I'm planning a 20 ~ 30 Minute Survival / RPG game, I have most of the Map layouts, Themes and Monsters somewhat planned. I want to keep everything very minimal, I mean the maps are anywhere from 15 x 25 to 25 x 25. The entire Game will have perhaps only 6 such maps. Now here is what i was wondering.
What can I implement to keep the Player engaged in each of these mini maps for a longer duration instead of rushing forward to the next map ?
The reason i ask this is because this game won't be heavy on Story and i want to extend the game to make it feel like an actual Survival game and not a quest - kill - rush kind of game. I want players to spend like 5+ Mins in each map if possible, Not just rush through in 15 seconds. I want to keep encounter at a minimum pace in these maps, like once every few minutes or so, making the encounters actually a challenging aspect of the game.