Things I'd like to see in dungeons

Traps that can be untrapped

Locked doors that require lock picking

Chests that require a riddle to be solved to open (betrayal at krondor style)

Logic puzzles

Secret doors

Teleportation traps

This is just to get things rolling.

What would you all like to see?
 
Things that people can hide Inside, Behind, or Under as patrols walk by. Drepending on the theme of the Dungeon these could be boulders, coffins, crevices in the wall, or giant animal carcasses.

Hiding from incoming patrols could add a cool "Ambush" dynamic to some of the mob fights, and it adds something new to the old "Divide and Conquer" technique of Pulling.
 
Teleportation traps:
Haha imagine a trap that has a 15m radius, triggered when you walk over it or whatever triggers it, and anyone within the 15m radius can get teleported up to 50m in any direction if they don't 'resist' the spell.
Suddenly the tank, healer and DPSers are 75m away from each other in every direction and the healer is staring into the face of Big Mad Angry Mob.
"Mommy!!"

Hmm what can I think of...

Being able to stand still in shadows and have a mob not see you (sounds simple, but what MMO does this?)

Shrines that need an offering obtained from another dungeon(s), which reward you with permant skill increase/duration buff/pet kittens etc.

Randomised dungeons-within-dungeons, being a small trapdoor that leads into a brief tunnel, with a special item or puzzle inside.

Did I say pet kittens?

Friendly NPCs under attack ahead of you in the dungeon, if you manage to get to them in time and save their lives, they might thank you by telling you of a secret passage they found - which you would not stumble across without their direction - or a way to defeat that boss ahead of you who would be almost impossible to kill otherwise.

A trap, when set off, begins to flood the dungeon with water, and you have to solve the disarm puzzle on the wall in the 20sec before you all drown!

Hmm getting more into quest related things there really.. Hmm..

Kittens? Cute lil' ones.

Different floor coverings to create varying levels of sound - leaves, rocks, pebbles, water - thus reducing your sneaking effectiveness.

Refreshment Counters mid-dungeon for your group to stop and relax a while, shoot the breeze, debrief and share out loot.

Erm...
 
PUZZLES!!!

Mobs that run for help after seeing their buddies head get knocked off

Ambient sound effects that last longer than 3 minute loops

Turncoat mobs that decide to actually try help you if you'll just let them go... (of course theyll probably try to stab you in the back later...)

PUZZLES!!!

The afforementioned object usability (hide behind/in objects, oil barrels to shatter then light, causing a conflagration).

The list goes on, mostly things I am sure would be a programmers nightmare, so Ill digress from the more extravagant things running through my overactive imagination, lol.

Xhar
 
Varying puzzles needs to be a must. I don't want to run through the same area, and tell the person next to me 'it's up down down down left left right'.
 
Seems like puzzles are popular.

I would also like to see remakes of classic dungeons, like Wizardy I: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord.

I like the water flooding idea. Would give water breathing spells new life.
 
I hope thay have lots of nonpuzzle dungeons too. I do enough puzzle solving in real life. I don't want to be bogged down by that in the game too. I just want to kill whoever needs killing and go on about my business. Puzzles are ok as long as you don't need a phd or thottbot or something to solve it. But i honestly hate puzzles in most rpgs because they are usually slapped on and either don't feel like thay have anything to do with the action or they suddenly interrupt your killing spree. The only puzzle I need is of the "who should I kill first" variety. That being said I have no problem grouping with puzzle fans. I can kill stuff while you all rack your brains.

What do I want? Short dungeons that don't require 4 or more uninterrupted hours to complete. Dungeons that don't require dozens and dozens of boring do overs to get all of the gear out of it. Dungeons that feature widely varying environments....the best example of this is the deadmines in world of warcraft. It starts out in narrow cave tunnels and then expands to huge cavernous roms then wooden docks and scaffolding over water and finally on a big old pirate ship. That was the most interesting dungeon in the game.
 
Originally posted by z80@May 4 2006, 01:54 PM
I hope thay have lots of nonpuzzle dungeons too. I do enough puzzle solving in real life. I don't want to be bogged down by that in the game too. I just want to kill whoever needs killing and go on about my business. Puzzles are ok as long as you don't need a phd or thottbot or something to solve it. But i honestly hate puzzles in most rpgs because they are usually slapped on and either don't feel like thay have anything to do with the action or they suddenly interrupt your killing spree. The only puzzle I need is of the "who should I kill first" variety. That being said I have no problem grouping with puzzle fans. I can kill stuff while you all rack your brains.

