Breeding terrains with genetic terrain programming: the evolution of terrain generators

Abstract

Although a number of terrain generation techniques have been proposed during the last few years, all of them have some key constraints. Modelling techniques depend highly upon designer’s skills, time, and effort to obtain acceptable results, and cannot be used to automatically generate terrains. The simpler methods allow only a narrow variety of terrain types and offer little control on the outcome terrain. The Genetic Terrain Programming technique, based on evolutionary design with Genetic Programming, allows designers to evolve terrains according to their aesthetic feelings or desired features. This technique evolves Terrain Programmes (TPs) that are capable of generating a family of terrains—different terrains that consistently present the same morphological characteristics. This paper presents a study about the persistence of morphological characteristics of terrains generated with different resolutions by a given TP. Results show that it is possible to use low resolutions during the evolutionary phase without compromising the outcome, and that terrain macrofeatures are scale invariant.