Balladeer wrote:Even the best algorithm designing the best level is unlikely to make a memorable one, and if it does it'll be for all the wrong reasons. (And therefore probably isn't 'the best algorithm'... eh, details.) Apart from anything else, memorable levels are usually passed through, at least in part, a couple of times. Because in most cases, that's how you remember them. The best bit of BotW, which is an astounding game, is Eventide Island, a small area that you crawl all over. Full procedural generation (not the partial stuff seen in American Redneck) doesn't allow for that.
The random, procedural approach creates memorable moments by making unique, unrepeatable experiences. In No Man's Sky (not a roguelike, but a game built around procedural generation), the draw of the game is that you are personally discovering worlds that no other person has ever seen or set foot on. It's an exploration into the unknown, a novelty that can only be emulated with hand-crafted level design, an illusion that doesn't hold up to multiple playthroughs or discussion with friends.
That isn't to say progression through procedurally generated levels can't be familiar and learned. In The Binding of Isaac you progress through the basement, then the caves, the depths, and finally the womb (and more with expansions). In Spelunky you progress through the mines, the jungle, the ice caves and the temple. These are individual and deliberate environments, and while the specifics of the levels change the
character remains consistent. The more you explore these levels, despite the unique nature of each run, the more elements and rules you recognise and learn. What enemies to expect, what items you might find, in Isaac even what room layouts the level will be made up of. Someone who has played countless runs through these environments will be much more capable of traversing them, and have much more knowledge of what they contain, despite each of those runs changing in some randomised way.
What procedural generation does over hand-crafted level design is place the focus on player ability and skill with the game's mechanics, rather than the player being able to learn the level and get through it by rote learning. Every level in Super Mario Bros. can be beat by following a simple set of instructions - press this button at this point in time. Initially the game is reactionary, but through familiarity and repeated attempts it becomes deterministic. Roguelites defy such an approach. You can't beat Spelunky by just learning when you need to jump and where enemies spawn, instead you are forced to always be reactionary. The mechanics, not the level design, are the primary focus, and it is the mechanics that must be mastered. Beating the game can be done with some good luck, and often a successful run will always require an element of luck, but the more you play of the game and the better you get, the better runs you will have.
That isn't me saying that the roguelike mechanics mastery approach is better than hand-crafted level design, there is a place for both. A game like Celeste is built around learning levels by rote, and it still has fantastic game mechanics. They are just different approaches to game design, and both can be designed well and designed poorly.