Greep
2011-04-13, 10:16 PM
For a while I've been designing a sort of roguelike/adventure game hybrid and I've come to this forum every once in a while for random ideas which have proved very helpful. It's going to play sort of like if Link were a fighter mage in a typical rogue-like. Previously I've tried doing random dungeons the way Spelunky did, which is to make set chunks and put them together like a jigsaw. However, that doesn't work particularly well with the smaller room size I've been trying which makes sure there's no odd deactivation going on. So I decided to just make a bajillion rooms by hand. I've made a C++ code which takes a text file and coverts the little ascii map I make into the room design code for Game Maker.
The process is pretty fun, and I need quite a few of these rooms, so I'll describe how to make one if anyone decides they want to help. Unfortunately I can only show examples via downloaded text files, as different character widths make the dungeons look like garbage on a forum.
So here's how it works:
Download this text file Meh - Copy.txt - 1.4 KB (http://uploading.com/files/179e61m9/Meh%2B-%2BCopy.txt/) This shows the room's boundary in the form of walls, shown as Ws. And simply fill it in with how you want the dungeon to work with the following Legend (All characters are capital):
Space = Everyday dungeon space. Don't use tab or it will not register correctly.
W= Wall Tile - a solid wall
A = Water Tile - I honestly don't have the mechanics of shallow water worked out completely, but it will probably slow you down considerably at least
L = Lava Tile - Final fantasy-esque lava. Doesn't kill you, just does a decent amount of damage when walking on it.
M = Monster - A random non-pack monster
U = Up stairs - Duh. However, stairs simply take you to the appropriate room and plop you at the corresponding stair type. There isn't necessarily a down stair directly above you, it might be in the opposite corner of the previous room instead.
D = down stairs
1 (the number one) = Misc Object - Essentially an object you design. I'm still adding stuff to the game so you can suggest stuff and I may add it in, although recylging is preferred ;) Examples include torches, statues, dangerous objects that shoot stuff, magical objects that magic stuff. Keep in mind how large you want them to be when designing a room. If e.g. misc object is a very large statue, it will need lots of empty space.
2 = Misc OBject 2- in case you need two different types of misc objects.
3 = Misc Object 3
T = Random Trap - includes teleporters, confusion poison, poison, pits, etc
4 = specific trap - just in case, say, you wanted specifically this trap to be a teleporter
5 = specific trap 2
6 = specific trap 3
E = elite monster - A monster much stronger than normal. Not a boss (I'm designing those rooms personally :P). Since I really can't have more than about 15 monsters per room for lag reasons, if you want a tough area it's nice to throw in some of these.
S = Swarm monsters - Put a single S and say a swarm of bats/gremlins/rats or other small but annoying creatures spawn. Needs 7x7 empty space
7 = Grouped Monster - A variety of monsters of a specific random type type will camp at that location. All will "activated" when a single one is in view. Examples might be a bunch of goblins and goblin mages or something.
8 = Grouped Monster 2
C = Chest
O (captial o) = Loot (lesser chests basically)
9 = Custom monster - I've designed a lot of monsters, so if you want one that specifically does something, like is highly magical, demonic, giant, really fast, etc, I can find or make one that'll fit the decription.
I = invisible walls. Look like walls but you just ignore them and walk right through
P = Warp - a teleporter that takes you to the other teleporter in the room. Always one of a pair if it exists. They take up their tile and the tile above them.
Notes:
-Generally give a 3x3 space for every monster
-The player cannot use a ladder while enemies are on the screen, so it's a nice place to make "forced" battles if you want them. Exceptions include a spellcaster using the mouse spell, and warps can be used with monsters around
-The game is real-time and various player abilities include spin attack, charge attack, sprint, blink (short teleport), destroy wall, typical spells like fireball, etc. Mana also does not regenerate, you simply get a lot of it per dungeon
In story mode, dungeons are typically 15+ levels of dungeon with a boss at the end.
-If there's absolutely no monsters, absolutely not ladders, or absolutely no loot, they will be randomly generated unless you specifically tell me not to have that happen.
- The character is only 1x2 but monster may be bigger. Best to design a dungeon so a 2x2 object can progress through any area without moving diagonally.
-Keep in mind that while a dungeon may LOOK tall on notepad, this is an illusion since characters are taller then their width. The actual dungeon boundaires I've shown create a room 2000 pixels wide by 1600 pixels, which is slightly WIDE
-Don't worry about the little details. I'm not grumpy or anything, so don't be afraid to make a dungeon that you think might break some rules by accident.
