Procedural generation is hurting games.

[Forsaken]

This seems like the new way to provide extra content to games , which very few are able to pull off successfully.

I think BloodBorne is the only one that does it right with their dungeons , and yet I wouldn't consider them 100% procedurally generated.

No Man Sky does it correctly as well , but then you have Starfield where one of the main selling points are about hundreds of planets that are
procedurally generated and due to that , most of them are boring.

There's a major difference in quality between a hand-crafted planet and one that's procedurally generated.

I think procedurally generated areas will improve over time. They have to start somewhere though.

 

[MeachTheMonster]

Not comfortable with calling a game like dead cells “lazy”

Truth is, content cost $. For an indie, PG allows them to make a much larger game with a smaller budget.

 

[Deafheaven]

I think it could be a good complement to to a game, with Dead Cells especially, you could have more focused levels and bosses with the PG parts being used for grinding or finding items. I wouldn't call it lazy because you still have to balance the game but it's definitely a crutch and a way to please publishers.

I would argue most roguelikes aren't balanced very well at all lol. Dead Cells ironically has some really stupid mechanics tied to the roguelike stuff like unlocking items diluting your pool with trash. The balance is essentially keep playing until you get the broken items/combos. Dead Cells/Returnal/Hades have a higher sense of agency though, which is why I was able to finish each.

Open world games PG I'm completely not a fan of though. game ends up feeling soulless.

 

[Deafheaven]

Not comfortable with calling a game like dead cells “lazy”

Truth is, content cost $. For an indie, PG allows them to make a much larger game with a smaller budget.

Usually Its not larger though. It just feels that way because 99.9% of people won't beat a run on their first try. Realistically if you were able to do that somehow the game is over in a half an hour. 159 weapons with 80% of them being niche and or awkward to use doesn't make the game bigger or smaller. I put *checks steam* 115 hours into DC and beat it on 5 cells. It has an addictive pull because you really want to beat that hardest difficulty, but you could stop after ur first completed run and really not miss anything other than malaise.

I also didn't call DC lazy. But most games in that genre scream "we had a good idea but don't know how to make a competent streamlined game around it"

 

[daze23]

Shadows of Doubt is amazing

 

[Instant Classic]

hmm, I think it depends on the genre and how deep their procedural generation is. I think with something like Hades it does add to the appeal that your path to fight a boss is different for each run. I feel that the rogue genre works really well, I can spend hours playing Street of Rage 4 survival mode. I think the issue with procedurally generated content is more about the game itself than the practice. If there isn't an interesting loop, then you won't lose a lot of time to procedurally generated content. On the other hand, if the game has an addictive loop then the content will be satisfying.

I think the major issue is if the content that is generated is repetitive and yo end up doing the same task with limited variation. Then there would be a problem with how the process is created. I am no dev, but I assume not everything is hand-crafted and there are some elements within the handcrafted world that is procedurally generated. So, I feel it's somewhat hard to answer this, but I see what you're getting at.

 

[MeachTheMonster]

Usually Its not larger though. It just feels that way because 99.9% of people won't beat a run on their first try. Realistically if you were able to do that somehow the game is over in a half an hour. 159 weapons with 80% of them being niche and or awkward to use doesn't make the game bigger or smaller. I put *checks steam* 115 hours into DC and beat it on 5 cells. It has an addictive pull because you really want to beat that hardest difficulty, but you could stop after ur first completed run and really not miss anything other than malaise.

I also didn't call DC lazy. But most games in that genre scream "we had a good idea but don't know how to make a competent streamlined game around it"

Without PG you woulda been done your first run. With it you put in 115 hours.

Perfect world they coulda made 115 hours worth of unique content. But it is what it is

 

[DetroitEWarren]

This seems like the new way to provide extra content to games , which very few are able to pull off successfully.

I think BloodBorne is the only one that does it right with their dungeons , and yet I wouldn't consider them 100% procedurally generated.

No Man Sky does it correctly as well , but then you have Starfield where one of the main selling points are about hundreds of planets that are
procedurally generated and due to that , most of them are boring.

There's a major difference in quality between a hand-crafted planet and one that's procedurally generated.

So No Man's Sky did it correct, but yet Starfield does literally the exact same thing, with much more shyt to do on each planet, better looking graphics, more diverse procedurally generated land, and a similar style to how locations are handled

 

[BobbyWojak]

So No Man's Sky did it correct, but yet Starfield does literally the exact same thing, with much more shyt to do on each planet, better looking graphics, more diverse procedurally generated land, and a similar style to how locations are handled

Starfield is a rpg, they used procedural generation to decorate the environment, but they are 2 different genres.

 

[The Intergalactic Koala]

Complain about the one thing that saved gaming while everything else is killing it brehs...

 

[The Intergalactic Koala]

Starfield is a rpg, they used procedural generation to decorate the environment, but they are 2 different genres.

Yeah I'm not getting the whole Starfield/NMS argument when NMS is basically Minecraft in space, while Starfield is a Bethesda game in space.

 

[DetroitEWarren]

Starfield is a rpg, they used procedural generation to decorate the environment, but they are 2 different genres.

Definitely 2 different genres, but, Starfield does the exact same shyt, in a better fashion, just lacking "continuous" travel without loading screens. Every single thing No Man's Sky offers, Starfield offers the EXACT same experience if all you wanna do is farm resources.

 

[Deafheaven]

Without PG you woulda been done your first run. With it you put in 115 hours.

Perfect world they coulda made 115 hours worth of unique content. But it is what it is

Already said its one of like 3-5 roguelikes out of hundreds rhats worth playing

 

[BobbyWojak]

Definitely 2 different genres, but, Starfield does the exact same shyt, in a better fashion, just lacking "continuous" travel without loading screens. Every single thing No Man's Sky offers, Starfield offers the EXACT same experience if all you wanna do is farm resources.

Continuous travel is called exploration

I don't like No Man's Sky, but the gameplay loop of the 2 games are totally different, yes you can hoard resources, but the process of exploration isn't as enjoyable in Starfield, but that's ok it's not the focus.

 

[42 Monks]

of all things, procedural generation? lol yal brain cells don't touch