Any new dungeons on the way?

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PaulH
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Any new dungeons on the way?

Post by PaulH »

Just wondered if anyone was working on any new dungeons? Not been much activity recently, but with all these new editors available I should imagine there could be some good stuff in the pipeline.
Myself? Yep, new dungeon is in the starting stages. I have actually put a little forethought into this one (pen and paper!) rather than just make it all up as I go along. It has about 8 endings at the moment, a storyline that continues throughout and new weapons, monsters etc though some of the old faves remain. Also multiple path-ish. Expect it in the new year...
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beowuuf
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Post by beowuuf »

i will be the first to go "oooooooooooooooooooh" and *bounce* and "never give an estimate on tme"

i guess i should finish ToC to prepare for it!
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linflas
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Post by linflas »

i'm actually playtesting and doing the last corrections to my first RTC dungeon :
- short (6 levels)
- VERY restricted runes :twisted:
- original graphics except for portraits (bitmap replacement works fine for them in v0.28...)
- brand new characters with DM characteristics (a bit stronger maybe)
- linear at the beginning then, well... you'll see ;)

probably released in november if RTCeditor doesn't crash too much :lol:
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sucinum
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Post by sucinum »

i am not working on a dungeon atm, i wasted most of my ideas in imprisoned ;)
if i'm going to start another, it will be more a scenery park than a dungeon ;)
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Zyx
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Post by Zyx »

I'm currently trying to flesh out the next release of Conflux II. (with the help of Gambit).
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PaulH
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Post by PaulH »

Looks like the fans could be in for a few treats!
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PaulH
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Post by PaulH »

Would anybody like to design a DM character for my new dungeon? If they could draw a new portrait and lay some stats out I'll try and include them in my next dungeon...
Here's how I want to play it:

Name: As long as it fits
Health, stamina and mana: You have 170 points to play with, and cannot have more than 100 in any area. 1 mana = 3 points, ie max mana is 33
Strength, Vitality, Dexterity, Wisdom, Antimagic, Antifire: You have 250 points to spread through, and each section must be between 30 and 60
Levels: each level is worth one point (so for instance 'Journeyman' =4). 5 points here.
Items: none!
The rest: I'll decide!

So they'll be much like the DM starting characters, but adds a little variance. You could base the character on yourself. Please send to supersonic525@aol.com
I'll look at everyone, if I get any!!!!
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iUSTINE
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Post by iUSTINE »

Hi!

I think I'd like to give a try with making a new dungeon. What can I tell you for sure is: 1) It will be the greatest dungeon ever made ;) and 2) I will need a helpful hand with making some graphics for my dungeon. So... beware and stay tuned ;) my dungeon master friends. Aloha!
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PaulH
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Post by PaulH »

I look forward to seeing it iUSTINE! Just remember to add lots of food, I hate running out of it lol!!!
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iUSTINE
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Post by iUSTINE »

Lol, The story will lead us to ancient pyramid, I will be needed a new color of walls :) I'am writing a background story now.
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PaulH
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Post by PaulH »

Excellent! Walls are so hard to draw and to get to line up. I can send you some of mystuff if you like, but its only experimental!
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iUSTINE
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Post by iUSTINE »

Sure, I'm not a programmer either a graphic designer so I will for sure have a problem with that stuff. Send it to : b-z@wp.pl. Thanks.

Last year I spent some of my free time on studying ancient Egypt mythology and mysteries (e.g. theories of Cheop's Great Pyrmids Shafts and etc) and and I thought it would be a real challenge to make a complexed dungeon but based on very immersive story. The very hard puzzles would be essential too. But I will need a new graphics, I hope you will help me when I finish what I can with my skills.
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PaulH
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Post by PaulH »

This sounds like a very good project with matching storyline. I'll help all I can, but I'm no programmer either, nor artist, just an enthusiast! However, CSBuild is fairly straightforward once you get to grips with it. The other editors such as DMExtract for the graphics and CSBEdit for editing items etc are also fairly easy to use once you get stuck in.
One problem I can see is with drawing these new walls to match the 'egyptian' theme. This will require lots of sandy shades but CSBWin only supports 16 colours, and the 'sand' shade is used as transparent for the walls. This could be a problem.
Of course you could use ReturnToChaos with its superior graphics support, but I find this a lot more difficult to manipulate.
All I can say is, spend a bit of time experimenting!
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Post by Selie »

There's this historical dungeon my math teachers used to give us (in maze form) to solve back when I was in middle and high school. I always wanted to do something with it and figured maybe I'd incorporate it into a tabletop roleplaying game, but it requires things like a sense of direction, hallways of specific lengths, and monsters (or rabid dogs, in the case of the historical dungeon).

