Add Randomly / Procedurely Generated Worlds

1.5K votes

I'm not 100% sure how to go about this, but I have a few ideas.

The game having a premade world works great for tailoring the player experience, this is great especially for anyone's first playthrough.

But what do you do after that? How many times can someone play on the same map? I feel like people will eventually get tired of playing on the same world every time, and the way that the world resets on quitting feels weird in my opinion.

My suggestion has two parts to it.

1. Remove the mechanic of the world resetting outside the flame area when leaving the world

2. Add a way to create randomly generated worlds. I can think of two ways to do this:

2a. World file selection, the way that 7 Days to Die does it

2b. In-game portals that can be customised (perhaps using certain materials on the portal increases the spawn rates of certain materials or structures)

I get that this suggestion is a huge change, and would not expect it any time soon, but it might be good to have eventually.

Open suggestion Feature or content New Suggested by: InjuredMuffin2 (19 Jan) • Upvoted: today • Comments: 54

Comments: 54

24 Jan
Patrick
Yes this would make the game more popular and replayable.
19
24 Jan
Patrick Merged
Hey fellow gamers,

I've been thinking about a game-changing idea for this game that could make it even more exciting. Let's dive right into it:

Right now, the game has this amazing pre-made world that provides a fantastic experience, especially for your first playthrough. But have you ever wondered what happens after you've explored every nook and cranny of that familiar map? It can start feeling a bit repetitive.

Here's my game-changing suggestion:

Randomly Generated Worlds:

Imagine if we could introduce a system that allows us to create entirely new, randomly generated worlds for each playthrough. This could be a game-changer in terms of replayability. Here's how it could work:

Customizable In-Game Portals: How about giving players the ability to craft their own portals within the game? By using specific materials on these portals, we could influence the spawn rates of different resources or structures in the generated world. This would add a layer of strategy to ea
13
25 Jan
MrJoshua
I was super disappointed to hear this is a single world handcrafted map. Will be great for the first play through... but far less satisfying on subsequent runs...
13
25 Jan
dirtys04p
I agree it would be awesome, but I fear that something like that would take a very long time to implement if the designers haven't already planned to do it. Randomly generated maps have a plethora of issues to contend with. 7 Days to Die anyone? It's pretty decent now, but it took them many years to get it to work.
8
25 Jan
Skidman
Yes, please! I think this would be the best change to the game! I want to explore new places on every playthrough!
4
25 Jan
Myrmur
IMO, procedurally generating worlds is table stakes for PVE based survival games. It adds so much replay-ability. The sense of exploration is heightened. The sense that the world is "yours" is unbeatable. I hope to see it in this game in the future and for the industry to recognize that not starting from a procedural base heavily limits the legs on your game.

VRising is one of my favorite survival games and I understand why it has a fixed map (PVP) but if it didn't, I would likely have twice as many hours in it. Meanwhile, I've spent 700+ hours in Valheim over the years.
9
26 Jan
Zenko
I understand and share this feeling that procedural worlds can virtually offer infinite replayability but at the cost of many details that can only be imagined and designed by a human mind.

I would join the OP on the option 2.b).

In my opinion it would be a good deal to keep the current world as it has been designed and add a way to join some instanciated areas that would be procedurally generated.

Example : A portal leading the player/group of players in an enshrouded place (wood, swamp, etc.) to uncover like a dungeon mechanic but the generated area would stay the same until the player with owning rights (that could eventually be shared or given) over the portal decides to close it. This portal could eventually be reopened later for another procedurally generated place.

