WIP Dungeon Crawler

[Builder Bob]

This looks really cool. :thup:

I would enjoy more playing some non-random dungeon with a nice story and lots of carefully planned stuff, but I guess random dungeons work too.

There's only so much one person can do with limited time as we all have. I really really want to finish a project this time around instead of discontinuing it. This is the main reason for going with random whatever, wherever I can. roguelike games share this random attitude, and they have had success. In fact they were the pioneers for later rpgs.

Random certainly isn't something which fits every taste, but it does shorten development time. Additionally it might increase replayability if the gameplay is engaging enough.

I get what you're saying though. At least some short story elements would increase it's value a lot I think.

 

[Viikuna]

Well, to be honest, I havent really played too many games which randomize everything.

It will be interesting to see how this turns out.

 

[Vylatin]

Tested it and I think the map is very interresting. I especially love how you aim spells! Reminds me about Diablo 2!

Keep up the good work!

 

[Bloodcount]

Well, Bob, there is one thing I don't like in this project: I was going to make a single player ONLY Dungeon styled map. Although the game play is painfully different, If I make it now, it is going to look like a dungeon crawler wannabee map

And stay away from story as "You are a great warrior who is going straight way to hell, in order to kill the devil. As a game-play conseptor I'd advice you to scatter notes arrund the creeps. Each note is going to have a part of the story of some hero who as entered this dungeon, or some great mage who has fallen in battle. You can make it into fragments. Like, no more then a sentence or 2 in one piece, so the player must find the correct way to read them

 

[thewrongvine]

Because with a casting time, you don't move. With this delay, it takes for example .5 seconds to take effect, but then at .4 seconds you start to move since there's no casting time that holds you back and enemies are coming, then the spell cancels, and you move for another .5 seconds, and you want to cast that spell, so you cast it again, finally taking 1.5 seconds for 1 cast when there should be none.

And the turning issue. I mean say you click to face an enemy at 60 degrees, after you turn there, your guy will randomly turn to like 80 degrees by itself, so I can never hit the enemy since its turning around. I don't understand what you're saying with the back to the enemy though...

Btw, is terrain randomly generated?

Good job and good luck once again! :thup:

~Hai-Bye-Vine~

 

[Builder Bob]

Well, Bob, there is one thing I don't like in this project: I was going to make a single player ONLY Dungeon styled map. Although the game play is painfully different, If I make it now, it is going to look like a dungeon crawler wannabee map

Even though we're all making wannabe maps, it doesn't mean we should stop doing it. I've put in all the things I've enjoyed in other similar maps, and discarded those I didn't like. The result so far is a game mostly similar to the Diablo series, but with some differences. If you're using features you enjoy, and discarding those you don't our maps will most likely be very different in key areas and become two completely different experiences. As long as you're having fun making it, keep it going!

And stay away from story as "You are a great warrior who is going straight way to hell, in order to kill the devil. As a game-play conseptor I'd advice you to scatter notes arrund the creeps. Each note is going to have a part of the story of some hero who as entered this dungeon, or some great mage who has fallen in battle. You can make it into fragments. Like, no more then a sentence or 2 in one piece, so the player must find the correct way to read them

I like this fragmented story teller idea you talk about. I was thinking of maybe having some short reason for your hero to enter the dungeon. Maybe some event make you go down into some unknown.
Once inside, various quests with strange happenings will tell short stories about different things that have happened within the dungeon. At the start you won't see any connection between the various quests, but as you go on some connections will become clearer. I'd like to present one or more plot twist near the ending as well.

I have ideas, but nothing whole yet. I'm currently working on models and textures to see if I can figure out what setting I want the game to be in. Knowing where the game takes place, might help me figure out more about the plot.

@thewrongvine:
It sounds to me that you are thinking of this game in normal warcraft 3 terms. The casting system in this map is vastly different.
Spells are cast in the direction of the mouse pointer. No mouse clicking is required. If you click the mouse after casting a spell, your hero will move and stop casting it's spell, as intended.
You do not have to click on the ground to turn your hero in order to face the enemy. When casting spells, the hero will turn around towards where your mouse pointer is located. This is cosmetic however, as the facing really has no effect at all*.