I'd like to try making a custom dungeon one of these days (ohhhh man, I would love that!) if I ever beat DM, so perhaps for my first foray into the dungeon-making world I will build this historical dungeon. I think it is suited PERFECTLY to the format of DM, and it would be much simpler than trying to come up with something tricky myself. Of course, this is way off in the future. I still have to beat DM first!
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PaulH
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Post by PaulH »

It seems that most new dungeons are either for DMJava and RTC, and very few for CSBWin. I guess this is because at first glance CSBWin looks rather daunting with the tens of updates for the game and editor, and the foreign language that is DSA (!). I am fairly used to it now, (not DSAs though...) hence the comments in above posts, but for a newcomer I cannot imagine them wanting to try and use CSBWin and CSBEdit!
Of course, I love CSBWin! And ADGE and CSBEdit! But I know why a lot don't.
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Post by linflas »

yeap, i'd really like to try CSBedit and ADGE but the Atari code is fast and limited at the same time : CSBwin runs fast and is clearly better to play than RTC or DMjava but changing stuff is very hard and complicated.
i think i could have made 100% of sukumvit's labyrinth for CSBwin if i didn't use restricted runes. maybe i could have changed the minimum level for spells to get approximately the same effect (i.e. no FUL spell available until errrr... craftsman level)
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Post by linflas »

i don't know if i'm right but i think people love playing CSBwin and creating with RTC :)
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PaulH
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Post by PaulH »

I think you are right. I have never really tried RTC. But the look of CSBWin by just reading the forum is like trying to unravel DNA. I think this is backed up by the total dungeons made for each format. But it doesn't have to be this way. CSBEidit is actually quite simple once you ignore DSAs and the alien terminology used.
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Des
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Post by Des »

I find CSBuild friendly to use. The "other bits" not so easy.

As I have stated before I think the restricted runes spellbook tenet is against the spirit of DM and worthy of several loud raspberries. This, and my own design activities is why I haven't tried the "Deep Dungeon" for RTC released a while ago. Not a single person has commented on it which must be a bit depressing for the designer!
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Post by Gambit37 »

It's worth digging through the RTC archive to see how the restricted runes idea came about. It's actually a lot more rational when you really sit down and think about it and overcomes a severe problem with the difference between character knowledge and player knowledge. I was sceptical at first but had to concede that it works really well and adds a massive new strategic element to the game.

EDIT: Some links to relevant threads:

http://www.dungeon-master.com/forum/vie ... hp?t=20222
http://www.dungeon-master.com/forum/vie ... hp?t=20229
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Post by beowuuf »

I still would have liked to have some way for characters to gain both spell knowledge and rune knowledge, but ce la vie, or however you say it : )

and i think the restricted runes does integrate well, and isn't really against the nature of DM - you can still experiement, just the designer can limit spells so you can't get fireball from the start and blast critters easily just because you've played the game before
and besides, its a design feature, so you don't have to play with it in the old dungoens, and its the designer's choice if the dugeon is balanced for it when thye build

besides, CSBwin is now expanded aswell that spells can be restricted easily using DSA's - by the way zyx is talking, i am sure you will see feature in his next dungeon...
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Paul Stevens
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Post by Paul Stevens »

If I might add a word in defense of the DSA.

It is admittedly much too technical for the average designer. But that
should not prevent their use by anyone. At least for simple uses.

I will give three examples:

1) You want a pressure pad on level 3 to close a door on level 4.
Ask. I can provide a DSA ( a really simple one ) that will forward
message across levels. I can publish it in a publeic place with
some discussion where anyone can go get it and use it.

