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[Roar Hilmarsen]

Hello i am here to share some ideas about what makes a good dungeon for me and getting ideas, and input from you guys.

 

First lets look in to some memerable moments from the 2 first games.

i remember the highdragon fight very well, one of the coolest event, a rare and epic fight. i also remember the smaller dragon in the brazilian forest, when it came forth from nowere, here the traps and the lighting really set the difficutly and the theme of the fight. 

i also remember smaller things like the creepiness of the spiderinfestation in the Mage tower, how scared i became when they first came down from above. also the overwhelm ability makes a horrifict sound (gave me problems with sleeping at night). And for the dedicated, i guess i dont need to say more then The Unbound

 

I remember the loot i got after beating some epic creatures and i remember how satisfying it was to kill a certain creature/character after SO long for what they have done to me or someone / something. and i cannot leave out nr. 2 in the series (tho i wasnt the best of the 2 ) i will never forget how Hard one of the bosses was in act 2, and that i actually could NOT beat it 1v1 and had to bring my whole party + alot of potions to best it.

 

Now what makes for a good dungeon?

 

The general lighting, sound, animations, environment, weather need its own section but feel free to add in to that if you like.

 

But the dungeon it self should have:

Different difficulties on the enounters, monsters that add to the theme and key characters along the way. with impact on the others characters along with impact on the environment, and the bigger picture.

 

Puzzles - puzzles gives the dedicated player a way to gain more from a dungeon that what is first hinted at.

it should have a main villan attatched to it

 

Progression: not beeing able to kill everything the first try and on the same experiance level. having to go back to "base" to heal up, restock and maybe head elsewere to gain a higher level before completing the final tiers of a dungeon makes it much more rewarding, and makes you feel like you have grown over the last few hours of playing. or just beeing able to say i finally found this key that access the trapremover to the lower levels. (can be located elsewere then in the actual dungeon (not accesable before one comes to a certain part of that exact dungeon

 

sidequests having the option to complete a sidequest for added benefiths is great, maybe find a hidden door or getting hold of a artifact, eastereggs 

 

 

Make things interaction: Having to Kill A to get to B is simple enough, having killing A grants access to easier ways to kill B, or maybe kill B to have A join you in your quest? etc. also interacting with the environment to access new areas, loot, or maybe interacting with the environment makes the dungeon more challanging? you could disable a trapnet, or turn it on your enemy PS: make this optional yet attractive and maybe add choices to what type of character you would like to play/be. 

add twists to the quest/dungeon. it may appair that he wanted us to show up at this location so his army could run unapposed to the village and now you have became the coward that fled from battle..

 

Reminding the character Why they are there as. if you dont kill him, he/she will still send troops after you when you are on a different mission, or the reveal which is mentioned earlier, have your characters say things like "shouldnt we kill this or that before we do what we do now?" show of some of the temnting loot by having them say "I heard count of the windmill have some nice looking staffs in the basement of his home but he has the key around his neck at all times"  (starting to ramble here...)

 

 

anyways this is just some of the reasons that makes a good dungeon that you remember for a while, which you compair to other games dungeons and i really hope to se many nice inputs to this topic below

[Rahelron]

_{In my opinion dungeons should be}

• _{Non linear experiences that allow exploration.}
• _{Places where the player takes control of the character and is free to play without interruption (unlike cities).}

 

_{Let's discuss the first point:}

_{From what I've seen so far in the demos DAI is going with the same approach of Skyrim: Free Roaming outside the dungeons and linear experiences inside. DAI is even worse than Skyrim since it has lots of loading screens, at least from what I've seen so far. I don't like that. Most developers would argue that they need linear dungeons to control the pacing of storytelling, but I don't think so. Dungeons are like any narration: they must go thorugh three acts. The first and the last act have to be very paced and linear, but the second one doesn't. So you can design any dungeon with an introductory part that sets the stage and the goals, a LONG second part that opens up, allows free roaming, exploration and puts the player in control of the experience and a third part (the final battle) that leads to the conclusion.}

 

_{Dungeon Entrace ---> Cutscene ----> First linear rooms ----> Cutscene -----> free roaming, non linear exploration (very long compared to the other parts) ----> Obligatory chokepoint at the end of the non linear part -----> Cutscene -----> Final battle -----> Cutscene (aftermath).}

 

_{Now for the second part:}

_{Dungeons must be the place where the player is allowed to play without interruptions. This means VERY FEW CUTSCENES!!! Mass Effect is great to watch on youtube, but I hate it as a game because cutscenes disrupt the action each 2-5 minutes of gameplay. It is too much: I want to play without being interrupted in my flow, at least outside the cities. I'm not saying that in dungeons players should fight and nothing else: there are many more mechanics that can be included in a game beside those connected to combat. Dungeons can be the place where players use stealth mechanics, where they steal, pick locks, deactivate traps, solve puzzles and much more.}