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[Joshua]

Will acquiring the random treasure actually impact gameplay? Or just more flavor on the intro screen?

I'll keep my wild assumptions to myself what a new tileset might mean. 

[JasonPickering]

Well That is still up in the air. I have a few ideas, but not sure what will come of them. I am still playing around with the idea of Items/skills. Its a good way to make the player have a different play through, but they need to actually use the items for that to occur. The main problem is that the player doesn't need items to beat the game, so most people do not use them.

One of the ideas I had was that when you picked up the jewel it gave you some type of power there by making your return different, but that didn't make much sense, because it would mean that the last half of a dungeon run would be easier then the first half. I am still stuck with a difficulty option since just adding more guys doesn't automatically make the game harder.

The next idea was to perhaps make the game harder by giving the jewel a "Guardian". a Special Unkillable Enemy that would chase the player back through all 4 floors. This would of course only appear once the player grabs the treasure.

[Sleight]

@Jason

are you always some random adventurer who is running in grabbing stuff and the castle just accumulates these treasures, meaning the castle is persistent and you are expendable? Should each expendable character be different?

I really like this idea of yours. Whenever your character dies, he could be replaced by another random adventurer, with a random outfit, hairstyle and special ability.

The next idea was to perhaps make the game harder by giving the jewel a "Guardian". a Special Unkillable Enemy that would chase the player back through all 4 floors. This would of course only appear once the player grabs the treasure.

This would be great, too. Maybe each dungeon type could have its own unique guardian? The cave could have a golem, the forest a troll, the graveyard a vampire, and so on. I imagine that the guardian would be asleep inside the treasure room, but would wake up shortly after you grab the treasure. He’d then chase you like the Dark Lord from your testing builds.   

As for the gameplay idea that I posted last time, I’d like to expand on it a bit.

Let’s say, for example, that you decide to include a total of 20 enemies into the game. These can be ordered by increasing difficulty or behavioural complexity, so that enemy #1 is the rat, #2 is the yeti, #3 is the blob, and so on. Let’s also say that you include a total of 6 dungeon types. These can be ordered by increasing “exoticness” or “coolness”, so that type #1 is the cave, #2 is the forest, #3 is the graveyard, and so on. Finally, let’s say that you include 3 different types of trap, which can likewise be ordered by increasing trickiness or complexity.

Here, then, is how I’d imagine the gameplay to progress:

- When you begin a new save file, the first dungeon that you enter is always a cave (i.e. type #1) and only contains rats (i.e. enemy #1). It also has no traps. This dungeon is obviously very easy to complete, and its purpose is to introduce you to the game’s basic mechanics.

- After you return the treasure to the king, enemy #2 and dungeon type #2 are added to the selection pool. This means that the second dungeon that you enter can be either a cave or a forest, and that it can contain yetis as well as rats.

- The more dungeons you complete, the more the selection pool is increased. Here’s how this might work:

A new enemy is added to the pool after every completion.
A new dungeon type is added after 1, 3, 5, 10 and 15 completions.
A new trap is added after 5, 10 and 15 completions.

(After 20 completions, the king’s treasure pile will have reached its full size and you’ll be able to keep playing just for fun.)

Obviously these are just numbers that I’ve chosen at random. The main point behind all this is that the player’s progress is rewarded by a continuous expansion of the gameplay. I imagine that this would help keep things fresh and exciting throughout the game. Your thoughts? 

[JasonPickering]

A lot of that is kind of what I have planned. In your gameplay breakdown are you thinking that the game resets upon death? or do is the count of wins continuous?

[Sleight]

Resetting upon death would be a bit harsh, so I'm thinking that the game would permanently save your number of completions. The player's character, though, would change after every death. Let's say, for example, that you start off with the current character--the guy with the blue outfit and the red beard. If he gets killed, the game will cut back to the castle and show a new, different-looking adventurer approaching the king. I think it would be fun to show that each adventurer is completely expendable--just a tool that the king uses to get rich.

[JasonPickering]

Hey should have a new build soon. adding in some new enemies and reworked the entire collisions system and fixed all the bugs that cropped up from that.

[JasonPickering]

wow, so that took forever to get an update out. Been very busy with the holidays and visiting family so work has been slow, but I finally have a new build. Its at my blog (which I hope to start actually posting on very soon).

My Blog

this one take into account the players win. to reset just hit R and as you play more enemies are added. I actually don't think this is as fun. I kind of like the big anything goes of the older version, where you had no idea what was coming at you. so I might drop it and just give the player a huge amount of content in the beginning

can anyone tell me how stuff works for the binding of issac. Does that game just have a tremendous amount of stuff in the begining? or is their actual progression? aside from like achievements. I always liked the way that game felt with feeling so different. same with the feel of spelunky.

[DustyDrake]

why are we a ninja now.

[JasonPickering]

Sorry should have explained that. To add to the disposable nature of heroes in roguelike style games. I wants to make you a different person after you die. It randomly selects a new hero after you at killed. I also wanted to swap the ninja out for something a little more monstery. The one thing though people really liked the ninja so I figured why not and added that as one  of the player sprites.

[DustyDrake]

then why do we turn back into a dwarf temporarily during the ending scene?

[JasonPickering]

Ah crap, I will fix that right now. you should end as whoever you exit as.

Edit: Fixed for the next build.

[alastair]

Maybe the slimes could change the colour of your movement tile highlight thing from blue to purple so you know its different and not a bug.

[JasonPickering]

I mIght actually tint the player sprite. I am afraid that just the move would be to hard to see. It will tint purple like the enemies do when frozen.

[JasonPickering]

I should have a new build up this weekend. The game is going pretty good and the randomization feels pretty good, making each playthrough completely different. I have still have a lot of stuff I want to add to it, but I think a big question is knowing how much initial content to have in something. cause I could probably spend a year just adding new things, but its getting to a point where I really need to go ahead and release this game.

[happymonster]

On the topic of randomization, it feels like this design constantly changes. That's not a bad thing, I like the 'organic' design method myself based on what works and what doesn't.