Generate game content algorithmically
http://www.gamecareerguide.com/features/336/procedural_content_.php
One of the most boring things when working on a retail videogame must be, base on what those who made this kind of games say, creating the game content. Mapping the whole virtual world where a game takes place must be very boring and repetitive task and has a very large economic and time cost.
What the article before proposes is most interesting: generate this contents through algorithms. Similar to how programs make fractal graphics, there can be programs to generate worlds rich in content without paying to the 3d or 2d artist, and not having to wait for months to be complete.
I ask myself if it would be possible to apply this idea to other aspects of a game, such as generating elements more directly involved in the gameplay, for example, in an rpg, generate items that change in qualities and benefits, mobs that vary in difficulty and capabilities, npcs, skills, etc… I imagine something that looks the same way as how genetic algorithms are “grown” to achieve better results. In the same line of thinking, interactive game content could evolutionary evolve. Although this would also mean a lose in control over this elements and over the game balance.
