DUNGEON ONION Development

Overworld Screens

2009-09-14T03:43:00.000-07:00

Here are a few screenshots of the pixelated overworld tiles I'm working on for the game. The tiles aren't done yet, but aren't looking bad for this stage of development. Although you can't see it in these screenshots, the sea is animated. (Notice that the default RPG Maker characters and event art hasn't been changed yet.)

The text display at the bottom-left of each screen is the Location Window, which changes as you move around the overworld. It identifies the region you're currently in. These regions are named in clues left by the NPCs in-game, and also define the borders of the territory of the various monster groups.

JRPGs and Word Wrapping

2009-08-24T13:21:00.000-07:00

Oh god....

RPG Maker is, foremost, made for the Japanese market, and one of the little weird things about the Japanese language is that, for the most part, all its characters are the same width. Even the ones that are mostly tall and thin are spaced out horizontally so as to fill a wide character's width. The result is that a block of Japanese text will tend to fit into a regular grid, a very useful attribute in displaying text on a computer, especially one with a hardware tile system.

But the Roman alphabet looks a little weird when monospaced out like this. Companies that localize Japanese games for Western audiences will often modify the display routines to display "variable width text." It's a little more complicated to display text this way since the character display function must know how wide each character is, and also keep a pixel resolution total of the text that's appeared before, as opposed to one of character resolution.

But one thing that many companies do not do is extend this function to support word wrapping, that ubiquitous word processor function that will move an entire word to the next line rather than break it apart at the window border. Most often they'll take the path of least resistance, simply ensuring all the displayed text is pre-wrapped, with hard line breaks inserted in such places to keep text from going off the window.

But this itself presents certain difficulties. For one thing, many games allow players to choose names for their characters. In Japanese the maximum width, in pixels, of a name is simply the maximum name characters times the width of a character. In English, it's max character number times the width of the widest character, usually something like capital M or W. The result is that, to be safe, all text must be spaced as if the player had entered his name as, to give an example for eight-character names, "WWWWWWWW". This sometimes results in lines containing player-entered character names having to be wrapped early, even if that would look a little weird. It also results in some odd bugs from time to time when by accident a line does extend beyond the window edge.

Implementing a word wrap function really isn't that hard, and all real game logic is handled in Ruby anyway, so RPG Maker VX's word wrapping facility, which goes the predetermined breaks route, is a bit annoying. The developers included a pair of arrows on the text entry window to help developers to estimate where the left edge of the screen will be, but it's a kludgy solution that depends on generally average text and also that the default font be used. Dungeon Onion uses a custom font and lot of game-generated text besides, so creating a word wrap routine was pretty much unavoidable. A lot of today's work on the project was spent in devising such a routine.

Ruby in RPG Maker Gotchas

2009-08-22T12:33:00.000-07:00

1. If you want to use a function that isn't part of a class, it seems you must use the module keyword and a constant module name, like:

module MyModule

Then later, in the place you want to use the module's functions:

include MyModule

But you must look out for the fact that, unlike when defining class definitions & methods, the order of the source files in RPG Maker's IDE matters for modules. That is, you cannot use a module function in a file that appears in the list before the file that the module is defined in.

2. I don't yet know if this is a Ruby thing or just something with RPG Maker's implementation of it, but a function that has all optional parameters presents difficulty when trying to call it with arguments. Apparently when called with parameters, the function will automatically resolve with all defaults, then complain when you try to pass parameters to the returned value.

Monster Graphics Part 1

2009-08-03T17:11:00.000-07:00

So the general visual look of Dungeon Onion is going to be a kind of retro, purposely-pixelated thing. Partly because it's oh-so-trendy right now, yes, but let's not kid ourselves. The main reason is it's much easier for me to draw pixel art. Part of this has to do with my years writing Commodore 64 games, but there's also the fact that there's just less to mess up.

It's true, with pixel art you also have to be sure everything that -is- there works. And that's why I'm posting these monster images from the game, to try to get some idea of whether they work or not. I rather like them, they turned out better than I had hoped, but could a whole game be supported by them?

Two people I've shown these so far have said they look okay, but it's hard to tell for sure without a background. Just to let you know, RPG Maker VX's default battle background is simply a dimmed, blurry version of the previous screen with a transparent circle overlaid on top of it. Not really sure how I could simulate that here.

