I often get asked about approaches to dividing up spaces into smaller, interestingly connected, yet feasibly playable spaces. This could be floors of a building, an area of dungeon, or blocks of a city. There are may approaches one can take, but they are broadly divided into two camps:
- Grow outwards and upwards, iterating on requirements until met
- Sub-divide, enhancing detail, enforcing requirements at each step
The first is more organic, more like simulation, and harder to integrate into an existing world. The second is more regimented, more thoughtful, and more controllable. It’s no surprise that I favour the second, particularly because it fits in well with procedural methodologies and the way Apparance operates.
When recently discussing this problem I remembered I had written a few blog posts about this a long time ago and on re-reading them realised they are still very relvent and cover the topic quite well. They are worth checking out if you are looking into this stuff, particularly these two:
If you want to dig around and read more of the blog posts in this area they are listed on the Apparance Archive page.