28 replies to this topic

[Mani Kanina]

How about a dungeon that is also a canal?

The center of the dungeon is a long canal with several flood gates, which are initially dry. Bonus points if the dungeon entrance is the end of this canal, and the goal is to get the water out through the dungeon. (Just have it split in two before the main entrance door and have water gates on both sides.) The goal of the dungeon would be to first get to the top most point of the canal and release the first floodgate, and then continuously heading down downwards to the entrance of the dungeon by releasing more of them. (three or four gates seems like a good number.) This will change the dynamic of canal rooms are there is now water in them, where there was no water before. But it will not feel same-y, since this change only happens once. The boss room is obviously in the way of the final gate opening switch. This means that the reward for the dungeon does not even have to be an item reward (read: "triforce piece, etc") but rather that the overworld has now changed around the dungeon entrance, there being water where there was none before!

#DesignIdeas

Also, one can spice this dungeon up by actually making it an out door dungeon, as it would fit better with the theme. ^^

#Variety

[MoscowModder]

That's an interesting idea there. The area is pretty big and located on the edge of a town so it has to be underground, although maybe there could be some holes in the roof. That might be a nice visual touch.

 

From the ideas I've had and heard, looks like toggling dry and flooded channels is definitely on the menu for the first half of the dungeon. Right now I could use some ideas for the second.

 

The second half is a dark and mysterious area buried behind the aqueduct of the first half. It protects the Water tablet, and now has a demonic presence. I figured it would make a good evil swamp.

[Limebeer]

That's an interesting idea there. The area is pretty big and located on the edge of a town so it has to be underground, although maybe there could be some holes in the roof. That might be a nice visual touch.

 

From the ideas I've had and heard, looks like toggling dry and flooded channels is definitely on the menu for the first half of the dungeon. Right now I could use some ideas for the second.

 

The second half is a dark and mysterious area buried behind the aqueduct of the first half. It protects the Water tablet, and now has a demonic presence. I figured it would make a good evil swamp.

Is the second half open air, or buried dungeon-like? Or would it be both?
I'm thinking, as an idea, that it can be an evil swamp area like you thought (makes a really good idea, i do adimt ) but buried in that swamp is the remnants of a temple which you see pieces and bits of half buried and crumbling, which in certain parts you can enter and explore, though as it's in ruins you have to find different entrance points to get to different areas until you get to the chamber where you find the boss and water tablet. You can also have the demonic presence exert it's influence on this the area hindering your movements in certain parts and screens the closer you get to it.

[Binx]

That's a good idea. Very inventive. I'm so going to pester you for dungeon design tips, lol. (I'm kidding,I'm not the type to pester specific members. I get far more attention posting in the forums, lol... I really need to learn when to turn the jokes off.... especially when they aren't funny)

[MoscowModder]

It's buried dungeon-like. It's even deeper than the already-underground aqueduct segment, so it's gonna be super-dark, lit only by stuff like bioluminescent mushrooms and eeeeevil torches.

[Limebeer]

It's buried dungeon-like. It's even deeper than the already-underground aqueduct segment, so it's gonna be super-dark, lit only by stuff like bioluminescent mushrooms and eeeeevil torches.

Oh, that just sounds epically awesome and spooky! I like
Here are some ideas (which I'll be listing as I think of them)
Okay, I still say keep the demonic presences influence hindering progress from my previous idea in it, though to a lesser degree I think.
You can perhaps have some areas that have poisonous gas clouds which hurt when the player walks through it (to simulate methane and such) which can be burned away (if you have a candle-type item)
Hmm... to go with the bio-luminescent motif you can have it sort of like how people do walkable swamp paths of the shallow water surrounded by drownable water, though blackness surrounding the path, perhaps with veeeerrry faint ripples and waves (if you are wanting to have water there instead of just black, even if you can't access it) and have the outline of the walkable pathway faintly glowing like a fungus is growing on the floor at the edge. If not you can have moss growing in patches here and there and along any walls you have to show it in ruin.
As for dungeon design... you can have crumbling passageways where either the floor gives way after walking on it or even the parts ceiling collapsing at times, each releasing more gas.
You can have it part way between unfinished and abandoned water systems, natural caves, and former sacred site (like an underground druid ritual cave).
For barriers, instead of just water levels like the previous section, you can have poison gas (I may like that idea, as you may have guessed ), crumbling floors and passageways (which may or may not be traps or sabotages), overgrowth of bio-luminescent fungi which, now that I think of it, can continue to grow and block off things as you progress, or you can have it fill in gaps in the floor like some sort of bridge.
As for your evil torches... you can have them lie to the player and have them lead them to false passageways if you don't follow the right ones, eventually just leading them in circles or to the beginning again. Maybe you can also have certain mushrooms give a "drunk" effect if you touch the wrong ones?
You can also have barely visible "Shadows" that stalk the player, slowly moving closer when you are not in areas that are illuminated from the mushrooms or torches, which you can make the torches even more evil by them randomly going out or having a chance of spawning more shadow creatures which can teleport the player to the beginning of the area again. (See? torches are eeeevil!)
These are just some ideas, depending on how you are going to design the level. Some listed are more doable in open areas, where others are more for the walls rooms and corridors layout, as you can tell
But hopefully these ideas can atleast inspire some for you!

