The Dungeon Is Starting to Feel Alive
Cube Dev: The Dungeon Is Starting to Feel Alive
Campfires have audio now.
Such lovely, peaceful ambience to lull you into complacency before you wander back into the dungeon and something tries to kill you.
But the bigger changes are happening out on the dungeon floor itself.
Monsters Can Actually Move Around
Monsters have been moved onto their own map layer.
Previously, a monster basically occupied a map cell just like treasure or anything else. Separating them means a monster can now stand on the same cell as a treasure chest, shrine or other dungeon feature without somehow picking it up and wandering away with it.
More importantly, it means monsters can move.
Not every monster will wander around. Some will stay where they're placed, while others can roam their area.
And some may decide to come after you if you get a little too close.
That should make exploring considerably more interesting than knowing everything will patiently sit in its assigned square waiting for you to walk into it.
Movement Looks Better Too
I made some graphical improvements to movement while I was in there.
The map now scrolls underneath the adventurer as you move instead of simply jumping from one position to another.
Monsters picked up the same treatment, so when one moves toward you, you can actually see it moving from cell to cell instead of suddenly appearing somewhere else.
Besides looking considerably better, it makes it much easier to understand what's happening when something is actively chasing you.
Shrines, Witches and Other Dungeon Residents
I've also started putting NPCs, vendors and witches onto the maps.
They're mostly placeholders at the moment, but they exist in the world now, which gives me the foundation to start wiring up what they actually do.
Shrines are already functional. Praying at a shrine grants the adventurer a random bonus. You may find multiple shrines on a floor, but only one shrine effect can be active at a time, so finding another one may give you a decision to make. I also redid the artwork for the shrines, along with the healing and mana wells, so those dungeon features are getting a visual upgrade at the same time.
Then There's the Witch...
The witch is what I'm working through now.
She's essentially the counterpoint to the shrine.
A shrine is generally there to help you. The witch...
Well, maybe.
Her offers can come with a benefit, a cost, or a little of both.
Maybe she'll tell you where the exit is.
Maybe she'll let you trade some HP for increased damage.
Maybe something else entirely.
You'll have to visit her and see what's on the menu.
Still Squeezing Everything In
With all of these systems going into the game, size is still something I'm keeping a close eye on. I was able to remove some of the old cube-map assets that aren't used anymore, and I've condensed the audio quite a bit as well. Right now, the entire package is sitting at around 1.8 MB. Not bad considering how much has been added.
I'm also working with a composer who created a few sample music loops for the game. The first samples didn't quite fit the style I'm going for, so I sent over some of the AI-generated music I've been using as reference material. We'll see where that goes and whether we can get something that fits the game.
There's Still Plenty of Dungeon Left
Once the witch is sorted out, there's still a pretty healthy list of things waiting for me.
The Sanctuary still needs to be implemented. NPCs need actual functionality and quests. Vendors need to sell things instead of just standing around looking useful.
And I still want to add tombs and sub-dungeons. These would be little optional areas that can appear within a floor, possibly tied to quests or simply there as something extra to discover.
Which means eventually you may find a set of stairs and discover that they don't lead to the next floor at all.
They might lead somewhere smaller.
Hopefully somewhere interesting.
Possibly somewhere you wish you hadn't gone.
The dungeon is coming along nicely.
Now, back to the witch.