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Dyanmically Created Content.. Dungeons

I have forever dreamed and hoped that developers would be willing to create dynamic Content that is procedurally generated according to a rule set defined by an array in the AI. 

1.) Currently in games if you enter dungeon a today and its configuration is set you get the mobs and rooms arranged in a certain way. Every time you enter it is the same so you easily develop a set proven strategy to skip mobs and bosses that don't drop what you want and after 2 weeks it is stale. 

2.) Instead of this we can at a minimum generate the dungeon on the fly with a different map, mob and patrol placement and different boss set up. We can even change out the skills the mobs or Boss will use in the fight thereby making each entrance a unique adventure. Further it is possible to easily set difficulty levels by adjusting which mobs are in the instance based upon any number of factors. So in summary.

Map generation, Patrol content and placement, Bosses and mechanics, loot tables, difficulties and even modifying the parameters based up on party members reputation and node alignment for that area (whether the associated node is developed or not) Destructible voxel based content could be fun as well with switches and traps rewarding (or challenging the party) the player accordingly.


I can guarantee that each encounter will be unique and fun. Development could begin by create the structure to support this on a single instance and then retooling as you go.

If procedurally generated maps are a problem creating several different maps with path markers for mob travel and simulation should be fairly straight forward.

i sincerely  believe this is the next and potentially most immersive future for game.

Comments

  • I'm so for this, but last time this was suggested a lot of people felt they would miss the "spend hours learning patterns and then win" - feeling. But hopefully people have changed their minds in the mean time. 

    But its already gonna be more procedural than most game, just by virtue of the node system. Hopefully that will accomplish some of the goals.
  • I like this idea @Uzial. :)

    I can see how some would get frustrated by not being able to farm it once mechanics were down, but I think that's the traditional grindy aspect of MMOs that we're trying to get rid of?

  • I agree, the idea is one that is good for developers as it provides a method for keeping old content relative and interesting because the framework makes it easier to introduce new elements into the environment. It honestly makes me sad to see whole areas of games ignored when so much passion and so many hours have been spent designing art, content mobs etc... Modular design is essential for this to work and will keep the game relevant and unique.

  • I like it. Variable content is always welcome even if they did something like 4-5 preset dungeon patterns+ 10-20 mixed mob patterns/attack kits. Might not be truly procedural but it'd drop some variety in there if it not possible to fully proceduralize everything. I think their mostly going for a seamless world so I'm not sure if most dungeons will even be instances to do full procedural.

    On the other hand I'd like to have some really nicely done set in stone dungeons as well. You know pretty with all the fixings epic puzzles, hard bosses and the like. Mix er up.
  • I would like to see a mix of static and procedurally generated dungeons. Random dungeons can be even more stale to me than static dungeons because you lose the thought out crafting that can only be done by people. In other words, you lose the storytelling and oh wow! designs with procedurally generated dungeons. 
  • Sarill said:
    I would like to see a mix of static and procedurally generated dungeons. Random dungeons can be even more stale to me than static dungeons because you lose the thought out crafting that can only be done by people. In other words, you lose the storytelling and oh wow! designs with procedurally generated dungeons. 

    Fixed and dynamic content can work well together even in a seamless streamed environment. Simple examples harken back to games like EQ and Asheron's Call Vanilla where nighttime brought out deadly monsters like undead etc.. who if the unaware traveler blindly walked out into the dark they would find them selves back at the life stone missing half their armor and begging folks in town to form a party and help them with a corpse run. This can be adjusted for day night cycles as well as the seasons and game events such as the accidental unearthing of deity, power, or object when a node is expanded over a piece of holy, unholy and territory belonging to another faction or race or power. The Exciting thing is you can weave evolving and seasonal changes into the story at any time. The folks at Turbine did this in a brilliant way with new content  (story, mobs, the creation and destruction of towns) albeit static ( come on it was 1999 and they were streaming a contiguous non-instanced world before anyone thought of it and we were on dialup) every 45 days like clockwork for 18 years.  I know that Steven and his crew or at least i have faith that they are capable of doing the same.

    We have the engine and the scripting knowledge to make all this happen with Unreal's version 4.xx engine and it will be animated and engaging in a new and exciting way.I am not saying developing the trees is always easy for th story telling and decision based AI it takes a bit of planning but once the structure is in place you can easily add, remove and change content. the writers, story tellers and artists can then be allowed to let the story fly and sit back and watch a truly unique and interactive world play out in the community, with all the excitement and intrigue that is brought out by the player base. Personally as a developer i think it would be excited to twist the story just as the player base thought they had figured it out.  Imagine as we believe we have dungeon A on farm and a node pops or a world event happens and we enter it and get chased out be a whole new enemy who showed up and drug us back to the early content (we loved) we thought we had forgotten and is now a problem lol.  There are so many opportunities I smile just thinking about it.


