[HN Gopher] Archipelago: Multiworld Multi-Game Randomizer
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Archipelago: Multiworld Multi-Game Randomizer
Author : jeffchien
Score : 37 points
Date : 2024-07-10 23:34 UTC (3 days ago)
(HTM) web link (archipelago.gg)
(TXT) w3m dump (archipelago.gg)
| jeffchien wrote:
| TLDR context: a randomizer shuffles around game items/skills and
| even game areas such that the game is completed in a different
| order. Archipelago shuffles those things among different
| playthroughs. For example, I might pick up an item in my Pokemon
| playthrough that unlocks a gun in your Doom playthrough, and when
| you pick up a keycard it might unlock Ground Pound for a Mario
| player, and so on. It's like a giant collaborative puzzle game.
|
| Here's an example with 114 playthroughs (includes some game
| spoilers in the latter half): https://youtu.be/YwUIfxF3ujo
| bongodongobob wrote:
| I don't understand this at all. So if you were playing Doom,
| you might get stuck because someone in some random other game
| needs to find your key? That sounds awful.
| jeffchien wrote:
| That's definitely a concern. Players call getting stuck by
| others' checks "BK'd" because a player once went out to get
| Burger King and returned before they got unwalled. But I
| think sharing the challenge/frustration and randomness with
| other players is the fun part, and that's what makes this
| such an interesting way to play games.
|
| The organizer can also kick inactive players out and release
| their checks. You could play solo with one or multiple games.
| JoshTriplett wrote:
| It's intended to be a collaborative endeavor, often played
| with people who are on a live call with each other. In the
| kinds of games that work well with randomizers, you usually
| have multiple different options for how to proceed, and you
| have to figure out how to check as many item locations as
| possible to unlock things for yourself _and_ (in the case of
| Archipelago) for other players.
|
| It doesn't work as well with linear or mostly linear games.
|
| And as another reply noted, sometimes you get stuck ("BKed").
| Sometimes each person has more than one game in the
| randomizer, so they have a couple of options to play further.
| Sometimes people go watch someone else play until they're
| unblocked again.
| JoshTriplett wrote:
| This has really evolved over time. Originally, there were single-
| game randomizers, which became more and more sophisticated in
| what they could randomize. Early on, those randomizers added
| "logic", meaning that they ensure you can't have an impossible
| random seed where an item is stuck behind a point that needs that
| item to proceed, or a set of items that would mutually require
| each other.
|
| At some point, people started combining games; most notably,
| "SMZ3" is a two-game randomizer for Super Metroid and Link to the
| Past (already two very popular games for randomizers), in which
| you're playing one SNES cartridge that has both games on it and
| you can step in specific doors to switch from a spot in one game
| to a spot in the other game.
|
| Archipelago is an evolution of those multi-game randomizers,
| which combines the logic from each game to ensure that _someone_
| is always able to proceed.
|
| And there are options you can choose to make things simpler; for
| instance, you can prevent certain key items from being very late
| in the game. But it's also fun to _not_ do that, and end up (say)
| having to do half a game without an item you usually get in the
| first few minutes, working around the lack of that item. (For
| instance, playing substantial parts of a Zelda game without even
| a basic sword.)
|
| Some randomizer modes also convert a more linear game _into_ a
| more open-world game, by making it so you can go anywhere from
| nearly the beginning, though what you can _do_ in those places
| will still be limited by the items you have.
| jncfhnb wrote:
| What games actually work reasonably well with this?
| Particularly for someone who is not a speedrunning master of
| any particular title?
| JoshTriplett wrote:
| The top priority is picking games you're familiar with; you
| almost never want to play a randomizer of a game you've never
| played normally. That does _not_ mean you need to be an
| expert at the game, but you should probably be able to beat
| the game with more-or-less 100% completion.
|
| Beyond that, personally I'd suggest Super Metroid or any
| Zelda game.
| BigParm wrote:
| The website has zero examples. Am I supposed to start a complex
| process and get friends on board based on something I've never
| seen?
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