Dungeon Romp

[Mr. Y]

Hello! I am a new member here at Charas, and I wanted to share my game with everyone here to get some opinions.

Name: Dungeon Romp
Platform: RPGMaker 2000

Concept: A game of decent length involving some RPG elements and then some other stuff. You play through four massive dungeons with the goal of finding all 100 Treasures. Each dungeon carries 25 of the Treasures, and the Treasures are found by solving puzzles, defeating powerful enemies, and locating secret areas. The DBS utilizes four PCs with very specialized abilities and roles in combat. No experience system or levels, but by finding consoles hidden in the dungeons you can upgrade the PCs' skills or teach them new special abilities to use in battle. Progressing from one dungeon to the next requires at least five of the native dungeon's Treasures; although it's possible to finish the game with 20% completion, finishing with all 100 Treasures and 100% completion earns you a special ending.

Story:
You are a mysterious blue-caped treasure hunter named Mr. Y, and you have journeyed to the Big Cave on the Isle of the Ocean to find some cool treasure! But you encounter your evil arch-nemesis, the Demon Prince! Battle your way through four mega dungeons on a quest to find all the Treasures, defeat the Demon Prince, and return home!

Author's Notes:
I have a short 30-minute demo prepared that I had made a year ago for Lysander's Release Something! event, featuring 20 unique Treasures to be discovered. There are no battles in this demo, and some of the Treasures are located in places where they won't be in the next release. However, I think it's kind of fun! There are already a couple of neat puzzle types like hidden paths, platform hopping, and a dastardly teleport puzzle. There are also some hidden rooms where the Treasures are hidden, and you must find and use a raft to get around the large cavern lake.

And before you say it, the storyline is obviously very shallow. It was designed that way. I am capable of writing something smarty-tarty, but I want to deliberately avoid that dimension. I want the characters to essentially be shallow devices giving the player an excuse to go do some dungeon romping .

Screenshots:
 
Title screen.
 
Deep in my [dirty, cheap,] evil teleport puzzle of doom. I was thinking of dropping this, because in hindsight it doesn't seem fun to solve so much as frustrating.

Platform hopping on the underground lake. You can hop up, down, left, or right, but not diagonally. You can't jump more than two spaces away, either.

A magical dimension with hidden treasure!! The path includes some hidden roadblocks that force you to use trial and error to find the prize, and this is made more difficult by the unmoving background panorama that can perhaps disorient you.]

Inside your Treasure inventory where you can examine all of your gathered prizes.

SHORT DEMO LINK:
 Dungeon Romp! Big Cave Demo

[drenrin2120]

sounds boring without a point, to be honest.

[Leon_1990]

How can an unmoving panorama Be disorientating?....

I can't say much for this "game" either -_-"

[Meiscool-2]

other then the fact that you've got more colors then 8-bit, everything about this screams 8-bit.

[Grandy]

Originally posted by Leon_1990
How can an unmoving panorama Be disorientating?....

I can't say much for this "game" either -_-"

 Doesn't matter how much you walk, you sem to never leave the same place.

[Leon_1990]

Originally posted by Grandy

quote:

Originally posted by Leon_1990 How can an unmoving panorama Be disorientating?.... I can't say much for this "game" either -_-"

 Doesn't matter how much you walk, you sem to never leave the same place.

ah, now I see, thanks for clearing that up ^^

[Mr. Y]

Wow, thanks for posting everybody (Even if you don't like the game, the attention's nice.) I hope to make a new release with two complete dungeons and 50 Treasures in a couple months or so.

sounds boring without a point, to be honest.

But there is a point! You are trying to get all 100 Treasures. Or, if you're not trying for full completion, the goal is to collect at least 5 Treasures in each dungeon and then find the exit to the next dungeon. Each dungeon has its own final boss, and the boss of the fourth dungeon serves as the final boss of the game. By collecting more Treasures, you unlock more of the ending, and there's the best ending with 100 Treasures. So there is definitely a point to finding Treasures, looking for power-ups to raise stats or learn abilities, and fighting bad guys.

