Example games – Etrian Odyssey (DS), Shiren the Wanderer (Wii/DS), Diablo 2 (PC), SMT: Strange Journey (DS)
This is a quick look at some strengths of the genre with examples from games that use them well. This isn’t intended to be comprehensive, just a quick glance of stuff I would try and utilize if I were making a game in this genre.
Exploration: One of the strongest pulls of a dungeon crawl is wanting to see what’s around the corner. Typically a level of a dungeon crawl begins with exploration and ends when the map is fully uncovered (or at least proceeds to a boss fight).
Games like Shiren the Wanderer, Nethack or Diablo use randomly generated maps that can be explored in a short amount of time. These maps are usually pretty simple in structure so it isn’t very difficult to write level generators. They employ a diverse set of items and opponents which lend themselves each separately to unique tactics. Because opponents and items are well designed, when they are randomly scattered throughout a map, they often appear intelligently placed, suggesting a particular playstyle. When items and enemies interact in consistently unique ways, they can be employed randomly to give the impression that the random level generator is considerably more intelligent than it is. Furthermore, they’ll lead the player through the level who will constantly be wondering what secret is hiding behind each corner. If the player thinks the level generator is smart (whether it is or not), he will be more excited about what’s around each corner.
In comparison, games like Etrian Odyssey and SMT: Strange Journey use pre-built dungeons to create similar feelings. Although the encounters with opponents in both games are random on each step and have little to do with your location on the map, both games place items and strong opponents visible on the map for exploration. Because the level was actually designed by a person, the player will immediately assume they are intelligently designed to reward exploration. Good map design will enforce this feeling and drive the player to explore every nook and cranny. Unlike the previous games who can make maps on the fly and thus push players through maps pretty quickly, games with pre-built maps tend to be more dangerous requiring slower, cautious movement though each level. This allows the smaller amount of human generated content to provide extended play to compete with randomly generated dungeon crawls. It also makes discovery even more fulfilling since the act itself often requires multiple trips into the same map.
Resource Management: Whether it’s as simple as making sure you always have enough health potions with you in Diablo 2 or as complex as managing the charges on 8 different staves and making sure all your riceballs are stored in pots in Shiren the Wanderer, resource management plays a big role in dungeon crawls. Like exploration, however, it is used differently for different types of games.
In most dungeon crawls with randomly generated maps, the player expects to find most of what he needs on the field and only rarely supplement it with items bought from merchants. In these games, the player will rarely have the opportunity to buy goods at the shop or the cost of getting to a shop is high. Resource management in such an environment is about using the items you get on the field as efficiently as possible, saving powerful items for times when there’s no other option. The player’s goal is to consume useful items at a slower rate than he finds them. Thus, it is extremely important that a lot of effort is put into how items are distributed across the maps. If the game is too generous, the player will too often have powerful options open to him, trivializing the game and undermining any feeling of danger. If it’s too stingy, the player can blame his loss on the level generator, losing faith in its intelligence and undermining a large part of the appeal of these sorts of games.
In comparison, Etrian Odyssey and SMT: Journey only allow player to purchase most items at a readily available shop. Often, being able to progress through a map requires stronger equipment than the player enters with, so he will have to get loot off opponents to sell at the shop so that he can purchase better equipment. Resource management in this sort of situation is often of the push-your-luck variety. Players slowly lose health in progressive battles as they move away from the shop and safe zone. But the farther they are from home, the richer the rewards are. Good players are encouraged to carefully figure out how far they can go without dying, making the generally considered negative style of play “grinding” both difficult and mentally engaging. Players will slowly realize how far their resources (health and mana) can take them in a pass, as well as the most effective manner of employing their health and mana in individual fights. When a player fully understands the best manner to get money and experience in a zone, he should have enough to move on to the next and start again. This requires a game to have a carefully scripted amount of money and experience to finish a map so the player doesn’t spend so much time there he grows bored and calls it grinding, and so the player doesn’t bust through the area so quickly and easily he doesn’t ever get a sense for the carefully designed advancement scheme. It also requires enough unique monsters that grinding on one level can feel completely different than grinding on another, making sure the player is always on their feet.
Customization: Dungeon Crawls often have heavily customizable play experiences (Shiren the Wanderer being a notable exception). Often they will allow a player to choose a race and/or class combo for the character. In party based games, they will ask the player to build his party from scratch, choosing each characters class and what skills they get as they level up. Good customization makes a game very replayable (important for games where death can bring you back to the beginning like Rogue). It also gives the player a hand in creating the experience, drawing him further into the desire to make the experience a worthwhile one. Finally, it gives the player another game system to learn that hopefully blends well with the others in play so that learning each character and how it interacts with all the available items and monsters will provide a huge amount of unique system interaction for the player to play through. The character customizations must be balanced such that multiple builds can succeed (but not necessarily all builds, or no choice is interesting anymore as a system, only as flavor) or else players will quickly learn the optimal build, it will be posted online, and no one will play anything else. Also, the abilities of different character/party builds must provide significantly unique and interesting interactions with monsters and/or items. Otherwise all builds will feel the same and there will be no incentive for replaying from a different perspective.
