Procedurally generated is the hot new buzzword in game design as indie developers reinvigorate techniques from our gaming past for a modern audience. Random (or at least within set parameters) generation bypasses limitations in the creation of these titles which are often made with smaller budgets and smaller design teams. Creating levels in this manner allows added depth and keeps the game fresher as players don’t trawl through the same environments over and over. Recently, I’ve been playing Spelunky a mining themed procedurally generated platformer. Has Spelunky struck gold with this innovative idea or are you left sifting through rubbish?
How does the unique selling point (well possibly not that unique thanks to it being the flavour of the month in indie game design) stand up to scrutiny? Does a procedural level creation system compare favourably to good old fashioned level design? Well I’d say it is a little bit hit and miss. The outcome is to actually make the levels feel slightly anonymous as there is little in the way of consistency to tie it all together. Some levels are frustratingly tricky and whilst other generations are noticeably easier than others due to the luck of the draw element that exists as each level loads. This makes it very hard to judge your progress as occasionally I could coast through a run due to a good draw whereas other goes felt like genuine ordeals as you died over and over.
Is this just more whining on my part about being rubbish at a game? Oddly enough Spelunky is actually more interesting when the difficulty level borders on the insanely difficult. The challenge reflects well on a difficulty curve is set refreshingly high but this comes with a caveat. As exciting as it is to bound around the mines and outwit the puzzles thrown your way the complete absence of checkpoints makes things more frustrating than fun. It is expected that you will complete a run in one go which considering a fair portion of the time I don’t complete a level in one life is setting their expectations way too high. For a pick up and play title without much depth I found the standards required to get anything from the game well out of my reach. As an attritional challenge it might have worked for me but in its current format it is just an exercise in frustrating tedium.
Considering the game should be open to an incredibly huge number of variations I found Spelunky surprisingly boring. For all the different variations that are on offer the core game play remains exactly the same and that is where everything is kind of lightweight. This kind of platformer has been done to death (although possibly without requiring this much obsessive commitment) and Spelunky adds nothing new to a crowded marketplace. The random generation removes character from the environments and leaves the player endless trudging through a collection of samey levels with no sense of progressing on their journey. The grand sum of these advances has created limited quality control over the levels that you face and no sense of purpose. An innovation that should have extended the lifespan towards an infinite number of replays leaves me wondering why anyone would bother playing Spelunky more than once.