fluffydino2000
Insider
This has been discussed briefly in other threads but I figure it's a big topic that has lots of points of discussion. Also, let me point out that I'm well aware that Sui Generis won't be procedurally generated. Excluding procedural terrain generation in the editor and procedural animations of course.
Procedural generation has come into the lime light in the past few years mainly because of minecraft. A lot of people didn't even know it existed before notch came along and there are a lot of games now that promise procedural generation in some aspects. The most common being procedurally generated maps.
For RPGs though, there's always the issue of the lack of design. For minecraft's survival mode, you don't need someone to sculpt a world for it to be fun. But an RPG needs to hang together a story to give direction to the player, which is nearly impossible with a randomly generated world. Any RPG that I know of that has randomly generated elements (and I use the term RPG loosely) basically creates dull fetch quests that don't really connect in any meaningful way.
So why did I make this thread? Well, Sui Generis has the chance to be a game changer. With dynamic AI that have there own motivations, and a lack of scripted quests, the resulting stories and paths the game can take are almost like guided randomly generated ones. If I understand the proposed AI correctly, the main villain in the game likely has an evil motivation, and his starting conditions are favourable to allow him to pursue his ambitions. Whether he succeeds or not is determined by the player.
So, if the game does in fact operate like this, could it not be entirely randomly generated (in story, I mean). You could take the same map and world and all the same items, but make the characters motivations and their personalities random. This would create a new storyline, provided you kept a decent balance of evil doers and people trying to stop them.
But why stop there, with random characters, why not have a random map, and random loot (although a slightly different situation)? This game is the only one I've ever heard of that promises the ability to assign meaning to your characters actions whilst also allowing them to have potentially no affect on the world. And it's the only one that promises the ability to change it's storyline without scripted choices.
There are other ways to incorporate procedural generation into SG. The underworld and loot spots could all be randomised to keep that sense of the unknown every-time you play. This is probably the most likely of any procedural generation and also probably the easiest.
What are your thoughts on procedural generation, in general and in terms of Sui Generis? What other ways can you think of of implementing procedural generation into this game?
Procedural generation has come into the lime light in the past few years mainly because of minecraft. A lot of people didn't even know it existed before notch came along and there are a lot of games now that promise procedural generation in some aspects. The most common being procedurally generated maps.
For RPGs though, there's always the issue of the lack of design. For minecraft's survival mode, you don't need someone to sculpt a world for it to be fun. But an RPG needs to hang together a story to give direction to the player, which is nearly impossible with a randomly generated world. Any RPG that I know of that has randomly generated elements (and I use the term RPG loosely) basically creates dull fetch quests that don't really connect in any meaningful way.
So why did I make this thread? Well, Sui Generis has the chance to be a game changer. With dynamic AI that have there own motivations, and a lack of scripted quests, the resulting stories and paths the game can take are almost like guided randomly generated ones. If I understand the proposed AI correctly, the main villain in the game likely has an evil motivation, and his starting conditions are favourable to allow him to pursue his ambitions. Whether he succeeds or not is determined by the player.
So, if the game does in fact operate like this, could it not be entirely randomly generated (in story, I mean). You could take the same map and world and all the same items, but make the characters motivations and their personalities random. This would create a new storyline, provided you kept a decent balance of evil doers and people trying to stop them.
But why stop there, with random characters, why not have a random map, and random loot (although a slightly different situation)? This game is the only one I've ever heard of that promises the ability to assign meaning to your characters actions whilst also allowing them to have potentially no affect on the world. And it's the only one that promises the ability to change it's storyline without scripted choices.
There are other ways to incorporate procedural generation into SG. The underworld and loot spots could all be randomised to keep that sense of the unknown every-time you play. This is probably the most likely of any procedural generation and also probably the easiest.
What are your thoughts on procedural generation, in general and in terms of Sui Generis? What other ways can you think of of implementing procedural generation into this game?