What do I want? Short dungeons that don't require 4 or more uninterrupted hours to complete. Dungeons that don't require dozens and dozens of boring do overs to get all of the gear out of it. Dungeons that feature widely varying environments....the best example of this is the deadmines in world of warcraft. It starts out in narrow cave tunnels and then expands to huge cavernous roms then wooden docks and scaffolding over water and finally on a big old pirate ship. That was the most interesting dungeon in the game.
I agree. There is more than enough puzzle-solving in real life. Just getting to the pickle jar in the back of my fridge is like one of those damn block moving puzzles. All that other food to shuffle around... DAMMIT, MAD CATZ! WHERE'S THE GAMESHARK FOR MY LIFE?!
 
Remember in the 2005 E3 movie they had two ways of taking out the group of bad guys. Way 1 was to go and kill them, and way 2 was to fireball the rocks above them and take them out in the slide.

Imagine dungeons being the same way. It would be cool if you had the option of fighting the dude head-on, or finding an alternative violent, but indirect solution. Cave-in for instance.
 
I thought of this one scenario awhile back where you're trying to get through a cave so you can storm a tyrant's tower, but one of his strongest minions shows up to stop you. He's insanely strong, yet extremely agile. He's so much faster than you that he dodges every attack you throw at him, not because they register as misses, but because his avatar actually moves out of the way, and to make matters worse, he can hit you just fine, so you won't last long if you can't think of something. So how do you beat him? He'll periodicaly attack by leaping at you, which means he'll be nearly horizontal for a brief moment, so when you see him give his warning sign, you need to somehow break a stalactite off of the ceiling in front of you so that it falls on him when he's levelled out and impales him.

Anyway, that's the sort of thing I'd like to see in a dungeon. I know it's a rather specific solution to the problem, but one could easily consider it more of an action-packed puzzle than a boss fight, and it's one puzzle that I wouldn't mind doing.
 
Azdel, you just specified what I broadly hinted at in my other post. Being able to actuate parts of the backround instead of everything besides mobs being a static matt painting would be great! (a programmers nightmare, but great, lol)

Dont get me wrong folks, I am not insinuating a Myst-type game, there are more than enough out there, but a brain teaser or 2 wouldnt kill the game as a whole.

Xhar
 
Originally posted by Azdel@May 4 2006, 02:06 PM
I thought of this one scenario awhile back where you're trying to get through a cave so you can storm a tyrant's tower, but one of his strongest minions shows up to stop you. He's insanely strong, yet extremely agile. He's so much faster than you that he dodges every attack you throw at him, not because they register as misses, but because his avatar actually moves out of the way, and to make matters worse, he can hit you just fine, so you won't last long if you can't think of something. So how do you beat him? He'll periodicaly attack by leaping at you, which means he'll be nearly horizontal for a brief moment, so when you see him give his warning sign, you need to somehow break a stalactite off of the ceiling in front of you so that it falls on him when he's levelled out and impales him.

Anyway, that's the sort of thing I'd like to see in a dungeon. I know it's a rather specific solution to the problem, but one could easily consider it more of an action-packed puzzle than a boss fight, and it's one puzzle that I wouldn't mind doing.
Another good idea.

I think the main point is that there are several styles of dungeon crawling, and the instanced aspect of HJ seems like it can satisfy many of them.
 
Though puzzles are fun in dungeons, I'd think they get pretty boring if you have to do them often. If you 'grind' instance dungeons in HJ like you do in WoW or EQ, the puzzles would have to be randomized. This may create very different situations each time, sometimes easy, sometimes harder. It's not easy to script/programm and is quite susceptible to bugs.

Puzzles should be simple enough and quick. Like stepping on pressure plates or lock puzzles. Anything you need to change something in one room, run half a mile, see if it's right, run back if it's not, won't be any fun. (Ultima Underworld, Wizardry, Might & Magic). Way to old school.


If you have to grind instances (5+), players should get a key or workaround for the puzzles after the second or third time to bypass it.

Just hope HJ won't get that plain. :smiley:
 
the whole point of hero's journey is... less tedium, more fun. which kinda means they want to put an end to the grinding aspect. (in the end, that is what kills all mmo's ) i think the thread meant, having a quest that was purely about using ingenuity to finish it. not about doing it fastest to get reward.
 
Originally posted by Kickinbama@May 5 2006, 05:03 AM
the whole point of hero's journey is... less tedium, more fun. which kinda means they want to put an end to the grinding aspect. (in the end, that is what kills all mmo's ) i think the thread meant, having a quest that was purely about using ingenuity to finish it. not about doing it fastest to get reward.
Exactly. Though for those who still like the frontal assault, that should be supported as well.
 
i don't want the entire questing system to be puzzle based either. but i won't play HJ a week if it is like WOW or EQ. been there and done that... and i don't play those anymore b/c they get boring fast. thats why diversifying quests/instancees is important. i hope grinding is a thing of the past. Simutronics has a rep for being original. grinding is the epitome of being unoriginal.
 
Back
Top