{"id":"https://openalex.org/W4410236187","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3723498.3723844","title":"Stuck in the Middle: Generating Levels without (or with) Softlocks","display_name":"Stuck in the Middle: Generating Levels without (or with) Softlocks","publication_year":2025,"publication_date":"2025-04-15","ids":{"openalex":"https://openalex.org/W4410236187","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3723498.3723844"},"language":"en","primary_location":{"id":"doi:10.1145/3723498.3723844","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3723498.3723844","pdf_url":"https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3723498.3723844","source":null,"license":"cc-by","license_id":"https://openalex.org/licenses/cc-by","version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games","raw_type":"proceedings-article"},"type":"article","indexed_in":["crossref"],"open_access":{"is_oa":true,"oa_status":"gold","oa_url":"https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3723498.3723844","any_repository_has_fulltext":null},"authorships":[{"author_position":"first","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5083670815","display_name":"Seth Cooper","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4504-0877"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I12912129","display_name":"Northeastern University","ror":"https://ror.org/04t5xt781","country_code":"US","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I12912129"]}],"countries":["US"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Seth Cooper","raw_affiliation_strings":["Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4504-0877","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I12912129"]}]},{"author_position":"last","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5095057067","display_name":"Mahsa Bazzaz","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0004-0022-9611"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I12912129","display_name":"Northeastern University","ror":"https://ror.org/04t5xt781","country_code":"US","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I12912129"]}],"countries":["US"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Mahsa Bazzaz","raw_affiliation_strings":["Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0004-0022-9611","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I12912129"]}]}],"institutions":[],"countries_distinct_count":1,"institutions_distinct_count":1,"corresponding_author_ids":[],"corresponding_institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I12912129"],"apc_list":null,"apc_paid":null,"fwci":0.0,"has_fulltext":true,"cited_by_count":0,"citation_normalized_percentile":{"value":0.04010027,"is_in_top_1_percent":false,"is_in_top_10_percent":false},"cited_by_percentile_year":null,"biblio":{"volume":null,"issue":null,"first_page":"1","last_page":"9"},"is_retracted":false,"is_paratext":false,"is_xpac":false,"primary_topic":{"id":"https://openalex.org/T11574","display_name":"Artificial Intelligence in Games","score":0.9995999932289124,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1702","display_name":"Artificial Intelligence"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},"topics":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/T11574","display_name":"Artificial Intelligence in Games","score":0.9995999932289124,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1702","display_name":"Artificial Intelligence"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},{"id":"https://openalex.org/T10462","display_name":"Reinforcement Learning in Robotics","score":0.9925000071525574,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1702","display_name":"Artificial Intelligence"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},{"id":"https://openalex.org/T11596","display_name":"Constraint Satisfaction and Optimization","score":0.9853000044822693,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1705","display_name":"Computer Networks and Communications"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}}],"keywords":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/computer-science","display_name":"Computer science","score":0.5493719577789307}],"concepts":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/C41008148","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21198","display_name":"Computer