OK, so last week I covered only the inventory mode of Horror Hotel's much lauded (by me) Dungeon Mode, which comprises half of the game and most notably its "action" part. I'll cover all the other aspects eventually, but today I'll be concentrating on Exploration: Maps, floors of the dungeon, and exploring said floors.
Note: I'll be referring to the levels of the dungeon as "floors", even if some of the floors end up comprising of several, well, floors. This is so I won't confuse you later by talking about experience levels - one of many things you learn in an industry role is to avoid synonyms in your documentation. Common sense to everyone but me though, I suspect.
Exploration: After much deliberation, I've decided on a "random generation-lite" model for creating the layout and things you'll encounter in the floors of the dungeon. By which I mean something like Diablo, in that the floors are pre-created but the content is still mostly random (excepting a few floor-specific elements, e.g. a giant kickass throne that a boss was sitting on).
Enemies will also be randomly generated. I'm thinking of borrowing Oblivion's monster level system (though several games have used it previously, including tabletop D&D), in which monsters level as you do. So you can place any monsters on any floor provided you keep that floor at a level of experience your golems can survive in. Some monsters will have upper caps (little goblins will stop showing up after floor 3 or so for example) and likewise you won't be seeing Demon Lords or Chromatic Dragons until way into the game. But given the vast range of improvement some monsters could go through, the randomization could have you fighting, say, centaurs on floor 2 and again on floor 8 vastly improved with better armour and such. Certainly beats fighting the same type of creature again only with a new name and a colour palette change; at least I'm being honest with the repetition. One thing to keep in mind is that I'm only using these "classic" monsters as examples; I'll probably end up designing a bunch of game-specific adversaries to match this game's unique (well, unique-ish) style.
Treasure, equally, will also work on a "what's expected for players reaching this floor" randomization, though treasure that's well hidden may have their "Treasure Expectancy Level" artificially increased as an incentive for players to search everywhere (or bring along a golem who can detect it). This system will also allow for replaying the game at a higher level, as the floors can just restock with higher level monsters and treasure. There will also be the option to revisit any floor for new stuff after finishing the game once, so you can miss out a floor that ends up being very annoying for you what with the traps or lava or something (I so badly wanted to skip certain levels of X-Men Legends on the second playthrough because of this kind of thing).
Each floor's layout will probably be pre-made and not random. This will be so I can have a greater level of control over what the floors have in terms of puzzles to solve and story events to stage, as well as creating various floor features that wouldn't work with randomization (like lots of stairs and open areas and boss rooms, etc.). The upside to this system is that players will have better, highly-defined playing areas to get through, the obvious downside therefore being replayability of these areas. And the fact I'd have more work to do.
A little more about the dungeon floors itself: Because the game doesn't take itself at all seriously (the first half of the intro story in an earlier blog entry can attest to that), it'll be explained in-game that the mansion is situated on a very peculiar maelstrom of magical energy that allows things like Golems to exist. Because of this, civilisations in the past have attempted to build temples and shrines on top of the same hill. These unfortunately sank into the earth because of the unpredictable nature of the magic energy, creating this layered effect of various time eras/civilisations. This plot device handily explains both why there's both an Egyptian temple and a Medieval dungeon in the same place and also gives the player another problem to deal with as they come up with solutions to stop the mansion becoming the newest addition to the subterranean world.
The map-making utilities in the game will be fairly standard in some respects: it'll automatically fill-in blank spots as you explore them, and the ever-present "mini-map" will give you a very basic view of the immediate surroundings as well as acting as a compass to help you get to where you need to go (as well as pointing out the exits). However, and I will admit to this being entirely based on watching too many Crystal Maze shows as a kid, the main map (which you access like the inventory or status pages) will be a big 3D map of the area which zooms out when you open it and flashes the particular area you're in going "blip, blip, blip". Reason 1: Because it's neat. Reason 2: The floors will get a little complicated with stairways and secret panels and such, so a 3D map will be necessary for an overview of the entire floor. Reason 3: I can put more blips in there for secret treasure sources or enemies depending on if you have a Golem that can detect either (these powers will usually come from an augmentation, incidentally). This 3D map can be spun around and similarly manipulated for a better appraisal of where you are.
Finally, I thought I'd end this update on the actual gameplay as a tie-in to the combat update coming up next in this series. As your golems explore the dungeon (I have yet to designate a limit to how many golems you can bring with you), they won't always follow the leader closely like they do in other party-based dungeon crawlers (such as Dungeon Siege for example). You can give golems standing orders to search the rooms as they come to them or leave Helper golems behind picking up everything in a furniture-heavy room. If a golem you've left behind fills up with stuff, a prompt will come up asking you if you want to make room by getting rid of less valuable items. If everything's OK that filled-up golem will then transport itself out of the dungeon and be waiting for you once you've finished up with the main group.
The AI of the golems will mean most of them can work independently provided there are no problems (such as nearby enemies). If a problem does arise, you'll see a color-coded message at the top of the screen (maybe one of those picture-in-picture head-ups of the golem in distress) so you can rescue it in time. Likewise, the sprightly Jester golems will go off and do their own thing by setting off traps and finding secret passages on their own. Your battle party will follow the leader still, though magic-user and archer golems may hang back away from dangerous (unexplored) areas just in case, and will always do their best to stay a ranged distance from enemies because of how generally weak they are hand-to-hand.
I really want the AI to not be stupid in this game as it can often be a problem, what with instances of magic users who decide to go hit the ogre with the pointy end of their staff. The same staff that could easily incinerate said ogre from a safe distance with its magic. That'll unfortunately mean getting programmers who know what they're doing, which sort of leaves me out of making this game solo.
Long update again. I just can't help myself. Come back again soon for the next Dungeon Mode update. Or just sign me up to make it for you now if you have a lot of money or work for Sony or something. I mean, what's the worst that could happen?
