Skeleton Dungeon 2.0




The players loved the new map that I have made. I had one partner who already participated in my last map and a new partner which gives me a fresh first impression on this new map. What the players liked about my level is that it was not closed spaced. The players chose the warrior class and the mage class. The mage felt that there was a lot of room for him to maintain his distance from the enemy and heal his teammate. The warrior felt that the room went to his liking as it was not to open where he would struggle to get to an enemy. 

Speaking of enemies, they did not feel that they were a bit overpowered for a tutorial level. They said that there was a slow rise and difficulty each time they clear the area and head into the next one full of enemies. The boss was not too bad either and it felt balanced. The boss has no magic so it could only fight adjacent squares but when one teammate goes down it prepares an attack using a chain to drag the player to him. The players said it was fair since they thought that the mage would be too overpowered with his float ability. 

There was some mechanics in the game that were not used to what I expected or was not used at all. They didn’t manage to reach the chest where they would have learned how to unlock it and they did not jump over any pits in this map. The mage sort of did float over the pit to make himself out of range from the boss but that was it. I also wanted to encourage players to explore the map and try the two different paths that I provided but I failed to give them the motivation to do so. There were also 2 enemies that they completely skipped that would have been fun to fight with if they decided to check the other paths. 

I would like to improve the layout of my map a bit more when it came to enticing the player to check the other path. Maybe hint at a secret loot that could be found at that path or just flat out plop a chest within viewing distance. Although they took 1 path, which was the hardest, the players were aware that both paths still lead to the boss room. I have taught them mostly how to fight and use their abilities but also how to use the items in the dungeon. There were only two items in the dungeon and both were stun potions that takes away the attack phase of the target for 1 turn. 

There was a time where the player was supposed to learn about the escape command when they encounter the two special enemies or the boss but it ended up not happening. When the boss has dragged the mage, he was focusing more on reviving his teammate and damaging the boss instead. How I would like to improve on that is by possibly setting up traps around the map where the player will eventually run into one and learn how to escape. 

The pacing of the game was good as they did not go through the dungeon too fast and ended it within 16 minutes which was a great time. The rolls on damage were decent and defense but in the future I will make the map a bit smaller to cover for the bad rolls they make and the enemies. The repeating steps of the players were to fight, defend, study the area, and move.

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