There could be one portal that would require different materials to open in order to define which kind of area would be generated or maybe different portals spread across the original world ?
27
26 Jan
Sean
I completely agree that a randomly generated world map would be a huge boon to the longevity of the game. Even divorcing the two playstyles could work well; "story mode" for first playthroughs and "sandbox mode" for a randomly generated world where the quest line is less important and it's more about exploration and building. I completely get why a handcrafted map is almost necessary for a quest/story-driven approach, but it will definitely get old fast for those who play these games to explore a world and create monumental structures.
14
27 Jan
J
They would have to remake the entire code base to use proc gen in this manner. The game was never made for this. As much as I like the idea, this just isn't what keen set out to do with this game. People really want this to be Valheim 2.0 in every sense, but i'm glad Keen is handcrafting this experience. Makes it unique in the survival space. Maybe on the next game ;)
14
27 Jan
Brooks
Either proc gen world option in private servers or add a map building tool so we can get custom maps or make our own. I can imagine after hundreds of hours with your friends on a world having the same old map could get old. This is just to keep the game fresh in my opinion.
27 Jan
Munky
Yep, I agree 100%. It was one of the first and biggest concerns I had with the game. I played solo for about an hour then my friends bought it and we played in a server together and the first thing I noticed was it is the same world. I get it, with quests to an extent, and there is something to gain from it being hand-crafted, but the replayability will suffer from this. I doubt I will want to play on multiple play-throughs unless there is a way to have different worlds with different layouts. Its just going to be a dash for the specific areas I know exist and doing the same exact quest the same exact way.

At the very least, for MP servers having generated worlds would go a long way. I do appreciate the hard work and placement of the world as is, and it can work in solo, but we need some variation in MP.
2
28 Jan
Davis
Personally, I think this game is better off the way its designed. Also, I don't think this would be possible to do now given that the world is fundamentally designed around a quest progression system. In fact, I think it's impossible.
8
28 Jan
LifeisReal Admin
"The Potential of Randomly Generated Worlds" (suggested by <Hidden> on 2024-01-24), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
1
28 Jan
Josh
Having an "explore a neighboring realm/kingdom" portal you could open that would make a randomly generated world would be great.

Once you save your own land you can visit to other realms/lands where the Shroud has taken root and help fight it off there.

This would almost certainly be a DLC expansion but it would add infinite replayability which is something that Valheim benefits from greatly.

Even if the world couldn't be randomly generated having a portal that could open to other maps. Perhaps the team could create 10 or 20 world maps that have all the necessarily placed major structures but the rest could be tossed together. The difficulty and challenge level could be different for these different maps. Basically, someway to allow additional maps to be played.
9
29 Jan
Bluntie
Josh makes a really good suggestion there. I adore the handcrafted map, but having randomly generated instances for dungeons or other places could be super cool down the line.
5
30 Jan
Aryn
Just want to throw my idea out there for future content, is to have a new mist type that with in that type of mist everything is randomly generated except maybe the objective or quest that brings you to it. so pockets of the map will have a layer of mist that changes and is not static every time you boot up the game!!! or with in the new mist are portals to new randomly generated areas to explore like others have suggested. I have waited a loooong time for a game to have just the right mechanics and atmosphere to feel like my time is worth it exploring the game world and so far this game is perfect, just looking ahead.
30 Jan
Takebo
I love the handcrafted world of Enshrouded, i have almost 100 hours in game and can say i "finished" the early access. The suggestion i have is, make it possible to craft/create Scrolls/Maps to open a portal to random generated mini dungeons/worlds. This way, it won't have to "break" the beautiful handcrafted world of Enshrouded.

Crafting ingredients ideas:
- Boss head will add that boss as mini dungeon/world Boss
- Depending on the amount of Sparks added for crafting ups the difficult/level of mini dungeon/world
8
30 Jan
ERROR_MQ Merged
add traversable oceans to a global network randomly generate the game for a wraithy world exploration to educe the want of visiting other worlds.
30 Jan
Marco Merged
Because you have so many possibilties it would be nice to have an additonal mode with a random generated world with ore below earth, different bioms and random dungeons.
30 Jan
Zombirk
I like the "handcrafted" world!

What I dont like is destroying it...

Also everytime I look at cool builds online everony builds in the same places.. which is kinda boring.
Limits the replayability alot!

I like the Idea of Multiple Worlds. Like one for the Story and then for the "Endgame"
2
31 Jan
PlagueDoc
Honestly this. I love that the world is handcrafted - but given the size/things to do, it limits replayability.

Either mod support with more maps or procgen sandbox maps (just an Option for sandbox even without the quest system) would be a godsend.
2
31 Jan
Lyzrac
I like the handcrafted world, but I would absolutely love randomly generated end-game content, like dungeons and field dungeon type things, so there's always more to do at the end.
31 Jan
Dubendorf
I just wanted to give a contrary opinion to this suggestion. I much prefer the game as a beautifully hand-crafted world than a milquetoast procedurally generated one. One of the things I love about this game is the beautiful vistas, hand-placed content, and massive verticality. Walking through Enshrouded reminds me in many ways of exploring Elden Ring for the first time.

