Okay, I'll bite... (Gaming)

by CyberKN , Oh no, Destiny 2 is bad, Sunday, July 31, 2016, 21:16 (3037 days ago) @ Cody Miller

Procedural generation is not the future.

Disagree. It already permeates a crapload of systems in video games.

You have no way of knowing if geometry generated procedurally is going to be fun to play or fit the challenge you want to make in your game.

Disagree. You're thinking of random generation. Procedural generation is bound by rules and formulae which are set, tuned, and iterated on throughout development. It can also refer to a game learning and modifying itself based on a user's input.

This is why designers are so important: they are able to Design the perfect spaces to play in.

Disagree. I can name a hundred hand-crafted games with less-than-perfect design... and a thousand more with really crappy design.

Do you think Silent Cartographer could be generated procedurally?

Yes.

What are the chances it would be fun?

It depends on how refined the algorithm is, which is determined by the amount time and care spent on it.

Could anything in Last of Us or Uncharted 4 have been made by algorithm versus a skilled designer?

Yes. The fact that you think that nothing was speaks volumes about your understanding of game development, though.

You need a human hand to create incredible experiences. Always and forever.

Disagree. I expect within 30 years, 90% of a game's development will be handled by AI and procedural algorithms. At some point the Star-trek holodeck fantasy of "Hey, Computer, make me a kick-ass game about <blank>" will be a reality. As slycrel touched on earlier, one of the biggest blockers thus far is that an inordinate amount of attention has been spent on graphics tech rather than computational systems, because that's way easier to market.