Genre Strengths – Dungeon Crawl
This is a quick look at some strengths of the genre with examples from games that use them well. This isn’t intended to be comprehensive, just a quick glance of stuff I would try and utilize if I were making a game in this genre.
Exploration: One of the strongest pulls of a dungeon crawl is wanting to see what’s around the corner. Typically a level of a dungeon crawl begins with exploration and ends when the map is fully uncovered (or at least proceeds to a boss fight).
Games like Shiren the Wanderer, Nethack or Diablo use randomly generated maps that can be explored in a short amount of time. These maps are usually pretty simple in structure so it isn’t very difficult to write level generators. They employ a diverse set of items and opponents which lend themselves each separately to unique tactics. Because opponents and items are well designed, when they are randomly scattered throughout a map, they often appear intelligently placed, suggesting a particular playstyle. When items and enemies interact in consistently unique ways, they can be employed randomly to give the impression that the random level generator is considerably more intelligent than it is. Furthermore, they’ll lead the player through the level who will constantly be wondering what secret is hiding behind each corner. If the player thinks the level generator is smart (whether it is or not), he will be more excited about what’s around each corner.
In comparison, games like Etrian Odyssey and SMT: Strange Journey use pre-built dungeons to create similar feelings. Although the encounters with opponents in both games are random on each step and have little to do with your location on the map, both games place items and strong opponents visible on the map for exploration. Because the level was actually designed by a person, the player will immediately assume they are intelligently designed to reward exploration. Good map design will enforce this feeling and drive the player to explore every nook and cranny. Unlike the previous games who can make maps on the fly and thus push players through maps pretty quickly, games with pre-built maps tend to be more dangerous requiring slower, cautious movement though each level. This allows the smaller amount of human generated content to provide extended play to compete with randomly generated dungeon crawls. It also makes discovery even more fulfilling since the act itself often requires multiple trips into the same map.
Resource Management: Whether it’s as simple as making sure you always have enough health potions with you in Diablo 2 or as complex as managing the charges on 8 different staves and making sure all your riceballs are stored in pots in Shiren the Wanderer, resource management plays a big role in dungeon crawls. Like exploration, however, it is used differently for different types of games.
In most dungeon crawls with randomly generated maps, the player expects to find most of what he needs on the field and only rarely supplement it with items bought from merchants. In these games, the player will rarely have the opportunity to buy goods at the shop or the cost of getting to a shop is high. Resource management in such an environment is about using the items you get on the field as efficiently as possible, saving powerful items for times when there’s no other option. The player’s goal is to consume useful items at a slower rate than he finds them. Thus, it is extremely important that a lot of effort is put into how items are distributed across the maps. If the game is too generous, the player will too often have powerful options open to him, trivializing the game and undermining any feeling of danger. If it’s too stingy, the player can blame his loss on the level generator, losing faith in its intelligence and undermining a large part of the appeal of these sorts of games.
In comparison, Etrian Odyssey and SMT: Journey only allow player to purchase most items at a readily available shop. Often, being able to progress through a map requires stronger equipment than the player enters with, so he will have to get loot off opponents to sell at the shop so that he can purchase better equipment. Resource management in this sort of situation is often of the push-your-luck variety. Players slowly lose health in progressive battles as they move away from the shop and safe zone. But the farther they are from home, the richer the rewards are. Good players are encouraged to carefully figure out how far they can go without dying, making the generally considered negative style of play “grinding” both difficult and mentally engaging. Players will slowly realize how far their resources (health and mana) can take them in a pass, as well as the most effective manner of employing their health and mana in individual fights. When a player fully understands the best manner to get money and experience in a zone, he should have enough to move on to the next and start again. This requires a game to have a carefully scripted amount of money and experience to finish a map so the player doesn’t spend so much time there he grows bored and calls it grinding, and so the player doesn’t bust through the area so quickly and easily he doesn’t ever get a sense for the carefully designed advancement scheme. It also requires enough unique monsters that grinding on one level can feel completely different than grinding on another, making sure the player is always on their feet.
Customization: Dungeon Crawls often have heavily customizable play experiences (Shiren the Wanderer being a notable exception). Often they will allow a player to choose a race and/or class combo for the character. In party based games, they will ask the player to build his party from scratch, choosing each characters class and what skills they get as they level up. Good customization makes a game very replayable (important for games where death can bring you back to the beginning like Rogue). It also gives the player a hand in creating the experience, drawing him further into the desire to make the experience a worthwhile one. Finally, it gives the player another game system to learn that hopefully blends well with the others in play so that learning each character and how it interacts with all the available items and monsters will provide a huge amount of unique system interaction for the player to play through. The character customizations must be balanced such that multiple builds can succeed (but not necessarily all builds, or no choice is interesting anymore as a system, only as flavor) or else players will quickly learn the optimal build, it will be posted online, and no one will play anything else. Also, the abilities of different character/party builds must provide significantly unique and interesting interactions with monsters and/or items. Otherwise all builds will feel the same and there will be no incentive for replaying from a different perspective.