Details

• Platform - PC
• Engine - ASGE
• Programming Language - C++
• Role - Sole Developer
• Objective - Create a text-based game set in a dungeon.

Dungeon Death is a game that was created as part of the LLP assessment portfolio.

About this Game

Dungeon Death is a text adventure game where a player is able to explorer a dungeon with the ultimate goal of escaping.

Throughout the year in order to consolidate the new knowledge that we were being taught our lecturer game us a set of tasks to complete. These tasks formed part of a tutorial series called Dungeon Death. Initially we were given a basic template game with quite limited functionality. Over the course of several weeks we were then given access and tasked with completing 12 tutorials. Each of these tutorials covered some aspect of the LLP course from smart-pointers to mutexes.

Alongside completing the tutorials we were also allowed to enhance the game in various ways. This can include adding XP and various levelling up mechanics to the game.

Gameplay and Features

In Dungeon Death a player is able to use a set of single word commands in order to perform actions in the dungeon. Throughout the game the player will encounter various rooms or room sections. Whilst these rooms may be empty it to also possible for the room to be filled with enemies. These enemies range from spiders to the guardian of the dungeon himself with each having there own independent stats. Therefore the players will need to tread carefully and move through the dungeon carefully.

Players may also encounter items whilst on there adventures. These items are stored in an inventory, which the player is able to view and then use at any time.

Evaluation

I was able to successfully complete all of the dungeon death tutorials and implement all of the functionality required within the tutorials. I was able to adequately implement all of the games components correctly. Alongside the standard tutorials I was also able to add a proper levelling up system. This allowed me to provide a mechanism to add additional health. Due to this I was able to add a greater variety of more difficult enemies with varied damage types.

In terms of the dungeon design, the dungeon was designed intuitively. For example when the player first enters the game, they are only able to move in one direction - north. After moving north out of the cell the player will encounter their first enemy which has a low health pool and damage, giving the player a chance to learn the basics of combat without risking too much and with little chance of losing.

However whilst the game fulfilled these requirements there are some areas I would mark for improvement. The first being the amount of items the game supports. Currently the game only supports a single item (this being a key) and the dungeon doesn’t currently support picking up of items in rooms. This would be a simple addition to make and doing so would open up new design opportunities. Such a change made in combination with a bigger dungeon would make for a more lasting experience.

In addition to this, there were some features in the set of viewports such as maps. The map in question is the viewport showing the neighbouring sections. Currently this image is static and doesn’t change according to the current room, and doing so would make it easier for the player to work out where there going.

Despite this I feel the game adequately fulfils the requirements and via the addition of a proper levelling mechanic, it gave the game the key element that it needed to allow for progression and on the whole made for a fairly acceptable experience. Although given more time I would also make these improvements to give the game more weight and depth.

Project Details

Date: Mar 5, 2018

Author: Nathan Butt

Categories: LLP Portfolio GamesGames Technology Course

Tagged: Games, Low Level Programming

Client: University project

Website: N/A