The Future of Procedural Content Generation in Games

Abstract

The future of procedural content generation (PCG) lies beyond the dominant motivations of “replayability” and creating large environments for players to explore. This paper explores both the past and potential future for PCG, identifying five major lenses through which we can view PCG and its role in a game: data vs. process intensiveness, the interactive extent of the content, who has control over the generator, how many players interact with it, and the aesthetic purpose for PCG being used in the game. Using these lenses, the paper proposes several new research directions for PCG that require both deep technical research and innovative game design.