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Building a Procedural Hex Map with Wave Function Collapse (felixturner.github.io)

580 points by imadr · 175 days ago · 86 comments on HN

Article summary

The article discusses the creation of a procedural hex map using Wave Function Collapse (WFC), a technique inspired by the board game Carcassonne. The author built a map generator that creates medieval island worlds with roads, rivers, coastlines, and villages, using a combination of WFC and other algorithms. The generator uses a recovery system to handle failures and inconsistencies, and the resulting maps are rendered using Three.js and WebGPU. The article also covers the technical details of the implementation, including the use of hex coordinates, tile definitions, and post-processing effects.

Main themes

  • Procedural Generation
  • Wave Function Collapse
  • Hex Maps
  • Game Development
  • Constraint Solving
  • Technical Implementation

What commenters say

  • The article's writing style is reminiscent of AI-generated content, which may or may not be a bad thing.
  • The use of WFC for procedural generation is a powerful technique that can be applied to various domains, including game development.
  • The article's approach to backtracking and constraint solving can be improved using more advanced algorithms and data structures, such as Algorithm X and dancing links.
  • The use of existing constraint programming solvers and high-level modeling languages can simplify the development of procedural generation systems.
  • The article's focus on technical details and implementation is appreciated, but some readers may find it lacking in terms of high-level insights and design decisions.
  • The similarity between the article's project and other games or systems, such as Dorfromantik, is notable and worth exploring.
  • The potential for using WFC and other procedural generation techniques in interactive applications, such as games, is significant and worthy of further investigation.