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Tutorial 1: Creating Your First World (Procedural Caves)

This tutorial will guide you through creating a simple organic cave system using the World Generator's node-based workflow.

Prerequisites​

  • A Unity project with the Dynamic Dungeon tool installed.
  • A 2D Scene with a Grid and Tilemap layers (e.g., "Background", "Ground", "Walls").

Step 1: Create a Biome Asset​

Before we generate logic, we need to tell the tool what tiles to use.

  1. Right-click in your Project window: Create > Dynamic Dungeon > Biome Asset.
  2. Name it CaveBiome.
  3. In the inspector, add two entries:
    • Logical ID 1 (Floor): Assign your cave floor tiles.
    • Logical ID 2 (Wall): Assign your cave wall tiles.
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Space for Screenshot: Biome Asset setup in the Inspector.

Step 2: Create the Generation Graph​

  1. Right-click in your Project window: Create > Dynamic Dungeon > GenGraph.
  2. Name it CaveGraph.
  3. Double-click it to open the Dynamic Dungeon Editor.

Step 3: Building the Cave Logic​

Inside the Editor, we will chain nodes to create an organic shape.

3a. Generate Noise​

Add a Perlin Noise node. This creates the base "cloud" of values that will become our caves.

  • Adjust the Frequency to around 0.1.
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Space for Screenshot: Perlin Noise node in the graph editor.

3b. Threshold the Noise​

Add a Threshold node and connect the output of the Noise node to its input.

  • Set the Threshold value (e.g., 0.5). This converts the fuzzy noise into sharp black-and-white shapes.

3c. Smooth the Shapes​

Add a Cellular Automata node and connect the Threshold output to it.

  • Set Iterations to 3. This will remove "speckles" and make the caves look more natural.
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Space for Screenshot: The chain of Noise -> Threshold -> Cellular Automata.

3d. Assign Logical IDs​

Add a Mask To Logical ID node.

  • Connect the Cellular Automata output to the input.
  • Set True ID to 1 (Floor) and False ID to 2 (Wall).

3e. Terminal Output​

Add a Tilemap Output node and connect your Logical ID result to the Int port.

Step 4: Set Up the Scene Generator​

  1. Create an empty GameObject in your scene named WorldGenerator.
  2. Add the Tilemap World Generator component.
  3. Assign your CaveGraph and CaveBiome.
  4. In Layer Definitions, add a layer named Walls and link it to the output port of your graph.
  5. Set World Dimensions to 100 x 100.
  6. Click Generate.
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Space for Screenshot: The final generated cave in the Unity Scene view.