[Deedee]

I suggested the torch idea myself. XD

I also suggested being able to leave the dungeon for some outdoor town interaction.

[Anthus]

I've thought of making a Great Bay styled dungeon, where the player has to essentially hit switches in a chain of rooms throughout the dungeon in order to make changes to water level, or some other "solid-> nonsolid" change allowing the player to progress. This can be done with RSCs. This isn't the same as changing the water level in the entire temple, as these "valves" or switches would affect only one room at a time.

[Limebeer]

More thought ideas from the think thing called my brain!

So, I was thinking, as this area is protecting the Aqua Tablet... maybe you can have glowing almost circet-like threads which radiate out from the room and all through the area, though the farther from the tablet the less there are and the less visible they are. They can also serve as another source of lumenescence, like the torches and fungi. You can also make the torches have the same colour for the glow, though they produce a false path, and in order to reveal the proper path you have to defeat a mini boss, or finish a certain puzzle or something in order to extinguish a larger "Boss" torch. After extinguishing this large torch the others which are attached to it would go out and reveal the proper pathway to move forwards

[MoscowModder]

Now that I've (finally) got around to building the first half of the dungeon, I'm working on planning the second half: the dark, eeeeevil demonic cult cave place.

 

If you have any more ideas, I'd love to hear 'em.

 

Meanwhile, after reading through this thread, I had an awesome idea of my own adapted from one of Nightmeres'.

 

PUDDLEMASTER.

At first it looks like an innocent little puddle.

Get close, and it shoots out a hand to drag you in.

If you get caught, gotta mash A to escape while you slowly drown.

To kill it, you have to get close enough to draw out the hand, then dodge it, then attack before it retreats into its puddle.

SCRIPT NOW AVAILABLE!

Edited by MoscowModder, 13 March 2015 - 05:59 PM.

[SkyLizardGirl]

Bubblewand Zap Rod - you hit these odd looking bubble domed things to switch and change things constantly in the dungeon just to get through the entire thing + combine it with everything else above with everyone's ideas/ kinda think like Metroid looking doorways almost but not quite and the bubble zapper shoots bubbles at them and traps enemies in bubbles:  Seen they are moving in 1 place only while stunned contained by their bubbles you zap them with from the wand itself. (When the bubbles pop after a short while) it Snaps and damages the enemies inside by the time they get free and pop the bubbles they are trapped inside + till defeated.

 

Single bubble or 4 in a spinning circle around at a time kinda like the Blue cane thingy or Sword beam in the Snes Zelda.

 

Each dungeon needs at least 1 themed item to make the dungeon 'a treasure' to get through.

 

(That 1 or 2 items in a dungeon is what makes the dungeon beatable not just the keys alone.)

Each dungeon needs that 1 -item to fulfill a certain gimmick as seen in all actual official Zelda games including Twilight Princess.

 

Example:  

In fourth dungeon - you needed that GEAR to 'surf on' get throughs that Desert dungeon and fight the boss. In seventh Sky dungeon you needed the 2 claw-arm hookshots to reach the sky towers etcz.

 

(Certain various complications)

Edited by SkyLizardGirl, 13 March 2015 - 04:45 PM.

[MoscowModder]

Yeah, I know how Zelda's dungeon items work. However, to make my quest a bit more unique, things are a bit different here! Instead of getting a new usable item halfway through, you get a new magical element at the very end, which replaces the Triforce pieces. This element initially lets you cast a single spell, but you can spend EXP to learn 2 more spells to cast with that element. And I already have all 15 spells written, so I'm not looking for new items right now.

[SkyLizardGirl]

Yeah, I know how Zelda's dungeon items work. However, to make my quest a bit more unique, things are a bit different here! Instead of getting a new usable item halfway through, you get a new magical element at the very end, which replaces the Triforce pieces. This element initially lets you cast a single spell, but you can spend EXP to learn 2 more spells to cast with that element. And I already have all 15 spells written, so I'm not looking for new items right now.

 

K' zaz.*

[MusashiAA]

...and I was about to suggest a water rod that shoots water balloons that explode or split much like a bomb when they hit an enemy or a wall.

 

I was also thinking of a dungeon based heavily on water flow mechanics to trigger waterwheel devices or growing plants and mushrooms or putting out fire or cleaning poisonous ponds or solidify lava. You could use a shovel to dig connected holes and redirect water currents from natural ponds into other places, and ultimately get the water rod to create your own (balloons exploding on top of shovel holes filling them um with water, that is). There's also the added bonus of creating water hole traps for enemies to walk into and drown.