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P6 Blog #9 Elemental Dungeons

  • J-Man
  • 03/09/2017 03:34 PM
  • 1464 views
Hey ya'll, Jaymonius here with some stuff to discuss.

So, as per the Phantasia tradition, there'll be elemental themed dungeons, but I want to add a little more oomph to these dungeons as these dungeons will be optional to complete, but they will have to be completed eventually in the story. So they can be completed at your own pace until the point in time when said dungeons need to be completed to further the story, the enemies in said dungeon will be based on the strength of the current party up until a certain point, so for the most part, the stronger you are, the stronger they'll be.

Thing is, I want these Elemental Dungeons to be very highly puzzle based, and I recently just implemented Casper Gaming's Dungeon Tools script with a few tweaks here and there to help with my tool per character thing.

As an example, whenever Fran is the party leader she can shoot fireballs, which can be used to hit objects from afar to solve puzzles, among other uses. (I'm thinking what to implement with that.) So, naturally, Fran will be required for a lot of water and fire based puzzles. (As an example.)

Now, to stop beating around the bush. WHO WANTS TO HELP ME MAKE SOME DUNGEONS! :D I require people's expertise in making a Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Dark and Light dungeon. Anyone with some good dungeon design ideas they'd like to share and help out with, that'd be awesome, and it'd help speed up production too. :D

I'm open for input, GIMME INPUT! Well, until next time. :P

Posts

Pages: 1
Noel_Kreiss
332
03/09/2017 10:59 PM
I can offer some ideas:
  • Fire: Since you said that Fran will shoot fireballs, let's go with that. Have unreachable goblets that need to be fires to open up doors (I know, lame). You could also use it to burn vines or ropes that hold an object (IIRC Tales of Symphonia or its sequel had something to do with that in that dungeon with water and electricity).
  • Water: There could be pits in which planks are located. The player could fill a goblet associated with a pit with water resulting in that pit filling in water as well and lifting the plank allowing the party to cross it. You could make a limit of how many pits can be filled and/or empty.
  • Earth: You could make very heavy objects that require to be pushed into tile switches and/or, like Tales of Zestiria and Berseria, crushable objects that block the path. Or you could lift objects and toss them into distance, also onto tile switches. You know, "strong as earth" and all that jazz.
  • Wind: There could be objects across the ledges that could be pushed away with a blow of wind into some crank or something (the crank could even be used to "transport" objects from an upper level to the lower; think Tales of Symphonia's Martel Temple IIRC). There could also be faraway windmills that depending on the direction its facing unlocks some paths, while locks away others.
  • Dark: You could make something like a stealth game that requires briefly turning the light on to pass through guards (not fightable, they would kick you to the room before, or at the start of that room) within a given time limit.
  • Light: Since it's Light I think colors would be a pretty cool idea. Like you need to shine few colors on an orb (in a ray or something) and mixing the colors to get a new color which would correspond to one of the colored doors.


Hopefully others can also offer some ideas.
hedge1
862
03/18/2017 11:07 AM
It would be helpful to know what other dungeon abilities you have access to. Is it just shooting fire? Also, have you played Lufia 2? When I want puzzle ideas, I always go back to that game for ideas.

author=Noel_Kreiss
helpful ideas


  • Fire: I like the ropes burning idea. Actually, you could maybe combine a couple of ideas here, like manipulating lava to burn blockades or release other essential items (like gems falling and creating a path through the lava, or a metal plate creating a ramp). Maybe do something with steam and pipes to impact areas of the dungeon further away? Or drop something burnable into the lava to create an updraft that lifts something?
  • Water: Since "fill and empty" has been done so many times before, maybe try to look more at the flow of water for puzzles? What is the water pushing against? Is it turning things? Activating things? The electricity comment Noel made with Tales of Symphonia is also really cool, as you could use water to create circuits or to short out electrical machines.
  • Earth: Maybe try something with earth moving and shaking? So entire levels rising up or falling down, or large cracks that reveal what's underneath? This would more or less create a maze of paths to get through.
  • Wind: Windmills sound pretty fun, since they combine wind with virtually anything else (platforms, doors, bridges). You could actually have a mechanized vibe to all four of the first elements (metal and fire, electricity and water, windmills and wind, and Earth and, ummm....)
  • Dark: I like the stealth idea. That would give some variety to the mostly traversal elements presented thus far.
  • Light: I like Noel's idea here a lot! I don't think I've actually seen a puzzle in a game yet where you have to add or subtract colors from things to create new colors in order to progress. Even people who aren't familiar with the color wheel can learn what makes what through trial and error, making it a fully viable option.
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