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[freeformschooler]

http://insideastarfilledsky.net/

This is a simple game, really, and I could have sworn I saw a topic about it some time ago in this very section. It's an independently produced computer game where basically everything is procedurally generated -- the player and enemy sprites, the levels you play on (by principle, of course), even the music! (I believe)

Is that what this topic is about? Am I looking for highly procedural games?

NO.

Inside a Star Filled Sky gets boring after a while, but the core concept remains interesting. That is to say, and infinite number of layers of the game world. I guess the concept could also be represented by the movie Inception, where theoretically, the worlds they operate in are made out of further and further layers of people's dreams (in which people also dream, potentially ad infinitum).

IASFS brought this concept in that every level is a huge representation of a creature not unlike the one you're playing as, and when you finish it, you become the creature that was previously the map you were playing on, basically forever. You could, alternately, "enter" anything -- powerups, enemies, yourself -- and the reality you operated on would become that object.

What I'm looking for is games that have layers of a game world that function not unlike the other layers, yet are unique in their own right. They don't have to be infinite, but that would be preferable. Examples:

-You can dream in the game while asleep, and you temporarily play in the dream world just like you play the regular game world. In the dream you can also go to sleep and dream, and inside that dream you can do the same, and so on.
-There are portals in the game world to other games worlds that exist within the bounds of the portal but while in them seem to be a regular game world, and inside these "portal worlds" there are portals, and so on.
-Something much like the titular game, my favorite concept so far, each object in the game world is a (mini?) game world in its own right.

I know it's a rare concept, but what other games have this, if any?

[Darvi]

Eversion almost works like this.

[freeformschooler]

That's true, and a sort of good example, but probably only when in Level 7 (or whatever the "fake last level is"), where you have to

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

work your way up every single level of eversion so that you can skip to the very last level.

[Darvi]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

And Level 8.

[Oneir]

Eversion's a nice, soft-hearted game, but definitely worth a look. Be sure to play with the sound on, it really improves the experience.

[freeformschooler]

Eversion's a nice, soft-hearted game, but definitely worth a look. Be sure to play with the sound on, it really improves the experience.

Yeah, there's a reason TVTropes has SugarWiki page on it! Everyone who hasn't tried Eversion, you're always hearing about games not for the faint of heart -- this one is! behind you

Regardless this is indeed a rare concept in games in that the implementation is tricky. It's a concept that would be supremely fun in games where it would matter -- such as, say, DF, or an RPG, or something. And yet, it would almost basically require a lot of procedural generation techniques to implement effectively.

Hmm.

[Biag]

Actually, it's not that hard to implement from a programming standpoint; each of the objects just serves as a "link" to a map built off its information. The tricky part is designing it to make sense, since it's so different from pretty much anything else. My problem with Inside a Star-Filled Sky, I think, was that it made too much sense, and therefore quickly became boring.

[freeformschooler]

Actually, it's not that hard to implement from a programming standpoint; each of the objects just serves as a "link" to a map built off its information.

Yeah, that's the easy part. The hard part is, when you have a lot of implicit information for each object, getting the procedural generation to come up with convincing maps/worlds/what have you assigned/created out of each game world object. I think that, as you say, from a programming standpoint, IASFS did it competently -- no two "heart powerups" you entered would necessarily be the same because the pixels used to determine the map bounds tended to be different, in a fractal sort of way.

At the same time, that supports your other point -- when the player knows how the game works, and the player can see the algorithms behind map generation and gameplay being displayed to them, it does become boring. I think part of this, though, is that each map had very little meaning in its own right, and there were not enough interesting gameplay mechanics to make the generation of one map more compelling than the generation or result of another.

I am considering making a game like this, in the form of a small roguelike. I am somewhat competent with Python and the libtcod wrapper for it, and have made some small games, but it would be somewhat difficult as I am not vearly as efficient with that as I am with Java, and Java is not really fantastic for roguelikes.