Hundreds of millions of people play computer games every day For them, game content—from 3D objects to abstract puzzles—plays a major entertainment role Manual labor has so far ensured that the quality and quantity of game content matched the demands of the playing community, but is facing new scalability challenges due to the exponential growth over the last decade of both the gamer population and the production costs Procedural Content Generation for Games (PCG-G) may address these challenges by automating, or aiding in, game content generation PCG-G is difficult, since the generator has to create the content, satisfy constraints imposed by the artist, and return interesting instances for gamers Despite a large body of research focusing on PCG-G, particularly over the past decade, ours is the first comprehensive survey of the field of PCG-G We first introduce a comprehensive, six-layered taxonomy of game content: bits, space, systems, scenarios, design, and derived Second, we survey the methods used across the whole field of PCG-G from a large research body Third, we map PCG-G methods to game content layers; it turns out that many of the methods used to generate game content from one layer can be used to generate content from another We also survey the use of methods in practice, that is, in commercial or prototype games Fourth and last, we discuss several directions for future research in PCG-G, which we believe deserve close attention in the near future

Procedural content generation for games: A survey

Over the last three decades, video games have evolved from a pastime into a force of change that is transforming the way people perceive, learn about, and interact with the world around them. In addition to entertainment, games are increasingly used for other purposes such as education or health. Despite this increased interest, a significant number of people encounter barriers when playing games due to a disability. Accessibility problems may include the following: (1) not being able to receive feedback; (2) not being able to determine in-game responses; (3) not being able to provide input using conventional input devices. This paper surveys the current state-of-the-art in research and practice in the accessibility of video games and points out relevant areas for future research. A generalized game interaction model shows how a disability affects ones ability to play games. Estimates are provided on the total number of people in the United States whose ability to play games is affected by a disability. A large number of accessible games are surveyed for different types of impairments, across several game genres, from which a number of high- and low-level accessibility strategies are distilled for game developers to inform their design.

/pdf/game-accessibility-a-survey-4jl11mh4gd.pdf

Game accessibility: a survey

In this paper we argue for using a "Game First" approach to teaching introductory programming. We believe that concerns over whether an OO approach or a procedural approach should be used first are secondary to the course assignment and example content. If examples are not compelling, student interest often lags thus making the OO versus procedural argument moot. We believe that game programming motivates most new programmers. Compelling assignments mean that students are far more likely to learn because they are interested, and the visual component allows students to see mistakes in their code as manifested in the resultant graphics. We describe our experiences after redesigning and offering a new introductory computer science sequence using 2D game development as a unifying theme. We teach fundamental programming concepts via two dimensional game development in Flash and ActionScript during the first quarter, transition to C++ to solidify concepts and add pointers during the second quarter, then teach a multi-phase project based game approach using C++ and openGL (2D graphics only) during the third quarter. Our surveys show that this approach improved student understanding of all seven basic topics examined.

/pdf/a-games-first-approach-to-teaching-introductory-programming-27v1qgo5oi.pdf

A games first approach to teaching introductory programming

2012 [AS13b, Wal12a]. 2013 [Alv13, Bar13, Cam13, Car13, CCS13, Cut13, Edi14, Swe13]. 2014 [CDS13, DN14, ND14, Rod14, Tym14a]. 2015 [DeL14a, DeL14b, She15b]. 2016 [AT16a, CCV16, CCV17, MR15, SDCT16a, SDCT16c, She16a]. 2017 [DG17, EC17, Fit18b, MJ18, TCSM17, TCM17]. 2018 [BG18b, DD17, Dec19b, Gol18, JI18, MKMP18, MMK18, PQH17, She18]. 2019 [Cut19, FI19, HPQ19, MP19a, MPRM19, MP19b, MS19, Rod18, She19a]. 2020 [DH19].

/pdf/a-complete-bibliography-of-publications-in-sigcse-bulletin-1aolnsl5m4.pdf

A Complete Bibliography of Publications in SIGCSE Bulletin: 2000{2009

The use of procedural content generation (PCG) techniques in game development has been mostly restricted to very specific types of game elements. PCG has seldom been deployed for generating entire game levels, a notable exception to this being dungeons: a specific type of game level often encountered in adventure and role playing games. Due to their peculiar combination of pace, gameplay, and game spaces, dungeon levels are among the most suited to showcase the benefits of PCG. This paper surveys research on procedural methods to generate dungeon game levels. We summarize common practices, discuss pros and cons of different approaches, and identify a few promising challenges ahead. In general, what current procedural dungeon generation methods are missing is not performance, but more powerful, accurate, and richer control over the generation process. Recent research results seem to indicate that gameplay-related criteria can provide this high-level control. However, this area is still in its infancy, and many research challenges still lie ahead, e.g., improving the intuitiveness and accessibility of such methods for designers. We also observe that more research is needed into generic mechanisms for automating the generation of the actual dungeon-geometric models. We conclude that the foundations for enabling gameplay-based control of dungeon-level generation are worth being researched, and that its promising results may be instrumental in bringing PCG into mainstream game development.

Procedural Generation of Dungeons

Game programming classes have been offered at the University of North Texas continuously since 1993. The classes are project based, and feature collaborative coursework with art majors in UNT's School of Visual Arts. We discuss the design that enables them to simultaneously provide both training for students intending employment in the game industry, and a capstone experience for general computer science undergraduates.

Experience with an industry-driven capstone course on game programming: extended abstract

The University of North Texas has for many years offered classes in game programming to Computer Science students and classes in game art and design to art students. A key feature of these classes is the opportunity for these diverse communities of students to collaborate on joint projects. We describe the features that make these classes unique.

/pdf/the-art-and-science-of-game-programming-kl3aizshhd.pdf

The art and science of game programming

Procedural techniques will soon automate many aspects of content creation for computer games. We describe an efficient, deterministic, methodology for procedurally generating 3D game content of arbitrary size and complexity. The technique progressively amplifies simple dynamically generated data structures into complex geometry. We use a procedural pipeline with a minimum set of controls at each stage to facilitate authoring. We show two examples from our research. Our terrain generator can synthesize massive 3D terrains in real-time while our level generator can be used to create indoor environments offline or in real-time.

From Artistry to Automation: A Structured Methodology for Procedural Content Creation

Immersing players in believable and engaging virtual environments is a common goal for many interactive computer games. While PC-based audio only games set in virtual worlds have traditionally been developed for blind players, new technology will soon create a market for audio only games aimed at a mass audience. We propose a framework for authoring interactive narrative-based audio only adventure games set in 3D virtual environments. Our work builds on several years of research into audio only applications for sight impaired users, augmented reality systems and human-computer interaction studies. We argue that a simple user interface enhances both immersion and entertainment value, making audio only games practical for mobile computing. Novel features of our system include real-time gameplay and support for multiple players. We also describe a software architecture for creating audio only games, the current implementation of which uses low-cost existing PC-based hardware and software.

Designing a narrative-based audio only 3D game engine

Toward mobile entertainment: A paradigm for narrative-based audio only games

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