BANDIT (his name is Torgo, and he takes care of the place while the Master is away):

BAT (he looks a little birdlike, I may change that):

DRAGON (Could someone stop this man from saying "dragon?" Thank you.):

FAIRY (her sister lives in a city park):

FIGHTER (blue is fashionable for RPG heroes since Dragon Quest):

GOBLIN (in fashionably flared shorts):

JELLY (keep away from peanut butter and especially dancing bananas):

OGRE (I admit, he looks a little too much like Big Angry Jesus):

ORC (as far as orcs go, I think this one's a winner):

PRIEST (you can tell from his chest symbol that he belongs to a sect that worships italics):

RAT (his bites leave little pixel-sized square holes in cheese):

ROGUE (His name is Rodney. Every rogue character I create gets named Rodney.):

SNAKE (thinks one badger is bad enough, but 36 of them dancing are insufferable):

SPIDER (He is our hero! Modeled after one "Speedra the Grossly Unsettling.")

ZOMBIE (do not rob him; that would be wrong):

Just to be clear, although these monsters will probably be used in my game, I'm posting them here so others can use 'em too, if they want to use pixel-art monsters for some reason. I'm hereby putting them under the Creative Commons Attribution license.

Manual Part 2: About This Game and How To Play

2009-07-29T14:56:00.000-07:00

This gets into the details of how the game will work.

----------

About This Game

DUNGEON ONION is a computer role-playing game. In it, you guide a party of four adventurers through a perilous quest in order to find the Splinters and Shards of Starlight. Once enough have been found you may take them to Thorn Zenith, the edge of the world, and use them to gain entrance to the Cosmic Mechanism. There, by somehow remedying whatever it was that has happened there, you can ensure the survival of your world, saving everything you have ever known and becoming the foremost heroes of your age.

You may have played other computer role-playing games, but it is important not to assume that, since it belongs to the same genre, that DUNGEON ONION is necessarily similar to them. Unlike many of those games, for instance, DUNGEON ONION has a time limit. You have only one year of game time to complete your quest. If you take too long to complete it then your world will blow up. Although there are many treasures and riches to discover along your journey, if the very ground beneath your feet dissolves into flame and rubble, then what use wealth be to you?

Further, few others in the world know of its impending destruction. The rulers of the six kingdoms have been informed by their seers, but in order to prevent a general panic they have not informed their subjects. Because of the danger, these rulers will be willing to listen to you, and may respond to your requests for aid. But they have their own problems, and are pursuing their own solutions to the danger. Their efforts are doomed to fail, but neither do they know it, nor will they be receptive to your words should you decide to tell them.

No, if the realm is to the saved from a horrible end it is up to you, and you have just a year to do it. So, then, how is it to be done?

The beggar mentioned the “Shards of Starlight,” a number of obscure magical treasures not unknown in the legends of your world, but long scattered to the winds. Somewhere these objects must still exist, no doubt secreted away somewhere in some of your world's many ancient dungeons, remnants of ancient civilizations. Someone must know where they are. Maybe someone in your very town....

In finding them, you must take careful consideration of the time. DUNGEON ONION is designed so that, so long as you stick to your quest, it is possible to win with plenty of time remaining on the clock. But there are a lot of other things to see in the game, and they even change on every playthrough. Many of these distractions will make your party stronger. A few of them may actually harm your party unless you spend time to undo them, and some of them may not be undoable. Imagine that, a fantasy world that is actually dangerous, in which there are mysterious dangers about that could change your characters in strange and exotic ways! How novel! How unlike 99% of CRPGs developed today!

Because of the time limit, the save game function is rather more important in Dungeon Onion than in other games. Reader, you should know... DUNGEON ONION, with its random scrambling of game features, is more vulnerable than other games to save game abuse. The author has considered adapting the roguelike concept of “permadeath” to the game, which would, among other things, relegate restoring more than once from a given save to the realm of cheating. He decided not to do this, and in fact beginning players should rely upon game saving to avoid messing themselves up too much. But even so, don't be too hasty to restore your way out of trouble. There may be hidden advantages to surviving adversity!

One more thing about the game you are playing... DUNGEON ONION contains a great many random elements. Every time you play, the treasure locations and dungeon layouts change. The special events scattered around change. The contents of some buildings in town change. The purposes of some of the spells varies; some of them may even have negative effects. The identity of some of the unknown items may also change. It would be hubris to suggest that this game is FAQ-proof, but minimizing their pernicious influence is an explicit design goal.

