I’ve been coding up various macro objects recently. Rather than have the random generator place obstacles willy-nilly wherever it wants, I provide a template to guide the algorithm into constructing cool patterns. The results strike a nice balance between the spontaneity of total randomness and the uniqueness of handcrafted designs. Check out the rockwheel below!

I stumbled home last night in a bit of a stupor, craving some new Cloudberry levels. As the developer of the game, well… I’ve already seen everything. What to do? Get to work!

With about 20 minutes of haphazard coding, Wheelie was born, and I was ready for the random level generator to take my creation and run with it! The algorithm automatically figures out how to use a hero’s motion and physics to create interesting levels.

After having my face stomped by a few inane wheelie levels, I called it a night and passed out a happy camper. Here’s a video of the computer AI showing me how it’s done.

One of the tricky parts of coding Cloudberry Kingdom is ensuring that the random level generator always creates a level that’s possible to beat. What’s even trickier, though, is simultaneously making the level as hard as possible.

One hero type in the game is Rocketman, who uses a jetpack to execute very long jumps. This week I’ve been training the random level generator to craft levels that require the full limit of Rocketman’s jump abilities.

How do you place moving blocks and flying blobs so that they are just barely in reach after a long jetpack maneuver? Here’s a test run showing off one generated level.