I genuinely don't understand the argument that procedural generation increases replay ability. I would argue that a hand-crafted world has as much or more repeatability than a procedurally generated one. I have spent many more hours replaying Skyrim, The Forest, and Elden Ring (all hand-crafted) than procedurally generated worlds like Minecraft, Valheim, or Starfield. Perhaps this is simply a matter of personal preference and different people find different types of games more or less replayable. I am, personally, happy with the static world of Enshrouded.
5
01 Feb
Justin Wise Merged
if you had different map layouts the game would have more replay value if the game is just the same everytime its good for 1 or 2 playthroughs and your done
01 Feb
LavenThaRaven
I can see this, a POE skill tree kind of expansion, and some lots of Challenges i would be looking into encountering if things scaled dependent upon the player level and difficulty chosen. Plus as they add new enemies and bosses they could add them to the possibility of encounters as well. Even the possibility of player built levels and dungeons could become a thing the power of sculpting in this game as well if they added a feature to the pick to increase and decrease the pick mining by off setting the depth done with each swing be it small and deep or wide and shallow to make it more fine tuned in a small sense, but i dont know how the engine works so i could be talking in the air with this.
01 Feb
Add Chef Next
I think a good compromise would be to add some randomness to the existing world. Perhaps a town in one game was inhabited by bugs but in another game it’s now Enshrouded. Perhaps a tower will have different puzzles, traps, chest locations. Perhaps you start the game exiting a different vault thing. And it in turn adjusts the levels of the enemies around you and you get a different suggestion of where to start your first base
01 Feb
CaptnBarbosa
This could be a New Game + Option. Their handcrafted world is excellent. It would be difficult for an algorithm to replicate it but still, I'd love a New Game + type world, maybe even centered around multiplayer and everything is tuned for a party and not solo.
1
02 Feb
TraderBOB
Randomly generated worlds would be great, but realistically won't happen due to the work it would need.
Unless keen had that as a plan from the start, it would make more sense to do multiple updates and QOL additions than just focus on making the world random.
Not saying i don't love the idea for replayability but having a couple new zones would do the trick, and make It so we aren't hate-playing enshrouded for the next 10 years waiting for it to add a feature...looking at you 7D2D [+][+]
1
02 Feb
Nikolas morey Merged
I was thinking large or massive caverns with differing biomes. A scatering of dungeons, forts, and camps, maybe even weather systems if that is added.

It could add some difficulty to the game. having entered it would lock you in, only letting others join you in a journey to destroy the shroud pillar, a masive fort filled with the most difficult of enemies puzzles and a new boss all at level 30 and up. Once destroyed it will telleport you out. If you fail (You fail by dieing or team wip) you get a masive debuff and locked out of that instance and need to find a new one.

These biomes would be generated in a fourm sort of like the alters, making it immune to the world reset. it could be generated a new, random location and all every time you fail or are successful in destroying the shroud pillar. It wold be cool to enter these locations by jumping down a hole and flying in. Makeing an epic entrence to a masive cave with its own structuers, mountains, enshrouded zones, biomes and suc
1
03 Feb
LifeisReal Admin
"Procedural generated caverns" (suggested by <Hidden> on 2024-02-02), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
1
04 Feb
Thomas
This is a bad idea, comming from not understand how that works. Current handcrafted world is big and gorgeous, but procedurally generated worlds are often blank, featureless, and boring. I have yet to see at least one nicely procedurally generated world.
3
06 Feb
Firsken
Let's hope this is a thing in the future.
1
06 Feb
monoliet
if not the world
make some end dungeons random generation
every time you close the main door = them change
1
06 Feb
Citizen
A big NO! Handcraft world is much better.
3
06 Feb
TheGrey08
I'm not sure if it's evenfeasible either, but do love the idea of having more variations of the world. Personally think just adding some randomized mob/boss dungeons as well as puzzle runs (like the towers, but even more puzzles) to the existing world would do wonders for it.
06 Feb
Duke_00
making a generated world with voxels is way harder than with Blocks. Looking back at noman skies, the planets were often plain and boring, like Thomas says and you would never be able to create such Valleys and sharp revines without a huge amount of processing. But I get and agree with the fear, that since the world is static it might become boring in the endgame. I postet a sugestion in the Thread: "The First Elixer Well needs to be moved or changed" since we couldn't make new one, how to make the lategame more vivid. But it should be possible without much dificulty to create generated Dungeons or Elixir Well Dungeons (their small, and easy to generate). I would even endure a little bit of loading screen for this feature ;)
07 Feb
Ultra
Using the shroud you can create a portal to connect to an alternative timeline/universe which is procedurally generated. Could call it mycelium network/portal. Make them smaller dungeons so you can spend maybe 20-30 minutes exploring and completing.
07 Feb
dafatta
I would pick up injuredmuffins 2b idea: In-game portals that can be customised (perhaps using certain materials on the portal increases the spawn rates of certain materials or structures)

