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[Loren Schmidt]

Hello everyone. I'd like to tell you about a game I am making. It's a dungeon crawler. I started this about three months ago, though I haven't talked about it here before. There are a couple of posts about the game here and here if anyone would like to see more of the project.

Rather than duplicate the sort of material I'm posting on my website, I plan to use this thread in a more conversational manner. Expect more random design ramblings, updates on what I'm implementing at the moment, and more details than I'm posting on my site.

Features:

• tactical real time combat
• multiple enemy factions
• a detailed, varied, purposeful (yet generated) world
• outdoor, indoor, and underground environments
• a wide variety of creatures and traps which interact with each other in interesting ways
• a totally OCD visual style with lots of whimsical monster designs and fun effects
• lots of secrets

Here's what the game looks like right now:







I'll keep you posted as this progresses.

[happymonster]

Looks delicious!

[paste]

i like the look of these screens and would like to follow the progress of this game's development. good luck with it.

[Windybeard]

YES! I WANT PLEASE!

This looks amazing! PAINT ME INTERESTED!

[Sharkoss]

This looks extremely great.

[Savick]

Looks to me like Dungeons of Dredmor, but less complex and waaay (okay maybe slightly) more strange. Good luck with it.

[Franklin's Ghost]

Looking nice 

[bome99]

Looks great, we can't get enough dungeon crawlers!

[Gainsworthy]

Bumping dis. New game by Sparky! That's exciting. Thought you were making an ultraviolent deathmatch game? No matter. This is also swanky.

 

[Joshua]

Whoa, I really like what you have going on here. I'm really digging the weird/zany vibe you have going. The duckbeast is my favorite critter so far! My only crit is the level itself is a little too dark/monochromatic/blah.

I look forward to more updates!  

Edit
Just read your blog. Since the character is a refrigerator truck driver, do you get loot in the dungeon from ice chests?  

[Loren Schmidt]

Here's a set of maps created by the game's dungeon generator. There will also be a separate generator for the aboveground maps. It's not done yet, but I'm fairly happy with the way it's behaving.

To do:

• nudge rooms closer together to prevent overlong corridors
• add multiple corridor widths
• add extra rooms in a second pass after failed room placement to guarantee the desired room count
• add rules to avoid squiggly corridors (prefer less turns)
  

[Happy Shabby Games]

So stylin'. This is looking great!

[Loren Schmidt]

Hi everyone.
This game now has a title: "Love Machine".

I spent the last month crunching for the IGF deadline. It was pretty crazy. I neglected a lot of things like, you know, friends and going outside. However I made the deadline, and the game came a long way. I have added many many things since my last post. Here are a few.

I added a snazzy new title screen. I dont' want to take people out of the game, so it's an in-game playable area, not a menu.


There are now shops, complete with creepy shopkeeps and vending machines that sell explosives. More vending machine types to follow.


The game is a lot more varied now! There are currently three tilesets, each with multiple color variants. This picture also shows one of the new room types: a cursed room which resurrects everything that dies within it.


There are too many other additions to list them all here, but a few of the bigger ones. I'll talk about these more in the near future.

• Digging monsters that ambush us through the walls
• Many more types of rooms, including multiple types of secret areas
• Improved level generation, including double width corridors
• Secondary items such as a teleport and land mines

[Pixelulsar]

The game is looking good.

I also really like the idea of the curse room, by resurrecting everything I'm assuming you mean enemies, and not you.  I'm also jealous because I'm making a game with random dungeons and the maps don't looks as good as yours yet.

[happymonster]

Looking great, although I think the bright items in the shop really stand out against the much darker level graphics. Also I think the ingame pixel font could do with being one pixel higher so you can have better defined 's' and 'e' letters.

[Ashkin]

I like the look of this.

[Windybeard]

This looks incredible, i want to play it NOW!!!

[cynicalsandel]

Love the color and style of this.  Good luck in the IGF!

[Loren Schmidt]

Thanks everyone! I'm having a lot of fun with this. I just started adding in secondary items, which I've been considering doing for a long time. I think will add some strategic depth without cluttering the game up too much.

@Pixelulsar: Actually the player gets resurrected too, but as a skeleton which is not under human control . Oh, you're doing dungeon generation too? Want to share notes some time? I'll PM you my contact details.

@happymonster: Yes, the s's and e's are pretty awful. I might end up either changing them or increasing the font size.

[Loren Schmidt]

Shopkeeps should probably not stock explosives if they want to maintain a tidy and hygienic work environment.