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SvennoJ on 08 December 2013
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Akvod said:

I found Bethesda's recycling of assets for dungeons boring and the dungeons were designed by humans. I've played a game (was it EverQuest Champions of Norrath? IDK, something like that) that does the whole random dungeon generator thing, and I never really cared about the level design, but enjoyed/didn't enjoy the RPG mechanics and the online co-op.

I think that if a game utilizes random generation, then the game can't really rely on the level design as its strongest point. Something like a social aspect/exploration or emphasis more on a dynamic AI (e.g. combat/stealth) needs to really be the main fun of the game.

It was lost dungeons of Norrath and they weren't random, just recycled assets. There were 8 to 10 variations per type, because they looked so similar it felt procedurally generated... Which is the main problem with PCG, how do you keep it interesting.
It's nothing new, the original Civilization (1991) already procedurally generated maps to play on, Elite (1984) before that, and I'm pretty sure that wasn't the first.

I vastly prefer the handcrafted 3D world design of Dark Souls over the mix and match dungeon design of Skyrim. How can you have memorable levels if they change all the time. Dark Souls' now exists in my memory as a beautiful 3D world, from Skyrim I only remember the basic layout of the over world and the memorable cities. I spend about the same time with both.

Procedural generation can work, Proteus is lovely to explore. Yet after you've seen all the building blocks you're done with it. Building a map in your head of the terrain and becoming familiar with it is an important part of exploration in games. PCG works against that. Unique locations and landmarks are a must imo.

Maybe PCG can be used to morph the game to your liking while still keeping it unique. Enhance sections you like, shorten stuff you don't like, that sort of thing. Still it's tricky. A game like The last of us is more memorable to me because the locations feel real and make sense in 3D space. Most TPS/FPS games fail in that because the procession of rooms doesn't make much sense together. Remember me had potential but the level design might as well have been randomly generated, it didn't make sense.
If you're going to use PCG for FPS/TPS make sure you adhere to one important rule, generate ahead and make sure you get glimpses of where you will be going and where you have come from. It has to make sense spatially.