Procedural Generation

Procedural Generation in Godot 4.3+

All examples target Godot 4.3+ with no deprecated APIs. GDScript is shown first, then C#.

Related skills: 2d-essentials for TileMapLayer usage, 3d-essentials for 3D terrain meshes, math-essentials for vectors and transforms, godot-optimization for chunk loading and performance.

1. Seeded Randomness

Always use seeds for reproducible generation. This enables shareable seeds, replay, and deterministic testing.

GDScript

gdscriptCopy code
# RandomNumberGenerator — per-instance, seedable
var rng := RandomNumberGenerator.new()

func generate_level(level_seed: int) -> void:
    rng.seed = level_seed

    var width: int = rng.randi_range(20, 40)
    var height: int = rng.randi_range(15, 30)
    var enemy_count: int = rng.randi_range(3, 8)
    var treasure_chance: float = rng.randf_range(0.05, 0.15)

# AVOID: Global randf()/randi() — not reproducible across calls
# USE: rng.randf(), rng.randi(), rng.randf_range(), rng.randi_range()

C#

csharpCopy code
private RandomNumberGenerator _rng = new();

public void GenerateLevel(ulong levelSeed)
{
    _rng.Seed = levelSeed;

    int width = _rng.RandiRange(20, 40);
    int height = _rng.RandiRange(15, 30);
    int enemyCount = _rng.RandiRange(3, 8);
    float treasureChance = _rng.RandfRange(0.05f, 0.15f);
}

Tip: Generate a seed from a string for shareable level codes: var seed: int = "MyLevel".hash()

2. Noise-Based Generation (FastNoiseLite)

FastNoiseLite for height maps, biome distribution, 2D terrain. Key params: noise_type (Perlin / Simplex / Cellular / Value), frequency (lower = larger features), seed. For terrain, sample noise at each tile coord, threshold the value to pick a tile.

See references/noise-generation.md for the basic noise-map recipe, noise-type reference table, and 2D terrain + TileMapLayer walkthrough.

3. BSP Dungeon Generation

Binary Space Partitioning recursively splits a rectangle into smaller rectangles, carves a room inside each leaf, connects siblings with corridors. Produces grid-aligned room-based dungeons (think roguelike).

See references/bsp-dungeons.md for the full recursive partition + room placement + corridor connection algorithm in GDScript + C#.

4. Cellular Automata (Cave Generation)

Fill a grid with random walls/floors at ~45% density, then iterate "a cell becomes a wall if ≥ 5 of 8 neighbors are walls" 4-5 times. The result is organic cave shapes — no straight corridors.

See references/cellular-automata.md for the full GDScript + C# implementation with TileMapLayer integration.

5. Wave Function Collapse (WFC)

WFC is a constraint solver: given a tile set with adjacency rules, pick the lowest-entropy cell, collapse it to a valid tile, propagate constraints, repeat. Produces tile-rule-respecting output but is non-trivial to implement.

See references/wave-function-collapse.md for concept overview and a simplified GDScript + C# implementation.

6. Common Pitfalls

7. Implementation Checklist

• All generation uses a seedable RandomNumberGenerator, never global randf()/randi()
• Seeds are stored with save data so levels can be reproduced
• FastNoiseLite frequency and octaves are tuned for the game's tile/world scale
• Large generation is spread across frames or run on a thread to avoid freezing
• Generated TileMapLayer content uses terrain autotiling when possible (not hardcoded tile coords)
• BSP dungeons verify all rooms are connected before finalizing
• Cave generation runs a flood-fill to ensure reachability between key points
• Player spawn point is validated to be on a floor tile, not inside a wall