Any interest in a RMG?

[Agrajag]

lch said:
Which is why I'm not really interested in anything where the source isn't being released. Projects die because people commit their time to other things, that's normal. But it would be good if somebody who wants to tackle the problem can have a look at how it was done before, even if just as a reference, instead of re-inventing the wheel yet again. This seems to happen rather often with things here, though.

What I'm putting my money on right now is the announced map generator from Snoddasmannen. As I wrote before, I have some code bits and pieces myself, but I lack the time and commitment to come up with a finished end product, so I'd rather code dive into finished work from somebody else.

If I make a RMG, I'll definitely release the source.
Though I'm not sure how easy it would be to dive into it, what with no comments, and no programming skill on my part
Maybe you can drown in it

I meant to write this RMG because I wanted to contribute to the whole community, so releasing the source seems obvious to me (otherwise, how would maccers and linuxers enjoy this? And what if someone wanted to do something with it after I'm gone?)

Re: Gandalf's last post
I see what you mean, this is partly why I wanted to make the thing in several pieces, so that you could use only as much of it as you wanted.

Re: Gandalf's previous post
That's an interesting point, though I was thinking it might take hours (not days) if you plan on making many maps with many options.
The reason being that there might be a whole lot of different settings to mess with*, on the generation part and on the image creation part. (as well as the border drawing part, though that's just an on/off thing).
Which is also why I wanted to separate the different stages, so that if you find a map you really like from the generator, but don't like the textures used, you could just rerender the map without generating a whole new map, or maybe you don't like how I draw the borders, so you want a borderless version.

*-for example, per request, you might be able to:
1) Change the amount of "maps" generated (and by that I mean the precipitation and height map I previously exlained)
2) Change the correlation between each terrain type and maps (so you could decide map3 governs mountains.
3) Change the different thresholds for each terrain type (increase the range of heights that correspond to mountains to make a more hilly map)
4) Change the roughness of each map (for a more "shotgun" look, or a more smooth look)
5) Change the colors of each combination of terrain types
6) Change the textures of each terrain type (like different images for mountains)
So if you want a truly varied array of maps, you are going to conjure up a lot of maps. (even if each previously listed example was just a binary choice, you would still end up with 2^6 = 64 maps for each size category.)

EDIT: I was writing this while the very latest post from Gandalf wasn't there yet :S
EDIT 2: Yeah, I don't remember an announcement from Snoddasmannen either :S

[Gandalf Parker]

By the way, the reason for the press on .map file rewriters giving data on provinces was so that they would work with scripts like mine for yet another .map re-writer to add things like reasonable province names (woodland names, swamp names, mountain names, island and lake names, etc). Also placement of natives such as rewriting a map to fit a theme such as all mounted nations in plains, or all vampires in towns, or nations of hobbits and flyers and monsters. (things later worked into Ballbarians excellent program)

[Agrajag]

Adding some metadata to the .map files isn't hard, though any information written could be simply gotten from actually interpreting the .map file (For example, instead of checking "if (province_string.contains_string("wood")" you could just check "if (terrain_mask.to_int() & 128)"

Yes he was just getting to the point of it being extremely useful. He had licked the biggest complaints. He had just made colors fully selectable, and added the ability to scatter icons as the Dom3 generator does. A user-created icons file would be a big addition.

Since I don't really remember that randomizer, I'm curious about it. What "cool stuff" did it really have? What do you mean by "scatter icons"? (Do you mean using images of trees in forest provinces, mountains in mountains etc., or are we talking about crowns for VPs and volcanoes for sites?)
(Adding custom colors and images for trees and stuff would be easy, and definitely part of the plan.)

[Gandalf Parker]

Here is the thread on that generator..
New Map Generator
And a later thread on my efforts to make the maps available the public.
Wrapped Maps Available!

Here are some examples from various rmg's:
DomMap
MapGen wrappable
MapGen 1500 provinces wrappable

[Gandalf Parker]

Another example. This is a Tower map.
Tower_1
I found some interest in this as a different type of game. Generating 1500 provinces only wide enough for the game to place one nation at a time stacked. Each player only had to concern themselves (mostly) with the nation on top or below them. There were also pipeline maps which were the same concept but running sideways instead of up and down. Maps like this would be great if they would wrap top-bottom for Tower and left-right for Pipeline.

Which reminds me. Does your generator mark off bad starting locations? Is that configurable as to the number of neighbors for consideration? Does it not mix land and sea neighbors in that count?

Feel free to turn me off anytime you want. This is one of my attributes (pro or con) that I store and generate lots of "and this too" ideas. By the way, seperate parameter files will be great. It will make it easy for me to script randomization within acceptable parameters between runs.

[HoneyBadger]

This thread makes me wonder if anyone's ever thought of a community effort map? We could take a 1500 province map-maybe Agrajag could make us a set to choose from? Gandalf could set the perimeters, and everyone could pick a portion of it to design provinces, do supplimentary artwork, write background for it, etc. I'd be willing to volunteer to coordinate the effort, as my time allows, as long as I was exempt from doing any heavy computer lifting-all I've got is my work computer and 3 busted up laptops.

[Gandalf Parker]

a couple of variations on that idea, yes.
But by all means, please feel free to try again. Start a thread.

[HoneyBadger]

I'll do just that.

[lch]

Agrajag said:
If I make a RMG, I'll definitely release the source.
Though I'm not sure how easy it would be to dive into it, what with no comments, and no programming skill on my part
Maybe you can drown in it

It's a well-known rule that implementing something from scratch is probably to be better for yourself and the program than to take stuff from somebody else and then try to understand how it works and patch it in places to add functionality. But having a reference is good in any case. Comments are optional as long as function names and variables are sensibly chosen and there's clear indentation.