RMMZ Devils Dungeon: Development and Idea Threat

[ASUG0]

Purpose of this thread: Gathering ideas, plugins and other stuff.


About the game:
A completely FREE Dungeon Crawler with 100 floors with Rpg Maker MZ.
Why free? I simply find it most battle systems of RPG maker games horrendous when it comes to complexity, variety as well as tactics. They are not "skill based" enough. So... I want to set a new standard. In order to make as many people as I can familiar with those standards, the game should be FREE.

Story:
You wake up in the dungeon, a place swarming with eldritch horrors, beast and monstrosities, abominations not of this world only waiting to cut you down right where you stand and yet you do not remember why?

With no combat skills to speak of you cling onto your life asking yourself... why...

Why would any human descent into this corrupted place of madness and devilish malice?

And soon you shall find the answer to that question... it is as always... riches.

As one dives into the depths of this hell... gold, weapons, legendary artefacts, but most importantly ancient knowledge, spells and abilities a mere mortal can only dream of await to be picked up from the unearthly abyss, the abyss of this nightmarish place of torment.

And how ironic is it that exactly those riches drenched in the blood of your other fellow humans are your only means of salvation, the only way out of this seemingly endless damnation,

that is... the Devil's Dungeon.


Dungeons:
There are 10 Stages in the dungeon, each Stage consists of 10 floors with different properties and
mechanics. Clearing a Stage will reward you handsomely (mostly with perks)

After entering a dungeon, the player has the choice of going forward or retreating.
Going forward will trigger an event (mostly battles, finding loot, hidden rooms, etc).
Sometimes there will be a choice to make, sometimes its just a simple battle.

After a certain amount of events, the player reaches the end of a floor where a Floor Guardian awaits the player. Slaying the Guarding will unlock the next floor.
Every 10 floors, there will be a Dungeon Guardian (fancy word for saying OP Boss) that must be defeated to proceed.

Retreating from a floor will not be penalised. After clearing or retreating all damage inflicted stays,
but can be treated for money at the camp. Retreating however resets the floor, which then has to be cleared again. Losing a battle will not result in a game over but instead reset your equipment and gold to default which is to say 0 (not a big deal, read next paragraph to understand why).


Arena:
Outside of dungeons you can fight in the arena for MONEY and also obtain skills for defeating foes.
Also your wounds will be healed for free when you partake in a battle.


Outside of Dungeons:
You can get your wounds fixed for money, customise stuff, read the bestiary, buy stuff.
Should you not have the money to heal yourself consider entering the Arena for free healing.


Skills:
When starting a new game or losing a battle, you will be required to select a new weapon of which there are 6 in the game (Dagger, Sword, Axe, Spear, Bow, Wand). Your equipped weapon decides which "Arts" you can perform. Arts are basically your skills (There is no basic attack).
Spells work just like Arts, they must be equipped to your character (and yes all skills are lost after a game over).

There are 4 Spells Tiers (0, 1, 2, 3). You can only equip ONE spells per Tier (4 Spells in total).
The game offers 7 different elements each with their own unique spells.
Your character has 5 Art Tiers (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) and only ONE Art can be equipped per Art Tier.

Currently there are 3 different Arts for each Art Tier per EACH weapon (totalling to 3*5*6 = 90 Arts).
Each Spell Tier also offers 3 different Spells per Spell Tier per EACH element (3*4*7 = 84 Spells).
Then there are Class skills and "manoeuvres".

Manoeuvres are basically all skills that are not classified as Arts or Spells.

Also Skill don't get "outdated" because there are no "stronger" versions.


Classes:
Each Class has different stats as well as an unique class ability. Classes are categorised into 3 Tiers.
You start with one of the 3 starter classes (Soldier, Hunter, Caster) and can upgrade your class up to 2 times, reaching a Tier 3 Class. There will ALWAYS be 2 options for your class upgrades.
In total there are 3*(1+2+4)= 21 Classes in the game. The parent class will inherit the class ability of the class it evolved from!!!


Combat: Difficult!
"Why are we here? Just to suffer?"

