My focal idea was to build a perlinNoise map, convolve and work out the octaves and add some random moving particles on top. Now, whenever a particle hits a specified range of colours within the map, mainly at the octave peaks, a tone is created (each particle has a different timbre). Carefully spoken - we´re listening to the sounds of perlinNoise now and it sounds a bit fierce, I can tell you!

Open-source Minecraft clone. He details a lot of the development behind it.

With the runaway success of the game Minecraft, I've been seeing a bit of a resurgence of interest lately in the idea of procedurally generated worlds. Unfortunately, once you get beyond simple random numbers, procedural generation of a world isn't always the most approachable subject and I see a lot of people asking questions about where they should start generating a Minecraftian world, or, more generally, a procedural world that can theoretically extend infinitely far in all directions.

Many people have used random number generators in their programs to create unpredictability, make the motion and behavior of objects appear more natural, or generate textures. Random number generators certainly have their uses, but at times their output can be too harsh to appear natural. This article will present a function which has a very wide range of uses, more than I can think of, but basically anywhere where you need something to look natural in origin. What's more it's output can easily be tailored to suit your needs.