As a thank you for all your support, over the next few weeks we'll be sharing behind-the-scenes peeks at how Dome Keeper is made. This week, we explore the influences and inspirations behind Dome Keeper's key design choices.
The idea for Dome Keeper – or Dome Romantik, as it was called once upon a time – came via the three-day Game Jam Ludum Dare 48 and the theme "Deeper and Deeper". Just three days later, Dome Keeper was born!
While it made sense to pick a mining game for the theme, it was important to us that the mining had a purpose, too. We also didn't want mining to be the only thing you did, either…
Product of our own design
Every game we've ever played shapes the way we think about game design, but we were particularly inspired by Kingdom (yes, the same Kingdom published by our publisher, Raw Fury!).
It was its minimal control – you could only move left and right and collect and drop coins – and lack of handholding that impressed us most. Every gamer is different, sure, but we've never been a big fan of tutorials, and would much rather figure out how to do things on our own.
Older games were like that, weren't they? They trusted you. And so do we. That's why Dome Keeper gives you the chance to figure some things out on your own. Letting players make their own discoveries and not hand-feeding them every answer is something Edmund McMillen (Super Meat Boy) has been vocal about, and we agree!
The original Legend of Zelda is a good example of that kind of game design. Its world was open and mysterious, and you learned through exploration and experimentation. There was beauty in that discovery that's harder to find these days, as newer games try to give more instructions in order to improve accessibility.
Justin Ma (Into the Breach) and Lucas Pope (Papers, Please) were also influential. Both designers only add something to the game if it's significantly different to what's already there. That's why when we add things to Dome Keeper, we make sure it's never just making boring variations of the same old gameplay.
Monstrous design
Take a look at this Walker. It comes in (very) fast and starts beating on your Dome. But it's pretty straightforward, right?
So when it comes to creating other monsters… well, we could've just made a bigger Walker. Maybe one that's a little bit slower, but a little bit stronger. But honestly? That just doesn't appeal to us. What's the point of taking on the same kind of enemy with the same kind of strategy?
It's not about giving you different monsters as much as it's about giving you varying challenges.
That's why Dome Keeper has a whole menagerie of creatures to keep you on your toes! Look at this flying monster: you can't tackle it by using the same strategy as the Walker because it shoots projectiles and even has an invincible phase. The Walker can be tackled at any time. You can choose not to engage the flyer, especially if it's on the other side. But if you're tackling a Walker at the same time one of these bad boys swoops in, you have a decision to make; can you make it over there in time, or will you mess it up? Do you keep fighting the Walker or tackle the flying enemies? What you decide next may be a matter of life or death!
What happens when this pesky divebombing enemy comes in, does a tonne of damage to your dome, and flies off? If you don't deal with it immediately, it can do a lot of damage, but as it retreats, it can be safely ignored until it loops back again. What happens when the burrowing worm beast arrives? Or the Shifter, which teleports around and shoots a very strong projectile. Which monster do you need to fight first to minimize the damage they cause?
All of Dome Keeper's combat is about assessing the threat and working out how much time you have to fight with the weapons you have at your disposal. And as the game progresses, the monsters you meet in the early game may not be as threatening later on, so – eventually – a variant of that enemy may arrive and change things up even more…
Make sure you're following Dome Keeper on Twitter or join our Discord and tell us all about your favorite monster designs. And don't forget: Dome Keeper is out on September 27, 2022.
Until the next one, Keepers - Dome Sweet Dome!