One important design goal for Unexplored always has been exploration. In this update cycle, exploration will be foregrounded a little more. In part because we plan to include more puzzles and mysteries for the player explore.
To really make exploration part of the core gameplay three important aspects of the game need to be changed.
1) Solving mysteries and puzzles should really feel rewarding.
2) The hero should be more active in choosing how to progress through the dungeon.
3) The hero should feel pressed to complete the quest without lingering too much. This will add gravity to game and to the hero’s choices.
In order to achieve all this a number of changes are likely to change. I like throw these ideas out there to see what you think about the proposed changes. I do not want to upset the existing players too much.
1) Making magic more sparse (and thus more rewarding)
Magic items and certain potions will become rarer. So don’t expect to stumble across so many goodies. Their still will be quite a few of them in the Dungeon, and likely they will be better tailored for the challenges offered by the dungeon, but they will be better hidden. You will have to work harder to get them. And you might not be able to get them all.
2) Make the dungeon less linear to provide more meaningful choice
The dungeon will become less linear. A typical dungeon will have 2 or 3 hub levels from which you can progress in different directions. This means that you might go down a route that is too hard for the hero. At which point you might wish to go back and explore in a different direction.
However, there will be more feedforward so you’ll have something to base your choices upon. Level names, and hints in books, and hopefully also other types of hints will give clues of what to expect. Each strand will be themed more consistently. And the good stuff will likely be found at the end of each strand.
Ideally, you’ll have a good idea of where the dragon is at one point, and it will be your active choice to confront it.
So for example level 10 might be such a hub. With a couple of branches leading down. Levels 11-12-13 might be magic themed with a boss at level 13 that guards a ring of light. levels 14-15-16-17 might be very dark and crawling with undead, but rewards you with a sword of slaying. While levels 18 and 19 are fire themed yielding a shield of fire protection. Level 20, the dragon’s lair was already accessible (and labeled such). At which point do you confront the dragon?
Obviously, for this to work best you do not know the level numbers. And you need to develop an instinct for the each floors respective difficulty. While you will need some hints that the sword of slaying might be found etc.
3) Adding a 'clock'
This is most difficult design issue. And I do not have a very good answer yet. What is needed is some sort of ‘clock’. A very, very crude way of doing it would be to give the hero a strict deadline. Say 2 or 3 hours to solve the dungeon. A classic roguelike solution is to introduce a hunger mechanism and have the clock be determined by the amount of food you find. I do not want to implement a clock like this.
I have some ideas for this problem, but actually I like to hear your thoughts on this before I really go forward in this area.
So you guessed it: we want your feedback!
Oh, and I will probably implement a number of changes as the ‘Adventure Mode’ as opposed to an ‘Arcade Mode’ which might have more enemies, less mysteries, and more random drops. But I do hope to make the Adventure Mode the default way of playing.