Random dungeon

A random dungeon is a dungeon in a role-playing video game which is generated by the computer using an algorithm, such that the dungeon is laid out differently every time the player enters it, and a player often never plays through quite the same dungeon twice. Random dungeons are usually found in the Action RPG genre of games. Programs are also available that generate random dungeons for tabletop role-playing games.

Random dungeons first appeared in the ASCII adventure game "Rogue", [* cite book
last = Montfort
first = Nick
authorlink = Nick Montfort
title = Twisty Little Passages
publisher = MIT Press
date = 2003
pages = 224
isbn = 0262633183 ] then in other "roguelikes", combining the kinds of maze-like dungeons found in the role-playing game "Dungeons & Dragons" with a computer's ability to generate mazes on the fly. Random dungeons have followed video game technology through the advent of 2D and subsequently 3D graphics, although they still often rely on most of the same basic algorithms that were used when they used ASCII graphics.Fact|date=October 2007

Examples of games that center on random dungeons

ASCII

*"Ancient Domains of Mystery"
*"Angband"
*"NetHack"
*"Rogue"

"Skins" have been made for some of these games that use 2D graphics in place of the ASCII characters.

2D

*The "Fushigi no Dungeon" series
*"Diablo"
*"Diablo II"
*"Biomotor Unitron"

3D

*"Champions of Norrath"
*"Coded Arms"
*"Daggerfall"
*"Dark Cloud"
*"Dark Cloud 2"
*"Fate"
*"Neverwinter Nights" with the "Infinite Dungeons" premium expansion module.
*""

ee also

*Hack and slash
*Dungeon crawl
*Procedurally generated content

References