Using procedural generation to create the 10k landscapes in The Sentinel

2 days ago

The Sentinel uses procedural generation to create 10,000 unique landscapes.
Each landscape is generated through an 11-step process starting from 1024 seed numbers.
The generation process includes initializing seeds, smoothing the landscape, scaling tile data, and calculating tile shapes.
Landscapes vary in steepness based on a tile data multiplier ranging from 14 (gentle) to 36 (steep).
Smoothing is applied in multiple passes to average altitudes and remove spikes and troughs.
Tile shapes and altitudes are encoded into the tile data table for rendering.
Anti-cracker measures are embedded in the generation process to prevent hacking.
The final step involves swapping nibbles in the tile data to prepare for object placement.
Additional steps include adding enemies, objects, and generating secret codes for gameplay.
Examples of generated landscapes include 0000 (average), 3073 (steep), and 0278 (gentle).

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