Procedurally generated space "dungeons" or SSDs

[Moraligus]

In many games dungeons are procedurally generated with randomized loot in order to offer a sense of exploration and reward, it makes many games quite captivating and because of starmade's current lack of "gamy" elements, the game would surely benefit from what i like to call Space Station Dungeons... or SSDs



What are SSDs?

An SSD is a procedurally generated modular space station that is temporarily invincible. There are several switches inside that must be shut off in order to disable its "faction perma-shield" so the station can be salvaged or attacked by your ship. In order to shut off the perma-shield one must disembark their ship and enter the station where they will have to battle hostel NPCs and open logic gates to navigate the maze-like station in search of the shield shut-off console. These stations could contain other rewards such as chests containing rare loot or "imprisoned" Daves that you can recruit as crew members.



How SSDs work:

The SSDs will randomly generate via pre-made station modules that come from a set with blocks on each module indicating where the modules meet. This is so players can create "Module packs" that are either exclusive or expand on other module packs. hopefully an algorithm can be made so that there must be a minimum number of modules between the shield deactivation block and a module which has open spaces that allow entrance to the station. As you expand further out into space and upgrade your equipment and recruit Daves to help you along; you will come across larger more complex stations with a larger minimum module count and more enemy NPCs not to mention greater rewards.

Here is a VERY ROUGH mock-up of what some SSD modules and generation might look like with the lights filling in for connector blocks:

In theory this procedural dungeon system could be applied to structures on planets as well, or their tunnel system, forcing you to take an away team and complete the dungeon in order to capture a planet or salvage a station. In order to promote ship progression: exterior turrets that aren't under the perma-shield could scale in numbers and power in order to force lower level players to acquire a larger ship in order to access more dangerous SSDs

As always
Fly safe

 

[Killbot101]

great idea!

 

[Cybertooth]

Love it, i'm really not fond of the current stations, something like this replacing them would be amazing. Plus it would be nice to just not come across the same thing all the time.
I think something is planned to do with being able to choose the station designs that spawn which could interfere with this. But as i read it you're not proposing it as a replacement to the current stations anyway, but as an additional type of naturally occuring structure?

 

[Moraligus]

Love it, i'm really not fond of the current stations, something like this replacing them would be amazing. Plus it would be nice to just not come across the same thing all the time.
I think something is planned to do with being able to choose the station designs that spawn which could interfere with this. But as i read it you're not proposing it as a replacement to the current stations anyway, but as an additional type of naturally occuring structure?

Absolutely, think of uploaded stations as an "NPC village" and this as a "Dungeon level" in fact if this works we could replace shops with player stations

 

[Jimbob7595]

Really like this idea, especially the need to disembark and get inside. The current stations are alright but obviously very boring. Modular stations would probably make good faction bases that you could expand on once captured. 100% would love to see this is game.

 

[Moraligus]

i think that this idea needs work, but it also needs to get out there! if you can read this then post your own modular systems on this thread!

 

[LordChicken]

Honestly with the player base and mass of creative makers that Starmade has you could even have players designed dungeon stations. Honestly It would be kind of neat if you could set up a station as a dungeon, having players unravel the mystery of what happened to this place as the creatures(weather they be machines, pirates, mad crew men, aliens or guys who don't want a player on their bloody station) attack.

Heck, if you could set it up like a dungeon maker you could make it a mini adventure map, have players upload their own abandoned stations to the site for other players to download and play, with the creator base Starmade has it could have theoretically an unlimited number of different stations, scenarios and stories to tell.

Granted this would be hard to implement well, just making a "mob spawner" block would ruin the immersion, and it would require some new decorative blocks to help get the abandoned feel. Probably some ability to command the AI of the mobs (so they just don't act like minecraft zombies and run after you the moment you open the door so that you can step to the side and let your turrets blow them into chunks) would help as well. Even something as simple as "Guard here" or "Guard this other mob" or "when 50% Hp and in this zone Retreat to X zone".

Well that was off topic and rambling, sorry for that. But yes dungeons sound like a wonderful idea. I also support the idea of players being able to design them because I am overly optimistic and feel like our creator base could do some great things.

Thats my opinion, take it with a grain of salt. Thanks for reading.

 

[RedDragonflyxx]

One word: mods
Many words, don't read: I think this is a great idea, the modules would have to fit together better than your rough version though. This could even be implemented through quests.

 

[Moraligus]

One word: mods
Many words, don't read: I think this is a great idea, the modules would have to fit together better than your rough version though. This could even be implemented through quests.

hmm, could you maybe elaborate by building a version that fits better then? keep in mind it has to be easy enough to understand so anyone can build it, but i'm eager to see what your solution looks like. Unfortunately i don't believe that this works better as a mod, if this was a modification players wouldn't be able to upload module packs to the community content page.

 

[RedDragonflyxx]

Personal thoughts on potential situations/things other than dungeons: Maybe the logbooks could refer to random/apparently random (Until you graph them out... *creepy music*) locations where you can find different situations (damaged/deteriorating stations, planet based superweapon, alien infested station, cloaked pirate base, infiltration mission, illegal race, massive artifacts to unlock, ect.) don't restrict it to dungeons, allow people to make ship based challenges and ground based ones. Instead of just a shield to disable, booby trap the loot, make the weapon go off (% value based on damage done of course) ect. Perhaps you can purge the station of oxygen too, if the designer adds that and you get the code; or you can blow a hole in the wall between rooms if you know your bearings. I'm rambling so to the point...

