While we can make random numbers, I think we should also be able to set seed to specific value. In regards to procedural generation this would make great deal sense in two cases
- Speed run/perfect run of game. In procedural games it is only possible when you master specific seed as little details such as resource locations may change.
- Game size limitation. Suppose you want to make very long game, but you don’t want level data (and data for other procedurally generated things) to be several hundreds megabytes big. You devise smart generation algorithm - the problem is that it really works for one seed, as for others it will generate impossible terrain. Ability to hardcode seed would help in this case.
Of course there would be probably other cool things you could do with seed feature (such as making new seed from current time every so often so player can’t really predict it even if he know algorithm used to get random number), but I’m looking at it mostly from procedural standpoint.