I'm curious (Gaming)

by kidtsunami , Atlanta, GA, Thursday, August 18, 2016, 11:41 (3019 days ago) @ Cody Miller

Funny how taking our time and simply enjoying a game can give us a completely different impression of the quality of it, huh?

One can only take your time and enjoy a game if there's something there to enjoy. In my mind at least, finding the minute differences that make your planet special are stupid because that doesn't feedback into the game in any meaningful way. Why not explore a planet that's designed, so that you can uncover whatever the designers leave for you? NMS is just a formula. Nothing deeper. There's no guarantee your planet is interesting in any way. You're not going to find the ruins of a civilization and uncover the reason behind their demise for example. But if someone carefully designed that planet, then that would be fun to explore!

The systems that procedurally generated the game were designed by designers who paid very close attention to them.

Wrong. You think they checked each and every one of the 16 quintillion planets? That is physically impossible. Nearly all of the worlds in that game were never given any personal attention of a designer. The result of an algorithm, unchecked.

Do you think Bungie tested every possible outcome for how the Elite AI would react in every position throughout every Halo 1 map?

I mean sure maybe Rockslider has, but I doubt at release that every single possible outcome was tested. Now they definitely tested it well and made sure that a representative set fit the design that they imagine when they wrote the algorithms that defined the behaviors of the Elites...

Also your hardline stance on "designed" vs procedural is laughable. Almost any video game you play involves algorithms that react to what the player has done, whether it be in AI behavior, Physics, basically anything with an if statement in the game's code is some kind of algorithm that was designed to procedurally create the experience you have playing the game.

To debate with you on your level, I would simply say that to take your logic to it's inevitable conclusion that the ultimate game experience is a Movie because every single element that the player sees or experienced is designed for them without any hint of procedural logic or algorithm to modify it. The next step up I guess would be quick time events because they too are the most bespoke designed actions in video games, from the camera angle to the animation, input and outcome.

I agree with you on so many things, but never in the hardline, black and white way that you do.