science","level":0,"score":0.5493719577789307}],"mesh":[],"locations_count":1,"locations":[{"id":"doi:10.1145/3723498.3723844","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3723498.3723844","pdf_url":"https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3723498.3723844","source":null,"license":"cc-by","license_id":"https://openalex.org/licenses/cc-by","version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games","raw_type":"proceedings-article"}],"best_oa_location":{"id":"doi:10.1145/3723498.3723844","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3723498.3723844","pdf_url":"https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3723498.3723844","source":null,"license":"cc-by","license_id":"https://openalex.org/licenses/cc-by","version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games","raw_type":"proceedings-article"},"sustainable_development_goals":[{"id":"https://metadata.un.org/sdg/13","display_name":"Climate action","score":0.44999998807907104}],"awards":[],"funders":[],"has_content":{"pdf":true,"grobid_xml":true},"content_urls":{"pdf":"https://content.openalex.org/works/W4410236187.pdf","grobid_xml":"https://content.openalex.org/works/W4410236187.grobid-xml"},"referenced_works_count":34,"referenced_works":["https://openalex.org/W1567748890","https://openalex.org/W1819209966","https://openalex.org/W1984909114","https://openalex.org/W2013296041","https://openalex.org/W2117006321","https://openalex.org/W2168115594","https://openalex.org/W2340692185","https://openalex.org/W2534314849","https://openalex.org/W2535523543","https://openalex.org/W2562171754","https://openalex.org/W2677966678","https://openalex.org/W2752727877","https://openalex.org/W2792893218","https://openalex.org/W2809729522","https://openalex.org/W2914206182","https://openalex.org/W2963690854","https://openalex.org/W2977234735","https://openalex.org/W2995373617","https://openalex.org/W3093040805","https://openalex.org/W3094597259","https://openalex.org/W3132084279","https://openalex.org/W3136629921","https://openalex.org/W3210721932","https://openalex.org/W4213010994","https://openalex.org/W4296474758","https://openalex.org/W4306679421","https://openalex.org/W4312273323","https://openalex.org/W4389315371","https://openalex.org/W4400361223","https://openalex.org/W4400361824","https://openalex.org/W4400527007","https://openalex.org/W4404445287","https://openalex.org/W4404539892","https://openalex.org/W4410237593"],"related_works":["https://openalex.org/W4391375266","https://openalex.org/W2899084033","https://openalex.org/W2748952813","https://openalex.org/W2390279801","https://openalex.org/W4391913857","https://openalex.org/W2358668433","https://openalex.org/W4396701345","https://openalex.org/W2376932109","https://openalex.org/W2001405890","https://openalex.org/W4396696052"],"abstract_inverted_index":{"When":[0],"generating":[1,65],"game":[2],"levels,":[3],"it":[4,16,142],"is":[5,27,46,143],"desirable":[6,20],"for":[7],"them":[8],"to":[9,21,64,98,146,153,156],"be":[10,19,96],"completable.Depending":[11],"on":[12],"the":[13,31,43,55,78,110,113,121,129,134,138],"designer's":[14],"goals,":[15],"may":[17],"also":[18,116,144],"generate":[22,148],"levels":[23,68,149,155],"without":[24],"softlocks.A":[25],"softlock":[26],"a":[28,61,85],"situation":[29],"where":[30,77,128],"player":[32,79,130],"has":[33],"not":[34,74],"won":[35],"or":[36,52],"lost,":[37],"but":[38],"cannot":[39],"make":[40],"progress":[41],"toward":[42],"goal,":[44,122],"and":[45,72,152],"thus":[47],"stuck":[48],"(unless":[49],"they":[50,124],"reset,":[51],"possibly":[53],"lose":[54,133],"level).In":[56],"this":[57,140],"work":[58],"we":[59],"present":[60],"constraint-based":[62,86],"approach":[63,83],"2D":[66],"tile-based":[67],"that":[69,103],"are":[70,115,125],"completable":[71],"do":[73],"have":[75],"areas":[76],"can":[80,95],"get":[81],"stuck.The":[82],"uses":[84],"reachability":[87],"categorization":[88,94],"of":[89,112],"locations":[90,105],"during":[91],"level":[92,114],"generation.This":[93],"used":[97],"prevent":[99],"softlocks":[100,151],"by":[101],"ensuring":[102],"all":[104],"reachable":[106,117],"going":[107,118],"forward":[108],"from":[109,120],"start":[111],"backward":[119],"unless":[123],"sinks":[126],"(areas":[127],"will":[131],"inevitably":[132],"level,":[135],"e.g.falling":[136],"off":[137],"bottom).Using":[139],"approach,":[141],"possible":[145],"intentionally":[147],"with":[150],"repair":[154],"remove":[157],"softlocks.":[158]},"counts_by_year":[],"updated_date":"2026-06-26T08:34:08.712188","created_date":"2025-10-10T00:00:00"}
