Genetic terrain programming

Abstract

Nowadays there are a wide range of techniques for terrain generation, but all of them are focused on providing realistic terrains, often neglecting other aspects (e.g., aesthetic appeal or presence of desired features). This thesis presents a new technique, GTP (Genetic Terrain Programming), based on evolutionary design with Genetic Programming. The GTP technique consists of a guided evolution, by means of Interactive Evolution, accordingly to a speci c desired terrain feature or aesthetic appeal. This technique can yield both aesthetic and real TPs (Terrain Programmes) which are capable of gen- erating di erent terrains, but consistently with the same features. TPs are also scale invariant, meaning that terrain features will be preserved across di erent LODs (Levels Of Details), which allows the use of low LODs dur- ing the evolutionary phase without compromising results. Additionally, the resulting TPs can be incorporated in video games, like any other procedural technique, to generate terrains. Furthermore, by way of resorting to several TPs to compose the full landscape, it is possible to control some localised terrain features, thus eliminating the main drawback of traditional procedu- ral techniques. The combination of GP with evolutionary art systems also diminish the e ort and time required to create complex terrains when com- pared to modeling techniques. Moreover, the results are not dependent on the designer's skills.