Though Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night has been delayed until 2018, we can rest assured that Koji Igarashi and his team are doing everything they can to polish the game to the nth degree and make it all worth the wait. In a previous update, Igarashi mentioned how he would be utilizing procedural generation in order to free up developer resources and cut down on development time. Now, in the latest update, he's detailed exactly how this will come into effect.
Essentially, procedural generation will be responsible for roughing up the environment and giving it a more detailed look. This way, the artists and designers will have more time to focus on other areas of the game, as opposed to hand-crafting each environment, and it will actually lead to more variation in environmental effects. Here's what he had to say, along with a video showing off the process:
Before, we worked on environments on a texture-by-texture basis, which meant that each area required the individual time and attention of skilled artists and designers. To use our team more wisely, our new process is based more on physics, and makes use of procedural generation.
Naturally, you might be asking, what kind of procedural generation? How will it be used, and for what? To put it simply, we're using it to auto-generate environmental grime and destruction effects.
At the end of the update, Igarashi mentioned how there will be a new update somewhere around Christmas showing off a new area that utilizes this process to a greater degree, so we'll get to see it in action soon.
What do you think? Is this the right way to go about designing environments? How else do you think they could use procedural generation? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
[source kickstarter.com]
Comments 30
Isn't this game not currently coming to any Nintendo platform? Yeah, technically it's still in production for Wii U, but let's be honest here, it's not coming to the Wii U.
I think it looks good. I dunno about the ins and outs of game development though, but I'm going to assume these guys know what they're doing.
@Equinox Same here.
Any speculation on whether or not they're ditching Wii U for the Switch is just that - speculation - at this point. The official statement is basically "people backed the project, so people decide, unless we run into technical issues then we'll probably move over anyways".
@giwayume "Technical issues" will probably be the cause of the Wii U version's cancellation, just like Yooka-Laylee.
Oh, I just love procedural generation.
Always been such a big fan of procedural generation. I really like the way that the generation is all procedural and whatnot... Like how it just makes the games better and more good in the long run.
It's all so procedural.
@giwayume Not saying you're wrong, but I think it's dreaming to still expect this to come to Wii U. This is expected to come out in 2018; the Switch will be yesterday's news by then, there's no way they will still put it on Wii U.
"Koji Igarashi and his team are doing everything they can to polish the game to the nth degree"
You just had to bring back the Conker memories, didn't you, @MitchVogel.
Well... The game really looks incredibly better with the procedural generation! It gives the whole thing a brand new and modern feel and... Whatever... When is this coming?
I have never liked a game with procedural generation, levels need to be designed by people to be fun to play, but I think this article means its just scenery that is procedural rather than the whole level?
How long until the cancellation for the Wii U is announced?
@Mega_Yarn_Poochy You basically just destroyed your own argument. If it's not coming to Wii U, it'll probably come to Switch. Nintendo Life don't decide which news they post based on what they think is going to happen, if it's related to Nintendo, which officially this is, then it'll be a news story.
Hopefully the procedural generation doesn't make things confusing upon backtracking, when areas you've already been to look different.
@Moon I don't think they mean this is being done on the fly and will be different each time you play a level, just that rather than pay an artist to sit there adding dirt, grime and decay to the levels they have created they are using a procedural generation engine to automatically generate those effects.
think its safe to say this isn't coming out on wii U but Switch will be a good bet.
@Moon there must be a way to "crystallize" this once you've passed through once otherwise it would make for a mental game!
I noticed a striking loss of detail on the ceiling.
Bloodstained No. 9 . . . .
@Mega_Yarn_Poochy When/if development moves from Wii U to the Switch, I doubt Igarashi would give a BS reason like "technical issues" considering he has already been upfront about having the backers decide what happens to the game. In fact, it's this kind of approach that the team behind Yooka Laylee should have taken.
@greengecko007 I agree. IGA was very honest about his concerns for months, so a cancellation wouldn't be a surprise. He will switch to the Switch.
In general: Could we please have one more news article that declares the cancellation of all Wii U games still "in development"? As a fan of the system it's so sad to wake up to a new cancellation message every day.
I'm not convinced that this sort of look would require anything to be procedural, but if it saves them space, memory, and work hours to do it that way, I'm all for it.
I bet since the game will be maybly coming at 2018, it'll be too late for the U. HIGHLY unlikely but not impossible. Good to see the game running nice tho.
Even though I can't play it, it looks good.
@greengecko007 I know, it was just a joke.
@bolt05 you are correct. The procedural generation here is for environmental detail. The actual map layout will be handled by human people.
Now this is what procedural generation was ment for, not as an excuse for level design.
Granted, in some genres that have a grind-like nature like Diablo-esque games, it helps break the repetition but for most games it doesn't help with the atmosphere, and decay is never predictable but thing like interior of a building needs to be crafted but things like decay, plants and more 'chaotic' things are fine this way as it tend to feel less copy paste and more natural.
that's a pretty cool use of procedural generation actually.
https://www.nintendolife.com/forums/wiiu_eshop/koji_iga_igarashi_and_rumored_2d_castlevania_type_game6?start=140#reply-149
Combine procedural generation with blast processing and here's your system seller, folks.
I was a backer on kickstarter for the Wii U goal. I'm convinced I'll never see the Wii U version. Just waiting for the inevitable cancellation announcement . "Please understand....."
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