No, not The Star Onions, though they do have some great work. I’m talking about other things today…
Onions have layers. That’s important to Ogres, apparently. People have layers, too, though in a world of Idols and Royals, one might be forgiven for thinking that people are entirely superficial and acting accordingly.
Photoshop has layers, as does Painter (though they took a few more years than Photoshop to see the light). Layers and the Undo command have made working digitally a joy for many artists, giving us a lot more control over our art. (Of course, working traditionally also allows a different sort of control that computers can never hope to match, but there are pros and cons of each medium.)
Games have layers, too. Zomblobs! will have a strategic layer and a tactical layer, similar to how X-Com and Master of Orion have different layers of play. In another tangent, there is something rewarding about having a game that functions on a simple layer for new players, and on a deeper layer for experienced players (though it can be tricky finding a good way to integrate those layers). Tangentially, Dave Sirlin’s article on “Yomi” layers is a great read for game designers and players.
And then there’s music. BlueKae tipped me off to this curious little tool, and I’ve been thinking about ways to use it:
It’s a curious little tool, almost more “proof of concept” than a full-on music generator, but there’s a lot of potential there. It uses cellular automaton algorithms similar to the seminal Conrad’s Game of Life to make procedural music. (Procedural content generation and gameplay is one of those quirky things that game devs are especially interested in, for good reason as budgets balloon and player locusts churn through games.) I imagine a version of Otomata that has different “instruments” with different timing tools running in different modules, allowing for a symphonic effect; layer upon layer of sound building to a greater whole. Something like that could be an awesome addition to Zomblobs!, what with its undercurrent of cellular biology and weird science.
…or maybe we’ll just see a 733t hacker use it to recreate this little gem:
(Oh, and I’m still waiting for an Incredible Machine or Garry’s Mod version of this OK Go gem: This Too Shall Pass)
Either way, Otomata is a fun little tool to play with, and it has a lot of room to grow into something awesome. Now, if only there were a hex-based version of it…
A WoWish overworld with Diablo style procedurally generated dungeons embedded in it in the place or/ or in addition to handcrafted instances would be a lot of fun methinks. In fact, the resurrected Flagship game that’s on the verge of release seems as if it may be just that, I’m pretty intrigued by it.
Procedural content generators can also be a good design aid, and least in the world of tabletop. Back when I used to GM a lot, I sometimes used a series of tables I came up with (like the tables in the old AD&D DMs guide but more efficient and capable of generating a lot more variety) that would generate dungeons. When I was feeling lazy, I’d roll up a set of plans and then tweak them a bit by hand to make them more cohesive or more interesting. I don’t see why an analogous approach wouldn’t work well when designing content for games.
Shamus has a whole series of articles on procedural content generation over at Twenty sided. Those links I put in are just scratching the surface. I can’t remember which article it is that he mentions it, but he suggests that layering procedures on top of each other can make for sufficiently “organic” randomness to fool most eyes. FUEL likely does a lot of that, and it works really well. (Even if the racing bit of the game isn’t all that excellent, anyway.)
I think there’s definitely a good place for procedural work with hand tailoring to do the finishing. I’m pretty sure that’s what WoW artists did, just from studying their art, and it’s probably what most other MMO devs do as well. There’s just too much content to generate *not* to use some procedural work.
There’s an argument to be made that the real world is mostly procedural, too.
X-Com blew my mind with the way it had multiple genre “layers”. Any game that can pull that off well has my attention, and usually respect as well.
Also:
“In another tangent, there is something rewarding about having a game that functions on a simple layer for new players, and on a deeper layer for experienced players”
This is SO true. Civilization has always been like that to me… I could play it on easy as a newbie and not completely fail, but for months afterwards I was learning new intricacies about the games and using new techniques and strategies.
Microprose had a huge effect on my formative gaming years. X-Com, Civ, Master of Orion/Magic… those were my golden years, and I really want to see that sort of game design brought to the current generation of games. Zomblobs! is largely built on Microprose DNA with a sprinkling of mutations from other sources.
Civilization Revolution is a good game, but I want more, even if I have to make it myself.