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Limiting RNG elements in the game


Commander_Kapow

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RNG (Random Number Generators) is a great tool when not overused. It is something which is very easy thing to slide into a game, especially one which uses Procedural elements extensively. However it is also a trap for player leading often to disappointment as the risk vs reward is often left to the RNG element rather then player skill. Striking the balance between RNG and Player Skill is very difficult, but there is another option to add to the development and that is event based rules.

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Examples are completely made up just to explain what I'm bumbling on above.

 

Examples - RNG - Mining for Special mineral - You fly to an asteroid field and start mining (or scanning) - Regardless how the asteroid looks an RNG will determine what you get from the Asteroid- This turns gameplay into brain numming grind which disrespect gamers time

 

Skill Based - The asteroids have Visual element which helps the player to find the right asteroid and there could be unique way of mining to deliver the best results - materials. While still RNG deciding what materials are in the Asteroid before you even see it, this way it requires the player to use their skill to mine, thus making it feel more rewarding

 

Event Based - The skill based level applies, but the best asteroids can be found in areas with certain conditions / events that occured or can be diagnosed through knowledge in the game leading the player into that area in the first place. This added level of rules increases the immersion as player just doesn't fly blindly from asteroid field to asteroid field but looks for an event that could have caused the asteroids to be rich in minerals... Even a Rumor could be a good lead..

 

Events can drive further systems - Pirating, Bounty Hunting, Corporate espionage ect... All of these are much better when they are event driven then just  RNG, so I pitch the idea to avoid too much RNG for the love of the players as this project holds a lot a lot of promise ;)

 

At the end we still get the same materials - but the way we get them is either more or less rewarding and that is why RNG should be very limited in use in the game, but rather a rule/event based system should be in place which allows for more predictability, but requiring more skill..

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I tend to have to agree that RNGs, while they are nice, get a bit grindy. A players skill input means that they have to stay at the pique of their performance to keep a constant speed and quality, it also means more of an engaging challenge from what I can see from other games and your examples. 

I'm trying to imagine an RNG event system though, that makes me cringe. 

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I tend to have to agree that RNGs, while they are nice, get a bit grindy. A players skill input means that they have to stay at the pique of their performance to keep a constant speed and quality, it also means more of an engaging challenge from what I can see from other games and your examples. 

 

I'm trying to imagine an RNG event system though, that makes me cringe. 

 

In my opinion the best system is with 0 RNG :D, but I also understand the fact that the team has 25 people and creating possible event trees for 100s of possible scenarios might be impossible. I'm a software dev myself and our product is purely event based to help professionals in our field of expertise and in our subject of that field in their work (for comparison lets say we would only specialize in mining one type of mineral to compare the scale between what we make and what DU is trying to make), but just the field we work in I and my team spent over a year developing all the possible event trees to make sure that 99% of the possibilities are catered for. Hence the fact that I understand that some elements of RNG will probably be required. It just about how much .....

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RNG can be necessary in lots of situations, but I agree it can be a real pain. Often games have way too much and this is to the detriment of the game as a whole.

So while I understand the need for some RNG, I will agree with the hope that's it's kept to a minimum.

 

Let's not forget we can't actually have true RNG, which is fine but can also lead to problems if not done correctly.

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