Patterns, Dungeons and Generators

This paper analyses dungeons, of the varieties commonly found in role-playing games, into several sets of design patterns at different levels of abstraction. The analysis focuses on mechanical patterns that could be either straightforwardly instantiated or recognized by a well-defined process. At the most concrete level a set of fundamental components were identified, followed by a long list of micropatterns which can be directly instantiated. Shorter lists of meso- and macro-patterns, which can be identified mechanically, are also identified. The direct motivation for this analysis is to find building blocks and objectives for a search-based procedural dungeon generator, however we believe the analysis can be useful for understanding this class of game artifacts in general. In particular, the constraints on patterns being instantiable or recognizable leads to a stricter pattern analysis than many other attempts at analyzing game design.