My concept for Maze of Whispers boils down to this question: What if WoW and Fortnite had a baby, and that baby was a roguelite that grew up playing D&D and Animal Crossing?

Perhaps a question nobody but me wanted the answer to.

But an answer I've attempted to supply all the same.

I think I've gotten most of the basic ideas down - the controls I like from Fortnite, the features I like from WoW. The stats from D&D. Some very high level ideas from Animal Crossing, even if they aren't entirely apparent yet. Multiplayer works under the hood, there are just some changes that need to be made for dungeons to sync between clients.

Having implemented many of the base features I had planned, I'm taking a break before I continue meaningful work on the project, so I can asses the current state and plan and prioritize coming work. I will continue to publish small updates when I can, but for the next month or two they will not be as frequent or as large, Enabling LAN multiplayer is my only real priority right now.

As an independent developer, working on a project that I don't really consider marketable yet, I'm entirely reliant on outside funding to keep this going.  My next step with MoW is to get it in shape for an Early Access push, or a Kickstarter campaign, or perhaps some other incremental step towards a retail product. In other words, I need to ask you guys for money to keep working on it, and I don't want to do that until I feel like I have something of value to offer in return.

The next phase of the project will be less of a prototype, and more of the final product will be apparent. I need to spend time planning and developing some of those ideas.

Maze of Whispers is a passion project. I have a lot of plans for it, but right now it is little more than a prototype for the base systems - a random dungeon generator and a basic RPG. I'm proud to have gotten it that far. And I'm hopeful that I'll be able to put more time into it soon. Follow me, subscribe to updates, and otherwise stick around - more will come.

After a few months off, focusing on some other things, I've been able to come back to the project with a fresh perspective. I'm happy to say I've made some significant technical strides in the past few weeks!

I've been able to get the following underlying tech working, which will enable the core systems I have planned for the game:

• ActivateObjectByPlayerQuest - this script allows me to activate game objects based on the completion of a particular quest. This will enable me to make dungeon portals much more dynamic, while maintaining an approachable user experience.
• SafeAreaBuildingEntity - a new type of building entity that can only be placed in a safe area (such as the hub town). This is a critical step towards the construction aspect of the game, allowing me to create buildings and furniture while preventing them from being placeable in unexpected areas.
• Breakable objects - Barrels, crates, pots...this object type will add a crucial layer of interactivity and variety to dungeon spaces.
• Dungeon Seed synchronization - A step forward in synchronizing the layout of random dungeons between the host and client. 
• Multiplayer LAN enabled - With the synchronization of the dungeon seed achieved, I can now enable multiplayer!

These features were the main things holding back my progress on the game. With this tech now in place, I will be able to make progress on the following larger systems which set the game apart from other offerings:

• Buildings and furniture - Once these are implemented, players will be able to build a home with a foundation, walls, and doors. Furniture will be added that players can place, such as crafting stations, decorations, and trophies.
• Exploration progress - Once fully implemented, players will be able to reach checkpoints in the dungeon that they can warp to directly, allowing the player to skip tedious lower levels later in the game.
• More dungeon rooms - I've been working on new rooms for the cave biome. These new rooms follow a more refined design philosophy than the existing ones, and should be a lot more interesting to explore.

Watch for updates!