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Classic gamedev issue: Random isn’t random. Recommendation: Use Hash and Noise methods instead. “Noise is noice to use”

Coining a term: Layercaking. Generating each aspect separately, for easy toggling, editing, etc. (This lines up very well with the first talk.)

All that random stuff is great, but you need to have in-game debug tools as well to make sure you can quickly work with and visualize your procedural content (cc @andrewfray.dev for his great thread!!)

Then you put the functionality of that debug menu on an Elgato stream deck for ease of use. You can also allow anyone to customize their own setup on their stream deck. So they only see the options they need, and can instantly use them (cc @derek-lieu.com, because he does this too!)

(The randomization using noise instead of random functions reminds me of lava lamp randomization: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavarand)

The Timeless way of Building mentioned!! (cc @keano.bsky.social) (‘A Pattern Language’ is another great book I recommend, which is from the same author)

(I’ll be honest, some of this goes way over my head, but apparently signed distance fields work really well)

There are generators, within generators, within generators. Hence, the term layercaking.

But, the 1000 bowls of oatmeal problem comes up: Each bowl is technically arranged uniquely, but to a user it just looks like 1000 bowls of oatmeal. Just because it’s randomly generated, doesn’t mean players like it. You need some more uniqueness, by for example clamping values between sections.

Boats (this will be a repeating pattern today)

And here is the summary and a QR code link for the slides! There are lots of great gifs and videos in this talk with many different ways to do generation that are directly applied to game development. Take a look!

Good lunch (but bad allergens signage. It’s non-existent)

Thanks to the Blender Conference last year, I am wearing appropriate socks for this conference. UVd to perfection.

Next talk is from some Houdini folks, showing a fully procedural rig and many other things that I only half understand because Houdini is a magic box that makes cool things appear if you know the right incantations. I understand the shown workflows, but have no idea which 200 nodes generate this.

Next, a talk from a digital design studio, showing some different tooling like Touchdesigner.

As well as making a digital twin for worlds’ largest telescope, and the UX for controlling it, also made in touchdesigner. And an interactive exhibit in combination with this telescope.

They also did this for Mysterland 24, by making an interactive system that’s reacts to music, in touchdesigner, that fits onto a giant physical cube at the event. And then putting VJ content on that cube as well, with a timecoded endshow that times with the physical fireworks.

A different example, from Carl Cox, where they grab data from Ableton and Carl’s decks, move it directly to Touchdesigner and making effects appear depending on what Carl does on stage. So every light on stage reacts to the music, live.

To talk to all the lights and lasers on stage they built a system called Echo.

Next! @falconeerdev.bsky.social talking about Ship Shaper, his procedural boat generation editors It’s not a presentation with slides. It’s a live demo!

“I cannot read 600 pages of Xbox documentation, or integrate any APIs, but give me a raycast and a loop and I can do anything I want.” (Now that’s the tech artist mantra)

(It reminds me of an archimedes quote, but remastered: ‘Give me a ray long enough, and a place to cast it, and I can generate the world’)

Next: Natsura, plants, polygons, and people. It’s a total conversion mod for Houdini (you can do that??) which focuses it entirely on plants & foliage.