Post by Morreion on Jun 6, 2014 11:52:24 GMT -5
Procedural Generation (Wikipedia)
Procedural generation is a widely used term in the production of media; it refers to content generated algorithmically rather than manually. Often, this means creating content spontaneously or extemporaneously rather than prior to distribution. This is often related to computer graphics applications and video game level design.
MMO Mechanics: Procedural generation is the future (Massively)
"Procedurally generated" simply means that the gameworld is built on the fly as you drive around. Note that some people conflate the idea of "procedural" with "random," and while it's true that you can make random areas using procedural techniques, it doesn't have to be. (The world of Diablo was procedurally generated by linking together pre-determined sections to form the overall map.)...
MMOs are infamous for the exorbitant amount of both time and money that is required to make a fantastic end product. Much of this effort and expenditure goes into producing very specific content such as leveling zones, quest chains, and dungeons. The classic themepark MMO in which all the rides are carefully engineered and maintained is compelling for a time, but the content therein tends to take longer to create than it does to exhaust. This invariably leads to redundant content that ends up on the scrapheap once it has been enjoyed for a time.
Procedural generation corrects much of this redundancy by providing essentially limitless variations of content, adding replayability and variety to the usual MMO repertoire. It also opens up some unique mechanics, like Elite: Dangerous' planned procedurally generated galaxy that is a full-scale replica of the Milky Way...
Elite's galaxy incorporates both stars near Earth's solar system and other major stars in our galaxy from real astronomical maps. Procedural generation then fills in the gaps in human knowledge, readying the virtual galaxy for exploration and paving the way for imaginative play. If this is done poorly, the galaxy will seem samey and exploration would get boring rather quickly, but if it is done well, then procedural generation will add a real depth to Elite's exploration gameplay...
Upcoming online game No Man's Sky takes things one step further by procedurally generating entire planets for you to explore. Every planet in the game will be unique, featuring various different environments and topographical combinations. The developers are even claiming that each planet's indigenous flora and fauna will be procedurally generated and entirely unique to that world. The potential for amazing combat and exploration mechanics in such a system is staggering, especially when you consider that the plan is to throw these planets into a persistent online universe. When you explore a planet, that will reportedly affect the online database for other players to see...
If Star Citizen hits its $41 million US stretch goal, then Cloud Imperium promises to put together a special development team dedicated to producing similar procedurally generated planets for players to colonise. Inspired by the rampant popularity of Minecraft, the MMO development team at Trion Worlds is set on making a similarly blocky voxel-based MMO called Trove. The title will reportedly blend handcrafted content with automatically generated zones to create a unique gameplay experience. And let's not forget Love, the fully procedurally generated MMO created by a single developer in which even the artwork is procedural. It has no core quests or content; instead, the player's journey is shaped by the actions of other players. With so many big games on the horizon incorporating similar gameplay, it's clear that procedural generation will play a big part in our gaming future...
Procedural generation isn't limited only to building environments: It can also be used to create infinitely replayable core content such as dungeons and quests. Custom quest generation tools have proven incredibly popular in several MMOs, and some have toyed with randomisation to make those quests feel much more unique...
EQN Landmark aims to take things one step further with procedurally generated quests: The player will no longer settle for changing some flavour text or predetermined variables. EQN will generate many quests on the fly, but EQN Landmark aims to put those tools in the hands of the player...
Custom-built content can be slow to produce and may have quite a short shelf-life due to its inherent lack of replayability. If procedural generation can allow entire planets and even galaxies to be created in astounding detail, the incoming wave of new MMOs using this technique will bring along great new mechanics to the genre. The technology is being used by everyone from Triple-A studios to new indie start-ups and even individual enterprises, so it's fair to expect great things from up-and-coming MMOs.
The Future is Procedural (The Escapist)
Procedural content takes time to make. No, actually the technology takes time to make. Once you have a world-generating tool, content is free. Feed it some scraps of data and tell it how much world you want. The idea here is that it won't magically make games cheaper to produce, but there is hope that it can give us a lot more gameworld for the same money.