Modularity: I like it but maybe the whole station could be built as a whole by one person. People would design a station with all of the corridors open and all of them closed, the parts in between would be picked from modules designed for that room in that station. People can design rooms and room plans (stations) separately. When the station is generated, some corridors are opened and some are closed (they are closed using the sealed off version of the station), making a route between the rooms, then the rooms are picked from the pool of modules that were made to fit that spot, (perhaps there could be tags to make the rooms better fit the station) finally the generator makes some modifications to the rooms and adds the mobs/objectives.

Sorry if this isn't clear, I've had to post late at night recently due to obligations.

 

[Ithirahad]

This is a really great idea... Reminds me of the dungeons from the Aether Mod in Minecraft.

 

[Miow22]

But tbh I imagine the devs will come here and say:
" That will be a feature players can add in the quest system we will implement in the future game "

 

[Moraligus]

But tbh I imagine the devs will come here and say:
" That will be a feature players can add in the quest system we will implement in the future game "

before the forums glitched kupu liked the thread, there is hope jet for such features yet

 

[Star Commander Shepard]

That
That is even better than what I had on my forum. You sir are wicked cool.

 

[Moraligus]

There have been some comments concerning how there is no need for procedural generation because starmade has a large enough player base. Theoretically even if starmade had a large enough player base to supply unlimited dungeons you would still have to download them all individually. Even if a game could rely on its player base to keep it fun, it is always better to make the core game a self sufficient product.

 

[MossyStone48]

This could be used to create an interior for my space graveyard idea. maybe the idea is you can't salvage the ship until you destroy its ruined core. meanwhile the radiation inside and whatever defenses or creature are there are all chipping at your hp. powering up weapons systems to fight for you and powering doors could give use to the new power beam weapon. blow up the core and all the radiation escapes so you have to get to your ship and start salvaging before the radiation eats your ship.

 

[Moraligus]

This could be used to create an interior for my space graveyard idea. maybe the idea is you can't salvage the ship until you destroy its ruined core. meanwhile the radiation inside and whatever defenses or creature are there are all chipping at your hp. powering up weapons systems to fight for you and powering doors could give use to the new power beam weapon. blow up the core and all the radiation escapes so you have to get to your ship and start salvaging before the radiation eats your ship.

It would be most effective if radiation was more potent towards large ship or if you could have a special uber-expensive "anti radiation" hull type that ensures only small ships could travel to the radioactive stations. These two systems should exist in their own rights however and should be functional without the other, however if both implemented; shared factors would work to our benefit.

 

[MossyStone48]

i think timing should be the real key. get in, get out, shed some RADs then plunge back in. We already know asteroids are tops at shielding small craft or large craft narrow enough to hide behind them. adding on to an already large enough roid and pushing it into place might be the best way to handle it. Not everything has to be electronic or high tech in nature to produce a working fix. sometimes low tech is best tech

 

[jayman38]

I think it would be great to continue the discussion of radiation and actually implement SSDs immediately in the game without radiation at first. Even if there is no risk and very little reward (maybe the wreck is small and composed of nothing but grey hull with an occasional plex glass block until better details can be hammered out), it would be a lot of fun to discover this in game and go on a small exploration side-adventure.

I think it would be good to actually play with such a structure in-game, to get a better feel for how to set traps, set up the core gameplay, figure out how the final resolution would play out (push a button in the center of a maze? push 3 buttons in a set sequence that you discover via clues in the wreck? Step on the shut-down switch after defeating the giant space troll? Etc.), and generally get a feel for how it plays. Players could set up logic and plex chests on their own and really figure out what is fun, and then bring back their findings and experiment results to the conversation.

By setting up the SSD first, and implementing details later, it allows the dev to put in less stuff per update and then the changes in each update after that initial implementation will get better, with players figuring out what's good and what's bad and providing further suggestions.

 

[Calbiri]

In many games dungeons are procedurally generated with randomized loot in order to offer a sense of exploration and reward, it makes many games quite captivating and because of starmade's current lack of "gamy" elements, the game would surely benefit from what i like to call Space Station Dungeons... or SSDs



What are SSDs?

An SSD is a procedurally generated modular space station that is temporarily invincible. There are several switches inside that must be shut off in order to disable its "faction perma-shield" so the station can be salvaged or attacked by your ship. In order to shut off the perma-shield one must disembark their ship and enter the station where they will have to battle hostel NPCs and open logic gates to navigate the maze-like station in search of the shield shut-off console. These stations could contain other rewards such as chests containing rare loot or "imprisoned" Daves that you can recruit as crew members.



How SSDs work:

The SSDs will randomly generate via pre-made station modules that come from a set with blocks on each module indicating where the modules meet. This is so players can create "Module packs" that are either exclusive or expand on other module packs. hopefully an algorithm can be made so that there must be a minimum number of modules between the shield deactivation block and a module which has open spaces that allow entrance to the station. As you expand further out into space and upgrade your equipment and recruit Daves to help you along; you will come across larger more complex stations with a larger minimum module count and more enemy NPCs not to mention greater rewards.

Here is a VERY ROUGH mock-up of what some SSD modules and generation might look like with the lights filling in for connector blocks:

In theory this procedural dungeon system could be applied to structures on planets as well, or their tunnel system, forcing you to take an away team and complete the dungeon in order to capture a planet or salvage a station. In order to promote ship progression: exterior turrets that aren't under the perma-shield could scale in numbers and power in order to force lower level players to acquire a larger ship in order to access more dangerous SSDs

As always
Fly safe

I've actually thought of this as well (albeit not with the "dungeoneering" fights vs npc's aspect) just the modular stations, as others have im sure, its a great idea, and I HAVE suggested modular stations to schema in the past, so we'll see what comes of it, thats the best i can say for now.