Samenvatting

TerraTiler2D is a cheap and accessible tool that assists game developers in the procedural generation of 2D sidescroller game worlds during runtime.
 
Development of TerraTiler2D started on the 8th of February 2021, and the tool is scheduled for release on the Unity Asset store in July of 2021 for 49,99 usd, available at https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/tools/terrain/terratiler2d-198030.
 
To define the design theory behind TerraTiler2D, the following main research question was formulated:


How can one develop a tool that can assist in the procedural generation of 2D sidescroller game worlds during runtime, so that small companies and indie developers can save time and effort when they want to include procedurally generated worlds in their project(s)?


 
To answer the main research question, it was divided into three separate sub-research questions. 
 
The first sub-research question identified which procedural generation techniques are most commonly used by small companies and indie developers, which are noisemaps, templates, and probabilistic elements. This answers the “that can assist in the procedural generation of 2D sidescroller game worlds during runtime” part of the main research question.
 
Sub-research question two revealed the Unity (Unity, 2005) engine to be the most used game engine by the target audience. This helps answer the “How can one develop a tool” part of the main research question.
 
Lastly, playtests showed that a node-graph UI is preferable over the standard Unity UI for the purpose of visualizing the procedural generation of the tool. These playtest results help answer the “so that small companies and indie developers can save time and effort” part of the main research question.
 
Combining the findings of all sub-research questions into an answer to the main research question results in the following:


Develop a tool for the Unity engine that uses a node-graph UI system, that provides the user with easy access to noisemap methods for procedural world generation.


 
The results of all of these research questions were integrated in TerraTiler2D’s design. TerraTiler2D makes use of a node-graph UI system to define the procedural generation of worlds, and has over 120 different nodes to help users create exactly what they want, including 4 different noisemap generators, and 6 different tile placing algorithms.
 
All of these nodes have extensive documentation describing their functionality and purpose, available at www.terratiler2d.tiemenkamp.com.
 
TerraTiler2D will be available on the Unity Asset Store for 49,99 usd at https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/tools/terrain/terratiler2d-198030.