DECONSTRUCTING #003: Interconnected core design in ADOM and Rocket League, PART 1 of 2

DECONSTRUCTING: Interconnected core design in ADOM and Rocket League, part 1 of 2

INTRO

This time I wrote about a one solution to a meaningful hi-level design – interconnecting core design features. I’ll use two games as examples, which are very current at the moment AND which I’ve been, “surprise, surprise” playing a LOT, and thus once again thinking a lot of. These two games are ADOM (aka Ancient Domains of Mystery), which just recently debuted in Steam, and a “little” phenomena called Rocket League. But there is also a bigger reason for choosing these exact two games: they both share, even though representing a whole different style of games, one distinct feature. They both have executed masterfully the interconnection of their main core design features, which all perfectly contribute to the end result as well as complimenting other core features, creating a very meaningful design.

In sake of pure reading pleasure and my limited free time, I decided to chop the article in two parts, this being naturally the first part.

The Steam version of ADOM has nice graphics, but is still a very challenging game.

CASE ADOM

I’ll start with ADOM, as it is a bit more simple example. ADOM, like pretty much every other proper Roguelike (Nethack for example), uses THREE core design features, which are ALL TIGHTLY interconnected to each other. These three are of course PERMADEATH, PROCEDURALLY GENERATED LEVELS and RANDOM LOOT. Remove any one of these and the design will most probably go south and FAST, but execute the balance of these three well and you’ll have a very addictive and meaningful game design in your hands.

Below I’ll break down each one of these and their connections.

PERMADEATH

I’ll start with permadeath, as it is probably THE feature, which just needs these two other features in order to feel in any way as a satisfactory feature. Add this feature as it is in ADOM - i.e. when you die, you lose EVERYTHING and you really just have one life, no continues, nothing – to another kind of game, without the complimentary features and you have created a tons un-satisfactory frustration. Then it’s mainly just raw punishment without the prize.

PROCEDURALLY GENERATED LEVELS

This is the “buzzword” feature of late. There are tons of games, that use this feature nowadays, some better, some worse. Unlike permadeath, it is not as dependent of the two other features in order to have a meaning, but I’d argue, that it GREATLY benefits from permadeath and loot as its companions.

ADOM’s over world map isn’t procedurally generated and, like for example Nethack, it has some points in the dungeons, where the player can expect to see a familiar place (this gives a better sense of progression, than total procedurality). But other than that, it creates EVERYTIME a new set of dungeons, based on pre-programmed rules of course. But basically no session is the same. This is NOT a content creation magic bullet – there is a huge risk of just creating boring content that has very little meaning for the player in the long run, if just used without some support – thus my argument in the paragraph before.

Some places in ADOM aren't products of a full procedural generation, like this village.

RANDOM LOOT

Last, but certainly not least, is the loot - more specifically a RANDOM loot, accompanied with unique items. This is also a feature, where you can also easily go south and mess up the balance pretty terribly. Think about for example a game like Dark Souls, if you’d get the Greatsword of Artorias in the mid-game. It would mess up the difficulty balance very badly. Of course one could argue, that “just make rules, that it would happen more in the end-game field”. Yes, that is true, it COULD work in a satisfactory manner with proper rules, but again I’d argue not as great as it works with the aforementioned two complimentary features.

ADOM relies very heavily in the addictive nature of loot. The moment you get some good gear, it just creates that “holy shit!” moment. Especially, when you know, that you might not see that exact piece of gear ever again or at least you’ll have to play a LOT before you do. It also creates the feeling “what if I’ll find something even more awesome during my next run!?” When executed properly, it’s a very, very addictive feature, even when used just alone.

INTERCONNECTIONS

How do these three interconnect then? How do they all bring the best out of each other?

In order to make the permadeath feel an awesome feature, we need something to make you want to TRY AGAIN. Something, that makes you feel the urge to see even more, try to get further in the game. We need also something, that gives you a PRIZE for your effort, even though you’ve just lost everything.

That’s where the procedurally generated levels and (a vast amount of) random loot come into play and make the player to want to try again and again. The first thing that comes into mind is of course, that these two create unique scenarios, so the game won’t start to feel repetitive, even though you have to literally start from scratch after you die. And you’ll probably do that a LOT as Roguelikes are usually really challenging games. But, like every Roguelike, ADOM is a game about a per session and a long run learning (one could argue this being one of the core features too) – what different enemies can do, what scrolls or potions can do, what resistances, conditions or abilities eating some corpses can give, how different gear perform, etc. That knowledge is the real prize. And more you have it, better chances you’ll have on your next runs. Now this is the moment, when the randomness of levels and loot starts to kick in, with their addictive hook – on top of the rush you get from just pure rare loot and good runs, you’re also getting “what will I learn and see next time!?”

When you have random levels and loot and mix permadeath into the equation, it creates a lot of GOOD TENSION. Think about a scenario, where you find for example a blessed +2 weapon or an unique weapon. Now the stakes are upped instantly by several notches. You do NOT want to lose that weapon. After all it can be your ticket to your best run ever. Your chance to see more what the game has to offer – hell, maybe even beat the game! But like I mentioned above, it can also be the first and the last time you’ll ever own that particular item. Because of the random nature of loot, finding something awesome can be quite a rush. Now, think about the fact, that you can’t be sure what the next procedurally generated dungeon will put against you, or even what’s behind some door. Of course you usually have some clue, for example some mid-level dungeon most probably doesn’t throw anything unfair in front of you, but it makes you play more carefully and dedicated for sure, when you have a situation like this.

Same thing when you have “just” a plain old good run, no rare items (yet, further you’ll manage to survive, more likely something cool will come under your nose), just a simple good run. Suddenly the random nature of the game starts to matter again and create again that aforementioned good tension, because of the permadeath added into the soup. This moment usually introduces the strategic planning nature of the game – you’ll start to naturally use better strategies, think about fleeing as an option for hairy situations and so on. It makes you use your previously collected knowledge more, as well as your repertoire of gear you’ve found (and hopefully identified).

Then there is also the direct interconnection between the procedurally generated levels and loot. The vast amount of potentially good random loot makes you want to actually go through every nook in the procedurally generated levels. The possibility, that you can find something awesome lying in the farthest corner of that level, it is just a huge driving force and thus makes a lot of why procedural level design works in this game.

Vice versa, the random nature of loot benefits quite a lot from procedurally generated levels. You never even know where the next possibly awesome loot even is, which makes interesting and can make you feel like you’ve won from some kind of little lottery when you literally FIND something nice. I really can’t describe it better than using a lottery metaphor. Lottery in a game might sound like a total anti-climax, but it is the interconnection of these three core features together, that makes it so well working feature in ADOM.

Take ONE of these AWAY and the REST will SUFFER a lot or will not even make sense.

Interconnections in ADOM are clear and tight.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

I think it’s now quite clear, that ADOM is very strict about its interconnections. It’s a tight and meaningful symbiosis, where every feature is closely tied to each other. In the next part I’ll be concentrating on Rocket League, which is way more complicated in how the interconnections flow. Whereas its interconnections are maybe not as strict as in ADOM, it still has a very tight, meaningful and intricate symbiosis running under the hood – thus being a very interesting example to continue this analysis further.