  • I don't know much about the actual grass roots creation of this kind of content, but if you planned for the actual environment to be dynamic and ever changing, wouldn't this likely result in dungeons/raids etc that were lower in quality and design? I would imagine that a greater amount of detail and creativeness can go into an instance that is fixed in its basic architecture. I do like the idea of randomly changing dungeon content but wouldn't want it as a trade off for overall quality of the dungeon design...
  • I wonder if community gameplay around the dungeon will impact the randomness of the dungeon - kinda like how it does with the rest of the world you know.
  • Design and engagement and the rate of change are fully controllable. In order to control it you would have to use certain fixed parameters and would not let a truly randomly generated instance exist but one that can change if you want it to and as you want it to.  I think you are confusing Random with Dynamic.
  • I guess it could come down to a tradeoff but one would hope that if you start off with an attitude of wanting dynamic environments then maybe there'd be less need for as many dungeons. Look at ESO for example, loads of dungeons but 86% of them look the same inside. It is probably a case of pros and cons from Intrepid's point of view but I truly think @Uzial has a neat concept here.
  • Sarill said:
    I would like to see a mix of static and procedurally generated dungeons. Random dungeons can be even more stale to me than static dungeons because you lose the thought out crafting that can only be done by people. In other words, you lose the storytelling and oh wow! designs with procedurally generated dungeons. 

    Fixed and dynamic content can work well together even in a seamless streamed environment. Simple examples harken back to games like EQ and Asheron's Call Vanilla where nighttime brought out deadly monsters like undead etc.. who if the unaware traveler blindly walked out into the dark they would find them selves back at the life stone missing half their armor and begging folks in town to form a party and help them with a corpse run. This can be adjusted for day night cycles as well as the seasons and game events such as the accidental unearthing of deity, power, or object when a node is expanded over a piece of holy, unholy and territory belonging to another faction or race or power. The Exciting thing is you can weave evolving and seasonal changes into the story at any time. The folks at Turbine did this in a brilliant way with new content  (story, mobs, the creation and destruction of towns) albeit static ( come on it was 1999 and they were streaming a contiguous non-instanced world before anyone thought of it and we were on dialup) every 45 days like clockwork for 18 years.  I know that Steven and his crew or at least i have faith that they are capable of doing the same.

    We have the engine and the scripting knowledge to make all this happen with Unreal's version 4.xx engine and it will be animated and engaging in a new and exciting way.I am not saying developing the trees is always easy for th story telling and decision based AI it takes a bit of planning but once the structure is in place you can easily add, remove and change content. the writers, story tellers and artists can then be allowed to let the story fly and sit back and watch a truly unique and interactive world play out in the community, with all the excitement and intrigue that is brought out by the player base.  Personally i like the thought  as a content creator to twist the story on the players when they think they have it figured out lol


  • Sarill said:
    I would like to see a mix of static and procedurally generated dungeons. Random dungeons can be even more stale to me than static dungeons because you lose the thought out crafting that can only be done by people. In other words, you lose the storytelling and oh wow! designs with procedurally generated dungeons. 

    Fixed and dynamic content can work well together even in a seamless streamed environment. Simple examples harken back to games like EQ and Asheron's Call Vanilla where nighttime brought out deadly monsters like undead etc.. who if the unaware traveler blindly walked out into the dark they would find them selves back at the life stone missing half their armor and begging folks in town to form a party and help them with a corpse run. This can be adjusted for day night cycles as well as the seasons and game events such as the accidental unearthing of deity, power, or object when a node is expanded over a piece of holy, unholy and territory belonging to another faction or race or power. The Exciting thing is you can weave evolving and seasonal changes into the story at any time. The folks at Turbine did this in a brilliant way with new content  (story, mobs, the creation and destruction of towns) albeit static ( come on it was 1999 and they were streaming a contiguous non-instanced world before anyone thought of it and we were on dialup) every 45 days like clockwork for 18 years.  I know that Steven and his crew or at least i have faith that they are capable of doing the same.

    We have the engine and the scripting knowledge to make all this happen with Unreal's version 4.xx engine and it will be animated and engaging in a new and exciting way.I am not saying developing the trees is always easy for th story telling and decision based AI it takes a bit of planning but once the structure is in place you can easily add, remove and change content. the writers, story tellers and artists can then be allowed to let the story fly and sit back and watch a truly unique and interactive world play out in the community, with all the excitement and intrigue that is brought out by the player base.  Personally i like the thought  as a content creator to twist the story on the players when they think they have it figured out lol


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