This project aims to bring the power of DungeonSpawn to Python. It originally started as a set of bindings for DungeonMaker, but my own needs steered it away from that and prompted various extensions to the original code.

It comes in the form of a binary Python extension that wraps the DungeonSpawn library. A batteries-included, Pythonic approach to dungeon making was the main motivation behind the design of the library. I like to use Python to design maps (another project of mine already does this, and uses a plugin system to provide numerous means of doing this — these bindings will eventually be used to make another such plugin).

Example

It's incredibly easy to make a dungeon with these bindings. It takes five lines of code to make a complex, random dungeon with tunnels, rooms and anterooms. Here's an example that makes such a dungeon map and gets information about it.

import dungeonspawn
from dungeonspawn import config, const
 
# Start a new dungeon configuration. All tiles CLOSED (rock).
c = dungeonspawn.Config (100, 100, map_type=const.CLOSED)
 
# Add an entrances to the north.
c.entrance (loc=const.N)
 
# Add a tunneler.
c.add (config.Tunneler (50, 2, const.S))
 
# Generate a dungeon according to our specifications.
ds = dungeonspawn.DungeonSpawn(c)
ds.generate()
 
# That's it! Now print out information about the map.
print "Time taken to generate: %.3f msec" % (ds.dt * 1000.0,)
print "Rooms: %d" % ds.num_rooms
print "Anterooms: %d" % ds.num_anterooms
print "Reachability: %d" % ds.reachability
 
# Process the generated map. We can do this in one of two ways. Look
# at dungeonspawn.tools.print_map() for a more standard one, based on
# a pair of y/x nested loops.
for x, y, map_tile in ds.iter_map():
    print "map(%d,%d) = %d (%s)" % (x, y, map_tile, const.tiles[map_tile])
 
# A more standard way of doing this:
#for y in xrange (ds.h):
#    for x in xrange (ds.w):
#        map_tile = ds.get_map(x, y)
#        print "map(%d,%d) = %d (%s)" % (x, y, map_tile, const.tiles[map_tile])
 
# End of file.

Compatibility

The original code could use both the unexpanded DungeonMaker (version 2.05), and my own expanded version. When this expanded version became DungeonSpawn, I chose to stop supporting the unexpanded version. The expanded version is a drop-in replacement for DungeonMaker, after all, and it allows for a considerably more Pythonic way of making dungeons.

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Examples and Screenshots

DungeonMaker, DungeonSpawn and the DungeonSpawn Python bindings don't really generate any visual output, but the intent is there. So here are various examples rendered as colour-coded images.

Labyrinths

These are sample outputs of the various labyrinth-generating examples bundled with the source code. All of these examples are bundled with the distribution.

The simplest possible form of a labyrinth: all values at their defaults.

A labyrinth with wide corridors.

A labyrinth with medium corridors.

An insane labyrinth. It may be a bad idea to use this in a game. Note how some areas are gated and become strangely-shaped rooms.

A complex labyrinth. This one includes a dungeon in its centre.

Simple Dungeons

This is the standard dungeon-building behaviour, without changing any defaults.

A maze of twisty little passages, all alike: a dungeon built by very dizzy tunnelers — they take short steps, changing directions very frequently.

A mine. Long wide tunnels branch off into narrow ones, making a grid. The dark red dots are rock impenetrable to the tunneling critters. They avoid them like the plague, and this simulates similar areas in real mines.

Complex Dungeons

This dungeon has a bottleneck in its middle. The player has to pass through this point to get from the entrance to the exit.

Randomising the bottleneck using a randomly-generated configuration.

An example of a disjoint dungeon. This map includes three distinct areas, each inaccessible from the others. Hover the mouse to highlight them.

A very complex dungeon. Two distinct tunneling styles, one shabby, the other wide and stately. The latter leads to big rooms and a pre-positioned, huge treasure/encounter room at its far east edge.