I've been trying to generate my own maps using Voronoi diagrams as well. I was using Lloyd's algorithm [0] to make strangely shaped regions "fit" better, but I like the insight of generating larger regions to define islands, and then smaller regions on top to define terrain.
One of the things I like about algorithms like this is the peculiarities created by the algorithm, and trying to remove that seems to take some of the interesting novelty away.
This kind of exploratory/creative programming is bar none the most fun you can have as a software engineer. I love reading write-ups about projects like this because you can practically feel the nerdy joy radiating off the screen.
On a related note, I've started a blog on procedural content generation and GenAI content synthesis: https://gamedev.blog/. Would love any feedback / suggestions! I intend to cover Voronoi diagrams in the near future + a Python implementation and turning it into a 3D map with Unity
This is super interesting! I've dabbled with Perlin noise procedural generation using AlphaEvolve[0] and wonder if it would be interesting to do one with Voronoi map too!
This is a really powerful technique in general because it lets us have some controllability over traditional PCG techniques! All you need is the right prompt and an evaluation metric - could definitely apply to Voronoi maps
You might want to check out Old World. It was created by Soren Johnson, lead designer on Civ4, and shares many similarities to that era of Civ while bringing in some new ideas as well.
I strongly disagree. Stacked units were utterly boring gameplay; one unit per tile made the military game actually fun for the first time in the series' history.
Civ 7 sucks and you should avoid it, but both 5 and 6 are quite good. They are significantly different from the previous entries due to the one unit per tile system, but different for the better imo.