Every action consumes stamina (ST) and resets your ATB bar by a certain amount. Once its full again, you can act. Certain actions require a casting time too. Should your ST fall below the cost of the selected skill while it charges, it will NOT be cancelled, but instead continue charging until completion.
Should you not have enough ST by that time, it will simply not trigger and you will have wasted time.
Most skills also damage ST so be wary of that.

The AI is good! Like... really good... like... I spent about 400 hours making it good... so... yeah...
Also... the enemies will have a class and selected skills meaning that their stats are about the same compared to that of the player (normal enemies have reduced HP and damage).


Enemies:
Everything from Goblins to Minotaurs to other "Dungeon Clearers".
And please note that even "regular enemies/mobs" will be a real obstacle that will pose a real threat!


Equipment:
You have over 30 slots...
1.) Weapon
2.) Secondary Weapon
3.) Armour
4.) Accessory
5.) Enchantments
6.) Skills


Plugins used:
Coming soon


Music used:
All tracks are from here:

Royalty Free Background Music Downloads - Fesliyan Studios

Download royalty free music for videos, films, podcasts, youtube, projects and more. New background music added weekly. Free and commercial use available.

www.fesliyanstudios.com

Other resources:
coming soon


What I currently need:
1.) A plugin to make turns pass in a customisable manner, e.g. every 0.5 seconds one turn passes.
OR
A fully customisable ATB system.

2.) Combat Animations with Effectseeker
3.) Any combat related plugin that works with MZ
4.) Any idea that will improve the game's quality


What I'm currently working on:
-porting things from VX Ace to MZ (skills, enemies, states, basically the entire database which for the skills is huge)
-adding new skills
-implementing mage classes
-ofther stuff (e.g. bug fixes)


Links:
-The idea for this thread comes from:

Looking for an ATB - System for MZ

I'm searching for a FREE ATB system for MZ. I'm aware of Visu Stella, but it costs money so... yeah... thanks for reading xD

forums.rpgmakerweb.com

-The first Pre-PRE- not even Alpha Test battle on VX Ace:


IMPORTANT:
Game development is currently on hold until further notice! This message will be removed once I'll start working on this project again.

 

[Sparky89]

Well i'll definitely start with Yep_battlecore plugins and maybe animated sv_ plugins. since it's battle focused etc. 100 floors ? quite a challenge as each floor i assume needs to be different?

 

[ASUG0]

Well i'll definitely start with Yep_battlecore plugins and maybe animated sv_ plugins. since it's battle focused etc. 100 floors ? quite a challenge as each floor i assume needs to be different?

Yep!

 

[Black Pagan]

Do you really intend to make 100 Floors ? That's quite an ambitious Project, I hope you have a huge Team behind you helping you with Development. A 100 Floor Game is not something a solo developer can ever hope to make.

Having said that, Here are some Ideas I could think of :

- Constantly change the Plot every few Floors but keep the Final End-Game Goal the same

- Handsomely reward the Player every Floor with Exponentially increasing rewards (You see this in most Gacha games which bombard you with Rewards)

- Think of Themes for every Floor, Base your Enemies, Bosses and Gear on that particular Theme.

- Consider adding and removing Party members occasionally so it keeps the Gameplay fresh and ever changing

- Add in a Side feature (Like Base building) which means when Player is done fighting, They can gather materials to do something other than Combat

- Give the Player valid reasons to climb the Floors, Throw the Player in a Do-or-Die situation and let them decide, Also try to make the Storyline somewhat less Linear

 

[ASUG0]

Do you really intend to make 100 Floors ? That's quite an ambitious Project, I hope you have a huge Team behind you helping you with Development. A 100 Floor Game is not something a solo developer can ever hope to make.

Having said that, Here are some Ideas I could think of :

- Constantly change the Plot every few Floors but keep the Final End-Game Goal the same

- Handsomely reward the Player every Floor with Exponentially increasing rewards (You see this in most Gacha games which bombard you with Rewards)

- Think of Themes for every Floor, Base your Enemies, Bosses and Gear on that particular Theme.

