RANDOM Putt levels! (Page 1 of 2)

On ID 11025, I got through the first hole, and Neverputt crashed!

EDIT: Oops. Forgot to compile the holes.

Last edited by Challenge Space Yard (2007-02-18 14:54:02)

epsy: No, these are really randomly generated.

CSY: The 'id' in the file names does not mean anything, it's just used to prevent file collisions. (think several of these scripts running at the same time). If you want to see the generation info, check the map-files, there's lines that begin with // and contain ".map" and those are sort-of debug info from the level building script.

Dave: These aren't totally random, they're constructed out of prefabbed pieces, and the selection of pieces is quite limited right now. You're right that hand-crafted levels are better, but playing a random course might be more interesting than playing the same courses all the time

The prefab pieces can be made with radiant (for example this one: http://bilious.homelinux.org/~paxed/rnd … road_a.map ) and then there's a text file that describes the prefabs and how they can be joined to each other, and the script itself (written in php) that constructs the levels.

I intend to add some configurability to the website, so you can say eg. how long a course you want, etc.

Edit: Added course length input to the page and fixed a bug with offsets of one prefab.

Last edited by paxed (2007-02-18 19:03:53)

Either I'm bad at making Neverputt levels, or the generator is very good

(Actually it's more to do with the fact that there's very few prefabs used. When I add more, the levels will be more variable)

Sounds interesting.
I can't wait to have a look too.

I've got a free software awareness event that I'm organising for next weekend, so I'm stuck without the use of my main machine.

If there's a gap between prefabs, it's a bug. Do you have the .map-file where this occurs? if so, I want to see the lines from it with the string ".map" in them...

I will need to generate more courses (I already manually fixed those).

Another two bugs:
1. The pars that are generated are way too high on most holes.
2. When you select the number of holes (say 18) holes, you get the number of holes MINUS one (in this example, 17). I checked the TXT files and I noticed that you did not duplicate the line that handles the first hole.

Last edited by Challenge Space Yard (2007-02-25 23:03:31)

parasti, CSY: I can't check CSY's .map file right now, but did the gap happen at the end of the level? It looks from the findstr output and grepping CSY's .map file that the levels were generated just before i fixed this. I had a bug where if the level was ended with ramp_a.map (long ramp down, southwards) and goal_c, then there was a 256 unit wide gap between the ramp and the goal. I fixed it late last night.

CSY: 1) I lowered the par slightly on the levels.  2) That one is fixed now too.

I also added some more prefab pieces.

Edit:  parasti, oops, yes, if you're using 1.4.0, then you need Dave's texture pack (the goal atleast uses the all darkgreen texture). The levels should work with the SVN head too, but I haven't actually tested it.

Last edited by paxed (2007-02-19 07:48:15)

Your "Endurance" course generator errors when I try to generate courses as of this writing. It did work fine before, but now it ceases to function.

Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in /home/paxed/public_html/rndneverball/mkmap.php on line 81

EDIT: I cleared the cache and it worked again... how funny!

Last edited by Challenge Space Yard (2007-02-19 21:17:50)

Been a while, but I found 1 bug in this "Endurance" generator.

Sometimes, the generator creates a situation where the ramps shape themselves like a "V" with no flat space between them (otherwise \_/). This causes the ball to permanently stay and move there, forcing the putter(s) to quit.

I've also racked up some extra prefabs you could use with the generator.

Last edited by Challenge Space Yard (2007-02-24 19:04:26)

Your generator is starting to knock my socks off! Good improvements. ;]

Unfortunately, to add that prefab I'd have to add connecting blocks (your SpiralWall has 64 wide joins, whereas all joins in the generator are 128 wide), and it's rather tricky adding new blocks right now.
I've been meaning to rewrite the code so that adding new prefab elements would be easier, but that's a total rewrite, and I haven't found the time for it yet.