On one end of the spectrum is the Valve Software approach to games. Everything is meticulously hand-crafted and polished to a mirror shine. It makes for some nice gaming, but it takes forever, costs a fortune, and doesn't offer a lot of gameplay. When Episode 3 finally comes out, we'll have waited three or four years for what? Six hours of gameplay? Maybe ten. I'll be glad to have it, but it would be nice if we could get more game in less time. On the opposite end of the spectrum is Spore, which offers limitless variety but it all sort of feels the same. (Disclosure: I haven't played Spore for various reasons. I'm going by the reviews I've read here and elsewhere.)
So up until now the choice has been: A) Lots of bland content for nearly free, or B) A bit of dynamite content for excruciating development costs. The FUEL formula suggests a nice compromise between the two, with a bit of hand-crafted work to give the game character, and the rest filled in with broad strokes from a procedural engine of some sort. Applying this to a shooter, you might have key locations in the game (boss fights and plot points) take place in carefully crafted areas, but turn over the generic tunnels, boiler rooms, sewer levels, and outdoor areas to procedural code. Those are places that players usually breeze through without a second glance, and it doesn't make sense to pay a room full of level designers to labor over those if their talents could be spent on the areas we actually care about. The handmade stuff is the steak, and the procedural stuff is the free bread the waiter will bring you to make sure everyone leaves feeling full.
I'm really excited to see time being spent on technology other than graphics. Graphics have looked fantastic for the last few years, and constant increases in hardware and development costs hasn't seemed worth it in the face of such modest visual nudges. Yet we've hardly scratched the surface of what could be done with procedural tech.
Anarchy Online had procedurally generated mission dungeons back in 2001- you'd enter a cave or complex of rooms and they would be randomly put together but with a certain thematic direction and level content. It was really cool. Hand-designing hundreds of mission dungeons would take way too much time and money, so procedural generation made a lot of sense here. It worked well. Now there is talk of making whole planets or solar systems procedurally generated- can't wait to see this!
Procedural generation is a widely used term in the production of media; it refers to content generated algorithmically rather than manually. Often, this means creating content spontaneously or extemporaneously rather than prior to distribution. This is often related to computer graphics applications and video game level design.
MMO Mechanics: Procedural generation is the future (Massively)
"Procedurally generated" simply means that the gameworld is built on the fly as you drive around. Note that some people conflate the idea of "procedural" with "random," and while it's true that you can make random areas using procedural techniques, it doesn't have to be. (The world of Diablo was procedurally generated by linking together pre-determined sections to form the overall map.)...
MMOs are infamous for the exorbitant amount of both time and money that is required to make a fantastic end product. Much of this effort and expenditure goes into producing very specific content such as leveling zones, quest chains, and dungeons. The classic themepark MMO in which all the rides are carefully engineered and maintained is compelling for a time, but the content therein tends to take longer to create than it does to exhaust. This invariably leads to redundant content that ends up on the scrapheap once it has been enjoyed for a time.
Procedural generation corrects much of this redundancy by providing essentially limitless variations of content, adding replayability and variety to the usual MMO repertoire. It also opens up some unique mechanics, like Elite: Dangerous' planned procedurally generated galaxy that is a full-scale replica of the Milky Way...
Elite's galaxy incorporates both stars near Earth's solar system and other major stars in our galaxy from real astronomical maps. Procedural generation then fills in the gaps in human knowledge, readying the virtual galaxy for exploration and paving the way for imaginative play. If this is done poorly, the galaxy will seem samey and exploration would get boring rather quickly, but if it is done well, then procedural generation will add a real depth to Elite's exploration gameplay...
Upcoming online game No Man's Sky takes things one step further by procedurally generating entire planets for you to explore. Every planet in the game will be unique, featuring various different environments and topographical combinations. The developers are even claiming that each planet's indigenous flora and fauna will be procedurally generated and entirely unique to that world. The potential for amazing combat and exploration mechanics in such a system is staggering, especially when you consider that the plan is to throw these planets into a persistent online universe. When you explore a planet, that will reportedly affect the online database for other players to see...
