How do you achieve a desired experience in your game when you offload level creation to a procedural generation algorithm?

That's exactly what Minor Key Games' David Pittman answered in his GDC 2017 talk on procedural level design in his lo-fi first-person cosmic horror-'em-up Eldritch.

It was a neat talk that answered tricky questions like, what role (if any) does a level designer play when working on a game with procedurally-generated environments? Why use procedural level design at all?

He also dug into how Eldritch's level generation was implemented, as well as general reasons why procedural algorithms might be embraced by level designers. If you missed it in person but still have a burning desire to learn more about the arcane art of procedural generation, no worries: you can now watch Pittman's talk for free over on the official GDC YouTube channel!

About the GDC Vault

In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault and its new YouTube channel offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.

Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC, GDC Europe, and GDC Next already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page. Finally, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault technical support.

Gamasutra and GDC are sibling organizations under parent UBM Americas