Hand-made gives you precise control over every single detail in the map.
That''s a extremely important point to consider on this topic. A ton of games just can''t have that degree of randomness and still function properly and/or contain the same depth.

It''s great for games like Diablo 2, which are based on you going through the areas repeatedly, because you don''t go nuts going through the exact same area each time. So yes for a bunch of games it''s good.

In a MMORPG, how would you deal with random areas? Would you be able to see people but have them be playing on a different looking area than you?
In an FPS, learning the levels is what seperates a veteran from a newbie, it would kill your player base to not be able to hone your skills aside from shooting better.
Same with a racing game. If it''s random then you''re just exercising your reflexes. I''d rather go play "Whack A Mole" instead.

------------
The Audacious Engine - After briefly disappearing (aka being deleted), Audacious is being rebuilt. Although it''s not ready yet, so don''t you dare go there. I mean it.
MSN: nmaster42@hotmail.com, AIM: LockePick42, ICQ: 74128155
"It''s all part of the conspiracy of conspirators conspiring to conspire their own conspiracies..."

Random may just be used at levels creation (Like Daggerfall did), so it could go in a MMORPG too.

But MMORPG's never change. It's a complete waste of time to build a system which will randomly create your world 1 time. Time much better spent on actual gameplay features.

EDIT: I should probably explicitly state, area randomness is only good if it's a gameplay feature itself.

[edited by - LockePick on August 18, 2002 4:13:17 AM]

quote:In a MMORPG, how would you deal with random areas? Would you be able to see people but have them be playing on a different looking area than you?

The way I see it, random is nice if you want to avoid the boring repition like having a whole forest with thousands of trees all grid aligned. It would be really tedious for a designer to move a tad bit each tree around.
So, you generate a whole area at once, randomness included (as explained before).

The other alternative is to actually generate the randomness while playing. The difference being that instead of storing every single tree of the forest, the map stores just the fact that there is a forest over a defined area, and random trees should be generated.
If you think about it, do you really need to exactly store every tree ? You only need to store the exceptions. That is, if you decide, in this forest, to carve your name on a trunk, the program would simply create a specific tree with a name on its trunk to be generated in the forest.
If you decide to cut down a few trees to put your little hut n the middle of the woods, same thing : you would store the fact that some of the trees are cut down.

Well ... I guess I am OT by now, but I just thought this is an interesting topic.


Sancte Isidore ora pro nobis !

Procedurally generated content as Kylotan suggested is the only way that very large MMO''s with tons of content can exist. A major factor is the cost of hiring numerous content designers.

The approach that we are taking is procedurally generate the worlds terrain and vegitation, then take that into another editor for tweaks - call it done.

If we were to hand generate all the terrain and place vegitation by hand - it would take us longer than six days not to mention no resting on the seventh (GRIN).

Dave "Dak Lozar" Loeser

Smacks of the classic originally-found-in-low-budget-cartoons repeated background scene during chases or conversation that took place during travel.

I''m sure that it seems a cost-effective method to implement vast spaces of game-world, but at the same time it detracts from the real-ness of levels if it''s not done well.

I''d rather see a dynamic (i.e. not easily regarded as repetitive) world generated once and static in every play, than a per-play generated landscape. Diablo does this quite noticeably, and it''s impossible to get one''s bearings if you have to restart the game for any reason. It makes the game appear more like a puzzle than a natural environment.





MatrixCubed
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