Survey of Procedural Content

CSE 3541Matt Boggus

Procedural Content Generation

• Procedural generation refers to content generated algorithmically rather than manually.

• Why have procedural content?– Replayability• Scene variety• Infinite levels

– Development time and costs

Development costs – facts and figures

• Gran Turismo 5 budget: $60 Million [source]• Grand Theft Auto 5 budget: $266 Million [source]• Average AAA game development cost: $28 Million [

source]

• For comparison:– Movie budgets

• Kick-Ass (2012) : budget of $28 Million– Television

• Game of Thrones : budget approx. $60 Million [source]

Development costs – facts and figures

• How the Wii was born

• Cost and Sales breakdowns

• $60 price point – inflation and cost breakdown

Procedural content in games

Procedural generation algorithms

Examples in commercial games

Additional reading and resources

• Procedural Content Generation for Games: A Survey– Direct Link to author’s preprint– ACM Digital Library Link

• Essential facts about the computer and video game industry: Sales, demographics, and usage data– 2012 infographic