I am looking for a function to generate a random tile-based map as the visual boundaries of the map change (by going through the map). I want the map to be infinitely large, and have maze-like structure.
However, if the world is infinite, going back to where a player has already been before raises a problem. The game must remember how everything back there actually looked like.
So, I was thinking - "How does Minecraft solve this issue?" and I thought to myself that they must be using some kind of random-number function with a seed, that can both go forward but also backwards, and in that way, re-generate old tiles exactly as they were, but in new instances.
What are your thoughts on this?