Procedural Generation Seed

The core property of a seed is determinism: the same seed will always produce the exact same sequence of random numbers. This allows for the reproducible generation of complex outputs like NFT traits, game levels, or virtual landscapes from a compact starting point. It ensures that any user or verifier can independently regenerate and validate the final asset.

Seeds can be stored and processed in different locations, affecting transparency and cost.

• On-Chain Seed: The seed value is stored directly in a smart contract (e.g., in a token's metadata). This provides provenance and verifiability but can be expensive due to storage costs.
• Off-Chain Seed: The seed is stored externally (e.g., in a project's database). The final generated asset is then referenced on-chain via a hash. This is more cost-effective but requires trust in the data source.

Seeds are derived from various sources to ensure uniqueness and fairness.

• Block Data: Using a block hash or timestamp from a future block (e.g., at mint time) provides a decentralized, unpredictable source.
• User Input: A wallet address or a user-provided string can serve as a personalized seed.
• Pre-Committed Hash: A project can commit to a seed hash before generation and later reveal the original seed, proving the sequence wasn't manipulated post-reveal.

In NFT projects like Art Blocks, the seed is the fundamental input for the generative art algorithm. Each token's unique combination of traits (colors, shapes, patterns) is derived from its seed. The algorithm acts as a function: Artwork = Algorithm(Seed). This allows for a large collection of unique outputs from a single, auditable creative codebase.

The security and fairness of the generation process depend on the seed's entropy (randomness). A predictable seed leads to predictable outputs. High-entropy sources, like future block hashes, are crucial for preventing manipulation. The process of using an unrevealed seed and committing to its hash beforehand is a common method to guarantee the outcome was not chosen after seeing the results.

For applications requiring robust, verifiable randomness (e.g., gaming, lotteries), a basic seed may be insufficient. Randomness oracles like Chainlink VRF provide cryptographically secure random numbers and a verifiable proof. They generate a seed and proof off-chain, then deliver it on-chain, combining the determinism of a seed with tamper-proof security.

The seed is the foundational input to a pseudorandom number generator (PRNG). The same seed will always produce the same sequence of "random" outputs. This determinism is critical in blockchain, as it allows all network participants to independently verify and recreate the same asset or environment without storing the entire output on-chain.

• Key Property: A single hash (e.g., 0x4a5e1e...) can generate an entire complex structure.
• On-Chain vs. Off-Chain: The compact seed is stored on-chain, while the generation logic (the algorithm) is executed client-side.

This is the most prominent use case. Projects like Art Blocks and Autoglyphs store a seed on the Ethereum blockchain. When a user mints an NFT, the seed is passed through a deterministic algorithm to create a unique visual artwork.

• Example: The seed for Autoglyph #1 is used by the contract's draw() function to generate its specific pattern.
• Benefit: Enables the creation of large, unique collections where only the seed data, not the full image, consumes expensive blockchain storage.

Fully on-chain games use seeds to generate persistent, verifiable worlds. The game's state (terrain, resources, item attributes) is derived from the seed and player coordinates.

• Example: In Dark Forest, planet attributes (size, location, resource levels) are generated from a seed using zero-knowledge proofs to keep some information hidden.
• Example: Loot-style projects use a seed to deterministically generate textual adventure gear from an NFT's ID.

Seeds are central to achieving provably fair randomness in Web3. The seed often combines a user-provided input with a block hash from a future block, making it unpredictable until revealed.

• Commit-Reveal Scheme: A hashed seed is committed first, then revealed later to prove no manipulation.
• Application: Used in gaming (random loot drops), lotteries, and randomized minting mechanics to ensure transparency and prevent tampering.

Storing a 32-byte seed instead of megabytes of asset data is a fundamental scaling technique for fully on-chain applications. The generation is an off-chain computation that anyone can perform to verify the result matches the on-chain commitment.

• Gas Optimization: Drastically reduces minting and storage costs.
• Verifiability: Any user can run the open-source generator with the on-chain seed to reproduce the asset, ensuring its authenticity is permanently anchored to the chain.

• Entropy: The measure of randomness or unpredictability in a seed. Higher entropy seeds are more secure.
• Hash Function: Often used to create the seed (e.g., from transaction details) or as the core of the PRNG (e.g., Keccak256).
• Verifiable Random Function (VRF): A cryptographic primitive that produces random outputs with a proof, commonly used as a high-integrity seed source in oracles like Chainlink VRF.
• Deterministic Finite Automaton: A conceptual model for the generation process, where the seed sets the initial state.

In on-chain games and metaverses, a procedural generation seed stored in a smart contract deterministically creates the entire game map, terrain, and resource distribution. Every player interacting with the same contract state sees the same world, enabling verifiable fairness and persistent universes without storing massive asset files on-chain.

• Example: A game's genesis block hash seeds the algorithm that defines biome locations, dungeon layouts, and rare item spawn points.
• Key Property: The same seed always produces the identical world, allowing anyone to verify the world state by re-running the public algorithm.

Generative NFT projects use a seed—typically derived from the transaction hash or token ID—to algorithmically determine the visual attributes and rarity of each unique token. The seed is fed into a generative art script that combines layers (e.g., background, character, accessory) based on the PRNG output.

• Process: Seed → PRNG → Sequence of numbers → Ruleset → Final Artwork.
• Verifiability: Collectors can independently run the public generation code with the seed to verify the provenance and attributes of their NFT, ensuring the project did not manipulate rarities post-mint.

Seeds are foundational for verifiable random functions (VRFs) and fair distribution mechanisms. A trusted initial seed (e.g., from a block hash or oracle) can be used to select winners in a lottery, assign random traits, or shuffle a deck in a card game, with the entire process being reproducible and auditable.

• Use Case: A decentralized lottery uses a seed composed of a future block hash and a user-provided number to pick a winner. After the block is mined, anyone can re-run the calculation to confirm the result was not manipulated.
• Security: The seed must be unpredictable and tamper-proof, often requiring commitments (like hashing) to prevent pre-computation.

Complex smart contracts can use a seed to initialize a deterministic but seemingly random internal state for simulations, governance distributions, or automated market makers. This allows contracts to have complex, pre-defined behaviors that are consistent across all nodes without storing large lookup tables.

• Example: An AMM might use a seed to generate a unique, non-linear fee curve for a new pool.
• Advantage: Reduces gas costs and storage needs by generating state on-the-fly from a minimal seed value, while guaranteeing all network participants compute the same result.

The public nature of the seed and the deterministic algorithm acts as a cryptographic proof of fairness. Project creators can commit to a seed (by publishing its hash) before generation, then later reveal it. Users can verify that the revealed seed matches the commitment and that it produces the promised outputs.

• Workflow: 1) Publish hash(seed). 2) Generate assets using the seed. 3) Reveal the seed. 4) Users verify hash(revealed_seed) matches the commitment and regenerates the assets.
• Trust Model: This removes the need to trust the creator's randomness; you only need to trust they cannot reverse the hash function to find a favorable seed.

A seed enables consistent procedural generation across different clients and engines. A world generated in a Unity game client must match the same world represented in a blockchain's state and a separate web viewer. The seed ensures all systems, regardless of programming language or platform, derive the same fundamental data structures from the same source.

• Interoperability: Critical for games where the blockchain is the source of truth, but rendering happens off-chain.
• Implementation: Requires a standardized, portable PRNG algorithm (like Mersenne Twister or a specified hash function chain) that all clients agree upon.