- Consider adding and removing Party members occasionally so it keeps the Gameplay fresh and ever changing

- Add in a Side feature (Like Base building) which means when Player is done fighting, They can gather materials to do something other than Combat

- Give the Player valid reasons to climb the Floors, Throw the Player in a Do-or-Die situation and let them decide, Also try to make the Storyline somewhat less Linear

Sadly, I don't have a team behind me. This project will most likely be something I'll work on for a long time. A floor should only take about 1 hour to clear as there should be approx. 10 Events each floor (meaning most likely less then 10 battles). Dungeons basically consist of going forward or retreating, nothing too fancy. The focus is combat and customisation, which is not that difficult to make in my opinion.

I currently have a test version running on VX Ace that was rushed and is DEFINITELY NOT how the game will look like, but it works to showcase combat basic mechanics which will be improved upon.

Link: view post

And yes, everything is subject to change!
Thanks for the ideas btw

I'm currently trying to think of class abilities for Mage classes. Some will be active others passive.
The Tier 1 Caster will gain 50% more MP from all sources.

Some ideas I have thought of:
Conversion: convert HP or ST into MP either instantly or over time.
Expanded Knowledge: Can have more then 4 Spells.
(Necromancy: Proved to hard to balance was removed)

So... I need more than that...
Help would be appreciated as always


Also... Should I show more footage of the current battle system

OR

Upload the Pre-Pre-not even Alpha ver. so that you get a feel for the combat in the game.
(I'm aware of the bugs, but I wont fix them because its the VX Ace version and I work with MZ)
(I also know that EVERY ASPECT except for Combat is bad and that all interfaces are not intuitive in that ver)

 

[Finnuval]

Some mage skills :

- unstable incantation : spells do 50% more damage but at high(er) risk of failing.
- double cast : spell gets cast twice for the cost of one for 75% damage, second target can be manually selectes.
- overpowering aether : any spell cast becomes an AOE but Also damage the player.
- caster's luck : random chance of spell costing no MP at all
- arcane games : player has chance to gain random spell used by enemy for the fight
- ethereal presence - player creates a decoy that absorbs attacks until MP reaches 0

Thats what comes to mind for now. Useful? Maybe, maybe not xD

 

[ASUG0]

Some mage skills :

- unstable incantation : spells do 50% more damage but at high(er) risk of failing.
- double cast : spell gets cast twice for the cost of one for 75% damage, second target can be manually selectes.
- overpowering aether : any spell cast becomes an AOE but Also damage the player.
- caster's luck : random chance of spell costing no MP at all
- arcane games : player has chance to gain random spell used by enemy for the fight
- ethereal presence - player creates a decoy that absorbs attacks until MP reaches 0

Thats what comes to mind for now. Useful? Maybe, maybe not xD

I like "ethereal presence" as it enables spells to bring in more defensive value as opposed to offense or utiliy.

Double Cast would break the game.
Overpowering Aether is to situational to be a class ability. The other ideas involve rng, which I personally do not like.

But the good old you shall not pass skill etheral pressence sounds really noice.

Thank you for your contribution UwU

 

[Lostboy]

Hi,
I think you should at least try to hammer out a story, even if it's something incredibly simple like... Idk, you're a being stuck in a dream and to wake up you need to scale these floors.
Or the classic, climb to the top to save the princess.

All this gameplay that doesn't serve any purpose is like... What's the point, there's no motivation for me to act, I might as well just be still.

 

[slimmmeiske2]

I've moved this thread to Game Ideas & Prototypes. Please be sure to post your threads in the correct forum next time. Thank you.

 

[ASUG0]

Hi,
I think you should at least try to hammer out a story, even if it's something incredibly simple like... Idk, you're a being stuck in a dream and to wake up you need to scale these floors.
Or the classic, climb to the top to save the princess.

All this gameplay that doesn't serve any purpose is like... What's the point, there's no motivation for me to act, I might as well just be still.

Ur right, I shall think of something simple.

 

[Aerosys]

Have you thought about having procedural generated floors instead of designing 100 floors by yourself? If so, I'm still working on Plugins to do exactly that, you can try them out and I promise that I still do updates.