I know there's very little semblance of a storyline, but that's because I believe I don't think I need one, and I don't want one besides because it would ruin the shallow, simple premise of the game. I don't want to explain to you why your character wants to find the Treasures, or why the Demon Prince is a bad guy. I think my game can have a point without a sweeping epic storyline, and that's one of my goals in its creation.

How can an unmoving panorama Be disorientating?....

Disorientating could be a bad word to use, I admit... it's not really confusing I suppose. It is simply a puzzle. You must use trial and error to find a path to the Treasure. You know you are moving when you see the moving animation for the character, and you know you've hit one of the walls of the path and stopped when the character stops moving. With this information you must keep trying to move your character away from the entrance you came in through, on an invisible path to a prize. Like Grandy said, it may seem at first that moving in any direction seems pointless, except when you use some logic you can determine that, if some directions are blocked and if the entrance disappears when you move some way, then this is an area you can explore for a Treasure.

This is the only time in the game I'll use this puzzle, although earlier in the demo you'll find something similar near the entrance of the Big Cave where you have to navigate through a hidden tunnel without seeing your character. This plays like a different puzzle because your character is hidden and you can see the prize several times when you get close enough, and because there are a couple of dead ends and road blocks to get in your way.

I can't say much for this "game" either -_-"

ok thx 4 posting

My game can't really be called a traditional RPG because there's no character development and little storyline, I suppose. However, my goal was to make a game with RM2K, and in doing so I decided to use the RM2K DBS and then change some things about it. I don't plan to have a drastic CBS or CMS in my game. My chipsets are taken from resource websites, and my charsets are either common or made from common parts. Because I'm using a dated gamemaking engine, I don't have much room in terms of color depth. Most of all, I don't plan to even attempt a grand storyline involving love, betrayal, revenge, yada yada yada, because I just want to make a puzzle game. Get it?

If you think that this isn't a game because I don't have a sweeping storyline, pretty graphics, exciting battle system, or neat menu system, or because I'm really not trying to create ye olde RPG, then you're obviously wrong. Or if you say that because all I have prepared is a very short demo I produced in a week for the Release Something! event, then you need to just be patient until the next release.

Most of all, if you can't say much for my game... why not? Like, tell me why my game isn't really a game. It's just a hobby, and I want to produce something decent that people will enjoy. I'm not interested in investing myself in this 110% and trying to produce something better than everybody else's stuff. It's just a project on the side. I still feel pretty hurt if you're calling my project a waste of time though. It doesn't seem like a waste to me .

 

other then the fact that you've got more colors then 8-bit, everything about this screams 8-bit.

That's cool. The game does look quite a bit fugly in some places, especially the simple charset for the main character and the cave walls. I hope to make up for it in terms of the gameplay, but I could spend more time on prettying things up before the next release.

[Meiscool-2]

Why don't you do something more like a weak ABS rather then use the DBS? Like Zelda or something without all the cool weapons. I think split screen battles will take away from the "fun" of doing the puzzles, and will make things a lot longer to play then ABS would.

[clockworkroutine]

Yep yep so true.  
Your mind man can get lost, confused, and caught Up in fighting in a split screen that you forget how to do the damn puzzle in the first place.  
That was some bull but I do agree a simple abs system should be made, it would also add more challenge to the puzzles due to the fact that monsters can interfere with finishing the puzzle or it could add a survival effect where your low on life and your running around and away from monsters, and slowly completing the puzzle so you can enter the next dungeon and be safe for a little bit.

[DragonBlaze]

This game sounds like it would be fun for the few people who like rpgs for roaming around in dungeons, but the truth is, most people don't.

