i'm coming to the conclusion that it takes more that just a big seamless level (IE an "open world") to make a good game.
Absolutely! Several designers are of that persuasion (I'm pretty sure Raph Koster and Richard Bartle are of that mindset), and I'm on that page also. I apply that to content as well - I've come to that conclusion that it takes more than just MORE enemies (or even more different enemies) to make a good game. It takes more than just MORE items to make a good game. We need better worlds, not bigger worlds. Better items, not more items. Better enemies, not more enemies. Better dungeons, not more dungeons. Better NPCs, not more NPCs.
Ofcourse, we do need enough items/dungeons/NPCs/monsters to provide enough content, so more is better, as long as it's more of quality content. A single room, or a single NPC, and a single item isn't enough content, no matter how good it is. But after you hit a certain point then you need not just more content but also better content, I think.
Basically, I want content-dense worlds, not larger worlds, where content = quality content, not mass-produced content. When the world is so dense it can't fit more content into it, then expand the world vertically and horizontally. I don't want it just sprawled out across a flat plane stretched over a heightmap.
To me, "better" is not "more of what is boring", but instead "more enjoyable". I'd be delighted with games that are only 10% of the size of the GTAs and Farcrys and EQs and WoW, if the game was more enjoyable.
a big seamless level with a few hundred hard coded non-respawning spawn points is nothing more that a giant doom level. shoot all the badguys and then its just an architectural walk through.
Yeah, and even if a big seamless level is filled with buttloads of content, that doesn't make the content well-designed or the world well-shaped. It just artificially stretches out and waters down the content, with longer walking periods and annoying flying creatures between each enjoyable encounter.
Right now I'm kinda in a "Open compact world" mindset. The world should be content-huge but area-small. But on the same token, content needs to be refined down to quality content and should just have more content merely for the sake of more content. I'd rather have ten great encounters than 100 mediocre encounters, for example. Or 10 great quests than 100 boring quests. 10 great dungeons then a hundred bland dungeons.
respawns, random encounters, quest generators, house design (a la the sims), and replacemnt of important NPCs (such as dead merchants killed by dragons in skyrim) all seem to be called for.
Well, here's my thinking: Procedural generated areas is fun (think Minecraft), but even better than random generation is finely-crafted / hand-crafted areas. While hand-crafted areas have less replayability, I personally enjoy them more.
I think procedural generation is an amazing tool in the hands of area designers, but that the area designers shouldn't delegate entire control to it. (In-general. In some games, pure random-gen makes perfect sense - e.g. RTS arenas, roguelikes, and so on).
Procedural generation, in my opinion, should be used to help area-designers create hand-crafted areas faster and better.
I feel the same way when it comes to content within the area: Procedural quest generation is fun, but I think ultimately we'll head in the direction of using procedural quest generation to help designers hand-craft even better quests.
Procedural monster generation is fun, but I think procgen will be used ultimately to help aid designers in creating better monsters and monster placements
I agree (to some extent) about respawns and (to some extent) NPC replacements and (to some extent) random encounters. But again I think procedural generation will work together with, and be heavily guided by, and fill in the gaps left from, the designers.
they finally add random encounters in skyrim and what is it? you encounter a dragon in town while hauling loot back from the dungeon to the store! wait a sec there guys - isn't that dragon supposed to be at the bottom of the dungeon, not waiting for you back at town once you get out? <g>.
ROFL. He was just there buying half a hog - you interrupted his shopping trip. :lol:
You stopped-and-frisked him purely off the color of his scales, you racist! :P