Hey there, I've been working on dozens of game concepts for the past 7 years. All they have in common is that they contain some sort of simple generator or are fully based on complex algorithms. With my newest project I am semi‑capable of generating not just how assets build up the map but also generating the assets themselves. With each new entry I notice the issues that have been hunting me down for many attempts to get worse.

The main problem is how the math makes the games less enjoyable. Runs become less predictable than when I directly design the game myself, and I still can't really figure out proper ways to make it work. It might just be a skill issue.

Also, with an infinite amount of content the value and meaning of everything is basically 0. Instead of a few strong NPCs you get a million, and even if they had the same quality you couldn't make them feel as valuable.

These projects turned from real games into complex experiments that no casual player could understand to play. It went from “yeah, this part was fun, that could be better” to “this is so cool, but I can't play this for more than two minutes,” and the advice becomes complicated because fixing it mostly requires throwing the whole design in the trash and doing the gameplay yourself.

Most iconic games I play don't impress me with artistic brilliance or awesome sound design, but with the mathematical concepts they use. Sometimes I just buy the games because of one concept I'm fascinated by. Whether it's the random terrain generation that I thought was pure black magic ten years ago, or procedural physics, or simply the fact that it was made on a custom engine or had technical limitations from 30 years ago, those are reasons I get hooked. In comparison, the more technically oriented projects under my belt are actually enjoyable.

A game I made about terrain being generated with noise, textures generated with noise, and a soundtrack made with Bytebeat algorithms would be freaking cool, but technically a bad game because the content is meaningless, the textures soulless, and the soundtrack primitive. Even I myself hate playing all of my games, yet I also love them because of the concepts they implement. While I can do art and sound effects, I basically dislike doing them because I feel I'm not learning anything new from it.

I would be happy to receive some opinions or advice; I might be wrong or have contradicted myself here and there. This is my first post on Reddit, so please be gentle. :)