An Agent-Based Approach for Procedural Puzzle Generation in Graph-Based Maps

We present an algorithm to add puzzles to maps represented as graphs. The algorithm starts from an empty map, represented as a graph, with at least one entry area and one exit area. It runs several specialized agents responsible for adding puzzles (e.g., locked doors, keys, switches). It generates a map with at least one acceptable solution (path) whose difficulty depends on the type of agents used (that is, the variety of puzzles added) and the number of puzzles added by each agent. Most importantly, no sequence of actions can leave the players stuck in a dead-end situation with no way to reach the goal. We include two examples of agents specialized in (i) switch mechanics (e.g., a lever that opens a passage and closes another one, the lighting of a fire that shows an inscription needed to solve another puzzle), and (ii) element collection mechanics (e.g., collecting keys or other puzzle elements to open a passage).