approach and the planning approach. The approaches are not only algorithmically very different but are also suitable for different types of games and gameplay. Here's a breakdown and analysis, with lovingly hand-drawn - err, ...