This procedurally-generated Counter-Strike map has 'tens of millions' of variations
But are any as good as Dust2?
A Counter-Strike: Global Offensive mapmaker has somehow crafted an aim map capable of procedurally generating roughly 30 million unique layouts.
Released on the Steam Workshop last week, each new round of modder Orel's "Rogue Inferno" aim map offers up a completely new arena to shoot it out in using Inferno's props and textures. A starting room lets you choose whether you want a map to be symmetrical, half-symmetrical or otherwise, while there's even a clunky seed picker for saving your favourite configurations.
As Orel's vid notes, this isn't strictly the first procedurally generated map in CS history. Counter-Strike: Source's infamous Havana featured doorways that toggled on or off with each new round, a feature that was fairly reviled for making the map frustrating to play.
Rogue Inferno isn't built as a fully competitive map like Havana. But its procgen ambitions are also much, much grander, moving entire walls and floors with each new variation. I'm no stranger to Source's mapping tools, but even I'm floored by the ingenuity that must've been required to wrangle the ageing engine into millions of potential arenas.
It's also a hell of a sales pitch for an aim map, too. Why bother downloading dozens of new maps to keep your accuracy exercises fresh, when one map will give you all the variations you need? Who knows—maybe, hidden among the countless map layouts, there even exists a map greater than de_Dust2.
Cheers, PCGamesN.