Dungeon Delvers

Dungeon_Delvers_Thumbnail
Coin Shop
Quest Board
Player Stats
Sword Store
Instructional Board Intro
Game Over Recap Screen
Instructional Board Mobile Controls
Round Start
Round Gems Collected
Round Enemy Defeated

Inspiration

My inspiration came from the classic arcade game Joust. It was one of my favorite games growing up and I wanted to bring something similar to Horizon Worlds.

What it does

Dungeon Delvers pits the players against each other and the environment. Each device type has a unique experience. Desktop players get to view the entire map. The camera follows the mobile player, so it seems to be an endless dungeon experience. VR players get a bow and can fire at the players and undead on the map.

How we built it

Dungeon Delvers went through several prototypes before I decided to go with the current iteration. Once I had the core concept down, I fleshed out my world design documents and determined what each mechanic needed to be considered complete.

My world design document is a modified version of a Game Design Document I used while in college. I also created a Mechanic Design Document to fully flesh out the mechanics. This made it easier to develop the mechanics when it came time to do so. I used Draw.io to help visualize the core game loop and mechanic loops.

Since this is a solo project, I did everything from designing, importing models and audio, to programing and quality assurance. Besides that, the other tools I have used are the Gen AI for audio files. This would have been for release but since I can import audio now it will only be used for testing. I also built the VR experience in a different world and imported it. The bow and arrow mechanics are actually an upgraded version of my bow and arrow mechanic in The Kingdom. I also used the Navigation API for the enemies and added Custom UI to help inform the player of what is going on. There is still more that needs to be added, such as lobby and a proper win/loose condition. But everything is on track.

Challenges we ran into

Getting the NPCs to behave the way I wanted was one of my biggest challenges. I couldn't use the scripts from the tutorials, so I had to build my own from scratch. Getting the Bow and Arrows to behave was another challenge. There are still some small bugs with each that I hope to address before the feedback event.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

The biggest accomplishment was getting the unique experiences on the different devices to work together. Converting my code block bow and arrow script over to typescript. Also scripting the NPCs.

What we learned

I've been forcing myself to better optimize my scripts as I go and have learned a lot in the process.

What's next for Dungeon Platformer

I have been considering making a side scrolling, story driven, Metroidvania version. The mobile version of the game would prob work best. Not sure how I would get the VR version to work though.