Dungeon Generator Update

Early Access update here! The dungeon's random generator is now active. But it's not the plain old procedural generator from the YouTube video a few months back. After tinkering with some different random level generators on Unity I thought, what's stopping me from doing something like this with Ogre Dungeon? Turns out, nothing was stopping me. So I wrote a custom dungeon generator based on my experience with Unity. Somebody somewhere probably already did this but me, I'm calling it the "stamp generator" because it works a little bit like a paper stamp. Where you plugin the new script, the next floor is generated procedurally...

New Dungeon Generator: Procedural Paperstamp?

When a new game starts, a pool of 25x25 tile small maps get generated. Then, another pool of bigger maps is generated. The game takes the first pool of small maps, shuffles them, and then randomly combines them into larger grids. So the second pool of maps generate as 75x75 tile maps with a random assortment of 9 small maps in a 3x3 grid... I hope that makes sense. So, effectively, you are stamping 9 smaller randomized maps onto 1 larger map to create one randomly generated floor of the dungeon. Each smaller map has it's own randomization processes within the overall floor map's processes. I'm excited to see how this plays out in terms of replay value and unique runs.

Updates & Changes to Game Mechanics

• Ogre Dungeon was originally designed to be pretty dire and hardcore but it just so happens that it seems to be attracting a much more casual-friendly player base. I mean, in reality there's no reason I can't take all the hardcore stuff that's already there and tag it as it's own game mode to let players really stretch their legs and just enjoy the game. So that's something I have been working on. At the character creation screen, there is a new toggle option for "hard mode + permadeath".

• I suddenly realized during testing that there was no way to easily close out the game. This has been fixed with a new exit button.

• Magic now interacts with the environment. For example, if an ice area of effect spell touches a water tile then the water tile will freeze and can be walked on. In future updates, the other elements will also interact with the environment. (I am currently working on a fire/burning system that will interact with Ogre behavior... Ogres from the Ogre Dungeon don't like fire.)

• A cave-in system is now active. The crumbling dungeon has been in disrepair so long, some areas may be structurally weak. Certain behaviors can cause rubble to fall that will damage players and enemies alike.

• Shrines, Fountains, Escape Ropes, and Portals now spawn randomly according to grid sector. This should result in more opportunities to escape the dungeon and go back to town.

• Stairways are now locked and need 1 gold key to unlock. Players will need to search the dungeon for each floor's key.

• The dungeon map has been changed somewhat. Each floor now has it's own map. Players can find a magic map on each floor that lets them see the layout, exits, and rare monsters. Once a player finds a map for that floor, it will be usable even when leaving and coming back to that floor of the dungeon.

Updates & Changes to Monsters

• In keeping with the "dungeon environment" theme of this update, monsters now roam their preferred habitats rather than spawning wherever. Skeletons prefer crypts, zombies like dirt ground to burst up from, spiders like caves and dark corners, etc.

• Rare Spawn monsters now appear on the mini-map as red dots. Beware these creatures! Rare Spawn monsters are tough and aggressive.

Lastly, a debug item has been added. The "Hearthstone" is for if something goes wrong with the dungeon generator and the player needs to teleport back to town. Since this is a custom generation system, I am still working out some kinks. There is so far 1 known generator bug where sometimes it fails to spawn the player after generation and the screen just stays black. This is not a crash or lock. If this happens, simply use your "Hearthstone" and it will send you back to town. This item is a temporary fix until I can figure out a better way to deal with the spawning.

Thank you to everyone who has showed their support! More to come!