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[Rasher]

I've been thinking about this for a while now and started working on it about 3 weeks ago.

My original idea was similar to those multiplayer-paint games (like drawball.com), only with platformer elements. you could teleport to any location and get specific abilities/items via capsules (megaman?) to complete a certain drawn area. In the end, I decided it would not be much fun, because  people would destroy other people's areas or have size limits, when someone builds too close to them.

Then I read the "dungeonbuilders open design doc" thread on this forum, and thought that this would be a way better system for the levels. Basically, everyone has a dungeon and a player. You would receive gold for beating dungeons, which you can spend on items to improve your own dungeon. If your dungeon kills another player, you gain rating (elo system) and the dead player loses rating. You also get rewarded with gold for completing a a dungeon, which can be spend on improving your own dungeon. Players/dungeons with be matched automtically based on their current ratings, so you have to improve your dungeon regularily to beat higher rated players. Higher ratings also enables more items to use in your own dungeon. Possibly also new player skills, although that would be hard to balance in a competitive version.

There will also be world records on every active dungeon using the "match making" system. You can enter every dungeon by entering it's id, but you won't get as much rewards (if any) compared to random dungeons. World records are also only recorded on random dungeons and can give you higher rewards.

There are still some flaws in that system and I'm not sure whether to make it really competitve or a grind fest to reach higher levels/ratings.

Since it seems you have to provide some kind of content to post here, I've recorded some gameplay. It's still a mix between editor and gameplay, to make testing things faster.





So, do you think this kind of thing could work out as a competitive game or am I better off planning it as a casual game from the start?

[Innerscope]

So far, your engine and editor both look very nice!
I have to wonder though, what kind of answer you're expecting from the question you ask, or even what you'll do with that information. I think it's pretty clear that this would work better competitively because your current design has you competing with other players. One of the alarming design flaws to this sort of game is that a player could design their dungeon to be impossible for other players to pass. For this, I would recommend having it so that the player could not upload their own dungeon until they complete it. That would be an easy test to know if it's passable. (I'm not sure if you've already considered that given what you wrote above)
Anyway, I think it's a cool idea! 
Best of luck!

[Rasher]

Thanks for your answer, Innerscope.

One of the alarming design flaws to this sort of game is that a player could design their dungeon to be impossible for other players to pass.

Making the creator test it himself would probably also lead to people playing his own dungeon 500 times until he completes it once.
I already have some ideas to prevent this and currently favor an idea from the above mentioned thread: you will only get the reward for killing other people, when someone has finished your dungeon. Another option would be "test runs". You have to pay some amount of gold to open your dungeon for 10 test runs, of which at least 1 person has to get through it.

I have to wonder though, what kind of answer you're expecting from the question you ask, or even what you'll do with that information.

It looks like my initial post was too much about the general idea instead of what kind of feedback I was looking for.

There are 2 possible solutions to advancing in the game: rating (which can also decrease) and a simple experience/leveing system.

A rating system would want you to always give your best and reward you for clever dungeon design, which is not used too much. Unique dungeon designs are obviously harder than common ones. However, if you fail at the dungeon design oder have a bad day at playing dungeons yourself, you could lose a lot of rating, which would not be fun and probably be more appealing to a hardcore crowd. Adding a ladder, world records and making a dungeon last only x days could easily add a lot of reasons to keep playing it, if the gameplay itself is fun.

Using an exp/leveling system would make this a grind fest and kinda similar to those browser "strategy" games, only with an active platforming part added. People would reach the top after some time and have no reason to continue playing. They could try to make the hardest dungeon possible, but I doubt it would be enough to keep playing.

A rating system seems obviously like the better choice, but I fear that not many people want to play a platformer that will punish your mistakes. At first it looks like the exact opposites: people playing super mario and people playing counterstrike/starcraft. Looking at the success that super meat boy had, while still being kinda tough for the average gamer, makes me a little uncertain.

Would adding "punishments" for dying make this only appeal to a (too) small crowd, even it's reason is to improve the gameplay experience?

[Innerscope]

Making the creator test it himself would probably also lead to people playing his own dungeon 500 times until he completes it once.
I already have some ideas to prevent this and currently favor an idea from the above mentioned thread: you will only get the reward for killing other people, when someone has finished your dungeon. Another option would be "test runs". You have to pay some amount of gold to open your dungeon for 10 test runs, of which at least 1 person has to get through it.

I see what you're saying, so someone has to finish your dungeon before it counts at all. That wasn't clear for me from the first post. Of the two, I think you should stick with the first option.

Would adding "punishments" for dying make this only appeal to a (too) small crowd, even it's reason is to improve the gameplay experience?

What this sounds like to me is "Should I punish the player for dying?", and I'll say yes. The extent of the punishment is something you'll have to decide, and that is also something I can only give you feedback on after you decide which system to use. The main reason being is that I don't really understand all the rules of your game in either possible system. (rating or leveling)

In particular, for the rating system:

Unique dungeon designs are obviously harder than common ones.

I'm not really sure what this means or how you'll determine a dungeon's uniqueness. For example, could I just make a dungeon where the player falls into a pit, and will die if they don't move to the side on time? Would that be considered unique? Would it be difficult (to create or play)? Is there a clear correlation between difficulty and uniqueness that your game would be able to distinguish?

There are a lot more questions I could come up with. I think you should pick a system, outline your game design, then ask for feedback on that.