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[s0]

Diablo doesn't really need "PG" levels I think. The only thing that should be randomized are the item drops. This is especially important for multiplayer. Titan Quest does it better (hand-designed levels + random item drops).

[st33d]

I'd disagree.

Exploring around the plains, caves and dungeons in Diablo I found to be great fun. And replayable to this day.

[s0]

well idk i've never really tried exploring in diablo because i mostly played the games online. tbh i find them a bit boring in singleplayer mode.

[st33d]

I'd didn't have a stable internet connection till 2005. LAN Diablo was a lot of fun, but we simply didn't play online games back then. It wasn't possible where we lived.

[baconman]

A fair number of them, actually. Some do a real good job of feeling distinctive and really enjoyable, but eventually plucking around within games, you *can* sort of get predictability down in some of them. (I noticed Red Rogue often likes putting exits in the bottom-left most; bottom-center secondmost).

Exploration - especially as a major point in the game - is a terrific kind of thing that makes PGC very valuable in concept; and fundamentally it's a big building block of games aforementioned. It's the distribution - and actual presence - of gameplay elements that really determines the overall funness of PGC.

If there's two areas that I could see most Roguelikes/PGC games better balanced in; it's item drop rate and enemy/trap distribution. They tend to be either way heavy or way light in at least one of those departments.

[eclectocrat]

Exploration - especially as a major point in the game - is a terrific kind of thing that makes PGC very valuable in concept; and fundamentally it's a big building block of games aforementioned. It's the distribution - and actual presence - of gameplay elements that really determines the overall funness of PGC.

Yeah, this.

A problem I'm dealing with now is reward for exploration. People don't explore to find yet another dead end. Everyone wants to find something special. That's the holy grail. Lot's of special things spaced out in a way that is unpredictable so that it drives the player to explore and be pleasantly surprised at reasonable intervals.

[baconman]

Regarding Mysterious Castle, or another project?