Grammar Based Modular Level Generator for a Programming Puzzle Game

Jemmali, C., Ithier C., Cooper S., & El-Nasr, M. S. (2020, October). Grammar Based Modular Level Generator for a Programming Puzzle Game. (To appear) In AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment (AIIDE) Workshop on Experimental AI in Games

Keywords

Procedural Content Generation, Programming Game, Level Generator

Abstract

Procedural Content Generation is widely used in games, however, its use in educational puzzle games has been limited. These types of games present common challenges such as solvability and non triviality, but also the extra challenge of preserving intended learning goals. In this paper, we present a modular constructive approach to generate levels in a puzzle programming game. The approach uses a grammar to generate game elements from code and works backwards from the solution to ensure solvability, controllability over the solution, and variation, allowing for alternative solutions that preserve the learning goals.