Introduction to PCG (Procedural Content Generation) for Game Designers: The Principles and Applications of PCG That Designers Should Know

PCG (Procedural Content Generation) is a design approach that automatically generates game content based on rules and conditions. It is utilized for various content such as maps, items, events, and quests, and is currently widely used throughout the game industry to improve development efficiency and gameplay variety. PCG is no longer limited to specific genres or technical teams; it has become one of the fundamental concepts that game designers must understand. PCG is often misunderstood as merely a mathematical or programming technique, but in reality, the most important aspect is the planning-stage choices and design that determine "what kind of experience to create repeatedly." This course is an introductory lecture focused on understanding and utilizing PCG from a designer's perspective. Rather than teaching how to write code, it gradually explains why PCG is necessary, what problems it solves, and how it is used in game design, centered on principles and case studies.