NAME
Game::TextMapper::Gridmapper - generate dungeon maps
DESCRIPTION
This generates dungeon maps. At its core, this uses a 3×3 layout, 9 sections total. 5 or 7 of these 9 sections get a room. The connections for the rooms (the "shape") is picked at random from a fixed list of configurations (plus flipped and rotated variants). The first room contains the stairs.
To generate bigger dungeons, more of these 3×3 layouts are added to the first. As the number of rooms is dynamic, the algorithm figures out how to best use a number of layouts containing 5 or 7 rooms to get to that number, and then simply drops the extra rooms.
METHODS
generate_map($pillars, $n, $caves)
If $pillars is true, then rooms with pillars are generated. This is usually a good idea. It's harder to pull off from Hex Describe because the description of the dungeon should mention the pillars but there's now way to do that. Perhaps, if $pillars were to be a reference of room numbers with pillars, it might work; right now, however, it's simply a boolean value.
$n is number of rooms.
If $caves is true, then the entire map uses cave walls instead of regular walls.
LAYOUT
One of the shapes is picked, and then flipped and rotated to generate more shapes. This is why we can skip any shape that is a flipped and/or rotated version of an existing shape.
5 Room Dungeons
These are inspired by The Nine Forms of the Five Room Dungeon by Matthew J. Neagley, for Gnome Stew.
The Railroad
5 5 4--5 5--4
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4 3--4 3 5--4 3
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1--2--3 1--2 1--2 1--2--3 1--2Foglio's Snail
5 4
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1--2--3The Fauchard Fork
5 5
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3--4 4--3 5--3--4
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1--2 1--2 1--2The Moose
4
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5 4 5 3
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1--2--3 1--2The Paw
5
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3--2--4
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1The Arrow
3
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2
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5--1--4The Cross
5
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3--1--4
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2The Nose Ring
5--4 2--3--4
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1--2--3 1--57 Room Dungeons
High room density is a desirable property, so we can fill the 9 sections of the 3×3 base layout with more than just five rooms. The algorithm uses 7 room shapes in addition to the five room shapes.
The Snake
7--6--5 7--6--5 4--5 7
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4 3--4 3 6 6--5--4
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1--2--3 1--2 1--2 7 1--2--3The Fork
7 5 7 5 7-----5
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6 4 6 4 6 4
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1--2--3 1--2--3 1--2--3The Sidequest
6--5 5--6 7 5 6--5 5--6 7 5
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7 3--4 4--3 7 6--3--4 7 3--4 4--3 7 6--3--4
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1--2 1--2 1--2 1--2 1--2 1--2The Unbalanced Fork
7 5 7 4--5 7 5 7 7 4--5 7 5 7
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6 4 6 3 6 3--4 6 3--4 6--3 6--3--4 6--3--4
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1--2--3 1--2 1--2 1--2 5 1--2 1--2 1--2 5The Triplet
4 5 7 5 7 5 4--5 7 5 7 5
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3--2--6 3--2--6 3--2--6 3--2--6 3--2--6 3--2--6
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1 4 1 4 1 7 1 4--1 4--1 7The Fake Fork
7 3 7 7 3 7
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6 2 6 2--3 6--2 6--2--3
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5--1--4 5--1--4 5--1--4 5--1--4The Shuriken
5 6--7 5 6--7 5--6 5--6--7 5--6--7 5--6
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4--1 4--1 4--1--7 4--1 4--1 4--1--7
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3--2 2--3 3--2 3--2 2--3 3--2The Noose
6--5 3--4 3--4
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7 4 2 5 2 5--7
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1--2--3 1--6--7 1--6SEE ALSO
Gridmapper is a web application that lets you draw dungeons with strong focus on using the keyboard.