I have played countless dungeon crawlers, some great, some decent, and some not so decent. Today, I’m going over what you need to do to make a successful dungeon crawler! Btw, for those of you who say that there’s already guides on this, no there’s not. Those guides are built on how to make them, not explaining what makes them successful.
Dungeons
Now, the first thing you need to focus on is the dungeons themselves. You can have multiple dungeons that are randomized, or just one huge dungeon. That’s not the only thing though. Just the terrain alone can be eye catching! Picking the right terrain is difficult, but I suggest that you have a theme set in mind when choosing the terrain you want for your dungeons. Another factor with dungeons is the monsters, or, in this case, sentries. The sentries also need to match the terrain you choose. Again, it needs to be eye catching. Lastly, puzzles. People love it when you have to solve a puzzle to advance any further in a dungeon. It makes the game more interesting and interactive.
Extra Features
Next in line, we have the extra features. This can mean a character level, leaderboard, save file, and even just the gadgets you put in the game! It’s very important you stay consistent to a theme when choosing the extra features. Extra features are important to make your audience want to play your game more. It adds an extra ring to the game and makes it unique. I highly suggest doing some of these.
The storyline
Every good dungeon has a storyline! Whether it comes from NPC’s backgrounds, the game itself, or even just a simple popup! A storyline makes a key factor in keeping your audience intrigued. In my point of view, storylines end up making me want to know more about a game, but maybe that’s just me. Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures for this, but you can have your players learn the storyline however you want, whether you have clues they have to piece together along the way, Giving the storyline across updates, or just giving it to them all at once!
The Tutorial
Now, you don’t necessarily have to add a tutorial, but it depends on how complicated your game is. If anything, you can just add side notes for the player to read using text boxes. I don’t have a picture for this, but basically you can customize your tutorial based on the extra features in the game. This makes it so the player understands the game better and knows what they’re doing.
The lobby
Having a starting lobby for the player is a great way for the player to take a quick break from the action to refuel and get equipped for the dungeon. Lobby’s also help with other stuff like explaining updates and other things. It’s important a dungeon crawler has one somewhere along the line.
The bosses
Now what’s a dungeon crawler without a boss? Or maybe multiple bosses? Either way, bosses are a fun way to say that “We conquered a dungeon!” The point of a boss is to keep the players on edge as the dungeon goes on. It adds a little challenge to the game, that way it’s not too easy.
Rewards
Next, of course, we come to the rewards. Rewards after conquering a hard dungeon are a fun way to celebrate before moving onto the next dungeon. They can also be used to unlock legendary treasures, or the treasure itself could be a map leading to another dungeon to claim even more epic loot! It would be traumatizing if you defeated an extremely impossible boss and all you got was an achievement to show for it.
NPC’s
Now that they’re added to Gimkit Creative, I’m going to create a section about their usefulness, because they are extremely useful! Let’s say you have a lobby where you can pick and choose the dungeon you want to crawl; you can use an NPC to lay down the options for the player. Another use for them is lore dropping. You can drop a lot of lore about your game by just using a character device, as well as some dialogues! It’s that easy! Another use for them is you can make them like a companion along the way that heals you for a price, or even a shopkeeper that shows up throughout dungeons. There’s so many uses for an NPC, you just need to think creatively!
That’s all!
That’s all you need to know when making a successful dungeon crawler
How good was this guide?
- Really good! Loved the detail and effort put into it!
- It was good!
- It was decent I guess.
- You could do better
- Worst guide ever!!!
Rules for this wiki
1- Do not edit this wiki without permission from the creator!
2- If you want to add something to this, just ask me! Ping me, and I’ll get to you as soon as I can.
3- This wiki at all times must abide by the community guidelines.
I had to remove the images because of the forums update. I’ll try to put them back in sometime!