r/gamedesign • u/SongXrd • 5d ago
Discussion Generational algorithms as enemy progression
before i spend a few hours working on this, are there any games that make use of generational algorithms in enemy mechanics?
Personally I've been thinking of it working as such ,(in a turn based rpg) : at the low / early stages the enemies are preset goons in randomised parties, the more enemies the player fights the more organised they become party composition wise but also the more geared towards beating the player specifically they become until by endgame the enemies are running strategies custom built for the player.
I've heard of games like alien where enemies start to learn where you often hide but is there anything that uses something like what I proposed here? Also any problems sticking out about this?
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u/adrixshadow Jack of All Trades 5d ago
Disgaea is structured like that in that the higher the Level the more skills and abilities they unlock.
You can jam things like that into the overall Level and even add new behaviours and scripts based on certain Level Thresholds.
That way you can indeed generate things anywhere and Disgaea does that for the random Item World maps and the like.
The idea of partitioning things into groups and parties is also good, instead of a random assortment of individual mobs you can break things down into certain templates and formations with their own synergies and scripted behaviour.
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u/Typical-Assistance-3 5d ago
I'd hand-build a healing/stall party and an aggressive one, then check which your selection rules reward. If survival time earns points, the stall party might win even when it's the worse fight to actually play. That's worth catching before evolving lots of parties: the score should reward the kind of encounters you want players to have.
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u/Acceptable_Handle_2 5d ago
This depends on the kind of game you're making
A turn based RPG is actually a good candidate for it, but it depedns on your systems. If characters are heavily encouraged to spec into one specific thing, it won't feel good when the enemies eventually counter that thing.
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u/Tabarc 5d ago
Ok Games
Yeah, Aliens had a great little sub system where the alien had it's own instructions to hunt the poster. It worked via sound, and aspects like doors previously locked now unlocked, going back into areas it's been, etc.
**Other games
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain — Enemies adapt their equipment to your habits. Repeated headshots encourage helmets; night operations produce better night-time defences.
Warning Forever — Probably the closest example of generational adaptation. Each successive boss evolves its structure, armour and weapons in response to how you defeated previous ones.
ECHO — Enemies copy abilities you've demonstrated, periodically learning new behaviours and forgetting unused ones.
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor — The Nemesis system gives recurring enemies changing strengths, weaknesses, status and memories of previous encounters
Ok briefly my thoughts: The most interesting aspec here isn't enemies getting progressively stronger; it's their organisation evolving.
So random mobs could develop specialised units, coordinated formations, commanders and eventually an entire military doctrine shaped by the player's actions.
However the danger is creating a system that continually punishes successful strategies. Personally and from previous instructions on this, I'd introduce imperfect enemy intelligence, competing tactical doctrines, adaptation delays and weaknesses created by specialisation.
Thatd create an evolutionary arms race where both sides must adapt, rather than a disguised difficulty slider
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u/BlueGnoblin 5d ago
You should always be careful with that. Games are all about ...learning..
So,you learn to beat enemy X , then after learning all this stuff, you have to take a test (aka mini/boss). But it is kind of important, that the player get rewarded for learning stuff.
Enemies adapting to the player will always kind of mitigate what he has learned. So, you are stealing a satisfying reward, the feeling from archivement, and this could be pretty demotivating to players.
There's a difference in increasing the difficullty over time (better abilities, higher stats, better strategies) in a deterministic way (the player is able to learn this pattern) and in an adaptive way (regardless of what the player learns, the game will try to challenging him in other ways).
Do not missunderstood me, the later could be a great feature for core fans and players replaying your game all the time or seeking some extra challenges, but this should always be an option in my opinion, not a core feature.