Author Topic: Random dungeons - which are pre-made  (Read 9592 times)

benappo

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Random dungeons - which are pre-made
« on: May 22, 2013, 09:10:27 AM »
Hi all,

I have a quick question.

Would a game still be considered roguelike if instead of completely procedurally-generated dungeons/areas, the dungeons/areas were pre-made, but randomly loaded whenever a PC enters a dungeon location? (assuming all other roguelike characteristics are present, such as random mobs, items etc.)

I guess Spelunky has something like this feature, but I'm talking more about a situation where, say, 100 pre-drawn maps are made and any of them could be loaded, at random, when entering a dungeon.

I'm asking as I might want to implement this feature in a roguelike, as I find that procedurally-generated dungeons tend to be, well, boring, after a while, with no neat features.

JollyRoger

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Re: Random dungeons - which are pre-made
« Reply #1 on: May 22, 2013, 09:22:36 AM »
Well. I found, experimentally, that the best results come from combination of more then one procedural generators and premade clusters of dungeon.
Because, completely lego-like dungeon would become boring soon, even faster then standard procedural dungeon.
And only one type of procedural generator is boring also.
I think it is better to have few simple procedural generators, then one detailed one.
Our Roguelike project - Fallen: http://ffhtr.blogspot.ru/.

Darren Grey

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Re: Random dungeons - which are pre-made
« Reply #2 on: May 22, 2013, 09:27:25 AM »
Binding of Isaac does this. I find it a bit stale myself. You don't get that sense of something cool and unexpected.

Dredmor stitches pre-made rooms together. Again, this ends up samey after many playthroughs. Vicious Orcs has a similar stitching system, but it has a bit more variety to it so it works better.

Maybe the generators you're using are a bit boring? Or as Jo says maybe trying mixing elements of both approaches?

Don't worry about it not being called a roguelike. Making a fun game takes priority over making a rule-bound roguelike.

zasvid

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Re: Random dungeons - which are pre-made
« Reply #3 on: May 22, 2013, 07:38:47 PM »
Well, it would be more interesting if they were at least a bit randomised.

It's a lot of work though, getting some good procedural generation going might be easier and more fruitful anyway.

Vanguard

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Re: Random dungeons - which are pre-made
« Reply #4 on: May 22, 2013, 11:05:17 PM »
It's a perfectly valid design choice regardless of whether it's what the "real" roguelikes do.

guest509

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Re: Random dungeons - which are pre-made
« Reply #5 on: May 23, 2013, 03:58:57 AM »
Remember too it's not just the architecture that makes them fun and replayable. It's what's inside. The monsters and loots!

Eben

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Re: Random dungeons - which are pre-made
« Reply #6 on: May 23, 2013, 05:41:05 PM »
Hi all,

I have a quick question.

Would a game still be considered roguelike if instead of completely procedurally-generated dungeons/areas, the dungeons/areas were pre-made, but randomly loaded whenever a PC enters a dungeon location? (assuming all other roguelike characteristics are present, such as random mobs, items etc.)
...

Absolutely yes.

but like Darren said, make a fun game and then let people decide after that what kind of game it is

Slash

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Re: Random dungeons - which are pre-made
« Reply #7 on: June 04, 2013, 11:54:25 AM »
MegamanRL does this. Mainly because it's a bit complex to get transversable level for a sidescroller.

ZeldaRL has something similar, it has a high level structure generator which defines the class (and exits) of all rooms in the dungeons, then each room is assigned a detailed generator which varies things a bit into each room.