Random map generation

This week I've been working on random map generation for my Thief/Rogue hybrid. This is what new Roguelike developers generally start on, and they can easily waste years with it. It's a hard problem. I put it off on my project because I knew what a morass it could be, and because I didn't feel like I had a handle on what the gameplay would need from the landscape. Now that I have a pretty good idea of what the gameplay is, I've decided it's time to tackle landscape randomization.

By the way, here are some Roguelike development sites I keep an eye on:

• rec.games.roguelike.development
• Temple of the Roguelike
• Gearhead
• Kaduria
• Kharne
• LambdaRogue
• RogueHut
• Oblong
• Writing Kode

What I'd like is something like the streets of Toledo (España, not Ohio):



(Image by ctankcycles.)

I don't have any great images handy, but Google Maps does a pretty good job of showing what I'm after:



Of course this has to be rectangularized to some extent.

I tried out a Voronoi diagram on a grid. Very unsatisfactory:



There's a paper in this year's SIGGRAPH that has some ideas I might try.