Minecraft Dungeons level designers talk about creating a procedurally generated world

Source: Microsoft/Mojang

We’re all eagerly waiting for Minecraft Dungeons to finally release on May 26, 2020, but until then, snippets of information will have to suffice. Today the official Minecraft blog published an interview between two level designers for Dungeons, Laura and Christian. The two designers explained in detail how they designed the different levels of the game and how everything fits together.

Unlike normal Minecraft, which is generated block by block, Dungeons is generated piece by piece. This ensures that everything fits together nicely and there’s an overall sense of cohesion as you progress through the levels. The way Mojang designs these pieces, however, is quite special. Apparently all levels in Minecraft Dungeons were actually designed in vanilla Minecraft!

The Mojang team has access to a special “Super-Creative Mode” with additional tools, markers, and brushes that allow them to create much faster and with more versatility than normal. They design individual pieces in Minecraft, try them out in third person in Dungeons, and double-check to make sure everything runs smoothly and the player’s view isn’t obstructed by any of their designs.

While many rooms are randomly generated across levels in Minecraft Dungeons, there are also some that are fixed and never change. These rooms serve as landmarks, or backdrops, intended to create red threads for each mission – a good thing if you ask Laura and Christian, because procedurally generated content needs boundaries.

Source: Microsoft/Mojang

The level designers have also made sure that players always know where to go in each level and can easily recognize different landmarks to track their progress. Because of this, there is always a map that players can access, along with yellow arrows indicating their next objective. In the story levels there are also “landmark” pieces which are always present and which are not procedurally generated like the rest of the map. These create a common thread that players can follow, even if they get lost.

This also means that bonus or secret levels are often more chaotic and messy, as these iconic pieces aren’t needed! You have been warned.

Finally, the interview explains how mobs are generated in these seemingly random levels, and the answer is that the appropriate mobs are assigned to the different rooms, so you’ll only encounter mobs that make sense for the room you’re in. you find. Beyond that, the game is smart enough to know a player’s power level, how far they’ve progressed and if they have any friends helping them, and decide how many mobs and at what strength are correct.

The interview is a fascinating insight into how this exciting game was created. If you want to check out the full interview, you can find it here. If not, sit tight and wait with all of us for this game to finally come out!