Some XML files and future plans

As you can tell, I haven't been doing much lately with COD2Gen. We still use it to generate a new map to play every day where I work, but most of what we want can be accommodated by tweaking the xml files instead of messing with the program itself.

Here are two xml files that seem to produce fairly playable maps:

• buildings.xml
• trees_buildings.xml

I've been thinking lately about making a whole new generator program. I'd start from scratch, and would do some things differently:

A "holistic" approach to planning the map:

1. Decide where roads / unencumbered paths should go
2. Fill in the areas between between paths with different things based on their size and shape
3. Pick good locations for headquarters (instead of purely random) and flags (instead of always in the exact same spots)
   

Use an extensible library of prefabs to allow for more "polished" and interesting levels.

Get rid of the wavy terrain and settle for maps that are basically flat. From a technical point of view the wavy terrain was very cool, but it really tied my hands so that I couldn't use prefabs because they might have had ugly effects like the terrain jutting up through their floors. And after a LOT of play-testing :) it doesn't seem like the hilly terrain added as much to gameplay as I'd hoped. Roadways might still be hilly, but the areas between paths would be flat so we could stick anything on them with a flat bottom. We could also still have hilly tree and rock areas, but these have turned out to be less fun to play than the more urban settings.

I don't know if I'll do this for COD2 or wait for the rumored PC COD4. If anybody has thoughts, feel free to leave comments.