Conglomerate 451 - procedurally generated cyberpunk dungeon crawler

[LESS T_T]

http://www.runeheads.com/conglomerate-451/




https://af.gog.com/game/conglomerate_451?as=1649904300

Spoiler

With all that procedurally generated dungeons and pearmadeath.

Developed by indie team based in Italy, and published by 1C Interactive.

Game Overview

Conglomerate 451 is a grid-based, dungeon crawling first-person RPG with roguelike elements set in a cyberpunk world.

You are the CEO of a Special Agency, instructed by the Senate of Conglomerate city to restore the order in sector 451, where corrupted corporations have established their turfs. Thanks to the last constitutional decree, you are allowed to create human clones. Build your own team, manipulate DNA, train your agents, equip them with high-end weapons, choose what cyberlimbs to implant, and send the squad to the field with only one goal: eradicate crime and restore order at any cost.

Key Features

• Manage your resources - Make use of your own personal R&D department to research advanced technology, unlocking new features, powers and options for progression
  
• More than just body mods - In addition to upgrading weapon and armor proficiencies, augment your body with interchangeable cyber implants that completely change your agent’s skills and utility
  
• Pain and Trauma system - Even the smallest wounds can have a lasting impact. By taking damage in combat, agents risk generating permanent Traumas that will follow them between missions
  
• Procedural cyber dungeons - Experience the dungeon crawling you love, mixed with future technology as you take on procedurally-generated dungeons and missions
  
• If you die in the game... - Each mission could be your last thanks to agent permadeath. Consider every move, because if an agent dies in battle, they will be lost forever
  
• Hack the world - Enter cyberspace mid-mission and hack your way ahead of the competition to get crucial intel and give yourself the advantage

Early Access coming soon! To be added later:

• Drugs and Disorders: buy synthetic drugs to temporarily empower your agents, with the risk that they develop Mental Disorders*.
  
• Perks and Mutations: your agents can acquire special skills (Perks) and obtain Mutations*.
  
• Diplomacy*: talk to the Narks on the streets of the city and obtain favors.

* Not in the first Early Access build.

The title makes you think this is the best immersive sim ever. (Yeah, it is actually a reference to Fahrenheit 451, which was thought as the inspiration behind the 451 code.)

 

[Sinatar]

Roguelike elements.

 

[Siveon]

With all that procedurally generated dungeons and pearmadeath.

Always a shame.

 

[LESS T_T]

Early Access on May 23rd:

 

[Sykar]

I am such a sucker for cyberpunk that I will give this a chance.

 

[Barbalos]

Was excited til "procedurally-generated dungeons and missions".

 

[HeatEXTEND]

"NO IMPLANTS INSTALLED" riiiiight...

 

[Nyast]

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/20...k-dungeon-crawling-to-early-access-next-week/

 

[Silentstorm]

You know what, i like roguelikes and roguelites, i really do, i have spent hours playing those, i like replaying and learning the systems and mechanics, always having to improvise or consider my options and what equipment i have, try to win with the bad stuff i unfortunately got.

I love all of that, but roguelike dungeon crawlers!?

No, that is one genre where it does not fit, dungeon crawlers heavily revolve around having actual level design, the kind you either map yourself or have to guide with the automap, where everything feels like it was purposefully put there to give the idea of a dangerous place and immerse you.

Procedurally generated dungeons means that kind of feeling will be gone, and depending on the generator, just lead to a bunch of bad dungeons.

Just because you can make procedurally generated levels and many popular games revolve around those, doesn't mean it will work or that you should do it.

 

[Infinitron]

This is out on Early Access now.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Proc gen dungeons could be fine but bad proc gen is far too common. It's like the new version of bad 3d back in the 90s

 

[Duckard]

Every proc gen is just putting together hand authored pieces based on some designer-defined rules. Well, we've had random encounters in blobbers since Wizardry, which are just as much picking from a collection of content to provide a more varied experience.

Just because it's a trendy buzzword now doesn't make it shit. It's one of the most versatile tools a game can use, and the quality of the end result will depend on how well the generator is designed and what it's used for. Proc gen doesn't have to mean full on roguelike.

 

[Tweed]

So, any thoughts on this one yet? Getting awfully tired of everything having to be rogue-like, but I'm all about cyberpunk and dungeon crawling.

 

[Damned Registrations]

I'd kill for a good dungeon crawl. The last 3 I've tried sinking time into have been pretty awful tbh. I just want to be lost, get excited when I find new items (or secret passages), and get scared when I find new enemies. I want that moment where I feel like I should go back to heal but keep diving because I'm so tempted by loot and then clenching my teeth as I try to make it back out. Is that really so hard?

 

[Kruno]

Anyone play this?

 

[Sykar]

Anyone play this?

I rarely buy early access. To big of a risk.

 

[thesheeep]

Every proc gen is just putting together hand authored pieces based on some designer-defined rules.

That's not true. Though, it might be true for the game at hand (hard to tell, especially in games where everything is so... tile-based).
There are many games with generators out there going way beyond putting manually-designed tiles together like a jigsaw puzzle.

Proc gen dungeons could be fine but bad proc gen is far too common. It's like the new version of bad 3d back in the 90s

That's unfortunately true. I think most of these just have a generator that creates levels that "work" (as in, can be completed), but put little to no effort into making them coherent or fill them with "purpose". Very often it is just "random rooms, but one of them has an exit/mission objective/whatever".

