DUNGEON DESIGN ~WHERE IS BRICKROAD WHEN YOU NEED HIM?~

author=Neok link=topic=3586.msg79169#msg79169 date=1244511897
I've talked with some other people on this (actually, just Magi), and it seems like no matter what, you're going to have to spend the time if you want depth to your dungeons.

This goes without saying. Caspian's Maze (from the original KC) is still the craziest thing I've ever designed; that took me a couple weeks. Kyrie Desert in KC(A) probably took longer to plan, sketch, design, implement and balance than everything else in the game up to that point combined.

The actual process is no secret: I steal ideas from everywhere and implement them where they seem logical. There probably isn't an original trick or gimmick anywhere in my dungeons. The red/blue obstacles in Valorus were lifted directly from Zelda 3. The quicksand/hole gimmick in Kyrie came from Secret of Evermore. Tracing energy conduits and trading key pieces are just logic puzzles imported from the many, many Myst clones I've played.

The overwhelming bulk of the work is getting the idea off the page and into the editor, and the overwhelming bulk of that work is playtesting, playtesting, playtesting.

I'm actually a math major and never have I needed super duper complex algorithms to make puzzles in my RPG's (and I love puzzles so I design them frequently). My favorite variation is one where you have a pattern of switches, all of them with a certain function (for example, they all toggle the switches adjacent to it) and the objective is to get all the switches down. It's very easy to make, and the puzzles themselves can sometimes be fiendishly difficult.

Brick Road, I like your style - I'm sure one day you'll be the best mix between a dungeon and a human that the world has ever seen.

edit: I wrote this entirely original song, just for Brick Road:

Brick Road was a man...

I mean, he was a dungeon man..

Or maybe he was just a dungeon..

..But he was still BRICK ROAD!
BRICK ROAD!
BRICK ROAD!

I'm not familiar with Magi's work, but if she's capable of making a complex dungeon in a week I'd love to pick her brain. What's her game?

Balmung Chronicle.

http://www.rpgmaker.net/games/471/

I love numberz, Chaos.

OoT invented a new instrument: The Ocarina, how's that for design.

lol that isn't funny anymore stop doing it people.

To add a little to input dungeon design, I find that it isn't necessarily the puzzles you input into your dungeon that make it more dynamic, it's more important that there is something to do in just about every single room inside the dungeon. It can be as easy as getting a treasure chest or as hard as something out of Lufia. So thinking about the scale of your dungeon is important, you don't want to add too much when you haven't got the content needed to fill it.

Also the other thing you should try to avoid is repetition within a certain time frame (never do one thing for too long). Having a good puzzle that is central to the design of the dungeon is a good way to start, but you don't want to put two versions of the same puzzle back to back (the same applies for treasure rooms, rooms filled with monsters, etc). There needs to be a balance between your battles/dungeon mechanics/puzzles so things always stay fresh.