What makes a game replayable?

Because TBoI is the only "random levels" RPG where all levels look exactly the same.

99% of roguelikes are like that.

Is proceduraly generated different to random? Or is it one in the same? Never managed to wrap my head around it. Because :red: numbers.
 
It's one way to call randomly generated content. Problem is most of the time it's just "chunks" ordered differently so after a while it all looks the same.
 
Is proceduraly generated different to random? Or is it one in the same? Never managed to wrap my head around it. Because :red: numbers.
I'm sure someone will tell you otherwise, but I'm pretty sure it's exactly the same thing and they just say that to make it sound like they actually give two tits and a gravy.
 
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It's one way to call randomly generated content. Problem is most of the time it's just "chunks" ordered differently so after a while it all looks the same.

So if it was truly random- each block decided on a "roll of the dice" as it were- you could have random flying lava blocks spawned in and general mayhem and shenanigans all over?
 
That would be a mess. But there's games that manage to work with random "chunks" and still make you feel like you're exploring different dungeons.
 
Having no (stated) objectives. Give the player the right and large enough selection tools and pieces in a world to play with and they'll make their own goals. The level replayability depends how creative the player is and how much the world doesn't limit it. Basically the whole concept of a sandbox game and the reasons why this, EVE online, that game that shall not be named, Kerbal Space program, Space Engineers, etc... have been so successful.
 
That would be a mess. But there's games that manage to work with random "chunks" and still make you feel like you're exploring different dungeons.

Oh. Seeds and stuff then? Hm.

Having no (stated) objectives. Give the player the right and large enough selection tools and pieces in a world to play with and they'll make their own goals. The level replayability depends how creative the player is and how much the world doesn't limit it. Basically the whole concept of a sandbox game and the reasons why this, EVE online, that game that shall not be named, Kerbal Space program, Space Engineers, etc... have been so successful.

Pretty much.
 
Kerbal Space Program is a good example.

I suck at playing it, I can't get a stable orbit or land (as long as "landing" means leaving survivors, that is) in any celestial body but Kerbin and Mun, and yet I keep going back to play it from time to time. Why? Because the game lets the player decide how to play it, instead of using "hunger bar" or "permadeath" or other such bull:red: to lengthen playability (in my case, hunger bar amd permadeath shorten playability.)
 
Kerbal Space Program is a good example.

I suck at playing it, I can't get a stable orbit or land (as long as "landing" means leaving survivors, that is) in any celestial body but Kerbin and Mun, and yet I keep going back to play it from time to time. Why? Because the game lets the player decide how to play it, instead of using "hunger bar" or "permadeath" or other such bull:red: to lengthen playability (in my case, hunger bar amd permadeath shorten playability.)

Thats the thing- I got bored of FONV after the 5th/6th playthrough, but the added the Hardcore mode (hunger, h2o and sleep meters) and it became a totally new game, right? But employing THAT in Terraria would suck-

So maybe re-playability can be factored with the suitability of game mechanics that they use- I just wish Skyrim had a FONV style Hardcore, it'd be awesome to be a woodsman hunting and gathering in the day. Would make hunting way more fun.
 
Oh wait, I forgot. The availability of save scumming. Because :red: having to die to an enemy you are not ready to face yet, when you can either turn tail or work out like a bugger at every turn.

Call me cheap, but I like doing that.
 
For me it's being able to carry on when I've completed the game. Like forza 4 and horizon. I love tuning and customising cars and when you've completed the career, what's more fun that barrelling down the nurburgring at 240Mph going "THIS IS HIGHLY UNREALISTIC!!!"
Also a replay of the storm ode but with an increased difficulty like borderlands. Finish the game? Fine let's add 2 tones of steroids and make your end game weapon look like a pea shooter... Ah the fun.
 
I just wish Skyrim had a FONV style Hardcore, it'd be awesome to be a woodsman hunting and gathering in the day. Would make hunting way more fun.

Skyrim has plenty of hunger/sleep/thirst mods and even a weather mod which makes cold and northern waters actually dangerous. I know some people don't want to mod their games. I have never understood why, specially with Bethesda's games which are basically modular games where the modules are all built by users. Oblivion only lasted me twenty hours first time I played it - done with the main plot and most sidequests, got bored, forgot about it. Then I took a mod in the knee.
 
Skyrim has plenty of hunger/sleep/thirst mods and even a weather mod which makes cold and northern waters actually dangerous. I know some people don't want to mod their games. I have never understood why, specially with Bethesda's games which are basically modular games where the modules are all built by users. Oblivion only lasted me twenty hours first time I played it - done with the main plot and most sidequests, got bored, forgot about it. Then I took a mod in the knee.

Just avoid the ones that are like "There was a 15th Daedric Prince called Pwnzer and this waz his sword lol"
 
Oh, don't worry, I know more than I want about mods, there's been stupid mods like those since Diablo 1, and even before that. And the modders who do that kind of things are always very... Special snowflakes.

"lol I made this sword of flames+99 that can 1-hit Diablo! What u mean it's unbalanced OMG no flaming!"
 
  • Random Generation
  • Epic story line
  • Epic characters
  • Fun mechanics
  • Open world
  • Choices
  • Multiplayer
  • Mods
Literally first things that popped in my head.
 
Oh, don't worry, I know more than I want about mods, there's been stupid mods like those since Diablo 1, and even before that. And the modders who do that kind of things are always very... Special snowflakes.

"lol I made this sword of flames+99 that can 1-hit Diablo! What u mean it's unbalanced OMG no flaming!"

Yup. Nailed it.

  • Random Generation
  • Epic story line
  • Epic characters
  • Fun mechanics
  • Open world
  • Choices
  • Multiplayer
  • Mods
Literally first things that popped in my head.

^Thats a good summary of the key points!

Merry Christmas all. Or Buon Natale a tutti, if you're Italian.
 
Having different things to do and different ways to complete objectives on each playthrough. From my experience with the only two roguelikes I own- Spelunky and Crypt of the Necrodancer- random level generation doesn't matter when you just have the same objectives each time and the same templates and block types for areas or zones that persist through each run; however, both of those games have replay value because of the different paths you can take and events you can trigger on your way to the end in Spelunky, and the massive item pool and different gear you can use in CotND.

What I would like to see, though, is a game that creates its own randomized biomes/zones and possibly enemies with different abilities for each run. That would be interesting.
 
For me, replayability really just boils down to how much I like the game. If I think the game is great, I'll probably play it again sometime in the future, regardless of if it's a story driven game.
 
Look at cave story:

Awesome Music
Interesting Characters
EPIC story
Multiple choices and multiple endings
(MANY different ways of playing the game, not really in cave story, but it also adds to the replayablity)


This is how you make a game replayable.
 
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