However, from that trailer, one can't really tell which type it is. If it is like StarCrawlers, though, it might be the bad kind.
On the other hand, if this is a game about combat and game mechanics (and the Steam description makes it look like that) - in contrast to bullshit containing lever puzzles, etc. - the dungeons themselves are little more than a backdrop, so it doesn't matter that much as long as they look convincing.
Then again, if the actual levels don't really matter, why not just go the Darkest Dungeon route and just let the party move from encounter to encounter... Oh, well.

 

[Duckard]

thesheeep The pieces don't have to be tiles and monsters. For instance, the designer could define a creature archetype based on parameters, which could then be used to generate a rig and a mesh. Even heavily procedural games like No Man's Sky boil down to hand authored rules and parameters. It's more sophisticated because they're using many layers of proc gen, but the downside is it becomes unpredictable and you sacrifice quality control.

I think a procedural dungeon could work if you actually had a proc gen that was more subservient to designer-authored content. E.g. Designer authors a room layout and can tag some rooms. The proc gen can fill out the map by selecting from hand-authored rooms that match the tag. This is a naive approach, but it already provides more control over the end result than typical rougelike-ish approaches.

 

[thesheeep]

thesheeep The pieces don't have to be tiles and monsters. For instance, the designer could define a creature archetype based on parameters, which could then be used to generate a rig and a mesh. Even heavily procedural games like No Man's Sky boil down to hand authored rules and parameters.

I'm with you on that. The way you worded it just made it sound to me like you were talking about the more simplistic approaches, like the one STRAFE uses.

I think a procedural dungeon could work if you actually had a proc gen that was more subservient to designer-authored content. E.g. Designer authors a room layout and can tag some rooms. The proc gen can fill out the map by selecting from hand-authored rooms that match the tag. This is a naive approach, but it already provides more control over the end result than typical rougelike-ish approaches.

Also true, but I think that is way beyond the scope of this game.
I doubt single rooms or even sections in Conglomerate 451 (wow, typing that really makes you feel how weird the name is) are supposed to be important enough to warrant being hand-made. Maybe special dungeons, are, though, which would then be the same (or very similar) in each playthrough. Even StarCrawlers had those for certain story missions.

 

[Grauken]

thesheeep The pieces don't have to be tiles and monsters. For instance, the designer could define a creature archetype based on parameters, which could then be used to generate a rig and a mesh. Even heavily procedural games like No Man's Sky boil down to hand authored rules and parameters. It's more sophisticated because they're using many layers of proc gen, but the downside is it becomes unpredictable and you sacrifice quality control.

I think a procedural dungeon could work if you actually had a proc gen that was more subservient to designer-authored content. E.g. Designer authors a room layout and can tag some rooms. The proc gen can fill out the map by selecting from hand-authored rooms that match the tag. This is a naive approach, but it already provides more control over the end result than typical rougelike-ish approaches.

This is all very theoretical. Until there is actually a good proc gen dungeon crawler, I'll continue to think that this doesn't work for dungeon crawlers

 

[CryptRat]

I like very procedural games with permadeath (and I mean game is over) I'm meant to restart 100 times.
I like games with a save system and a very handcrafted campaign even more.
I don't like weird mixs of both.

 

[Damned Registrations]

thesheeep The pieces don't have to be tiles and monsters. For instance, the designer could define a creature archetype based on parameters, which could then be used to generate a rig and a mesh. Even heavily procedural games like No Man's Sky boil down to hand authored rules and parameters. It's more sophisticated because they're using many layers of proc gen, but the downside is it becomes unpredictable and you sacrifice quality control.

I think a procedural dungeon could work if you actually had a proc gen that was more subservient to designer-authored content. E.g. Designer authors a room layout and can tag some rooms. The proc gen can fill out the map by selecting from hand-authored rooms that match the tag. This is a naive approach, but it already provides more control over the end result than typical rougelike-ish approaches.

This is all very theoretical. Until there is actually a good proc gen dungeon crawler, I'll continue to think that this doesn't work for dungeon crawlers

Have you ever seen Incursion? It's dungeons are very random mishmashes of crap (fungal caves next to ice caves next to libraries etc.) but the individual biomes are very interesting and having the layouts randomized keeps things interesting for multiple playthroughs instead of the kind of shit you get with hand crafted dungeons where you reload and fire a dozen fireballs into the fog of war because you know the enemies are waiting there.

 

[Grauken]

Don't misunderstand me, I love roguelikes. Incursion is brilliant, so are many others, but it's very hard to translate roguelikes into a grid-based 3d dungeon crawler, at least I haven't seen anything successful yet.

It's like the difference between the Eye of the Beholder games and Dungeon Hack, the latter was fun to play but rather forgettable, the EotB dungeons I can still remember years later

 

[Grauken]

And the maps you can see in the trailer don't exactly fill me with confidence. They have to tweak their proc gen algorithm a lot to get something close to decent

 

[Damned Registrations]

I feel like the quality of dungeon crawls has very little to do with the layout and a lot to do with combat and loot design.

That is a terrible map though. The same room is repeated 5 times on one screen. Jesus. Crawlers need snakey pathways all over, not big rooms connected by corridors.