Monstrum - A Question for Frictional Games

[Adventurer4Life]

Hi there...

I recently played a game by Team Junkfish called Monstrum. It is yet another follower of Frictional's revival of the survival horror. It was ok, in most respects but didn't effect me like Penumbra and Amnesia.

Still, it had one really awesome idea in it. Procedural generated levels.

Basically every time you start a new game the entire "setting" is created procedurally, they also added a variety of monsters. You only get one each game.. but which one.

I LOVE frictional games. They practically single handedly dragged me kicking and screaming into modern gaming. Even so, one thing I always disliked is that they are under such strict narratives. You play it once, and your done. You can replay it, but it is never scary again, as you know where the monsters are, you know the hiding places, you know where the items are.. all that.

In Monstrum with everything procedurally created, every time you play you get the same exploration feeling. Granted the algorithm had a few floors but I think this is where these games need to move. So much of the "horror" comes fomr the unknown... and this allows that to happen.

So my question is.. have you thought of this, or considered it in your games.. and if not.. what do you think of this idea?

Thanks in advance
- Quietly Waiting for Soma

[Darkfire]

I think that FG is trying to deliver an experience. Carefully crafted one. And when you create a random generated level, the game pretty much has to concentrate on the gameplay. Well, at least in my opinion

[213]

procedurally generated content is extremely bad idea for anything related to gameplay. there's no supervision and the complexity level goes away down since no intelligent human input can be used to "handcraft" the designs and mechanics.

it's a gimmick taking advantage of people's ease in being beguiled by technobabble.

[Adventurer4Life]

I think that FG is trying to deliver an experience. Carefully crafted one. And when you create a random generated level, the game pretty much has to concentrate on the gameplay. Well, at least in my opinion

procedurally generated content is extremely bad idea for anything related to gameplay. there's no supervision and the complexity level goes away down since no intelligent human input can be used to "handcraft" the designs and mechanics.

I am not sure I agree with either of these statement. Monstrum has its problems, but I think the idea is very sound.. it just need work.

@Darkfire - Story is node based. In Anmesia for example there are a few barriers to cut the game into sections and various parts of the game occur when you enter a certain room or complete a certain puzzle. Procedural generation wouldn't affect that in any way. It is only how to get to these story nodes that would be different.

@213 - You can make much more complex structures through procedural generation, this is in fact what it is originally designed for. To create vastly complex structures that would be impossible for people to make manually. Also remember that procedural generation is not the same as randomization. You can incorporate rules and switches into it that can assure that you never get dead ends, or that a pipe system continues to a point where it logicality stops. You can have entire hand crafted rooms for story nodes that are not procedural and are built traditionally which are just connected to the procedural content. You can have multiple passes during the creations, to make sections. So one section might be a forest but you could move into a cave. etc etc

The thing is that as much as I love the Frictional Games games.. lol that sounds funny to say that way... anyway, as much as I like the game I feel there is really no repaly value as the exploration is what the entire game experience is based on. The scare though the unknown. It seams to me that a system like this, if done correctly would remove that problem completely.

[GhylTarvoke]

Frictional Games seems to focus on perfecting the first playthrough, without worrying about replayability. They do, however, introduce some randomness when the player dies, to avoid repetition and frustration. My biggest scare in The Dark Descent occurred after I died in Storage and the Grunt spawned in an unexpected location.

EDIT: Here's what Thomas Grip has to say on the subject, under "Death is final".

[TiManGames]

The thing is that as much as I love the Frictional Games games.. lol that sounds funny to say that way... anyway, as much as I like the game I feel there is really no repaly value as the exploration is what the entire game experience is based on. The scare though the unknown. It seams to me that a system like this, if done correctly would remove that problem completely.

And this is why custom stories were made.

[Darkfire]

Also there's more randomness in amnesia than meets the eye. Lots of small scares and events are scripted so that they appear in different places and times. I get your point though. However I have to say that I played dark descent twice, and on the second time I discovered plenty of cool details.