2) You wnat to play a particular, custom sound when a switch is
pressed. Ask. Agin, I can provide a DSA to do that and your
resposibilty is to install the switch with the DSA as a target and
put the sound in the CSBGraphics.dat file. Bothe these steps
are simple. Actually, Zyx already has this DSA written but it is
very simple.

3) You want to duplicate an object and place it in the dungeon when
the party walks over a particular pressure pad. See above. Not so simple
but I will write it and it is no more difficult to use than a trick wall or door.

We can build a library of these 'simple-to-use' DSAs, each with instructions.
Perhaps each can come with a very simple sample dungeon illustrating
its use.

Can't do it if you don't ask for it because I don't know what you want.
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Ian Clark
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Post by Ian Clark »

I am working on a dungeon at the moment. It is only about 20% complete. I've got an idea of how I want it to be and the end boss kicks ass. If anyone wants to send me any portraits feel fre
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Des
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Post by Des »

Guess I'll have to declare "Chacun a son gout" on the restricted spells thingy. For me, the free spellcasting has always been one of the biggest reasons why DM is better than all other Dungeon games, most of which toe the line to AD&D's crypto-fascist system. I thought the revised formulae in Conflux 2 was a much better way to deal with the potential easifying of dungeons by players who have memorised all the spells, and it was (nerdy) fun! I believe Gambit said he'd created a totally new set of runes - cool - we can all pop and fizzle away to our heart's content :-)

Being a bit playful and naughty, the following is the scene as a specialist wizard makes his case for his portrait to be clicked at the start of a restricted runes game....

"Hi there, I'm Dulux the White, artisan wizard. Please may I join your party?"
"Gis a spell then"
"Er, um, actually, I can't do any - I haven't found any runes yet"
"So how did you get to artisan?"
"Well, I got this email asking me if I wanted some viagra or a wizard diploma"
"Ah I see, so you have a sturdy staff with which to smite your enemies?"
"Yes, but I'm also very easily smitten. If a screamer farts in my general direction I'm a goner"
"Next!"
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Post by sucinum »

>>You want a pressure pad on level 3 to close a door on level 4

teleport an apple on a pit?
might be me thinking in apple-terms ;)
there are some ideas of an apple-dungeon spooking around in my head...yummy...
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beowuuf
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Post by beowuuf »

the DSA could toggle though - an item left on an altar say toggling a door open/shut, or even more complex!
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Toni Y
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Post by Toni Y »

Heck, I'm still making Dungeons with DMute for the Original PC DM... :P

Though, I've gotten distracted by everything else, so I haven't actually worked on my newest masterpiece in about 9 months... I hope to get time to finish it this summer. Beowuuf has tested a development version and can probably attest to it's twisted construction... :twisted:

It's only 2.5 levels, but you'll find that it's not small by any metric... ;)
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Toni Y
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Post by Toni Y »

sucinum wrote:teleport an apple on a pit?
might be me thinking in apple-terms ;)
there are some ideas of an apple-dungeon spooking around in my head...yummy...
Teleport apple directly to the next level onto a pressure pad. That's how PC DM did inter-level operation. I've really abused apple-teleporters alot in my early dungeons before I got hang of the abstract close-open message system between wallitems... ;)

Though, only the unfinished dungeon "Core" really uses that kind of stuff. All previous ones were apple-teleporters :P
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beowuuf
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Post by beowuuf »

yes, the dungeon is twisted!

and as sucinum said in another thread, its amazing what coudl be done with simple mechanics : )
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PaulH
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Post by PaulH »

Simple. Thats what dungeon designing should be all about.

What I am saying, Paul, is that when looking through the forums and your webspace, the whole CSBWin concept 'appears' to be more complicated than it is, and I think this may be putting off people getting stuck into CSBEdit. DSAs are still complicated for us "average" people, and in time I will learn how to use them. I am sure a little documentation wouldn't go amiss with downloads and better organisation of your webpage, so it doesn't look so daunting! Maybe recommend a version of csbedit/and win for the new designer to use?

Whinge, moan, etc!!! Still, fantastic work, and something I could never do.
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