Roguelike Radio Episode 134: Randomness
Mar 24, 2017
A lively debate on where randomness belongs in game design, from procedural maps to single decisive rolls. They contrast visible chance like cards with hidden machine rolls and discuss making luck a strategic element. Conversations cover reward randomness, AI unpredictability, signaling threats, and ways players can mitigate bad luck.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Visible Randomness Feels Like Player Input
- Visible, tactile randomness feels more owned by players than opaque machine rolls, changing acceptance and strategy.
- Darren Grey notes poker's card visibility and D&D dice rolls make randomness feel participatory compared to hidden RNG.
Chain Outcomes To Make Randomness Strategic
- Let outcomes build on prior actions so players reason about randomness across turns instead of treating each roll independently.
- Darren Grey suggests mechanics where hit/miss chains affect future probabilities to encourage turn-by-turn planning.
I Make Low Randomness Roguelikes For Tactical Clarity
- Darren Grey reports making many roguelikes with little or no randomness to enable deeper tactical planning.
- Tales of Maj'Eyal is cited as low-randomness example where damage is flat and players can plan kills precisely.