[WIP] Retro Dungeon Crawler Kit

[Fhiz]

Well, it’s been about time that someone takes Unity back to the 90s…kinda…

Retro Dungeon Crawler Kit - Framework for creating single-player, grid-based, party-based dungeon crawlers along the lines of Wizardry, Might and Magic, Shining in the Darkness or Shin Megami Tensei.

Official Website | Official Discord Server | Official Forum
Asset Store Link (soon!) | WebGL Demo (soon!) | Official Thread (soon!)

ETA for 1.0 is Winter 2018. A beta will be available at a reduced price during Autumn 2018.

Please note that most objects are represented using Sprites to mimic the oldschool flair. As those objects are based on prefabs its theoretically possible to turn them into 3d models as well, but this is not supported out of the box (I just love 2d art and its so much faster to integrate).

Comments, Questions and Suggestions welcome. I plan to add new features with every major update after the relase (once the core functionality is finished).

Screenshots:

Features:

• Map Editor included
• Absolutely no scripting required
• Oldschool, Sprite based representation of most objects (easy & fast to integrate)
• Unlimited Dungeons with unlimited Maps each
• Parties & Monster Groups of virtually unlimited size
• Oldschool, grid-based, first-person dungeon crawl
• Traditional, turn-based combat system
• Unlimited Main Attributes with configureable formulas
• Unlimited Elements with configureable effects
• Unlimited and configureable Equipment Slots
• Active/Passive In-combat/Out-of-combat activation of Items/Abilities
• Level-ups with stat point distribution + abilitiy acquisition
• Monster level scaling
• Derived statistics with configureable formulas
• Fully configureable Character classes and Species
• 50+ global options like exp-formula etc.
• 20+ configureable templates (items, abilities, equipment etc.)
• 10+ configureable dungeon tiles (walls, floors, monsters, doors, triggers etc.)
• Simple, menu-driven towns (mapped towns also possible)
• Simple, menu-driven worldmap
• Simple, menu-driven Shops, Inventory & Equipment
• Random Encounters or on-Map encounters
• Simple Audio Manager
• Save/Load via encrypted Binary Files

[Mark_01]

I would want this for sure!! Am guessing this would be a very good seller.

I started with Might and magic long ago … looks really good.

[Fhiz]

Thanks for your kind words @Mark_01 - I try to get it finished ASAP

(Im also a big fan of the old games like M&M !)

[Mark_01]

Feel free to PM me here anytime. I got my first PC about 3 months before win3.1 came out.
My first M&M I had was on NES system, after that all the M&M on DOS Versions that came out.

My Favorite is Might and magic VI MM6 … I was thinking of trying to do that kind of game, just for myself.

I can’t code at all. Did graphics 2d and 3d in my early 20’s, but was to expensive … fast forward all
these years ,… I found Unity 2 years ago, along with blender and gimp … lol … All free now.
For this I am hobbyist / retired … I find it all very fun.

It’s been a long time, But I remember that first screen shot … very well.

[Fhiz]

@Mark_01 Thanks, I keep you in mind for testing etc. as I plan to hand out a few beta keys anyway (as well as anybody else if interested).

Regarding MM6 and Co.: Just bear with me that Im just a single developer and not a company. So we will see something like “Might and Magic Light” in asset form

[pushingpandas]

Idee is good I dont like the pixelate graphics.

[Fhiz]

@pushingpandas Understandable. But thats simply the style of the old games.

Many games like Wizardry had hundreds of different monsters. I would not be able to acquire, rig and animate hundreds of models. But its very possible to add hundreds of pixel-artworks

[pushingpandas]

I will buy it anyway

[Fhiz]

Here are some random progress updates:

I finished implementing the core functionality today. Several parts are still very basic, especially the visual representation of combat. The core covers the amount of features I want to be present at the time the asset is released. From now on, no more (major) features will be added until after release. The next task is to test, bugfix and polish while building a sample dungeon.

Once that is complete, I will prepare a WebGL demo and hand out a link to anyone who is interested.

A example what “basic” feature implementation means (open to discussion):

Fore example there currently is no real character creation. This is quite a complex topic and most game designers have personal preferences of how to do it. I might add one later but its not on top of my list. Of course there must be a way of acquiring characters, this is how it is done at the moment (a trade-off between complexity and usability):

You can define characters + their classes in the inspector. You - as a game designer - can also set a name, portrait, description, stats, skills and equipment. What you do is creating character templates the player can choose from. If you want to have a vast race/class selection in your game - you simply have to create more templates.

Finally, the game can be started with a party made up from any number of preset character templates, or none.

During the game it is possible to “buy” and “sell” characters in a special shop. You can also set special conditions when a character template appears in such a shop. It’s a little bit inspired by “Darkest Dungeon”.

So the player could begin the game with no characters and then has to “buy” the starting party from the character shop, choosing from the range of character templates available at the beginning. Later on, new templates can be added to the store, also stronger ones (levelled versions of previous ones etc.)

That way, both the game designer and the player have an amount of control over character creation/acquisition without requiring me another 3 month to code a super-complex character-creation/party-creation system.

Any thoughts on this?

[Fhiz]

Still on it!

Fixing various bugs and glitches delayed my progress a bit, but the core features are finally in place. Im now starting to build the demo dungeon. I hope to have a public WebGL demo available in ca. 6 weeks.

