AVR: Zeta Developer 

...algorithm for creating roads

For those who do not know what Zeta is: https://www.reddit.com/r/projectzomboid/comments/1cwny9r/i_created_a_map_generator_or_lets_play_carcassonne/

Hi all. You probably thought that I was hopelessly lost and failed in my task. But it's not like that. My long absence was due to the fact that my small business takes up a lot of my time... I also needed to think more about algorithms and the like...

In general, one way or another we continue to work on the project. Why "we"? Let me tell you: I took a person with the nickname Azakaela to my team. She took full charge of the "style" of buildings, roads and other structures. And now I am completely involved in the internal part of the program

What's new? Azakaela suggested a good idea: to work with smaller structures inside our cells 300 by 300. In other words, I thought about this myself, but did not expect that this could be realized. As it turned out, it is possible. And the Zeta code was well suited to this

Now I will talk a little about my plans for how generation will be arranged in Zeta. First we will generate a certain number of cities (more on this later). After this we will place cities in the game world. And then we will connect Zeta scripts so that it “completes” the world. That is, part of the program with roads remains the same at the moment, but cities will be generated differently. let's discuss

In my photos you can see strange blue grids. These blue grids represent roads. I wrote a script that generates a road map of small cities. If you look at the cities in the game, then one way or another you will notice that all the roads are “rectangles”. I took this as the basis for the algorithm and implemented it

I think it's like a full city. The algorithm is already ready and fully working, all that remains is to transfer it to the Zeta engine. It will take time (we will need to work with districts and all that), but somehow we are making progress. Not true?

Share your opinion, ask questions! Love everyone

At the moment, I am doing a lot of work to improve the logic of generating roads on the map

This is a very painstaking process that requires a lot of time to set up. Since the last announcement, the program code has doubled

As soon as the test work with roads is over, I will start working with the generation of cities. I have already prepared a small foundation for them

Now I am recruiting a small number of "testers" to think through the logic of roads. If you are interested in this, write to me in Discord: avr_143

Hello friends. There is no new news yet. So let me tell you what I'm working on now:

-At the moment I am working on the logic of the roads. I introduce zones and regions into the algorithms to try to make the roads more realistic.

-Working with the zombie map creation system

What is indirectly related to the project:

-I’m studying new generation algorithms to make Zeta less random

Have a nice day everyone, Zeta is just around the corner

The tool for obtaining zones from custom cells has been improved

Zeta can now also read zones and place them

Hi all! Remember, I promised that I would introduce a secondary cycle? So, he's ready!

Now Zeta can modify the map, closing all the holes and aligning it in width

At the moment there is still a small problem with some tiles missing, but I think I will solve it soon. Most of the generations look like in the screenshots

Now I want to tell you about the following goal:

-Currently Zeta works in one cycle (placing cells in a random order)

-In the next update, Zeta will receive a new system; a secondary cycle will join its work, which will “refine” the map. His task is to fill the “holes” on the map and make it square. The principle of its operation will differ from the primary cycle

You may notice that the roads are better connected to each other

The Zeta logic in the placement of cells on the field has been improved; now the number of “holes” on the map is minimized

This allows me to move on to the next stage of development: forming a secondary cycle for placing cells that will fill in empty spaces and align our map

The system that generates the .pzw file has also been improved

I will try to provide the next Zeta update by the end of the week or by the middle of next week

What you see in the screenshot is the result of my program - Zeta: Map Generator. But let's take it in order.

Zeta is a program that randomly places already prepared cells on the field. Zeta operates in a certain logic - this helps us avoid illogical connections between cells. The Zeta engine fully simulates the playing field to create maps.

-What is the main disadvantage of Zeta?

-Zeta cages are made by hand. Perhaps this is its main disadvantage

-What are the prospects for Zeta?

-Zeta logic scales very well. This means that the more cards we have available, the more logical connections we can create. Thus, we can generate almost realistic cities, roads, and so on! At the moment Zeta is a bit stupid and you can see a lot of illogical roads, but I will definitely fix that

-What is the future for Zeta?

-If I see enough response from the community, I will continue to develop Zeta. My goal is to completely generate the map from scratch. This is too far a goal. But there are also advantages: I know that it is possible!