Try this: Start the map, select a hero and a starting skill. Once in the dungeon start clicking E E E E E E E E, and some more E. Move the mouse around without clicking it. See what happens. You'll notice that different spells have different casting times.

Btw, is terrain randomly generated?

Yup. That's why it's so boring I'm working on changes to spice it up a little.

*except for the rare case I mentioned earlier, which you do not need to concern yourself about. It's just to avoid a division by 0 error.

 

[Bloodcount]

Quests sound good. I'd sugjest to you to slow the creeps down a bit and give the player some rest time now and again.

 

[Builder Bob]

Quests sound good. I'd sugjest to you to slow the creeps down a bit and give the player some rest time now and again.

Creeps will be getting an overhaul. At the moment there are always the same number of creeps on a level and they can spawn right next to you. I don't like that either. Additionally, they're dumb...

One thing though, there shall always be some random wandering monsters to keep you on your toes no matter if you've been in a location before or not. Just not as much as now.

 

[Bloodcount]

Well I like the insanity. Hm... well seeng this project and your second one, I must say, that you aren't the type of mapper who makes multiplayer online games. Just as I am not the type of mappers who make big projects, like RPG's for example. I sujest you maiking a pack of single player maps

 

[thewrongvine]

OH! I'm an idiot. I thought spells casted in the direction you were facing.

Haha, it's so much easier now. ^_^

Also, skills should be more diverse and unique in terms of each other. Like for example, with fireball and frostbolt, the damage is similar, they kill a ghoul in both about 2 - 4 hits. The fireball maybe has a better chance of 2-3 hits, but the frostbolt also has slow and freezing. Something like:
-Fireball: Medium to Heavy Damage, Burn
-Frostbolt: Low to Medium Damage, Slow, Freeze
-Shuriken: Small, Low Damage, Fast, Chance to Throw Three Shurikens in Different Directions
-Chakram: Large, Medium to Heavy Damage, Slow, Cuts Through Enemies Once or Twice
would be nice, so that you actually switch depending on situations.

EDIT: Grappling Hook is awesome btw. But you should make it last longer. Or make the hook last forever until the target returns to the caster.

Lmao, Grappling Hook + Evade is so strong.
lol, I got to level 2 with 2 HP left.

~Hai-Bye-Vine~

 

[Builder Bob]

Also, skills should be more diverse and unique in terms of each other. Like for example, with fireball and frostbolt, the damage is similar, they kill a ghoul in both about 2 - 4 hits. The fireball maybe has a better chance of 2-3 hits, but the frostbolt also has slow and freezing. Something like:
-Fireball: Medium to Heavy Damage, Burn
-Frostbolt: Low to Medium Damage, Slow, Freeze
-Shuriken: Small, Low Damage, Fast, Chance to Throw Three Shurikens in Different Directions
-Chakram: Large, Medium to Heavy Damage, Slow, Cuts Through Enemies Once or Twice
would be nice, so that you actually switch depending on situations.

EDIT: Grappling Hook is awesome btw. But you should make it last longer. Or make the hook last forever until the target returns to the caster.

[/QUOTE]

I thought that was about how it was already.

• Fireball has splash
• Frostbolt has slightly lower damage and hit only one unit, but can slow and freeze.
• Shuriken has same average damage as fireball, but is faster both in speed and casting. Additionally it has innate doublestrike chance (2 shuriken in one cast)
• Chakram has same average damage as fireball as well, but it can jump between targets, walls, and yourself. If you are good at aiming it you can predict where it is going to jump for extreme killing efficiency both against single and multiple targets.

All skills will also get better the higher rank and quality you find of them, so there should be reason to cast a number of different skills throughout a run.

However, the balance is probably not right yet, so I will fine tune them when necessary. All skills shall be as powerful as the next all the way through the game. That's the design behind them.

Which skills did you prefer to use?

