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Procedural Content Generation through Quality Diversity

arXiv 1907.04053 ↗First posted 9 Jul 2019cs.NE cs.AIcited by 45

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Abstract (arXiv)

Quality-diversity (QD) algorithms search for a set of good solutions which cover a space as defined by behavior metrics. This simultaneous focus on quality and diversity with explicit metrics sets QD algorithms apart from standard single- and multi-objective evolutionary algorithms, as well as from diversity preservation approaches such as niching. These properties open up new avenues for artificial intelligence in games, in particular for procedural content generation. Creating multiple systematically varying solutions allows new approaches to creative human-AI interaction as well as adaptivity. In the last few years, a handful of applications of QD to procedural content generation and game playing have been proposed; we discuss these and propose challenges for future work.

Key facts. Cited by 45 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). First posted on arXiv 9 Jul 2019.

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Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2021: 7; 2022: 12; 2023: 11; 2024: 10; 2025: 3; 2026: 2.

45 papers.

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  1. 2021Differentiable Quality Diversitycited by 71
  2. 2022Deep Surrogate Assisted Generation of Environmentscited by 40
  3. 2022Approximating Gradients for Differentiable Quality Diversity in Reinforcement Learningcited by 37
  4. 2021Generating and Blending Game Levels via Quality-Diversity in the Latent Space of a Variational Autoencodercited by 27
  5. 2021Experience-Driven PCG via Reinforcement Learning: A Super Mario Bros Studycited by 25
  6. 2022Covariance Matrix Adaptation MAP-Annealingcited by 24
  7. 2024GAVEL: Generating Games Via Evolution and Language Modelscited by 24
  8. 2021Policy Manifold Search: Exploring the Manifold Hypothesis for Diversity-based Neuroevolutioncited by 20
  9. 2023Proximal Policy Gradient Arborescence for Quality Diversity Reinforcement Learningcited by 20
  10. 2024DreamCraft: Text-Guided Generation of Functional 3D Environments in Minecraftcited by 17
  11. 2022Accelerated Quality-Diversity through Massive Parallelismcited by 14
  12. 2022Open-Ended Evolution for Minecraft Building Generationcited by 9
33 more
  1. 2021Few-shot Quality-Diversity Optimizationcited by 8
  2. 2023ChatGPT4PCG Competition: Character-like Level Generation for Science Birdscited by 8
  3. 2023Surrogate Assisted Generation of Human-Robot Interaction Scenarioscited by 8
  4. 2022Learning to Walk Autonomously via Reset-Free Quality-Diversitycited by 7
  5. 2024Large Language Models as In-context AI Generators for Quality-Diversitycited by 7
  6. 2021Discovering Generalizable Skills via Automated Generation of Diverse Taskscited by 5
  7. 2023Understanding the Synergies between Quality-Diversity and Deep Reinforcement Learningcited by 5
  8. 2023Architext: Language-Driven Generative Architecture Designcited by 5
  9. 2023Evolving Populations of Diverse RL Agents with MAP-Elitescited by 5
  10. 2024Measuring Diversity of Game Scenarioscited by 5
  11. 2023Evolving Flying Machines in Minecraft Using Quality Diversitycited by 4
  12. 2022Diversity-based Deep Reinforcement Learning Towards Multidimensional Difficulty for Fighting Game AIcited by 3
  13. 2023Efficient Quality-Diversity Optimization through Diverse Quality Speciescited by 3
  14. 2024Enabling Adaptive Agent Training in Open-Ended Simulators by Targeting Diversitycited by 3
  15. 2025AutoQD: Automatic Discovery of Diverse Behaviors with Quality-Diversity Optimizationcited by 3
  16. 2021Exploring open-ended gameplay features with Micro RollerCoaster Tycooncited by 2
  17. 2022Generating Game Levels of Diverse Behaviour Engagementcited by 2
  18. 2022Illuminating the Space of Dungeon Maps, Locked-door Missions and Enemy Placement Through MAP-Elitescited by 1
  19. 2022Illuminating the Space of Enemies Through MAP-Elitescited by 1
  20. 2022Persona-driven Dominant/Submissive Map (PDSM) Generation for Tutorialscited by 1
  21. 2023Intelligent Generation of Graphical Game Assets: A Conceptual Framework and Systematic Review of the State of the Artcited by 1
  22. 2024ChatGPT4PCG 2 Competition: Prompt Engineering for Science Birds Level Generationcited by 1
  23. 2025Expedition & Expansion: Leveraging Semantic Representations for Goal-Directed Exploration in Continuous Cellular Automatacited by 1
  24. 2022Latent Combinational Game Designcited by 0
  25. 2023Level Assembly as a Markov Decision Processcited by 0
  26. 2023The Quest for Content: A Survey of Search-Based Procedural Content Generation for Video Gamescited by 0
  27. 2024Dynamic Quality-Diversity Searchcited by 0
  28. 2024Local Optima in Diversity Optimization: Non-trivial Offspring Population is Essentialcited by 0
  29. 2024Illuminating the Diversity-Fitness Trade-Off in Black-Box Optimizationcited by 0
  30. 2024Future Research Avenues for Artificial Intelligence in Digital Gaming: An Exploratory Reportcited by 0
  31. 2025Expanding Horizons of Level Diversity via Multi-objective Evolutionary Learningcited by 0
  32. 2026From Stories to Cities to Games: A Qualitative Evaluation of Behaviour Planningcited by 0
  33. 2026Parameter-Efficient Neuroevolution for Diverse LLM Generation: Quality-Diversity Optimization via Prompt Embedding Evolutioncited by 0