And make a kind of WoW Mythic+ System in randomized Dungeons in it. If you master a Dungeon, you get the next key to a higher dungeon with automatically upscaled loot items. if you fail you get a key for one level lower. The Dungeon just needs a kind of start button to close the entry and scale the difficulty for how much players are in there. You could think this further for example with a possibility load a level seed to challenge or speedrun other players or something like that. Man that would be next level stuff.
1
09 Feb
Rosming
Not a bad idea but is starting to sound and feel like Minecraft if those changes are made, think of Skyrim it’s a single map and has been replayed plenty of times because of its versatility and I think eventually once the whole world is opened up the devs might look into making the game replay-able. None the less the game is great however world generation is a Pandora’s box, the results may be satisfying and it might work with Minecraft but I see a lot of problems occurring with the seemingly incredible world that is already there.
1
10 Feb
LifeisReal Admin
"Make Maps Different" (suggested by <Hidden> on 2024-02-01), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
10 Feb
LifeisReal Admin
"Globe world randomly generated map with an ocean" (suggested by <Hidden> on 2024-01-30), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
10 Feb
LifeisReal Admin
"A world option with randomly generated world with random dungeons and ore below earth" (suggested by <Hidden> on 2024-01-30), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
10 Feb
Crystal
Yes, I'm in! Damn Valheim Teach you that if you want long lasting game, you must have random generated maps. You can replay ad many time you want, and all time is a new adventure!
1
11 Feb
Raven Tahar
All good ideas but not the first thing this should be optional. But i like it to have unlimited resources and "not" to have a destroyed world. And its aso nice killing mobs with fireballs etc. and destroying things and now remember what would happen if you wanna visit that town again...
14 Feb
Vulchon
This would make it a longer lasting game, as I have stopped playing games with a static world, even thou I was enjoying them.
1
20 Feb
CinderKing
It can even be a version without the story and just basic fetch quests. Like a sandbox for the Flameborn to train in or something. But randomly generated worlds is why I keep coming back to Valheim and Minecraft and why I only played through V-Rising once (until they add new zones)
21 Feb
MrJoshua
+1 for Randomly Generated Maps
After playing through once, I already feel like I know where most things are, where to go, etc. A 2nd playthrough is going to be far less satisfying without the sense of the unknown.
1
21 Feb
C
I think the best way to go about solving these problems is to do both things simultaneously. Keep the handcrafted parts of the world as they are. And continue to handcraft content for future updates, since that is what you've already decided to do. Set this as the "overworld" dimension. But also create another dimension, perhaps call it frontier or something, that is procedurally generated. Have this related to a new npc called the explorer, who can help
you craft portal frames that connect to random (or configurable) coordinates in the "Frontier". Make it so that unlike the overworld, the frontier's terrain does NOT reset. If you want sustainability there, you have to plant and grow things.
1
21 Feb
Hondo
Randomly generated worlds might be hard to do. Having different starting locations might be easier to do especially if new biomes are going to be added.
1
16 Mar
San Francisco Frog
I am against the suggestion because randomly generated worlds could never have the currently wonderful level of detail (obviously painstakingly handcrafted). I expect that the developers will, over time, create new biomes and extensions to the existing map, making replaying worthwhile for most players.

Since Early Release, I have played weekly with a group of friends in the UK and USA, all with varying gameplaying skills. The more advanced players tend to plan and lead quests, but they also spend time building amazing structures and gathering supplies for the whole group. They are not bored yet.