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The author makes a good point that randomly generated levels significantly affect the way that a game is played, but they shouldn't by any means be considered s
by T-R 16y ago
The author makes a good point that randomly generated levels significantly affect the way that a game is played, but they shouldn't by any means be considered superior to handcrafted levels - players have different preferences for playstyles, and game designers should consider which playstyles they intend to appeal to when deciding on a genre and a level design strategy.
Consider the Megaman series - players are encouraged to master each level, and speed runs are a major draw and source of replay value. Similarly, part of the brilliance in the level design in Sonic 3&Knuckles (that disappeared from later Sonic games) was that it encouraged the player to try different paths to find an optimal route for finding special stages. Exploration and speed runs are a draw for the Zelda, Mario, and Metroid series as well - the quality of level design is a major selling point for the core audience of these series.
Randomly generated stages certainly have their advantages for replay value, but they also remove incentive for exploration and speed runs, which means you're potentially forfeiting the audience that prefers those play styles.
To go a step further into the realm of "video games as art", consider the RPGs and survival horror games like Fatal Frame - cinematography is a significant element, as is the player's emotional connection to certain areas. Randomly generated levels don't create as strong a connection with players, which diminishes the designer's ability to use locations as a significant story element. It would be difficult to create such strong storytelling without a high level of control over the environment.
Some genres, like Arcade Shooters, RTS, and FPS may lend themselves less toward these play styles, but it's certainly not restricted by genre, either - Bullet Hell shooters, like Ikaruga, for example, are designed with players who favor level mastery in mind. It all depends on the audience you want to appeal to and the game elements that you want to focus on.
- dkersten 16y agoSonic 3 & Knuckles was a beautifully crafted game (and one of the few popular platformers of the time where there were multiple routes through levels). Its still one of my favourite games to this day. "consider the RPGs and survival horror games ..." Speaking of survival horror games, the Left4Dead procedural editing of levels works quite well (though the general layout is handcrafted). I think a similar mechanism would work quite well for games where completely procedurally generated levels aren't desirable.
- pbiggar 16y agoOne problem with Left 4 Dead is that you rapidly run out of levels (even though each level is very well designed). I think random levels would work very well, especially for online gaming. If a team didn't know the level, it would really feel like exploring a dangerous zombie infested world.
- dkersten 16y agoOh, I agree. I just meant that its a reasonable intermediate level of procedurally generated levels. I think for a future version they could ramp up how much is randomly generated instead of hand crafted. I like the idea because you get a nice mixture between replayable random levels and nice and well designed human designed levels. Theres definitely a lot of room for future improvement though and I'm excited to think about what we may have to play with in the future.
- masklinn 16y ago> Exploration and speed runs are a draw for the Zelda, Mario, and Metroid series as well And the Kong series.
- TheEzEzz 16y ago> Randomly generated stages certainly have their advantages for replay value, but they also remove incentive for exploration and speed runs, which means you're potentially forfeiting the audience that prefers those play styles. You can retain the advantages of static levels with randomly generated ones. In the game I'm working on you can specify the random seed used. A high score list is maintained separately for each seed.