The author suggests, for your first few games, that you try to avoid playing it without the aid of FAQs or walkthroughs. You may find that they aren't as useful here as with other games anyway. Later on, after you've had the chance to attempt the game unaided, then you may want to seek out a FAQ in order to better maximize your score, or come to understand the design.

So, why is it called DUNGEON ONION?

Well, the game is complex in a number of unexpected ways. It has a unique flavor, and is something of an acquired taste. And above all, the game is greatly multilayered, with many actions having unexpected consequences that must be discovered and considered.

But really, I just like it.

Places to See, Things to Do

Towns

Towns are generally the safest areas of the game. You will rarely get attacked in a town unless you've done something to upset the people. Towns are where you find townsfolk and the local ruler, each of which a potential source of information about the world. You may also find job opportunities to earn a little spare cash, sage's residences to provide even more information, shops for upgrading your equipment, mages' guilds for new spells, training halls for improving your characters' statistics, castles, sages and mage guilds each may have libraries for doing research... and more. There may even be some secret services, such as a Black Market or an Information Broker. But which services are available, and where from? Well, that varies from game to game....

The information available in towns changes weekly (in game time), so if you don't get a lead pointing where you want now, consider trying back later. Townspeople tend to have information on areas near their town. Although you do not interact with townsfolk directly, your party is assumed to be questioning them about their current quests, so it is a little more likely that they'll supply information relevant to your current goals, particularly the lowest-numbered uncompleted dungeon.

The ruler deserves special mention. When speaking with him a list of topics opens up, containing a number of things your group may have heard of during the game. Select one and the ruler will reveal some information his sources has on the issue. Because their sources are many and wide-ranging, representing military knowledge, magical research, learned study, and the operations of spies, rulers are great for narrowing down information on which you may only have a slight lead. However, relying too much on one ruler risks incurring his displeasure. Even in the quasi-medieval atmosphere of this game a king is not likely to jail you simply for wasting his time, but it may make further inquiries difficult until some time has passed. When you are dismissed from a ruler's presence it does not mean that you have offended them, but that the ruler considers you to have been assisted enough during this session at court. If you need more information you should probably wait a while before applying again, or maybe check elsewhere. Fortunately, there are six kings around to ask.

Take note: kings tend to be less helpful towards the beginning of the game, when the group is unknown in the land, when their experience levels are low, and when there is lots of time remaining on the clock. As all of these conditions are remedied during play, rulers will tend to become more cooperative. You may also be able to increase your standing with the king by performing quests for him, or by generally doing things which further his kingdom's presence. Often, just general adventuring will accomplish this.

Overworld

This is the area between all the other areas, the surface of your world. In many RPGs, the above-ground areas are home to relatively weak monsters around the starting area, but are arranged in progressively harder waves of difficulty the further away you get. Somehow, the monsters know the order of the quests you must complete to win the game, because they're arranged themselves to become harder in a smooth curve all along your journey.

Suffice to say, Dungeon Onion's monsters are not like this. This is more realistic, but it also means that the overworld is a vastly more dangerous place than in other games! You must escape if you encounter monsters that are too strong for you. The foes right around the starting town are relatively easy, but once you enter other regions difficulty may jump. Because of this, starting parties should play carefully. When engaging with such foes it may help to bribe them, or flee upon first sight of them before they can close to attack. If you do end up in battle with ogres or demons, there are items that make it much easier to escape from fights available in stores. It is fortunate that low-level adventurers are like the rats of the game world, generally unrespected by its monstrous inhabitants, and, being regarded as little more than as a nuisance, will probably find escape to be relatively easy.

And now, a personal note from the designer: games are not empowerment fantasies. I'd like to slap whoever it was who came up with the idea that they should be. This concept is at the root of the current problem RPGs have with grind, in which the player fights legions of weak monsters that have no real hope of harming him in order to build up the arbitrary numbers needed to grow in power. Ultimately, this is simply paying dues to the game, dues of time, that all-important completion time figure given in the game's advertising. This is not healthy.

(In case you haven't figured it out, the designer is a bit of a curmudgeon. Whatever you do, don't get him started about designers who talk about the best way to trigger pleasure centers in the brain. He hates that.)

