Time to learn a new platform!
The IGT is going nowhere.
Still no communication from Basic Fun! And their lack of paying developers on time… well, I’m not going there again. It’s a constant reminder to never buy a product they’re associated with! Apparently their philosophy is “Customers! Who needs em!”..
So… I’m developing for a cube now. Along with a multitude of other projects, more business side of the house than games, but thats another page! If you run a daycare, check out our new Daycare Management System, Wylari.com.
So…Back in 2021…
I saw a Kickstarter for this cool little cube with display screens alllll the way around it. I thought it was an interesting idea, but didn’t think much more about it at the time.
Fast-forward to the other day.
As usual, I was bored and looking for something new to do. I’d been designing a dungeon crawler for Android among other games, but I was already getting discouraged by the thought of releasing another game into a market where it would probably get buried and never see the light of day without dumping thousands into marketing that I don’t have.
Then I came across another post about that cube. The WoWCube.
And naturally, my first thought was:
*Could I build the dungeon crawler for this thing?*
Apparently, yes.
I’ve started working on **Just One Floor Deeper**, a dungeon-crawling RPG designed specifically around the WoWCube’s 24 screens and its very unusual controls.
Right now we’re working entirely with the emulator—the actual cube won’t even be delivered until later today—but so far, it’s going surprisingly well!
Instead of a traditional controller, the WoWCube itself becomes the controller. You can tilt it, rotate it, tap the screens, and physically twist sections of the cube. Designing a game around those interactions instead of buttons, sticks, a mouse, or a touchscreen is a completely different experience.
The basic gameplay takes some inspiration from Minesweeper. You explore a dungeon one cell at a time, with clues warning you about what may be lurking nearby. But instead of simply avoiding mines, you’re searching for monsters, treasure, events, equipment, and eventually the stairs leading deeper.
Early dungeon floors are being designed around the cube’s **24 screens**, but because apparently I can’t leave well enough alone, I’m already designing much larger **96-cell dungeon floors** with rooms, corridors, walls, dead ends, and multiple paths through them. 😁
The hardware limitations have actually been one of the most interesting parts. There’s very little storage available for save data, the interface has to work across tiny individual screens, and almost everything I normally take for granted when designing a game has to be reconsidered.
It’s a very different kind of development challenge.
Right now I’m still in the early stages: getting the core dungeon system working, figuring out how exploration should feel, and experimenting with how much information the player should be able to see.
The real test comes later today when the actual hardware shows up and I find out how well all these emulator ideas translate to holding and twisting the real thing.
But I think there’s something genuinely fun here.
And really…
Just One Floor Deeper.
What’s the worst that could happen?
And now that I have a new platform, and a new project, and a ton of new ideas……. you know where that goes!
