User guide
The designer workflow is divided into roughly three parts:
- Setup and configuration of the generation process. At this stage, the designer imports and/or selects the map pieces to use for the generation process, and defines the generation parameters.
- Map generation and validation assessment. The designer generates the map, which appears in the scene view; the validation metrics appear in the console, allowing the designer to quickly assess the map's navigability.
- Demo of an NPC traversing the map. The two previous steps occur in editor mode, i.e., when the "game" is not running. To get a first-person feeling for the generated map, the designer can enter play mode, in which case a demo of an NPC traversing the map starts, as exemplified in the following image:
Naturally, this workflow can be repeated and iterated upon until the designer is satisfied with the results. The next sections further detail these steps, as well as the user interfaces which allow for this interaction.
The designer sets up the generation process by interacting with the GenerationManager
component, displayed in Unity’s inspector—see image below—when the game object of the
same name is selected in the scene’s object hierarchy. Here, the designer can generate
a new map or clear an existing one (subfigure (a) below), select the pieces used to
create the map (subfigure (b) below), define the connection criteria (subfigure (c)
below), specify general parameters (subfigure (d) below), and choose and configure a
selection method (subfigure (e) below). Configuring map validation is also performed at
this stage. This is done in a separate inspector panel, which appears when the
NavController game object is selected in the object hierarchy. Among other aspects,
the designer can define the dimension of NPCs and/or players navigating the map, as
well as the number of navigation points used for determining the navigation metrics.
