Deman on 10/5/2014 at 19:16
I found this game recently and thought I might spread the word.
From the official website :
Quote:
Developed by one person and using a custom made game engine, Dangerous Rays is a single player survival game inspired by the S.T.A.L.K.E.R™ game series, where you play as a normal citizen that survived to a nuclear accident disaster, after some years in your fallout shelter you need to get out because you start to run out of food. It is time to confront the new world.
Explore the huge procedurally generated world of the game to find food, water, guns and everything else you'll need in order to survive in this new ruthless world. The game support extensive modding possibilities. A complete 3D world editor is coming soon after the release to allow players to create their own worlds and stories in Dangerous rays universe.
The fact there is only one person working on the game made the dev release a pre-alpha version because of lack of money. Although there isn't much to do at the moment, the dev is pretty active with 9 updates released in two weeks. For now, procedural generation and weapon ballistic work nicely.
If everything goes well, he is planning to expend the game with NPC, post-nuclear mutants, towns and hardcore survival gameplay elements.
Some video showing the game :
[video=youtube;Lob8j-JZdT4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Lob8j-JZdT4[/video]
And another one showing the ballistic :
(
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8mGX8Hg5yR8)
(
http://www.dangerousrays.com/) http://www.dangerousrays.com/
I'm not a maketer or anything, just thought the game had potential and could help the development by spreading the word.
Flux on 10/5/2014 at 20:34
I'm beginning to think people invented procedurally generated things not because it is cool tech but because of lazy artist syndrome. Yeah, ok, he is one man. So lazy programmer art thingy.
Interesting though, because of mood. Or the intention of it, at least.
demagogue on 10/5/2014 at 23:22
I think this kind of idea was inevitable, so it's good to see it being made.
Stalker showed the potential of a very open world sandbox kind of post-apoc radiation survival game; all that could have added to it would be an open sandbox world. For a survival sim like this, I think it's important to have procedural generation because it's important you don't know the environment going in.
I hope it keeps some of the otherworldly scifi edge of Stalker, with the strange events and mutations, but still being subtle about it. One of the best parts about Stalker was the uncertainty about what to expect next, and the feeling of wonder, alienation, and disgust walking around to the strange new world around you.
driver on 10/5/2014 at 23:48
The main problem I have with procedural generated content is that it tends to come off as patchwork and lacking in cohesion. I'd rather have a finely crafted world with random elements in it (ie. loot is never in the same place twice, objectives are chosen from a larger pool so you don't see all of them in one play through (a la Diablo 1 & 3), randomized starting position & gear etc) that way the developer(s) can concentrate on making it feel lived-in and natural rather than a jumble of bits and pieces seemly tossed together.
Ok, this is only one guy doing it, so fair enough that he's doing it to cut down on time, but I can't help feeling that the result is going to be a loss of immersion because it's the environment is going to feel 'gamey'.
That aside, it does look very interesting. Certainly going to be keeping an eye on it.
Muzman on 11/5/2014 at 06:44
Quote Posted by Flux
I'm beginning to think people invented procedurally generated things not because it is cool tech but because of lazy artist syndrome. Yeah, ok, he is one man. So lazy programmer art thingy.
Interesting though, because of mood. Or the intention of it, at least.
Strictly speaking I wouldn't call it laziness to focus on what you're good at or like. It makes sense not to delay your game a few years while you learn how to be an artist.
This debate came up over Sir,You're Being Hunted lately. And it's an interesting one. Some players and reviewers have been saying that hand crafted would have been better. But while they say without it it's too 'gamey', I tend to think they have it entirely backwards. While we can all think of very good design in games, when it comes to creating more natural seeming spaces, they are the exception rather than the norm. Hand crafted levels are the most 'gamey' of the lot, generally speaking. It's all about meeting our gamey expectations after all. Proc gen bothers people because it doesn't do that all the time. You can do it badly of course, but I find more interesting landscapes can arise in games like this and I expect its because it lacks the nervous hand of a human wondering what the playtesters might think of *this* particular view or *this* ten square metres.
demagogue on 11/5/2014 at 07:04
It's like when you found cool vistas in Minecraft, they were all the more special & real because you know they weren't placed there by someone for you to find. They're just there. ... Even though the cost of that was some boring and illogical places elsewhere. And when you're going after real wonder or fear, I think that realistic touch helps, knowing that some author isn't spoonfeeding an experience to you.
But this is still beside the point that if you had a constructed world, you could just game it. It'd be like playing Civ on the same map every time. Doesn't really fit a sandbox game.
PigLick on 11/5/2014 at 09:25
yeh dema, i would load seed after seed in mincecaft until i found the mountainous glorious map i was looking for.
mincecraft - the art of cooking gorund beef ffs spelling
icemann on 11/5/2014 at 09:37
Quote Posted by driver
The main problem I have with procedural generated content is that it tends to come off as patchwork and lacking in cohesion. I'd rather have a finely crafted world with random elements in it (ie. loot is never in the same place twice, objectives are chosen from a larger pool so you don't see all of them in one play through (a la Diablo 1 & 3), randomized starting position & gear etc) that way the developer(s) can concentrate on making it feel lived-in and natural rather than a jumble of bits and pieces seemly tossed together.
Second that.
Diablo style is FAR more my preference as that way you get the good game design just with randomized elements within that (thus infinite replayability despite the level layouts remaining the same). Just makes for far superior games.
Completely randomly generated games are completely fine for roguelike games, as that is the entire point of them, but when its going into other types of genres then no thanks.
