Better Constraints for Better Dungeons -
Aran P. Ink has been making a procedurally-generated metroidvania, and has been dealing with a specific problem: the generation wasn't serving the design pillar of exploration. Procgen should be perfect for giving the player new things to explore, but the common way to structure a generator wasn't working.
The maps were too predictable and obviously repeated the same structure, the exact opposite of what you want in an exploration game. Since the rooms were all the same size, it made it much harder to make them feel different enough to be memorable. Basically, not enough contrast.
The solution? Relax the constraints. Or, to put it another way, rethink the constraints from a different point-of-view. This led to a solution that's unique to their particular game.
The same idea might also work for your game, but I think a better way to approach this is to learn from the process and goals, rather than just the solution. Maybe think about the map design from an entirely different point of view, or generate history backwards, or introduce a mechanic that uses the generator's weakness, or set up the framing to make the generator's result feel natural.
https://aran.ink/posts/better-constraints










