Strategic Features and Terrain Generation for Balanced Heroes of Might and Magic III Maps

This paper presents an initial approach to a generic algorithm for constructing balanced multiplayer maps for strategy games. It focuses on the placement of so-called
strategic features
- map objects that have a crucial impact on gameplay, usually providing benefits for the players who control them. The algorithm begins with constructing a logical layout of the map from the perspective of a single player. We use a novel approach based on graph grammars, where rules do not add new features but are initially constrained by the content of the start node, which simplifies their construction. To introduce other players' space, the single-player graph is multiplied and partially merged. The result is projected onto a grid by combining Sammon mapping, Bresenham's algorithm, and Voronoi diagrams. Finally, strategic features are arranged on the map using an evolutionary search algorithm. We implemented the proposed method in a map generator which we are developing for the popular strategy game Heroes of Might and Magic III. We also point out how this approach can be adapted to other games, e.g. StarCraft, WarCraft, or Anno.