One more thing: the overworld is a very dangerous place in another way. Travel and searching overland is the biggest time consumer in the game.

Dungeons

The primary challenges of the game, these underground maze-like spaces are filled with monsters and traps. Your task is to find the room that contains the Shard of Starlight and collect it. This is easier said than done, not the least reason for which being the boss guarding it.

Each dungeon is in the possession of a faction, an organization (more or less) of monsters. When I say “monsters,” by the way, it is in the old D&D sense of a generic term for potential opponents; some monsters are elves and dwarves, or even humans.

Most of the time, you'll have to fight through legions of foes to get to the boss, then fight a particularly difficult example of the breed in order to claim the Shard. After that, you return to the staircase and exit again, Shard in hand, into the sun's warm embrace

But take heed: not all monsters are hostile, and some that are hostile initially could be befriended! It is possible that you'll find friendly elves, for example, have taken up in one of the dungeons. And while there is a strong monster carrying the Shard, that doesn't mean you must fight for it! It's up to you what to do with creatures, wisely or no, that consider themselves your allies. If you don't wish to attack, another way to get it is to trade for it; while Shards are ancient magical artifacts, their powers are obscure and not generally useful. Their major value, to most monsters, is as a treasure. You might be able to buy it off them, although it'll tend to be expensive to do so. The better your relations with the ruling faction, the better a deal you might be able to get. You might be able to do a favor for a race of monsters in order to lower the price. If they like you enough it is even possible to get the price down to free, which is a considerable feat. Some unexpected monsters may be peaceful in your game; initial faction reactions are one of many things that are randomized at the start of play.

There are other dungeon-like spaces to find too. Although they do not contain a Shard of Starlight, most of the other rewards, and dangers, that dungeons provide may be found there, and some of those can be very useful.

Whether the occupants are friendly or not, there are other obstacles to overcome in a dungeon:

Doors:
These are color-coded according to their strength. The stronger doors are likely guarding better treasure. If you encounter a locked door, there are several ways to get beyond it. The surest way through is to use a key. There are five types of these. Four types, iron, bronze, silver and gold, are generally rated according to the locks they'll open. Each of these keys can open locks of their level, none above or below. These keys are durable, although they may break rarely (especially if the door is trapped). A fifth type of key is skeleton, which are different; a skeleton will always open one, but only one, lock of any type. All keys can be found in chests or bought from locksmiths; iron and bronze keys can be bought from stores.

If an appropriate key is unavailable, there are other avenues that can be pursued. A party thief might be able to pick the lock, an ability that improves with level and tools. Your magic-user might know an appropriate unlocking spell. A strong character may be able to just beat it down. Or you might be able to bypass the door by going through a nearby wall. Finally, you can always go do something else until you're better able to get through doors. Dungeon Onion is a substantially non-linear game; no one says you must tackle the dungeons in order.

Traps:
Most dungeons have some traps lying around. If you step on a square with a trap there is a good chance it'll go off and you'll suffer the effects. Traps can cause you to take damage, lose food, or produce one of a number of other problems. One of the worst is the simple pit trap; damage is light, but pits take a considerable amount of time to crawl out of.

If you suspect you know of a place where a trap lies, try searching from an adjacent spot. Searching isn't always successful on the first attempt, but when it is, discovered traps are much less likely to go off. But searching takes time; how do you know where to search? Rumor has it that the process of setting a trap is complicated and mechanical, and is likely to disturb the environment in some way or other. It seems an observant person could figure out a trap is nearby through examination of his surroundings....

By the way, some doors and chests are trapped too. They can also be searched for.

Secret doors:
Secret doors differ from regular doors in that they're never locked, but are nevertheless a big problem in that they look exactly like walls. Again, a search from an adjacent location will frequently reveal a secret door, opening the way forward. Searching everywhere is annoying and time-consuming, but similar to traps, careful players may be able to deduce if there's a hidden area through careful thought.

Chests:
Not as much an obstacle as an opportunity, chests are extremely important in Dungeon Onion because they're your group's primary source of funds. Fortunately, they are frequently gratifying generous with lucre. That desn't mean they're without danger, however. In addition to traps, looting chests in an area can't go over well with its inhabitants. Of course, who cares what orcs think, right?

