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Dungeon Crawler Jam 2024

Hosted by zooperdan · #dcjam2024

3,144

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A jam submission

Dungeon of DreamsView game page

Submitted by wolfheat — 3 hours, 4 minutes before the deadline

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Dungeon of Dreams's itch.io page

Results

Criteria	Rank	Score*	Raw Score
Overall fun and playability	#52	3.147	3.147

Ranked from 34 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Theme incorporation
The games main theme is an exploration of the mind of individuals consumed by their pursuits. This experience is devoid of any human interaction. This is in line with the theme of Solitude. There is also some parts that fits the ancient architecture/ruins theme. The game also features a "ground breaking" feeling of an endless area to explore, though I did make an end to it.

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Comments

Viewing comments 28 to 21 of 28 · Next page · Last page

FluburbioSubmitted18 days ago(+1)

Sadly I couldn't finish your game, but I spent a good hour on it.

I really liked how satisfying and addictive breaking walls feels, just like in Minecraft. In fact, that's mainly what motivated me to "try one more time" the dozens and dozens of times I died. I'm not such a fan of the bombs insta-killing you, especially when it happens in your back and you're somewhere that looks interesting but you're not sure how to get back where you are. I think it might have been fair if the bombs only removed 3 of your life points or so, especially because the dungeon is a bit too big.

I tried to methodically break as many walls as I could, but I couldn't find even one of the four shards that appear at the top right of the screen. Are you supposed to craft them from the different types of soil you collect? I had 7 life points when I had to quit and was surprised I didn't stumble on one.

I also liked how polished and clean everything feels, and how fluid movement is. That room in the beginning with references to your previous games is super cool, too! I had a good time but sadly had to give up since I didn't understand how to make much progress despite exploring what I think is a vast portion of the map ☹️

Submitted

A Fool's Errand

FribSubmitted20 days ago(+1)

The game plays very fast, which is great because the dungeon is huge! :D

I used the map on the game page because otherwise it was just unplayable for me; I had no idea where to go or what to do, at first I thought it was just an endlessly procedural mineable dungeon. But then what I thought was the bedrock border was actually a maze and it opened up to a new area. That's the point where I gave up and I looked up what to do. Didn't even find the statue room before that lol.

Combat felt a bit bland, the hammer attacks very rapidly so the skellybois die quickly. Exploding bombs are also easy to get rid of, they take a long time to explode. I never felt threatened while playing this game and lost only a few hearts over my entire playthrough. Explosions are nice, especially when you get a chain reaction from multiple bombers :D also I loved the details and easter eggs in the starter room!

All in all it's a solid game but it misses some more fun gameplay elements, I think. It's quite hard to say what those would be, though, but it probably has to be something that works well with the bombermining.

Anyways, good job! :D

Submitted

The Monstrous Maw and the Veiled Cube

wolfheatDeveloper20 days ago

Thanks for the comment!

I've made some adjustments to the combat for the post jam release, but it actually makes it more fluent and easier. I also increased the power of the powerups to slice through stuff faster. I think my intention for the combat was more to make it an enjoyful experience rather than tough.

I did also open up the path to the altar so its the first thing the player see when exiting the room. I have not added any better map though, and I'm not sure I want to. Have to think some more about that. I did make it so the minerals you pick up are collected and fills up a meter, which when full makes one crystal visible through the walls as a new feature. This will make sure the player does not have to play forever to find them and complete the game.

The game consists of four main areas which is not that much different, these are now made in to distinguishable biomes which I hope will make it more interesting to play. I'm not sure the game is more fun to play, but its funny how organic the game dev process is. Some changes you make into the project is easy to reject and remove, and some of them becomes like concrete and becomes like a foundation that defines it.

Thanks again for the nice comment!

SundlerSubmitted23 days ago(+1)

Let me guess, you played way too much Minecraft?

Dungeon had nice placement. Enemies were in good positions. The maze structure was great. I'm guessing it was hand made and not procedurally generated. Not sure what you had in mind for the collected items, perhaps some kind of crafting? Movement and mining were fast and snappy, so the game never got tedious. Though I did take a look at the map to get the progress more quickly.