The whole concept of collecting items and solving puzzles seems kinda pointless to me, and all of this is for what, to 'beat' the game. In a normal rpg, you collect items and solve puzzles to yes beat the game. But really, in doing so you're progressing with the story, which is what usually drive a game. Puzzles, treasures, and things like that are built on top of this to enhance the gameplay. There are also games based on gameplay, like megaman, and any action game, but the gameplay on them is really boosted, and have a lot more to them then simply dungeons and items.

So going around dungoens for the purpose of collecting items is going to be very boring for most people. If you still want to keep a 'simple story', you're going to really have to boost the gameplay. Lots of minigames, a cool battle system, better maps, and some cool scenes.

[Kijuki_Magazaki]

Mr. Y.. hehehe  


Dunno looks a bit odd. I rather play it then judge. So linky linky.

[clockworkroutine]

The guy did say he was just doing this, just to do this as a pass time, not for having a good game that people would praise.

I myself, when starting projects, don't wanna worry about the story and just have it for the gameplay, but I try as I go along, come up with one just to fulfill something in me, so I don't just look at sprites with a blank stare and feel no emotions for them.  

Its kinda like those times when you chose to sacrifice one character for another because one is someone you like more and are focusing on.

But if the gameplay is solely based on the massive amounts of varying puzzles thats fine with me, so long as the author did not intend it to be a front runner, and doesn't boasts about it.  
Just think of the game as a brain teaser not something you can get absorb into and lose your life in it.

[Shadowless1]

looks and sounds crummy, do what meiscool said try a weak abs

i dont think il even bother downloading

[WIP]

It is impossible to make a good ABS in RM2k/3. So a good number of you are suggesting that instead of perhaps making an average and complete game, he waste his time making a shitty game that won't be finished. Quite the trade-off there.

Need proof of my ABS claim? List any commercial game that uses a tile-based ABS and was good. Also take into account two people well-known for their "awesome ABSs" (Xeno-soft and litearc) gave up because it wasn't feasible or fun.

[Mr. Y]

Thanks again for all the feedback everybody .

Oops! I'm sorry if I didn't make it obvious before, and I don't think I did, but there are no random battles in these dungeons. In fact, you really will only have to fight 1-4 battles in the entire game, depending on if dungeons 1-3 have final bosses or not. I like RPGs a lot, especially RPGs with cool dungeons involving lots of puzzles, but I always get bored when I get bogged down in fighting. Therefore, in Dungeon Romp bosses are only used for getting extra Treasures. If you just want to complete the game, there's no need for more than a couple fights.

In keeping with the puzzle theme of the game, I'm trying to put a tight emphasis on strategy in battles. You have a single "medic" PC, a beefy "shield" PC, a status inflicting "pest" PC, and an elemental attack "wizard" PC. In addition, the medic and the shield both use status repair techniques to keep your party healthy from status effects.

Each battle is treated like a boss battle and given special attention. I plan to incorporate battle patterns, counterattacks, and any other tricks I can use. In addition, although some bosses early on may be less complex for the sake of a nice climb on the learning curve, I want to build up in complexity as things continue. For example, I'd love to have a countdown enemy that will kill everything if you don't defeat it in X number of turns. I haven't planned much yet in terms of the specific battles yet, but it's my goal to make every fight a puzzle of sorts in itself, and certainly nothing as simple as "attack with your best attacks until you kill it".

Why don't you do something more like a weak ABS rather then use the DBS? Like Zelda or something without all the cool weapons. I think split screen battles will take away from the "fun" of doing the puzzles, and will make things a lot longer to play then ABS would.

I could probably find some decent Zelda ABS tutorial out there and use that for battles, but I don't want to use anything like Zelda. I would have to redraw my maps and make them much larger for the bad guys to move about. Unless I incorporated multiple pieces of equipment and then used some intelligent programming to make the baddies interesting, each battle would turn into something like dodging bad guy attacks and then attacking appropriately. I'm awfully terrible at coding in RM2K, and I think I can produce something good much faster with DBS fights than learning all about a Zelda CBS and trying to implement that.