 

[ASUG0]

Have you thought about having procedural generated floors instead of designing 100 floors by yourself? If so, I'm still working on Plugins to do exactly that, you can try them out and I promise that I still do updates.

First off your profile picture looks badass and smug. Second off my idea would to mix random events and scripted events for each floor meaning that the floors are somewhat "auto-generated", so yeah your plugins could potentially come in handy. I however do not plan on having a character that you move around the map, so having maps with title sets won't be a thing. Instead there will be 2 bottoms inside of a dungeon, one for proceeding and the other for retreating. By proceeding you trigger the next event, by retreating you reset the floor and leave it (meaning that the floor will change for the next attempt).

Ps. have I already mentioned the badassery of your profile? Well... now I have. Have a great, UwU.

 

[ASUG0]

You wake up in the dungeon, a place swarming with eldritch horrors, beast and monstrosities, abominations not of this world only waiting to cut you down right where you stand and yet you do not remember why?

With no combat skills to speak of you cling onto your life asking yourself... why...

Why would any human descent into this corrupted place of madness and devilish malice?

And soon you shall find the answer to that question... it is as always... riches.

As one descents into the depths of this hell... gold, weapons, legendary artefacts, but most importantly ancient knowledge, spells and abilities a mere mortal can only dream of await to picked up from their unearthly abyss, the abyss of this nightmarish place of torment.

And how ironic is it that exactly those riches drenched in the blood of your other fellow humans are your only means of salvation, the only way out of this seemingly endless damnation,

that is... the Devil's Dungeon.



Can anyone tell me if this story is sufficient as an intro?

 

[slimmmeiske2]

Story feedback also belongs in Game Ideas & Prototypes, but since you already have a thread for your game, I'm merging the two together.

 

[ASUG0]

Story feedback also belongs in Game Ideas & Prototypes, but since you already have a thread for your game, I'm merging the two together.

thank you, I'm pretty new to this

also... If I am in need of a plugin related to this game... must I post the request here from now on?

Hi,
I think you should at least try to hammer out a story, even if it's something incredibly simple like... Idk, you're a being stuck in a dream and to wake up you need to scale these floors.
Or the classic, climb to the top to save the princess.

All this gameplay that doesn't serve any purpose is like... What's the point, there's no motivation for me to act, I might as well just be still.

So... how about this?

You wake up in the dungeon, a place swarming with eldritch horrors, beast and monstrosities, abominations not of this world only waiting to cut you down right where you stand and yet you do not remember why?

With no combat skills to speak of you cling onto your life asking yourself... why...

Why would any human descent into this corrupted place of madness and devilish malice?

And soon you shall find the answer to that question... it is as always... riches.

As one descents into the depths of this hell... gold, weapons, legendary artefacts, but most importantly ancient knowledge, spells and abilities a mere mortal can only dream of await to picked up from their unearthly abyss, the abyss of this nightmarish place of torment.

And how ironic is it that exactly those riches drenched in the blood of your other fellow humans are your only means of salvation, the only way out of this seemingly endless damnation,

that is... the Devil's Dungeon.



Can anyone tell me if this story is sufficient as an intro?

 

[Lostboy]

Hey,

This is your story to tell, so I won’t comment on the contents as my opinion shouldn’t hinder where you as the creator want to take the player.

That being said, you’ve now created the setting - the what, next you need is a how.

Place yourself in the shoes of your character.

How would they feel awakening in this realm, and suddenly for reasons yet to be discovered, come to find themselves a target of such hostile creatures?

How would I react having no recollection of arriving here?

What would I do with no combat skills to speak of?

It seems there’s not much options, I can succumb to fear and surrender to my aggressors, suffer the same fate as the of these adventurers scattered around me.

Or, perhaps I would run, scavenge some equipment from the bones and fend off these beasts.

Build your story from there, let it unfold, and remember to tell from the perspective of the character.

Any intro can work as long as it is implemented in the right way.

 

[slimmmeiske2]

also... If I am in need of a plugin related to this game... must I post the request here from now on?

No, that needs to be posted in Plugin Requests.