RPG Maker VX hacking: Tileset information

2009-07-27T02:50:00.000-07:00

A lot of my preliminary work on Dungeon Onion was inspired by reading the patches and technical information discover by others. In order to further this spirit of sharing, I will be presenting some of the information I had to discover for myself, in the hopes that I can save someone else the trouble of figuring it out themselves. This time, I'm going to be going over some things I had to discover about the way the game arranges its tiles, and how to manipulate the game's tile maps at runtime.

TILE DEFINITIONS

The indexing of the tiles goes like this:
TileB: 0 - 255
TileC: 256 - 511
TileD: 512 - 767
TileE: 768 - 1023

TileE is intended specifically for redefinition, but most of the other tiles can also be changed without much worry. However, Tileset A is much stranger than the others. I haven't completely charted it out, but I can tell you some things I've discovered.

There are 24 wall types, corresponding, in order left-to-right, to the walls on rows 11, 13 and 15 on the editor's TileA palette. In the import/export data for Tileset A, these walls are defined using a weird system (detailed in Help) and the editor seems to construct the actual tile data used upon import. The wall front tiles on rows 12, 14 and 16 are defined using a similar (but not identical) scheme.

Each wall type occupies 48 contiguous tile slots. Each row of walls comprises a consecutive sequence of these tiles, followed by eight sets of 48 tiles that make up the corresponding fronts. After that, the next row's wall tiles begin.

This leaves the matter of floors and pits, which also match walls and are found on rows 19-24 of the TileA palette. There is only one tile used for each wallset's floor, found in sets of 8 tiles of floor, then the matching 8 pits, then 8 more of floor, until all 24 wallsets, 48 tiles in all, are found That leaves the tile indices that each range begins at. The first wall starts at tile 5888, its wall front at 6272, its floor at 1552, and its pit 1560.

To summarize this, here are the tile start numbers for all 24 walls and fronts:
WALL 0 (stone blocks):
Walls start at 5888, Fronts start at 6272, Floor at 1552, Pit at 1560
WALL 1 (bricks):
5936, 6320, 1553, 1561
WALL 2 (yellow stone blocks):
5984, 6368, 1554, 1562
WALL 3 (jumbled yellow squared stone):
6032, 6416, 1555, 1563
WALL 4 (rounded gray stone):
6080, 6464, 1556, 1564
WALL 5 (castle wall):
6128, 6512, 1557, 1565
WALL 6 (hedges):
6176, 6560, 1558, 1566
WALL 7 (blue ice bricks):
6224, 6608, 1559, 1567
WALL 8 (wood paneling):
6656, 7040, 1568, 1576
WALL 9 (log cabin):
6704, 7088, 1569, 1577
WALL 10 (Japanese-ish building walls):
6752, 7136, 1570, 1578
WALL 11 (gray finished stone):
6800, 7184, 1571, 1579
WALL 12 (brownish finished stone):
6848, 7232, 1572, 1580
WALL 13 (marble finished stone, think masoleum):
6896, 7280, 1573, 1581
WALL 14 (large square stone blocks):
6944, 7328, 1574, 1582
WALL 15 (finished metal):
6992, 7376, 1575, 1583
WALL 16 (rubble):
7424, 7808, 1584, 1592
WALL 17 (gray craggy mountain):
7472, 7856, 1585, 1593
WALL 18 (lavaish mountain):
7520, 7904, 1586, 1594
WALL 19 (icy craggy mountain):
7568, 7952, 1587, 1595
WALL 20 (vines):
7616, 8000, 1588, 1596
WALL 21 (crystaline):
7664, 8048, 1589, 1597
WALL 22 (reddish rubble, could be intended to be viscera):
7712, 8096, 1590, 1598
WALL 23 (purple alien webbing):
7760, 8144, 1591, 1599

MODIFYING TILES DURING PLAY

To change a spot on the map, assign to $game_map.data[x, y, layer]

For example:
$game_map.data [x, y, 2] = 0

The layers are a little funky and I haven't competely figured them out. Layer 0 is the main map. Layers 1 and 2 have different functions, and seem to be connected in some way. Layer 2 supports transparency among tiles set with a star in the movement permission settings in the editor, but non-star tiles set for there sometimes show up weird?

In Dungeon Onion, we use layer 2 to implement the automap, by beginning random areas with a blanket of completely black layer 2 tiles. But since layer 2 is useful for other things, anything that's supposed to appear overlaid upon something else, we store the "revealed" map in its own array-like class.

