Procedural Generation?

[Das Big Hippo]

How much are we talking? Is it so much that the game feels lifeless and you see the same tileset repeatedly? Or is it subtle enough that you can barely notice that it's procedurally generated?

[PineFox]

pretty much everything is procedurally generated from the city itself to the cases you'll be investigating. Im not a big fan of procedural generation in games in general but here it was done okayish i'd say. That being said i could definitely see my self getting a bit tired of it after awhile. The city in the demo was just a very small floating square island. apartments and overall layout got a bit samey. so im hoping in full release the cities will have a more interesting layout.

my main worry is after a few cases players will discover patterns and an optimal way to solve them leading to a very repetitive game after that

[Soki]

Originally posted by PineFox:

my main worry is after a few cases players will discover patterns and an optimal way to solve them leading to a very repetitive game after that

Excatly my thought.
But on the other hand I think that the procedural generation also added a great feeling to the game. I feels like that this case is my case and not just some invented story by some game developer. It felt like everything can happen. Maby I can find three dead ends after another. Maby my first lead is the right one.
So even if it gets boring after 3 cases, I hope that these 3 cases were worth it

[Lfod]

Patterns will emerge the longer you play but if the core game play loop and has enough variety it might never get boring or at least be fun to revisit after taking a break.

[Dr Dread]

It felt a little limp and lifeless to me. I wanted to like it, but there was no cohesiveness to the design.

[tarmo888]

The city and people are generated. The main story is fixed, but with different people and small variations. Side jobs are generated from templates too.

[Grug]

I wonder, is the entire city procgen for each player, or does every player get the same city but the cases are procgen? So if two players go to the same address they'll find the same apartment, but only one player will get a case relevant to it.

[tarmo888]

Originally posted by Grug:

I wonder, is the entire city procgen for each player, or does every player get the same city but the cases are procgen? So if two players go to the same address they'll find the same apartment, but only one player will get a case relevant to it.

There was pre-generated map, which had the same story happening always at same address with slight variations like where exactly the NPC got killed, but you were able to generate a new city, where the story happened at different places. You are also able to share the random seed of the generated city, so you could play the same city with a friend. Basically, once you generate a new city, the game simulates the citizens and figures out, which citizens are most suitable to act in the main story.

The main story is not procedurally generated, it just happens to different people if you have generated a different city or names.