University of Advancing Technology Student Creates Web-Based Dungeon Crawler Algorithm

Nov. 15, 2012 - PRLog -- It is only his first semester at UAT, and already Thomas Shea is doing amazing things. Shea created a web-based project that demonstrates an algorithm using binary space partitioning to generate continuous, connected levels for dungeon crawlers or rogue likes.

Before Shea came to UAT, he had been experimenting with creating a dungeon crawler for more than two years, but never had a completed project. When he arrived at UAT in August, he was inspired by another student at a showcase event he saw on campus and decided to sit down to finally finish his project.

Shea used JavaScript and HTML5 to create the algorithm. One challenge he faced was that he had to develop the whole project remotely, which was something he had never done before. He worked entirely via SSH, which is remote, text-only access and connected to his server where he used a powerful text editor called Vim.

He also ran into some bugs along the way that wouldn’t allow some of the generated rooms to connect to other rooms in the algorithm. Eventually, Shea had to rewrite half of the code for his algorithm in order to make it work. It took him four months to create the browser-based project algorithm and he is extremely pleased with his final work.

Shea is a full-time student at UAT dual majoring in Artificial Life (A-life) and Robotics and Embedded Systems.

To become a part of the UAT Artificial Life program, visit http://uat.edu

To see more of Shea’s project, visit: http://tom.shea.at/levelgendemo/index.html