If Star Citizen hits its $41 million US stretch goal, then Cloud Imperium promises to put together a special development team dedicated to producing similar procedurally generated planets for players to colonise. Inspired by the rampant popularity of Minecraft, the MMO development team at Trion Worlds is set on making a similarly blocky voxel-based MMO called Trove. The title will reportedly blend handcrafted content with automatically generated zones to create a unique gameplay experience. And let's not forget Love, the fully procedurally generated MMO created by a single developer in which even the artwork is procedural. It has no core quests or content; instead, the player's journey is shaped by the actions of other players. With so many big games on the horizon incorporating similar gameplay, it's clear that procedural generation will play a big part in our gaming future...
Procedural generation isn't limited only to building environments: It can also be used to create infinitely replayable core content such as dungeons and quests. Custom quest generation tools have proven incredibly popular in several MMOs, and some have toyed with randomisation to make those quests feel much more unique...
EQN Landmark aims to take things one step further with procedurally generated quests: The player will no longer settle for changing some flavour text or predetermined variables. EQN will generate many quests on the fly, but EQN Landmark aims to put those tools in the hands of the player...
Custom-built content can be slow to produce and may have quite a short shelf-life due to its inherent lack of replayability. If procedural generation can allow entire planets and even galaxies to be created in astounding detail, the incoming wave of new MMOs using this technique will bring along great new mechanics to the genre. The technology is being used by everyone from Triple-A studios to new indie start-ups and even individual enterprises, so it's fair to expect great things from up-and-coming MMOs.
The Future is Procedural (The Escapist)
Procedural content takes time to make. No, actually the technology takes time to make. Once you have a world-generating tool, content is free. Feed it some scraps of data and tell it how much world you want. The idea here is that it won't magically make games cheaper to produce, but there is hope that it can give us a lot more gameworld for the same money.
On one end of the spectrum is the Valve Software approach to games. Everything is meticulously hand-crafted and polished to a mirror shine. It makes for some nice gaming, but it takes forever, costs a fortune, and doesn't offer a lot of gameplay. When Episode 3 finally comes out, we'll have waited three or four years for what? Six hours of gameplay? Maybe ten. I'll be glad to have it, but it would be nice if we could get more game in less time. On the opposite end of the spectrum is Spore, which offers limitless variety but it all sort of feels the same. (Disclosure: I haven't played Spore for various reasons. I'm going by the reviews I've read here and elsewhere.)
So up until now the choice has been: A) Lots of bland content for nearly free, or B) A bit of dynamite content for excruciating development costs. The FUEL formula suggests a nice compromise between the two, with a bit of hand-crafted work to give the game character, and the rest filled in with broad strokes from a procedural engine of some sort. Applying this to a shooter, you might have key locations in the game (boss fights and plot points) take place in carefully crafted areas, but turn over the generic tunnels, boiler rooms, sewer levels, and outdoor areas to procedural code. Those are places that players usually breeze through without a second glance, and it doesn't make sense to pay a room full of level designers to labor over those if their talents could be spent on the areas we actually care about. The handmade stuff is the steak, and the procedural stuff is the free bread the waiter will bring you to make sure everyone leaves feeling full.
I'm really excited to see time being spent on technology other than graphics. Graphics have looked fantastic for the last few years, and constant increases in hardware and development costs hasn't seemed worth it in the face of such modest visual nudges. Yet we've hardly scratched the surface of what could be done with procedural tech.
Anarchy Online had procedurally generated mission dungeons back in 2001- you'd enter a cave or complex of rooms and they would be randomly put together but with a certain thematic direction and level content. It was really cool. Hand-designing hundreds of mission dungeons would take way too much time and money, so procedural generation made a lot of sense here. It worked well. Now there is talk of making whole planets or solar systems procedurally generated- can't wait to see this!