 

[thewrongvine]

Well I liked Grappling Hook for the discovered the best since, well, grappling is fun.

Evade was also very fun and useful because you could blink and dodge attacks.

From the normal ones, I like Fireball since the model is very cool and round...

~Hai-Bye-Vine~

 

[DKigorDK]

When i start the game, i can select one skill, and after i press "Z" to start the game, nothing happens it just stays black fog over the map, but after some time, you can see the walls spwan and moved to its location, any have the same problem

 

[Builder Bob]

When i start the game, i can select one skill, and after i press "Z" to start the game, nothing happens it just stays black fog over the map, but after some time, you can see the walls spwan and moved to its location, any have the same problem

It's the same for everyone, and it's working exactly as intended. I know it's annoying though, so I will try to code it differently.

 

[Zack1996]

Really awesome game.
The art and special effects are really good and the spells interesting to use.
Also, the units constantly miss you if you are moving, forcing you to move around to dodge their attacks. That is really quite interesting.
A suggestion would be to make more spells which are different from the current ones, which basically just deal damage. Maybe stuff like Wind Walk (moves faster and higher chance to dodge, also damages things near you) and stuff like that.
I would also find it appropriate to include a system that displays the health of the units. I find it sad that I can't tell how much health a unit has.
One last suggestion would be to add a mage creep that can cast spells as well. Maybe cast spells similar to the ones the mage guy can, but weaker.
Finally, make the arrows and their attacks able to damage their allies as well. That woud be interesting
PS: I can't seem to find some of the spells that you talk about. Eg. Grappling Hook, Evade, Timeslow Field.

 

[wraithseeker]

This looks epic... and cool!

 

[DKigorDK]

so this game is about wacthing black fog and never play with anything. gr8t map 10/10

 

[Builder Bob]

so this game is about wacthing black fog and never play with anything. gr8t map 10/10

Uhm... I thought you said you could see the walls after some time:

but after some time, you can see the walls

If you don't then be sure sound it turned on. If sound is turned off, then the black fog will not be cleared.

Also, the units constantly miss you if you are moving, forcing you to move around to dodge their attacks. That is really quite interesting.

I'm glad you noticed this

A suggestion would be to make more spells which are different from the current ones, which basically just deal damage. Maybe stuff like Wind Walk (moves faster and higher chance to dodge, also damages things near you) and stuff like that.

One of the design philosophies behind spells is that every spell should be worth the item slot it takes. Another is that spells should not give buffs or debuffs. I have a lot of rules I follow when I make the spells, but I'm always looking for new type of spells. We'll see what makes it into the game at a later stage.

I would also find it appropriate to include a system that displays the health of the units. I find it sad that I can't tell how much health a unit has.

I think I'm going to use red tinting for this.

One last suggestion would be to add a mage creep that can cast spells as well. Maybe cast spells similar to the ones the mage guy can, but weaker.

Mage creeps exists, and there will be more of them. I used to have enemies with the same spells as you can use, but I found that I had to put in too many exceptions for them to be balanced without coding two sets of the same spells. This is really not a problem, but I might as well design new spells specifically for every enemy mage instead. I'm also going to make every enemy unit have their own special attack to spice up the combat a little.

Finally, make the arrows and their attacks able to damage their allies as well. That woud be interesting

Valid suggestion, but as it is now, friendly fire is something I've deliberately removed from all spells. I can easily be changed though if the need should arise.

PS: I can't seem to find some of the spells that you talk about. Eg. Grappling Hook, Evade, Timeslow Field.

Keep playing and you'll find them all. Drop rates for utility skills like those are about half of purely offensive skills.

 

[Daskunk]

I had the trouble of just black fog and nothing to do, too.. I just did the cheat Iseedeadpeople and it worked then.

EDIT: Whats sound have to do with it?

 

[Builder Bob]

EDIT: Whats sound have to do with it?

It has to do with preloading sound. It's a bit complicated, so I won't go into it. I will find a better way to handle it though.

Thanks for the reports