Aesthetic differences of procedural terrain generation algorithms

Abstract

Procedural terrain generation is a popular field of study and it is widely used in video game development. There are many algorithms that can be used to generate terrains with different results in generation speed and memory consumption. Current research studies the technical functions of these algorithms and seek to improve them, however there is a research gap in studying the aesthetic qualities these algorithms generate. In this thesis, we aim to fill that gap by studying the aesthetic qualities of generated terrains using Perlin noise, the diamond-square algorithm and a hybrid technique. For data collection we utilized mixed-method research approach of both quantitative and some qualitative research approaches. Our results show that these algorithms have aesthetic differences and advantages over each other. Perlin noise produces smooth and round appearance to the terrain and the diamond-square algorithm generated a rough and sharp appearance. The terrain generated by the diamond-square algorithm was rated as the best terrain in terms of its appearance by the questionnaire respondents. The terrain generated by the hybrid technique did not exhibit any advantage over the other two techniques in terms of its appearance, it was found to have the most variety in its changes in elevation, slope and surface type. These findings show that techniques of fractal nature generate realistic landscapes, while a hybrid technique can generate terrains with a lot variety.