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Abstract :"Procedural content generation (PCG), the algorithmic creation of game content with limited or indirect user input, has much to offer to game design. In recent years, it has become a mainstay of game AI, with significant research being put towards the investigation of new PCG systems, algorithms, and techniques. But for PCG to be absorbed into the practice of game design, it must be contextualised within design-centric as opposed to AI or engineering perspectives. We therefore provide a set of design metaphors for understanding potential relationships between a designer and PCG. These metaphors are: TOOL, MATERIAL, DESIGNER, and DOMAIN EXPERT. By examining PCG through these metaphors, we gain the ability to articulate qualities, consequences, affordances, and limitations of existing PCG approaches in relation to design. These metaphors are intended both to aid designers in understanding and appropriating PCG for their own contexts, and to advance PCG research by highlighting the assumptions implicit in existing systems and discourse"

"This paper describes the creation of the game Endless Web, a 2D platforming game in which the player's actions determine the ongoing creation of the world she is exploring. Endless Web is an example of a PCG-based game: it uses procedural content generation (PCG) as a mechanic, and its PCG system, Launchpad, greatly influenced the aesthetics of the game. All of the player's strategies for the game revolve around the use of procedural content generation. Many design challenges were encountered in the design and creation of Endless Web, for both the game and modifications that had to be made to Launchpad. These challenges arise largely from a loss of fine-grained control over the player's experience; instead of being able to carefully craft each element the player can interact with, the designer must instead craft algorithms to produce a range of content the player might experience. In this paper we provide a definition of PCG-based game design and describe the challenges faced in creating a PCG-based game. We offer our solutions, which impacted both the game and the underlying level generator, and identify issues which may be particularly important as this area matures."

From the abstract: "In this paper, we propose the integration of two PCG-based approaches (experiencedriven and context-driven PCG) to support the generation of adaptive mobile game levels. We present and discuss the implementation of our approach in an existing game, 7's Wild Ride. Gameplay semantics and player modeling are used to steer a level generator, featuring a time-dependent dynamic diculty adjustment mechanism. From our two user studies, we conclude that (i) context-driven levels are preferable over traditional ones, and (ii) the game can adapt to dierent player types, keeping its gameplay balanced and player satisfaction."

Abstract: "Procedural content generation (PCG) is concerned with automatically generating game content, such as levels, rules, textures and items. But could the content generator itself be seen as content, and thus generated automatically? This would be very useful if one wanted to avoid writing a content generator for a new game, or if one wanted to create a content generator that generates an arbitrary amount of content with a particular style or theme. In this paper, we present a procedural procedural level generator generator for Super Mario Bros. It is an interactive evolutionary algorithm that evolves agentbased level generators. The human user makes the aesthetic judgment on what generators to prefer, based on several views of the generated levels including a possibility to play them, and a simulation-based estimate of the playability of the levels. We investigate the characteristics of the generated levels, and to what extent there is similarity or dissimilarity between levels and between generators."

Abstract: "We introduce Mechanic Miner, an evolutionary system for discovering simple two-state game mechanics for puzzle platform games. We demonstrate how a re ection-driven generation technique can use a simulation of gameplay to select good mechanics, and how the simulation- driven process can be inverted to produce challenging levels specic to a generated mechanic. We give examples of levels and mechanics generated by the system, summarise a small pilot study conducted with example levels and mechanics, and point to further applications of the technique, including applications to automated game design."

"This dissertation presents the use of procedural content generation to create expressive design tools: content generators that are accessible to designers, supporting the creation of new kinds of design tools and enabling the exploration of a new genre of game involving the deep integration of procedural content generation into game mechanics and aesthetics. The first of these tools is Tanagra, the first ever AI-assisted level design tool that supports a designer creating levels for 2D platforming games. Tanagra guarantees that levels created in the tool are playable, and provides the designer with the ability to modify generated levels and directly control level pacing. The second tool is Launchpad, which supports a designer controlling both component and pacing features of generated levels; its companion game Endless Web uses the generator to create an infinite world for players to explore and alter through their choices. Endless Web is one of a handful of games in a new genre enabled by content generation: PCG-based games. Finally, this dissertation presents a novel method for understanding, visualizing, and comparing a generator's expressive range, thus allowing designers to understand the implications of decisions they will make during the design process."

Automating game content generation