I’m glad they re-made the worst entry in the early era of the series and didn’t fuck with Sons of Liberty. That game is literally perfect. MGS3 is tedious AF. Still fun and better than a lot of games, but massively overhyped. Also, worst fucking camera system in the history of gaming in the original PS2 version. Truly atrocious.
I hope it turns out well, but I still doubt that I’ll play it.
At least what the perception of proc gen is. I can only name one metroidvania roguelike (A Robot Named Fight; Dead Cells doesn’t count, regardless of its marketing), so this genre is probably way harder to make with proc gen. To me, someone who doesn’t enjoy Hades, it feels a lot like people only played Hades, acknowledged its proc gen is bad, and then said all proc gen is bad and asked for hand crafted levels as a response. There are so many games that are good at proc gen.
Absolutely. Procedural generation is not the same as AI generated. Spelunky’s level generation is great and the different combinations of hand-created rooms with smart rules on how they connect. Unexplored (that’s the name of the game) is a full on multi-level dungeon with puzzles and combat. Proc gen gives these games their life, but designing a good proc gen system is level design unto itself.
The sudden flood of roguelike is what really killed the reputation of procgen. In the early days, it’s seen as something fresh because every playthrough is different and you have to adapt to situation. Games like binding of issac(the first release) and spelunky(the free one) pushed the boundary on how level design can be assigned randomly and still be good, then more and more game started to capitalise on this sort of design but conveniently forgot they still have to be designed to be good. To a lot of people(including me) , the fatigue set in and the mere mention of procgen is revolting, even though they might also enjoy game like dead cell or hades. Then comes the AI and people are simply too weary on all these stuff.
I’m not saying this is what prompted them to include that tagline in their marketing, but i’m not surprised if it is.
This interview is really phenomenal. Among other things, they talk about why it took so many years to release the game.
“We’ve been having fun,” Gibson said. “This whole thing is just a vehicle for our creativity anyway. It’s nice to make fun things.”
The lengthy production wasn’t the result of development challenges or obstacles, they said. They just needed all these years to ensure that Silksong was exactly the game they wanted to make.
“It was never stuck or anything,” Gibson said. “It was always progressing. It’s just the case that we’re a small team, and games take a lot of time. There wasn’t any big controversial moment behind it.”
“I think we’re always underestimating the amount of time and effort it’ll take us to achieve things,” Gibson said. “It’s also that problem where, because we’re having fun doing it, it’s not like, ‘It’s taking longer, this is awful, we really need to get past this phase.’ It’s, ‘This is a very enjoyable space to be in. Let’s perpetuate this with some new ideas.’”
The longer development lasted, the more pressure Gibson and Pellen felt to ensure that everything was as fine-tuned as possible. They’d already spent four years on it — why would they rush now? The more time they spent polishing some parts, the more time they needed to apply it consistently across the rest.
“There’s a level of finish that has to be met throughout the entire game,” Pellen said. “All the way the systems interact, all the hidden work that pops up later on. It’s multiplicative. As you add stuff, the process of tying it all back together just increases.”
Gibson and Pellen say they’re happy that the game is finally coming out — and even happier that they will get to keep working on it, which they still find enjoyable even after seven years. They haven’t burned out or shown any desire to take a break. Instead, they’re already making big plans to add extra content to Silksong in the months and years to come.
This is, of course, what work is supposed to be. But we have lost the way.
as someone who finally did that and am still playing through it, it’s great! i’m having a blast. sorry to the OGs since i won’t have the long wait you guys did, but im looking forward to it
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Aktywne