I decided to add a bit of pizazz to the game. I haven't had much time lately to work on the game, so I decided to add a nice simple feature that will add a bit of charm to the game. I've created an algorithm for generating random territory names!
My ultimate goal is to create a map editor with the game and allow users to share their maps with other players. Better still, if the random map generator creates a particularly good map, you can share it with other users. As part of this, I thought it would be nice to give each territory a name. That way, if you wanted to recreate the Risk map, you could actually ensure the wobbly bit on the right is labelled "Kamchatka".
For the randomly generated maps, I wanted some randomly generated names. My first thought was just to create a random group of letters. After a little hunting on the net, however, I found this wiki page: List of generic forms in place names in the United Kingdom and Ireland. This is a great list that shows the root word origin for a lot of common UK place names - Toponymy as the cool kids call it.
This list breaks out the common parts of many places names. I knew a few of these - "Chester" comes from the Latin word for Camp. "Bourne" is the place where a river starts. It also had heaps of other ones - "bre" for hill, "combe" for valley and "drum" for ridge.
I pulled out the list and came up with an algorithm that randomly concatenates two elements from this list. Below are some cool names it generated:
They all sound suitably British and perfect for my fantasy game!
I can now display to the user that they've built a castle in Kilham, rather than just that forest territory on the left! Simple, but 5% more charming!
My ultimate goal is to create a map editor with the game and allow users to share their maps with other players. Better still, if the random map generator creates a particularly good map, you can share it with other users. As part of this, I thought it would be nice to give each territory a name. That way, if you wanted to recreate the Risk map, you could actually ensure the wobbly bit on the right is labelled "Kamchatka".
For the randomly generated maps, I wanted some randomly generated names. My first thought was just to create a random group of letters. After a little hunting on the net, however, I found this wiki page: List of generic forms in place names in the United Kingdom and Ireland. This is a great list that shows the root word origin for a lot of common UK place names - Toponymy as the cool kids call it.
This list breaks out the common parts of many places names. I knew a few of these - "Chester" comes from the Latin word for Camp. "Bourne" is the place where a river starts. It also had heaps of other ones - "bre" for hill, "combe" for valley and "drum" for ridge.
I pulled out the list and came up with an algorithm that randomly concatenates two elements from this list. Below are some cool names it generated:
- Drumcott
- Kilham
- Pitness
- Tarnstow
- WinTilly
They all sound suitably British and perfect for my fantasy game!
I can now display to the user that they've built a castle in Kilham, rather than just that forest territory on the left! Simple, but 5% more charming!
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