GDC 2025 Session Viewer

In an industry where procedural generation systems are historically programmer-led, Red Hook Studios took an unconventional approach and crafted a system that prioritized the game's art direction instead. In this presentation, Marielle Fox, artist, and Colin Towle, programmer, will discuss what it took to create the system that generates Darkest Dungeon 2's crumbling, post-apocalyptic world.

They'll explain how the symbiotic relationship between a technically-minded artist and creatively-inclined programmer allowed them to solve the difficult problems presented by the creation of a highly immersive and visually stunning world for the player to navigate through.

This presentation will go over the iterative approach that Colin and Marielle took to construct a feature that not only helped to compose the world art of the game, but also met the high bar set by Darkest Dungeon's iconic visual style. It will also elaborate on how they integrated both handmade and fully procedural sections to the world and blended them together seamlessly.

Takeaway

Attendees will learn about the art direction-lead approach of Darkest Dungeon 2's procedural generation system, and what made this type of system so unique. They will also receive an in-depth look into the various other proc gen systems that were constructed before arriving at the game's current system, and how it was tailored to accommodate hand-authored levels as well as algorithmically created ones.

Intended Audience

This is for game developers of all experience levels, particularly artists and programmers who are interested in cross-department skills and relationships. No prior knowledge is required.