Notice, by the way, that $game_map.data is a little weird in its access means. Ruby's arrays don't support, to my knowledge, that brackets-and-commas syntax. There is some other weirdness with $game_map.data. It appears to be an interface into a buffer. Trying to make a copy of it to restore later sometimes doesn't work as you'd expect. Because of this, I've found I have to restore all the tiles individually when a random map is reentered instead of just making a copy of $game_map.data using Marshal.

To-Do List #1

2009-07-26T03:36:00.000-07:00

This is my big list of to-dos before the game is done. It's a good list of features that will be in the final game. Naturally the list contains spoilers; I leave it up to you whether you want to be spoiled concerning a game that's still some way from completion.

The list looks pretty long. In fact, it is pretty long, but I have a good idea of how to implement practically all of it. It's mostly a matter of sitting down and doing the coding. Some of the features will likely require relatively little code, which should help speed things up a bit. Even so, and even taking the feature bloat since then into account, my original perception of the project of being a little thing that could be finished in a couple of months seems like it may have been rather naive.

DUNGEON ONION TO-DO as of 7/26/2009

Trap triggering
Trap effects
Fountain graphics
Fountain code
Fountain randomization
Room templates
Secret door placement in room walls
Secret door placement in passages
Door placement in passages
Chest placement in rooms
Magic circle placement in rooms
Fountain placement in rooms
Magic circle effects
Fountain effects
Gem usage in spellcasting
Gem awards from chests and monsters
Items from chests
Treasure generation tables
Gold from chests

Magic circle randomization
Fountain randomization
Location randomization
Dungeon randomization
Building randomization
Item randomization?

Topic setup
Topic learning

Accomplishment journal

Magic words
Magic word effects

Magic word learn event
Special skills & spells learn events

Townspeople
Townspeople hint selection
Ruler Q&A
Ruler regard & respect
Sage Q&A
Divination (part of temple, also Magic Circle & Shrine location)
Library (location)

Food

Skills & Spells (both combat and utility)

Saving in inns
Save prevention outside of inns
Reload counting

Horses
Special items

Building service implementation

Items (big)

Monster creation (big)
Monster assignment to factions

Monster encounter tables & scripting

Boss encounters

Splinters & Shards of Starlight awards

Faction coding
Faction definitions (names, initial opinions)
Faction system variable definitions (regard and respect)
Factions controlling dungeons
Factions controlling regions
Faction randomization (some variation in initial reactions to party)

Dungeon searching (secret doors, traps, secrets in chests, other secrets)
Overworld searching (find locations)

Engage
Parley
Tree-branch coding for engage and parley

Time up handling

Finishing location encoding (big)
Finish location main hint writing (big)
Write other hints for all locations (big)
Magic spell hints
Fountain hints
Dungeon contents hints
Game tip hints
False hints?

"If class exists" function (so some things are harder if a given character is dead/not present)

Place things on map & tie hint system to them

Final area
Ending
Scoring
Credits

Music
Sound effects

----v2----
Other Character classes
Graphics

----v3----
Random overworld
Random towns

I'm trying to accomplish these in such a way that it is playable, partially, before the whole list is crossed off. Whether I'll succeed at this, well, who knows.

Manual Part 1: Setting, "One Year Until Doomsday"

2009-07-23T12:18:00.000-07:00

One way to give one's self a goal to work towards when designing a game while writing it is to write the game's manual ahead of time, and try to create the game so that the manual is accurate. Thus it is that I've written out Dungeon Onion's manual now even though the game is still some ways from hitting beta.

Here is the first part of the manual which explains the premise behind the game.

One Year Until Doomsday

You and your friends were layabout adventurers, the worst examples of the stereotype, caring for nothing more than a handful of gold pieces, a tankard of ale and a room for the night along with an attractive member of the opposite sex to share it with. You didn't care that the townsfolk considered you useless, or the royals thought you a scourge, barely better than the many bandits that roamed the countryside. Aimless and irresponsible. Until you met that old beggar last night outside the tavern. Until you met HIM.

You think of him as a beggar, but now that you think about it, there was something otherworldly about him. How his eyes seemed to stare through you like your body was transparent gauze. How his words echoed as he said them and were set as infinitely believable while simultaneously the craziest thing you'd ever heard.

