I've had this PSP game for a while, but didn't intend to play it last night. I thought I'd pulled the Sega Rally UMD out of the case, but Dungeon Maker booted up instead. I had been waiting until Jeanne D'Arc was finished before playing it, but as it was there I thought I'd have a quick go.
A "quick go" which ended up eating my entire evening.
It's all very simple. If you want a soundbite, think Viva Pinata with monsters. (Thanks to my wife for that comparision.) If you want a slightly more detailed description, it's a simple dungeon hack, where instead of the levels being pre-determined or randomly-generated they're user-created.
A day goes like this. You wake up at home in town and then go into your dungeon. You run around killing the monsters your dungeon has attracted overnight while refining and extending it. Run to a dead end? Then bring up the building menu and add some rooms or corridors from your supplies. Running through boring corridors? Why not bring up the building menu and give them some wood panelling, if you've got some in stock. In a boring room? Add a fountain or some beds. Everything you do improves your dungeon and changes which monsters you'll attract. Some need water, hence the fountain. Some are only attracted by certain types of room, such as the self-explanatory Goblin Room. Once you've explored and expanded your dungeon, it's back to town. Sell any loot you don't need, buy supplies, cook yourself an evening meal, go to sleep ready for the next day.
Combat's pretty simple. Two attacks (fast and slow, basically) and a magic menu which lets you teleport or drop rocks on enemies, or, well, I've not got any new magic yet. I've seen some cool spells for sale in the shop, but I'm always spending what little money I have on building parts. There's lots of space and the bigger your dungeon is the more and better monsters you get, so I've just been buying more corridors and rooms.
The main goal for most levels seems to be to attract a boss creature. Once the dungeon's good enough he turns up and defeating him lets me add another floor to my dungeon. However, it looks like some floors don't have bosses, so I'm not sure what's going to trigger new floors there. The aim of the whole game seems to be to build a big enough dungeon to attract the "wandering Demon" and then kill it.
There's also get the odd side-quest, which so far have been "find object X" or "attract and kill monster Y". A couple of examples. I had to get a Kobold Ring for the weird chap who runs the museum in town, which simply meant killing kobolds until one dropped a ring. More interestingly, the wise old beggar in town asked me to kill a goblin thief who'd been terrorising the neighbourhood. This meant building a store room (you're not explicitly told this, but the hints are so heavy-handed that I don't think this solution could be considered a spoiler). After a while he turns up - he needs somewhere to put all his stolen goods, you see - and when you see him you can chop his face off and claim your reward.
It's all quite simple after some initial confusion, but that's not a bad thing in a handheld game. At least, it's not in short term. It remains to be seen if this game has legs, but I've had a good two or three hours of fun so far. It extended my lunch hour today because I couldn't stop playing, which is always a good sign. I'm just worried that the repetition may end up killing it. I don't technically have to run round my entire dungeon every day, I don't suppose, but I can't bring myself to miss any because I might, just might, miss out on some really good equipment. And while you don't get much money for each kill, it all adds up and I need all I can get.
A "quick go" which ended up eating my entire evening.
It's all very simple. If you want a soundbite, think Viva Pinata with monsters. (Thanks to my wife for that comparision.) If you want a slightly more detailed description, it's a simple dungeon hack, where instead of the levels being pre-determined or randomly-generated they're user-created.
A day goes like this. You wake up at home in town and then go into your dungeon. You run around killing the monsters your dungeon has attracted overnight while refining and extending it. Run to a dead end? Then bring up the building menu and add some rooms or corridors from your supplies. Running through boring corridors? Why not bring up the building menu and give them some wood panelling, if you've got some in stock. In a boring room? Add a fountain or some beds. Everything you do improves your dungeon and changes which monsters you'll attract. Some need water, hence the fountain. Some are only attracted by certain types of room, such as the self-explanatory Goblin Room. Once you've explored and expanded your dungeon, it's back to town. Sell any loot you don't need, buy supplies, cook yourself an evening meal, go to sleep ready for the next day.
Combat's pretty simple. Two attacks (fast and slow, basically) and a magic menu which lets you teleport or drop rocks on enemies, or, well, I've not got any new magic yet. I've seen some cool spells for sale in the shop, but I'm always spending what little money I have on building parts. There's lots of space and the bigger your dungeon is the more and better monsters you get, so I've just been buying more corridors and rooms.
The main goal for most levels seems to be to attract a boss creature. Once the dungeon's good enough he turns up and defeating him lets me add another floor to my dungeon. However, it looks like some floors don't have bosses, so I'm not sure what's going to trigger new floors there. The aim of the whole game seems to be to build a big enough dungeon to attract the "wandering Demon" and then kill it.
There's also get the odd side-quest, which so far have been "find object X" or "attract and kill monster Y". A couple of examples. I had to get a Kobold Ring for the weird chap who runs the museum in town, which simply meant killing kobolds until one dropped a ring. More interestingly, the wise old beggar in town asked me to kill a goblin thief who'd been terrorising the neighbourhood. This meant building a store room (you're not explicitly told this, but the hints are so heavy-handed that I don't think this solution could be considered a spoiler). After a while he turns up - he needs somewhere to put all his stolen goods, you see - and when you see him you can chop his face off and claim your reward.
It's all quite simple after some initial confusion, but that's not a bad thing in a handheld game. At least, it's not in short term. It remains to be seen if this game has legs, but I've had a good two or three hours of fun so far. It extended my lunch hour today because I couldn't stop playing, which is always a good sign. I'm just worried that the repetition may end up killing it. I don't technically have to run round my entire dungeon every day, I don't suppose, but I can't bring myself to miss any because I might, just might, miss out on some really good equipment. And while you don't get much money for each kill, it all adds up and I need all I can get.
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