Re:Generating Worlds in a Minecraft-like Game
by Natsu on Sunday February 13, 2011 @02:40AM
(#2212316)
> But if the maps, weapons, quests, characters, sounds, music, rendering style, dialogue, plot, gameplay rules, setting, and even game genre are in some way "generated"... how can you still have a shared experience?
Well, you can do static generation. You use a known seed and a PRNG to generate stuff that's the same for everyone. Usually, you do that for background stuff, but some people do it and create big, empty worlds that they then try to fill with other stuff. But often, it's for background stuff like trees and clouds, where it really doesn't really create a shared experience one way or another.
There's also the sort of hybrid approach from Dwarf Fortress, where people can share seeds/worldgen info, but I think you already know about that. So people can all share that broken embark with the adamantium space elevator, but their fortresses will likely be totally different and have totally different stories. Maybe one will have their last dwarf go axe crazy while on fire, while another will drop 300+ goblins from the highest z-level all the way down into hell (literally...), or use those crazy weaponized bathtubs they're talking about now.
I think there may be some sweet spots in there with handcrafted stories layered atop procedurally generated worlds, but you're right that more work needs to be done on it.
Well, you can do static generation. You use a known seed and a PRNG to generate stuff that's the same for everyone. Usually, you do that for background stuff, but some people do it and create big, empty worlds that they then try to fill with other stuff. But often, it's for background stuff like trees and clouds, where it really doesn't really create a shared experience one way or another.
There's also the sort of hybrid approach from Dwarf Fortress, where people can share seeds/worldgen info, but I think you already know about that. So people can all share that broken embark with the adamantium space elevator, but their fortresses will likely be totally different and have totally different stories. Maybe one will have their last dwarf go axe crazy while on fire, while another will drop 300+ goblins from the highest z-level all the way down into hell (literally...), or use those crazy weaponized bathtubs they're talking about now.
I think there may be some sweet spots in there with handcrafted stories layered atop procedurally generated worlds, but you're right that more work needs to be done on it.