Graphics, animations, musics and sounds effects were all well done. I appreciated the little touches in the bedroom. Only criticism would be to remove the AI voices. I don't think they added anything of real merit to your project. Retro games have no reason to require voice acting, text is more than sufficient.

Overall, it was very enjoyable.

Submitted

The Forest Door

wolfheatDeveloper23 days ago (1 edit) (+1)

Thanks for the comment.
I did not make it procedural generated this year. I think that is a bit overrated and hard to get right. So I think I will only go for that for games that need more variety and many playthroughs of same level, Which should only be a certain types of games.

I take your input on the speech into consideration. I do like how it turned out, and I have had comments about people that liked it. There were some other games in the jam that use voice acting with various results and I think it can work. The genre might be coming from the retro world, but far from all games in this category fits into the retro genre I think.

I've started to work on the post jam update and the collecting of minerals now fills up a bar that eventually unlocks the ability to find the crystals through the walls.

Thanks for playing!

SlyonicsSubmitted26 days ago(+1)

This was a fun game, I enjoyed the destructible wall mechanics and thought they were implemented and used well. Combat was a little difficult due to the low initial health and lack of a windup to enemy attacks, so they're able to attack as soon as the player strafes around a corner. Voice acting was a nice touch and helped me avoid a death. Overall a very cool entry and I hope to make a dungeon crawler with destructible environments too some time.

Submitted

wolfheatDeveloper23 days ago(+1)

Thanks for playing and liking the game!

In post jam version combat has been made more fluent and easier to move without colliding with enemies and easier to hit them. Enemy skeleton animations have been made a bit slower with more visuals showing them starting to hit player as well as getting staggered by player hitting them.

Imaad PhoplunkerSubmitted27 days ago

A very good game! I enjoyed the wall destroying mechanic. Having most the gameplay revolve around it was quite a cool choice! Was struggling to find the crystals for a while, but did eventually notice the rug. Good job!

Submitted

The Baleful Dreams

wolfheatDeveloper27 days ago(+1)

Thank you for playing the game. Nice that you completed it as well and got to see the end. I have started to make some updates for the post jam release. I think it will be great!

Soul GrinderSubmitted29 days ago(+1)

Very different to the other dungeon crawlers I've played this jam. I thought the bedroom looked great with lots of cool details to it and the voiceover AI sounded great too. Took quite a while of popping blocks to find 1 of the puzzle pieces and I played a further 30 plus minutes trying to find another piece but didn't find one. The bomb mechanics and the enemies where good fun. I think if this had more Bomberman like game mechanics and less Minecraft mining game mechanics I think players could get through the blocks and find the puzzle pieces faster. Would be cool to see waves of flames instead of a smaller explosion area. Great fun either way and had a literal blast playing it. Good stuff, unique jam idea!

Submitted

Ancient Dungeon

wolfheatDeveloper27 days ago(+1)

Thank you! I did want to try to create something different. That is always a gamble but it can pay out, and also it is fun to try new stuff. I do think this games strong points is the duality in both bombs and hammer. I might try to adjust these parts impact though. I actually had the explosions as one large one to begin with but tries this instead cause it would be more clear to the player which tiles were affected.

SyviceSubmitted29 days ago(+1)

It took me a few minutes to figure out how to get out of the room as I clicked on everything. Reminded me of Minecraft with the digging and picking up of materials. The swinging of the hammer on the walls felt smooth. It was hard to tell if I was hitting enemies or when the skeleton would hit me and I would end up dead when I thought I hit him first. Also wasn't expecting to use the bomb and not be able to move and ended up dead there as well lol. Fun concept!

Submitted

Aardwolves: Cosmic Exterminators

wolfheatDeveloper27 days ago

Well its a known method to trap the player in a small space and have the options few until player learns some basic mechanics, and that is kinda what I did here. Like you can interact with some items to pick them up and you can destroy walls. I might have had a bomb there as well but it kinda felt like you would blow up yourself so I took it away.

The Grumpy GameDevSubmitted29 days ago(+2)

It took me entirely too long to pick up the sledgehammer.

Then I played minecraft.

Then I died to skeletons.

Good game.

Submitted

Solitary Ancient Ruins of SPLORR!!

wolfheatDeveloper27 days ago

I am glad you did! :)

Viewing comments 28 to 21 of 28 · Next page · Last page