Tiered Zones
Character(s) go into a zone. Can be an existing zone or a new zone. In the zone is a door deep in the level. This door is closed 95% of runs. When it opens, there is “an airlock” (or a conveyance) that transports the character(s) to a new level that is otherwise inaccessible. This is of course a very hard level, but more poignantly it is a much more random and unpredictable level – but it drops special stuff.
Access to a new Safe Zone
Characters can develop e new safe zone, a new “Innards”. This innards is bigger, has more options in addition to the default ones, and also has to be developed, while not losing access to the first one. This new zone works with water constraints, as the regular innards, but it also has a small nuclear reactor, which requires reactor fuel, which can only be gathered in very special zones (see above).
Tiled Zones
At some point game developers develop a larger number of zone “tiles” which can randomly emerge when playing. Smallest tile fields would obviously be 2×2, where each is a “corner” tile. If developers generate 10 corner tiles, this (assuming no duplication) would create thousands of possible combinations. These tiles would be meticulously designed to line up in all possible adjacencies. If you increase the number of zone tiles to 2×3 or 3×3 (introducing edge tiles) or 3×3 (middle tiles) the possible variations increase massively. By then making certain tiles very rare (oh guys, look, we have the organcompactor middle tile this time, holy shit, this is gona be brutal) and have unique properties, enemies, environmental challenges and drops this creates major unpredictability in-game.
Stashes
In certain new (or existing) fields occasionally random boxes generate that have been visited by a specific player, in which this player has deposited specific items, such as mission specific items, special healing items, special weapon types, etc. These stashes only rarely drop, and there is a very large number of possible stashes that can be “loaded up” for future item retrieval. If there are 20 possible stashes, and there is a 15% (or less for specific stashes) each drops this creates significant unpredictability – but may provide necessary potential for preparations and relief.
More Firearms
Yeah well, I like guns. And let;s not forget Flamethrowers?
Grenades
Gas, tear-gas, nervegas, stun, armor piercing, incendiary, fragmentation – they all agro enemies in a far far bigger area. And key enemies would also be able to use them.
Lasers
We are not talking banale science fiction rayguns – we are talking bulky, blocky things that create loud cracking sounds, and heat up organic matter to a degree where organs burst out, and heads go popcorn. Lasers would have very nice graphics. Lasers may have their own armor types, and each wavelength or pulse type might have different effects, impact types, animations.
3D Tiling
A variation on the above tiling idea is to go UP. That essentially means that you might have a variation called CornerTile17/layer0 which means ground level. It has structures of, let’s say, a discrete height. Above this tile several adjacent tiles can randomly emerge, but there’s also the possibility that above this tile (OR UNDER) one of several tiles can emerge, say CornerTile5/Layer1. The CornerTile17/layer0 tile may be the remains of a torn open subway connection, with a major chemical leak. It has structures that go up, with catwalks and pipes. The CornerTile5/Layer1 is designed to fit seamlessly over any level0 cornertile, and connects structures, pipes, catwalks, bridges, etc seamlessly – each have certain properties, certain enemies are likelier to Spawn, certain (rare) mission objectives that are otherwise unattainable, etc.
Random Structure Spawn
A variation on the tile theme could be that certain fields have “open spaces” and in those precisely shaped spaces one of several specific large structures might randomly emerge when the zone is generated. These objects are major landscaping elements with dangers, possible mission objectives, climbable structures, enemy spawn potential and may extend bridges, pipes throughout the field – maybe even allowing access to normally (otherwise) difficult to reach parts of the map. These stuctures that randomly spawn might in some cases be mobile – say there’s a massive train track and it can randomly spawn a moving crane, or a train-like entity that moves along it’s length. But it might just as likely be any of a number of pre-generated inanimate wrecked shapes.
Very likely I’ll be adding other ideas to this page later on.