Random Dev Updates:

The Retro Dungeon Crawler Kit (RDCK) does not feature drag-n-drop or tooltips of any kind. As these input variants are sometimes a pain to use on mobile, I decided to go another route: Instead the whole game is click/touch controlled and features a popup window instead of tooltips. Attached are two images showing those popup’s (of course, you can completely change the design if you want).

As you can see, the towns are currently completely Menu based (as they where in all Wizardry titles up the most recent one “Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls”). One of the final features that will be implemented is Map based towns. That means you can talk to an NPC on a 3d dungeon map and it will open up a shop window. So you can choose between 2 types of towns: Menu based or Map based.

More information soon, Im working as fast as possible

cheers
-Fhiz

[Fhiz]

Website has been updated:

DungeonCrawler

First part of the documentation was added:

DungeonCrawler

Slowly getting somewhere!

[Fhiz]

Update:

Due to a (really stupid and annoying) licensing problem with Unity, I am forced to replace all artworks in my asset. Even though the current art is “free”, it does not comply with the license type envisioned by the Unity staff.

I now commissioned an artist to create exclusive artworks for the Retro Dungeon Crawler Kit. We also decided to switch to a more lighthearted style inspired by “Dragon Quest”. So this asset will look quite different in a few weeks.

Please note that the purpose of this asset does not change in any way (no matter how it looks): It’s an editor to create “Wizardry” style type of games. Of course you are free to exchange all art (and most users will do anyway) - I just need “legal material” to be packaged with the asset. You can use the new art as well, even commercially.

This will delay things a bit, I check back at you soon.

Representative Example:

A few people asked me if there is any game that you can compare to my asset. Take a look at the video below, this is a perfect example of what type of game you will be able to create using the Retro Dungeon Crawler Kit (also including the town system). Some things are still missing (like character creation is very different), but that might be added in a post-release update.

Thanks for being with me.
-Fhiz

Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls Trial Gameplay HD PS3

[Fhiz]

Update time!

Been working hard on the project and it’s coming along nicely.

• Teamed up with another Dev (Team Tailnut) who helps me with Feedback, Testing and Bugfixes.
• Commissioned an artist to replace all graphical content (due to a licensing problem with the “free art” used previously)
• Finally implemented Savegame functionality
• Fixed bugs, sorted out glitches, polished and refined the project
• Completely revamped the event system

Biggest change is the new event system. No more: A tile for chests, a tile for monsters, a tile for traps etc. Instead there is now a “Event” Tile that you can basically script (via the inspector) any way you like. You can add conditions and actions and do all kinds of fun stuff with it like opening doors, teleporting, grant rewards, start combat etc. etc.

The event system is inspired a bit by the event editor found in the “RPGMaker” series.

Thats all for today, next time I can finally show you some updated screenshots!

thanks for being with me
-Fhiz

[Fhiz]

Just a few random updates from the dev side:

• As savegames are stored locally (on disk/device), I decided to encrypt them. Therefore its (almost) not possible to cheat anymore by editing the savegame file.
• Combat now features a simple “Formation” system where you can position your party members on the Front or Back. As there are three attack types in the game (Melee/Ranged/Special), each one of them can now be modified according to the characters position. This is also true for monsters. Representation is very simple ATM, this will be expanded in the future.
• The project now uses the free iTween asset, to have some animations: iTween | Animation Tools | Unity Asset Store
• Documentation (still WIP) was converted to a google document: RetroDungeonCrawlerKit Documentation - Google Docs
• The project now has a proper Logo

Im still waiting for the first artworks to roll in. More on that later. TodoList is finally shrinking and not growing

[Fhiz]

[Fhiz]

The Beta version of the crawler kit will be available at the asset store this autumn. There
will be a introductory price for 2 months.

This being said, I have to mention a few shortcomings the Asset still has compared to games
like Dungeon Master or Wizardry. Those games featured a enormous complexity, too much for a
spare time programmer. My asset is a generic dungeon crawler kit after all and not a exact
clone of DM or Wizardry:

1. There is no real character creation yet as there is in the Wizardry titles. You can
   start with any kind/number of pre-generated characters, its also possible to hire new characters
   at the tavern. Plus it is possible to do a character selection like the Mirrors in Dungeon Master.
   But no real creation with class, race selection etc.

2. The environment is more “static” compared todungeon master. This means you cannot put heavy
   items on pressure plates in order to trigger something. You also wont be able to bunker
   items in the dungeon for later etc. But there are more than enough options to build
   interesting dungeon levels.

3. Combat is “static” as well. This means the monsters to not walk around in the dungeon
   and combat is turn-based. Monster encounters are either random (good old random encounters)
   or there are static monster encounters on specific map spaces. Combat representation itself
   is rather simple but the system already has a ton of features (like distance, elements,
   resistances, combat stances, crits, dodge, various targeting options etc. etc.)

thats all for, thanks for being with me!
-Fhiz

[Fhiz]

Cleaned the opening post a bit and added important links.

The release of the Retro Dungeon Crawler Kit is now scheduled for 1st of October 2018 !

[Moody_Mek]

interesting, will buy for sure

[Fhiz]

Oops, sorry guys - the “mega summer” delayed things “a bit”.

Im still on it, the asset is more or less finished, just lacks polishing and more bugfixes.

I also received the first dozen of artworks from my artist.

I keep you informed!

[reallybadgame]

Did the beta get released?