[Custom dungeon] Journeyman [RTC] [Zed5Duke]

[Zed5Duke]

Version: 1 for RTC V0.49
Platform: RTC
Author: Zed5Duke
Date published: 2009, November 15
Date last updated: 2009, November 15

Notes:
Its 13 level experimental dungeon, in labyrinth are hidden gold coins, find them that many as you can and check your fame rank at last level.

Download:
Download this dungeon from this Shared OneDrive (in the 'Custom Dungeons' folder)

[Jan]

I haven't finished the Skeleton Key yet!

[beowuuf]

Lol, Zed's reached critical mass!

I'll see if I can play both this and skeleton key in parallel soon!

[Zed5Duke]

I made this one today in around 3 hours (which is already my speedmaking record) Labirynths, few simple triggers and one advancement invention at end. Highest rank is king. Well surely Skeleton Key was more ambitious game.

[RAF68]

thank you zed for your dungeon new I am going to play it all in now

[the master]

Plenty of food in this one. Unfortunately Zed forgot to include water except on the first level. Well if he has I haven't found any and I am well well down in the levels. Found 2 empty Botas, but what good are they without anywhere to fill them.

[Gambit37]

3 hours!? THREE HOURS!? I'm speechless! It takes me at least three hours to get all the imagery done for a monster, test it out and tweak. I guess we have very different approaches to dungeon building

[Jan]

This dungeon looks good so far. The maze is relatively complex and interesting. I can't believe that Zed built it in three hours - I will definitely need more time to finish it. I'm missing a proper weapon - the club isn't the most effective thing. Maybe I missed something somewhere above. Again, the starting fights are very unbalanced (a weak champion and tough monsters, one hit = death, so you must fight them from the stairs - I must have climbed the stairs up and down for hundreds of times), but then it improves. OK, I'm on level 5 or so, so let's go on.

I'll see if I can play both this and skeleton key in parallel soon!

LOL - that's what I'm doing, and it ain't good. I don't know where I am, who I am and what I am doing. These two dungeons are less linear that the previous ones, so I'm getting kind of lost.

EDIT: Ha! A sword!

EDIT 2: @The Master:

Spoiler

There's a water fountain on the same level as the first bota.

@Zed: Botas don't work with fountains! Is this intended? If not, then it's a bug - probably because you're mixing DM1 fountains with DM2 botas.

[PaulH]

I'll try again later, but first impressions are not good. Character starts with FIVE hp. I descended the stairs and was instantly clubbed by a blue ogre, had no chance, dead. Restarted and got cornered, one hit dead. Needs more balance.

[Jan]

OK, finished. Or "finished"? Zed, does this game has a normal ending, or is it just the coin slot? I finished with 11 coins - "Warlord" - did I miss a coin or two somewhere? Is there another ending? How many coins are there in total?

Anyway, this dungeon was quite interesting, the layout of the levels was nice and the whole thing was addictive. As Paul mentioned, the fights are very unbalanced - at the beginning, it's very hard, and at the end, it's a piece of cake (especially once you find the rapier).

Thank you for this dungeon, Zed! And now, I'll go back to the Skeleton Key!

EDIT: OK, so I found the 12th coin and I'm a KING! That one was well hidden. The backtracking was painful. But still no end-game. Is that all or is there a 13th coin?

[money]

Hi Zed, enjoyed this one - didn't take too long and interesting in design. Finished the same as Jan - as a Warlord, so perhaps i missed a coin or two along the way?!?

I quite liked the balance - it is hard at first but leveling up happens quite easily and if you stand and fight at the end, especially against the demon, your still likely to get a kicking... but using move/hit/spell it seems to flow quite nicely.

Sometimes it's too easy to get started on a big dungeon and find it hard to get the time to finish it... this dungeon is just perfect for a Sunday afternoon quick blast through!

[Jan]

Ha! You definitely missed at least one coin, Money! (see my edited message) I'd bet you missed the same one as I have - did you find a coin in

Spoiler

the fireball launcher

? - it was already used in some of the Zed's dungeons.

And you're absolutely right, this dungeon is very addictive and well done - a good thing for a Sunday afternoon, as you said. I can't believe that Zed made this one in only 3 hours.

[money]

that was the one i missed

[PaulH]

Just completed toWarlord standard, so at least missed a key or two. Review:

Gameplay: 4
Some bits were enjoyable, but it just seemed like playing the same level over and over again. Same monsters, same items, same task.

Originality: 7
The concept is fairly original in collecting items for a rank so is worth a good mark here. The levels themsleves though were basic hack n slash.

Difficulty: 5
A game of two halves! At the start it was hard and frustrating due to the poor starting character, and at the end was too easy as the actual monsters hadn't changed that much. In the middle it was ok, and food and water were balanced nicely.

Puzzles: 3
There weren't any really! The grapple adds a nice touch, but as above, more hack and slash than anything else.

Size: 5
The levels were about 12x12 or less so ends up being quite small. But I understand that is the nature of this concept. Very few objects.

Replayability: 5
There is some worth in finding the coins but overall not enough to maintain interest.

Craft: 3
Original idea and concept, but sparse dungeon.

Game Ending: 4
Fits into the above, a nice concept with increasing level for the coins you find, but no finish as such it seems

Atmosphere: 3
Wasn't one really. No texts, decor and limited use of even the original DM stuff.

Overall: 4
It is hard to be over critical as this sort of dungeon has its place - straight to the point, no fancy graphics, no real adventure, just a quick blast which many will love. However I still think it can be improved somewhat. Good idea, just a little rushed.

Best part:
When the levels got a bit more maze like with frequent up and down trips between different level parts

Worst part:
Very samey, needs more objects, monsters (types), better battles and puzzles.