The way of the future in video games is procedural generation, that is, using math to build the game world instead of doing everything by hand. This allows a massive amount of content to be made as quickly as a computer’s CPU can chug the formulas. The trick to procedural generation is making it look right, and if you’re building a known place, say, Britain, that’s a problem needing to be solved. Developer Big Robot has taken on the challenge. Boing Boing has the story.
Lots of games use procedural generation these days, but few rely on it so strongly as Big Robot’s game, “Sir, You Are Being Hunted.” Provided the game does well, it could provide a strong incentive for more games to get on the procedural bandwagon. That means bigger games with less effort involved, which is a win for everyone.