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HOW DO YOU DESIGN A GOOD TOWER?
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CloseI am curious, should it be round? should it be square? should it have holes in it to fall through? are towers really light houses? why did people make towers in midieval times?
Drakonais
2787
This is really up to you. Maybe add holes if you want it to feel like ruins, but otherwise it's just stylistic preference. I prefer my towers roundish though.
nickad
261
It would entirely depend on the tower's function. Is it a lighthouse? A warning tower? An evil chapel?
Shape and construct your tower accordingly in relation to its function or purpose :).
Shape and construct your tower accordingly in relation to its function or purpose :).
Main purpose of a tower was to provide elevation from which to see, fire down at or otherwise attack approaching enemies. This is why towers are often parts of castles. Of course, sometimes they just built towers to look cool.=)
Depends on the tower. You can flood it with water and make a water drainage puzzle, or have multi-floor puzzles involving ropes, falling down, etc.
Wind puzzles are also possible; perhaps the only way you can reach the boss lair is to glide across a chasm. But for that, you'll need to find a special item and/or activate a series of fans or similar devices.
Be creative -- borrow ideas from games with great dungeons, like Zelda and Xenosaga, and put your own twists on them. Maybe you want your tower to be a gauntlet of sorts, with a powerful encounter on each floor.
Wind puzzles are also possible; perhaps the only way you can reach the boss lair is to glide across a chasm. But for that, you'll need to find a special item and/or activate a series of fans or similar devices.
Be creative -- borrow ideas from games with great dungeons, like Zelda and Xenosaga, and put your own twists on them. Maybe you want your tower to be a gauntlet of sorts, with a powerful encounter on each floor.
I just designed something great looking, and I already have one tower invaded by angels with pitfalls and such. So I think this new tower, I am going to have stealth gameplay, like sneaking past guards.
post=133667
I just designed something great looking, and I already have one tower invaded by angels with pitfalls and such. So I think this new tower, I am going to have stealth gameplay, like sneaking past guards.
That's awesome! I had a similar sequence in Carlsev Saga I, albeit pretty straightforward. I think it had only 18 guards. The hard part is programming walking guards. I was a newbie at the time, so I came up with this BS story that the helmets blocked the guards' peripheral vision.
Try to give the player some leeway. It can get a little annoying if they have no margin for error. It's also a good idea to offer a bonus item if they evade all the guards, unless you throw them out automatically when they get spotted.
... at least you had a story. This might be off topic, but my game has no story, you just kind of go. Everyone in town is helpful, but there is no story.
I was thinking about having a box to let you sneak past. The leeway is you fight the guards. Good idea about the reward :-)
I was thinking about having a box to let you sneak past. The leeway is you fight the guards. Good idea about the reward :-)
Ah, okay. The box idea might be pretty interesting. Perhaps some form of distractions? In my sequence, I had the character create noises to distract guards. It worked pretty well, and wasn't too difficult to code.
Realistically a defensive tower (on a castle or whatever) would nearly always be circular, but that's kind of hard to do in RPG Maker graphics, so what about an octagon? It's pretty simple to make a diagonal wall tile, and it would definitely help the map look like the inside of a tower (a square map would just look like any other building).
I would say that a good tower dungeon should make the player go out in the open air from time to time. Like, maybe a door is locked, so you have to climb out of a high window, shuffle along a ledge and climb in another window, stuff like that. That's not a hard and fast rule, of course, and not all towers will have windows you can climb out of. You've just got to avoid having the player just walking from staircase to staircase on every floor.
If it's some kind of temple or religious building you could have a fixed test or mini-boss on every floor like the pagoda in Wutai, and at the top you get an ultimate weapon.
I would say that a good tower dungeon should make the player go out in the open air from time to time. Like, maybe a door is locked, so you have to climb out of a high window, shuffle along a ledge and climb in another window, stuff like that. That's not a hard and fast rule, of course, and not all towers will have windows you can climb out of. You've just got to avoid having the player just walking from staircase to staircase on every floor.
If it's some kind of temple or religious building you could have a fixed test or mini-boss on every floor like the pagoda in Wutai, and at the top you get an ultimate weapon.
I totally forgot about the defensive properties of a tower. I was thinking more towers that are in the middle of no where, instead of attatched to a castle.
The Sears Tower is very square, but making something square in RPG maker RTP just looks very lazy.
I like your ideas Dave about going out in the open air! I am going to implament them right now. As for mini bosses, I have them in all my dungeons. A variety of difficult monsters you must face. This tower I am making has gargoyles as mini bosses and bandits patroling back and forth. Of course when you fight the bandits, it is not always bandits in the enemy party.
The Sears Tower is very square, but making something square in RPG maker RTP just looks very lazy.
I like your ideas Dave about going out in the open air! I am going to implament them right now. As for mini bosses, I have them in all my dungeons. A variety of difficult monsters you must face. This tower I am making has gargoyles as mini bosses and bandits patroling back and forth. Of course when you fight the bandits, it is not always bandits in the enemy party.
Shinan
4314
post=133700
Realistically a defensive tower (on a castle or whatever) would nearly always be circular, but that's kind of hard to do in RPG Maker graphics, so what about an octagon? It's pretty simple to make a diagonal wall tile, and it would definitely help the map look like the inside of a tower (a square map would just look like any other building).
Actually towers weren't circular until the invention of cannons. (because a circular structure deflect cannonballs a lot better than a square one) The most important part of a defensive tower is the clockwise upward stairway. So that (right handed) people can defend against people trying to get up a tower. While the attackers will have a harder time because they can't get a good sword blow in with a wall in the way.
For proper towers though. Just play some Sim Tower.
Yes, all 104 floors. The year after 9/11 happened, I took my friend to Chicago, it was her first time there. Coming down from the Sears Tower's observation deck, they put you out on the street in a special exit only. There were 4 men taking pictures in front of the exit only. They were all posing for several photos. In front of a security checkpoint that outside of being an exit, it was just a wall. There was nothing to see there.
It looked very suspiscious.
As for my tower in game, it is 6 floors, complete with an outside that you can edge along and find treasures and monsters. :-) You also need to get past the guards to get in. There is a sign that reads "stay out of sight...."
It looked very suspiscious.
As for my tower in game, it is 6 floors, complete with an outside that you can edge along and find treasures and monsters. :-) You also need to get past the guards to get in. There is a sign that reads "stay out of sight...."
post=133671
... at least you had a story. This might be off topic, but my game has no story, you just kind of go. Everyone in town is helpful, but there is no story.
What? Don't do that. Why would you do that?
Speak of off-topic... I'm working on a 40-floor tower meself. :D
I'm not sure how I'm gonna make it work yet, but there'll be no skipping. It's all about the climb.
Hmmm how to make a good tower. Anyone play Final Fantasy Legend I or II? That game was all about the climb!
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
My game has an invisible tower built by the gods. But the gods do not understand the concept of concealment and made it be only invisible from the inside.
This saved me a lot of work mapping.
This saved me a lot of work mapping.