Here's some examples I've whipped up:
Example1.txt - 1.4 KB (http://uploading.com/files/2f992e51/Example1.txt/) - in this case "1" is some statues
Example2.txt - 1.4 KB (http://uploading.com/files/c3949397/Example2.txt/)
Window Room.txt - 1.4 KB (http://uploading.com/files/26a1e7c1/Window%2BRoom.txt/)
And this is one I had to change because a 2x2 could move diagonally but not vertically and horizontally only through the zig zags. Also it turned out to be be pretty boring :/
Zig-Zag Room.txt - 1.4 KB (http://uploading.com/files/5aemf87m/Zig-Zag%2BRoom.txt/)
The process is pretty fun, and I need quite a few of these rooms, so I'll describe how to make one if anyone decides they want to help. Unfortunately I can only show examples via downloaded text files, as different character widths make the dungeons look like garbage on a forum.
So here's how it works:
Download this text file Meh - Copy.txt - 1.4 KB (http://uploading.com/files/179e61m9/Meh%2B-%2BCopy.txt/) This shows the room's boundary in the form of walls, shown as Ws. And simply fill it in with how you want the dungeon to work with the following Legend (All characters are capital):
Space = Everyday dungeon space. Don't use tab or it will not register correctly.
W= Wall Tile - a solid wall
A = Water Tile - I honestly don't have the mechanics of shallow water worked out completely, but it will probably slow you down considerably at least
L = Lava Tile - Final fantasy-esque lava. Doesn't kill you, just does a decent amount of damage when walking on it.
M = Monster - A random non-pack monster
U = Up stairs - Duh. However, stairs simply take you to the appropriate room and plop you at the corresponding stair type. There isn't necessarily a down stair directly above you, it might be in the opposite corner of the previous room instead.
D = down stairs
1 (the number one) = Misc Object - Essentially an object you design. I'm still adding stuff to the game so you can suggest stuff and I may add it in, although recylging is preferred ;) Examples include torches, statues, dangerous objects that shoot stuff, magical objects that magic stuff. Keep in mind how large you want them to be when designing a room. If e.g. misc object is a very large statue, it will need lots of empty space.
2 = Misc OBject 2- in case you need two different types of misc objects.
3 = Misc Object 3
T = Random Trap - includes teleporters, confusion poison, poison, pits, etc
4 = specific trap - just in case, say, you wanted specifically this trap to be a teleporter
5 = specific trap 2
6 = specific trap 3
E = elite monster - A monster much stronger than normal. Not a boss (I'm designing those rooms personally :P). Since I really can't have more than about 15 monsters per room for lag reasons, if you want a tough area it's nice to throw in some of these.
S = Swarm monsters - Put a single S and say a swarm of bats/gremlins/rats or other small but annoying creatures spawn. Needs 7x7 empty space
7 = Grouped Monster - A variety of monsters of a specific random type type will camp at that location. All will "activated" when a single one is in view. Examples might be a bunch of goblins and goblin mages or something.
8 = Grouped Monster 2
C = Chest
O (captial o) = Loot (lesser chests basically)
9 = Custom monster - I've designed a lot of monsters, so if you want one that specifically does something, like is highly magical, demonic, giant, really fast, etc, I can find or make one that'll fit the decription.
I = invisible walls. Look like walls but you just ignore them and walk right through
P = Warp - a teleporter that takes you to the other teleporter in the room. Always one of a pair if it exists. They take up their tile and the tile above them.
Notes:
-Generally give a 3x3 space for every monster
-The player cannot use a ladder while enemies are on the screen, so it's a nice place to make "forced" battles if you want them. Exceptions include a spellcaster using the mouse spell, and warps can be used with monsters around
-The game is real-time and various player abilities include spin attack, charge attack, sprint, blink (short teleport), destroy wall, typical spells like fireball, etc. Mana also does not regenerate, you simply get a lot of it per dungeon
In story mode, dungeons are typically 15+ levels of dungeon with a boss at the end.
-If there's absolutely no monsters, absolutely not ladders, or absolutely no loot, they will be randomly generated unless you specifically tell me not to have that happen.
- The character is only 1x2 but monster may be bigger. Best to design a dungeon so a 2x2 object can progress through any area without moving diagonally.
-Keep in mind that while a dungeon may LOOK tall on notepad, this is an illusion since characters are taller then their width. The actual dungeon boundaires I've shown create a room 2000 pixels wide by 1600 pixels, which is slightly WIDE
-Don't worry about the little details. I'm not grumpy or anything, so don't be afraid to make a dungeon that you think might break some rules by accident.
Here's some examples I've whipped up:
Example1.txt - 1.4 KB (http://uploading.com/files/2f992e51/Example1.txt/) - in this case "1" is some statues
Example2.txt - 1.4 KB (http://uploading.com/files/c3949397/Example2.txt/)
Window Room.txt - 1.4 KB (http://uploading.com/files/26a1e7c1/Window%2BRoom.txt/)
And this is one I had to change because a 2x2 could move diagonally but not vertically and horizontally only through the zig zags. Also it turned out to be be pretty boring :/
Zig-Zag Room.txt - 1.4 KB (http://uploading.com/files/5aemf87m/Zig-Zag%2BRoom.txt/)