He accosted you and the other members of your band reeling in the streets after a particularly drunken debauch one night, just another of the half-dozen or so unkempt men who loiter outside the doors looking to bum a drink. Except he didn't seem to be loitering. He seemed to be waiting. Waiting, you came eventually to realize, for you.

He pointed a bony finger as your group and, somehow, the happy haze of alcohol instantly vanished from your minds. The scraggly white beard on his chin pumped as his jaw formed the words which would became seared upon your memory, words of ruin, words of inescapable doom:

“HARK brave youths, and hear the verdict of darkest Fate. The Cosmic Mechanism has fallen into disrepair, and none now live who may effect its repair. Know this night that, lest you take up the Quest of Starlight, your world shall perish in fire in just a year's time.”

Before any of you could reply, as if he knew what you were all thinking, he responded pre-emptively:

“Fools! I care not for your queries. I relay this news only because it must be relayed. If your world deserves to live then you WILL save it. If you do not, your failure is the same as that of your race, and you will all die a most deserved death.”

“You alone must walk the untrod paths. You alone must learn the unknown truths. You alone must read aloud the words that no mortal wrote. You must collect the SHARDS OF STARLIGHT. Only then can you overcome the trial that stands before you. Only then may your pitiful world hope to live past the next year. What you do about it is up to you. Dally at your peril.” And then he was gone; he seemed to vanish into the air, leaving not even footprints in the mud.

In this world there are kings and townsfolk, goblins and lizard people, bandits and brigands, wizards and dragons. There are gods and demons. Elves and dwarves who are somewhat friendly with human-kind. Aloof fairies who nevertheless meddle perilously with mortals. Horrible squid creatures who can destroy sanity. And a legion of bats, cats, bears, beasts, and other mundane animals too.

Many of these creatures hold themselves unconcerned with humanity in general, and your party in particular. Some are actively evil. None of these beings is responsible for the catastrophe to come. All will perish in flame much hotter than the hottest fire elemental if it is not averted. If it is not stopped the history of your world will end in a single year, a period at the end of a sentence at the end of a paragraph at the end of a page at the end of all-too-short a book, a book unread by anyone other than those who will perish. Perishing along with them, I hasten to add, will be you.

So get cracking! Find the Shards of Starlight and stop this from happening! How hard can it be? You might find riches along the way! Most of the creatures you save may never know how close they came to a horrible fate, that their lives will be saved by your actions, but save them you will. It is not “destiny,” you haven't been “chosen,” there was no “prophecy” or any crap like that. It just is.

Good luck!

About this blog

2009-07-23T12:08:00.000-07:00

Hello! I'm John Harris. I write the @Play column for GameSetWatch, the Game Design Essentials series for Gamasutra, and the blog Peanuts Roasted for myself.

This game covers the development of an experimental computer role-playing game I'm working on called Dungeon Onion.

Although it's being made with RPG Maker, for hard-to-explain reasons, it does not aspire to be much like the JRPGs that RPG Maker is oriented towards making. Might & Magic is probably the strongest influence here, but elements of roguelikes and classic Wizardry are also here. There's even a touch of Starflight to be found, which is partly the inspiration behind the game's proposed "parley" system. Instead of telling a story which would almost certainly suck anyway, Dungeon Onion wants to be a challenging simulation-type adventure with lots of randomization, not the strongest story in the world but many decisions to make. The kind of game where your characters' opinions on the world and any personal dramas they may have are left for you to imagine. In short, any role-playing that is to be done is up to you.

The project is planned to be an independent release costing about $10 for a copy. (I would have greatly liked for it to be open source but I am in a tight financial situation, and it would be nice not to be broke all the time. Food is a good thing to have!) But by contributing $5 ahead of time through the Kickstarter project (not available yet) you can get a copy that way.

I've been careful not to say registered copy. It is my intent not to put any goofy serial number scheme into the game or anything like that. My opinion is, people are going to pirate the game regardless of what I do. In fact, piracy serves an important role, as it allows people who cannot afford even the meagre price of the game to play it. (A situation I sometimes find myself in.) I hope you'll decide to buy a copy of Dungeon Onion when its ready, perhaps after having torrented it. I really, really could use the money.

But enough hand-wringing about cash. This blog, whose posts will be mirrored to the Kickstarter project, is about the design of the game, and the development adventures I have in implementing it. Its update scheme will probably be once every few days.

Ready? GO!