 

Yep yep so true.
Your mind man can get lost, confused, and caught Up in fighting in a split screen that you forget how to do the damn puzzle in the first place.
That was some bull but I do agree a simple abs system should be made, it would also add more challenge to the puzzles due to the fact that monsters can interfere with finishing the puzzle or it could add a survival effect where your low on life and your running around and away from monsters, and slowly completing the puzzle so you can enter the next dungeon and be safe for a little bit.

You won't forget your place in any puzzles because the fights will always be far away from the puzzles, not stuck in the middle of them. I might break this rule if I decide on a big get-keys-open-doors or press-switches-open-doors puzzle throughout an entire dungeon, but that's unlikely.

I don't want to have monsters interfering with the player when the player's working on puzzles, unless it won't throw the player off while puzzlesolving. A survival chase sounds cool, and I think I'd like to do a chase for at least one Treasure, but the fights won't work like that. Because you can save anywhere, and because you only fight certain enemies for Treasures, you will get a Game Over if you lose (No running away from any fights.)

I want to do a chase sequence with a powerful monster though, that'd be cool.

This game sounds like it would be fun for the few people who like rpgs for roaming around in dungeons, but the truth is, most people don't.

The whole concept of collecting items and solving puzzles seems kinda pointless to me, and all of this is for what, to 'beat' the game. In a normal rpg, you collect items and solve puzzles to yes beat the game. But really, in doing so you're progressing with the story, which is what usually drive a game. Puzzles, treasures, and things like that are built on top of this to enhance the gameplay. There are also games based on gameplay, like megaman, and any action game, but the gameplay on them is really boosted, and have a lot more to them then simply dungeons and items.

So going around dungoens for the purpose of collecting items is going to be very boring for most people. If you still want to keep a 'simple story', you're going to really have to boost the gameplay. Lots of minigames, a cool battle system, better maps, and some cool scenes.

I disagree. I don't think you really do need to make your game with 10s in all other categories for the lack of a real storyline. For an example, try playing DarkPriest's  Enter the Cave . Even less storyline, zero battles except for a final "CBS" fight, RTP graphics, and a quiet little kid for a protagonist. It was an awesome game.

With that said, the Treasures add a lot of replay, but the goal is still to make it through each dungeon, defeat the Demon Prince, and watch the ending. I may add more of an introduction to set things up better. Minigames may be added for the Treasures, but probably nothing involving the use of picture resources. The battle system will be a well-done DBS used sparingly with strategic boss-type foes, but absolutely no CBS. My mapping can improve... but the Big Cave will become prettier as the player explores more, and future maps will have much more variation. And cool scenes? Well, sure, why not? But don't expect to find out the identity of the main character Mr. Y's father .

Dunno looks a bit odd. I rather play it then judge. So linky linky.

I have a demo prepared.  Click here to download the demo.

But if the gameplay is solely based on the massive amounts of varying puzzles thats fine with me, so long as the author did not intend it to be a front runner, and doesn't boasts about it.
Just think of the game as a brain teaser not something you can get absorb into and lose your life in it.

Thanks, I think this is pretty fair! I don't think there are many amateur games that people can get absorbed into however...

Looks and sounds crummy, do what meiscool said try a weak abs

i dont think il even bother downloading

Meh. Maybe I can change your mind with info from the next release beyond this demo. I'm trying to do something different, so I'm trying to make a nice game without an epic storyline, gorgeous graphics or kool systemz.

So a good number of you are suggesting that instead of perhaps making an average and complete game, he waste his time making a shitty game that won't be finished. Quite the trade-off there.

Thanks, that's how I feel. I just want to make a game here, and I think a unique approach and design in my game will make it stand out from others, even despite the fact that my game isn't well-rounded with a big storyline, cool battle system, nice graphics, etc. I'm not trying to do everything exactly right, just a couple of things really really well .

Who knows, it might even be FUN!