Question by Spracky · Apr 24, 2016 at 07:31 AM · c#prefabs arrays procedural generation random gen

Generating a tiled world with roads, possibly using a 2D array? (C#)

So I am wanting to generate a world full of individual tiles. First question; would generating a new mesh per tile work? If so, how could I generate a 100x100 world (or any dimension for that matter) of interconnecting planes?

So lets say I make a 100x100 world of individual meshes. Would I then be able to make a 100x100 2D array and assign each coordinate of that array to a plane tile that has a corresponding coordinate on the map? I want to do this so I can use multiple passes on this array with an algorithm that will assign a prefab building, structure, or terrain to each tile such as a road, office building, house, etc. (Though I have no idea how to do that...). Each prefab would have an ID, so say I want a house prefab at (10,60) on my map, I would take the house ID and assign it to (10,60) in my 2D array. Is that feasible?

I'm wondering all of this because I have searched far and wide and have not found any good ways to generate city streets on a grid based system. I thought of this prefab ID and 2D array thing and it's all I've got to work with now. If I can generate roads, I can maybe generate another 2D array that assigns zones like industrial, business, etc. to different segments of roads and then generate corresponding prefabs in their correct zones.

I doubt much of that made sense, but if you can help whatsoever please do. Also, if you know of any other methods for generating a world with roads that meet my requirements (tiled, roads go north/south/east/west and not diagonal, organic looking) I would greatly appreciate your assistance. Thanks!

Example of the array:

[000000000000000000]

[000000000000000000] //Original empty array

[000000000000000000]

[110000000001000000]

[010000111001000000]

[011110101111111100]

[000011111000000101] // After roads are generated. Road prefabs

[000000010001011111] // (with an ID of 1) would be placed on planes

[000000111111110000] // with corresponding coordinates

[000000000100011000] // (such as (1,7) & (2,7)).

Edit:

I've managed to generate a 2 tri square and can shift it perfectly by one unit. Now I need to work on filling a 2d array with values to place my prefabs. Anyone have any algorithms to run patterns inside 2d arrays?

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Cherno · Apr 24, 2016 at 09:01 PM 1

would generating a new mesh per tile work?

No. Create mesh chunks ins$$anonymous$$d.

If you want more information per tile coordinate than a simple int, string etc. variable can store, then define a custom class that holds that information (like terrain type, zone, inhabitants etc.) and create your 2d array out of this class.

This question is too much for UA so I recommend starting a thread on the forums or search for tutorials on (procedural) mesh generation, there are lots of tutorials for both 2d and 3d ($$anonymous$$inecraft style).