For example, how does an infinitely randomized world like Minecraft manage to generate me an identical world to my friend with just a handful of numbers that they send me?
In: Technology
Speaking to Minecraft in particular.
Minecraft uses a type of randomness called *Perlin noise*. If you google *Perlin noise* you will get a bunch of images that look like black and white clouds. If you zoom way out on a Perlin noise image, you can begin to see a minecraft map as seen from above. This is how Minecraft generates its world. Based on the white/black ratio of these noise images. White could be ocean, light grey is grasslands, and black is mountains. This is oversimplifying a LOT.
The “Seed number” is what is used to generate the initial Perlin noise image for the world generator. The world generator runs the exact same way every time if no variables are changed. The “Starting point” the generator uses is the “Seed Number”. So if the world generator algorithm is the same between Minecraft versions, and you share a seed with a friend, both of you will generate the exact same Perlin noise map, and thus, the exact same world.
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