Torque 2D - Expanding the Universe - 1001 game ideas

#21 I remember an old commodore 64 game, but forget the name, all I can do is describe it... it was fake (i think) 3D, isometric style, you walked around on this platform in space shooting and collecting, then you could go through a hole in the floor, the platform would flip over horizontally and you were walking on the other side, with totally different layout. Each platform was a level, each level was fairly small, but the amazing things was there were tens of thousands of levels. Or perhaps thousands. My friend stayed up for ages and managed to reach level 600 or something like that... This was years ago on a (by modern standards) limited platform, it shows that using clever thinking and some cool algorithm to generate levels, as well as a funky idea, is really feasible. What was that game called? Anyway, the point being that as memory and cpu developed, emphasis went from programming to art. Either artists just can't stand the thought of having their beautifully rendered tiles placed into random maps, or new-skool programmers haven't been exposed to some of the ingenuity of the past.

Another cool game was one where you were a test pilot in some new kind of ship, and the mission was to fly down into the earth towards the core, the thing being that the cavern you are flying down gets narrower and narrower, and it gets hotter and more dangerous.

How about Jet-Set-Willy style games? I can think of an adaptation one where this guy has an intimate party, and his wife phones home early from a trip overseas, saying she's on her way. The "guests" leave, leaving the hero to clean up the, uh, mess... Ah, such tastelessness.

Obviously my mind is on the blink. Roland goes digging crossed with Ghosts n Goblins anyone?

#22 I totally dig what you guys are saying.

any idea on where we could find some information of those clever algorithms?

#23 Check out http://www.gamasutra.com/features/19990917/infinite_01.htm for starters, its an article titled Algorithms for an Infinite Universe, by By Guy W. Lecky-Thompson, published there on September 17, 1999. Its pretty well written. You need to be a Gamasutra member to read it, but its free to sign up and definitely worthwhile.

#24 Found this via google - someone trying to recreate a Seven Cities style world builder:

http://www.erasmatazz.com/library/JCGD_Volume_5/How_to_Build_a_World.html

I've played with this kinda of stuff in UnrealScript for a UT2k4 mod. Well, more random level than random world - but the theory is the same. What I've found is that it's a lot of trial and error to tweak the chaos to get your desired results. Math isn't really my strong point though, so I had a tendency to rely on while style logic to keep attempting patterns until they were acceptable.

#25 I have this book:

Infinite Game Universe, Volume 2: Level Design, Terrain, and Sound

but it doesn't seen to be that useful not even as useful as the articles you guys are talking about.
How about volume1: "Infinite Game Universe: Mathematical Techniques" ? have you guys read it?

#26 Pigeon Soccer

*evil grin*