sc94597 said:
Sure, but the job of the developer would be to find generated worlds that fit with what they want to present in the game. It is almost like if you chose 60 random Skyrim characters using the character customization and had to choose six character presets which looked good. You would rather just create the characters yourself rather than relying on the generator and choosing what is best. Sure, you can set some initial conditions, like they did in No Man's Sky (for planet size and distance), but those resources could be used elsewhere. Space simulators benefit from these large worlds because they allow you to choose what you want to do and where to go. Star Fox, by the nature of its genre, is a linear game at its core. And that is why the OP can't separate genre from the setting. The setting informs and responds to gameplay. |
In the case of creating a universe or galaxy maybe, but not if developers procedurally generate just a world that they need.
Procedural generation isn't limited to just creating some expansive universe, it can be used however you like. The generator will work however you code it. Another way to make a game is by doing what Ninja Theory are, create a toolchest of assets, for example like a brick, you can then multiply for the amount of bricks you need, but the engine can actually randomize geometry and pixels to make each brick look different, each brick will have the same art style and level of detail as the next one, but they'll look different from each other.
The same can happen with all of the assets inside of a game world, essentially then the world is a stage for you to create great gameplay experiences within, for a game like Starfox Nintendo can create the solar system in a similar way, only they may have a studio 10X the size of the Hellblade team.
Ninja Theory were using a team of like 13 people, making a game with a similar level of scope as Heavenly Sword, God of War or the like, only with a more open environment for players to explore.
Developing in this way studios can use their resources more wisely and make a game much more cost effective than previous generations, with way more gameplay. Nintendo could have used this kind of an approach to take Starfox from a single path of on rails gameplay through a few levels, to having a load more paths per level, on all levels, add in more dogfighting sections and it becomes a game with the same kind of arcade style player, only vastly expanded compared to past Starfox titles.
