9 replies to this topic

[Phosphor]

I've been stuck trying to come up with good ideas for a dungeon I'm creating, with a lot of the puzzles based around wind. I already have basic fans pushing the player around, pitfalls galore, verticality, and even played through the Wind Temple in Wind Waker for notes, yet nothing has come to me. I was wondering if anyone could help me brainstorm some concepts for the dungeon. I was hoping for non-script-heavy ideas, but am still open to more basic scripts. Thanks!

[cavthena]

Well first what kind of items do you have available? What kind do you get in the dungeon?

 

Your puzzles don't have to be themed on wind itself. Take a look at Dungeons like Eagle's Tower from Link's Awakening, the puzzle is about bashing down 4 pillars and using switch blocks.

[kurt91]

Well, it really depends on the type of structure that makes up your dungeon. Are you inside an enclosed space, meaning that the sources of wind are mechanical/magical, or are you open to the elements and the wind can have a more natural source?

 

I've always liked the idea of a storm-themed dungeon. You're exposed to the elements, with wind and rain coming in and everything. Dark clouds blot out the sun, with the occasional flash of lightning and thunder. This way, you have options involving wind, water, and light/dark for puzzles. You can have darker rooms where you can only see your surroundings during occasional flashes of light, accompanied with a crack of thunder, and having to navigate hazards based off of being able to remember what you see during those flashes. You have your typical rooms where sections of wind can blow and push you around. Areas with particularly heavy rain would prevent you from using your Candle or Bombs, because the flames would always go out. This might mean that some parts of progression involve manipulating objects on a higher floor to give you dry patches where you can place a bomb or light a torch in the room below.

 

Sections of basement floors could be completely flooded, where you'd need the Flippers to enter the underwater rooms, and your fire-based tools would be off-limits here as well. Finding cracked walls in the adjacent non-flooded rooms and bombing them from the dry side would let the water drain out and allow you access to the previously-flooded rooms with your full range of tools now available to you.

 

You could have a more mechanical and technology theme going with the structure itself, where you have to do something like manipulate lightning rods to where they can power a large fan that blows against the wind and generates a small tornado that would propel you to a new area.

 

If you're having trouble with your current theme, try to expand the concept to similar things that can complement what your original idea is.

[idontknow8]

How late in the game is this? (like first dungeon or two, or a mid-game or late game dungeon) How difficult do you want this to be?

Windrobes come to mind as an obvious enemy but aren't great for early-game dungeons.

 

Your dungeon item could perhaps be the Roc's feather (since that gives you "air" time) or the Hookshot, or even a Gale Boomerang of sorts.

You could use "air" to put out flames / extinguish candles for puzzles (think of the opposite of lighting a torch, putting a torch out using said Gale Boomerang or other custom air-related item)

 

Perhaps have disappearing cloud type platforms that dissolve after you step on them so you have to quickly move from one to another.  Wait too long and you'll end up falling into a pit combo or warp.

 

Maybe have wind that guides you in the right direction.  Like tiles on layer 6 that look like the wind is blowing & following its path leads you past hidden walls.  You could even have several different wind patterns on one screen but using the lens reveals the "true" pattern & thus the real path…or activating a flag trigger or completing a puzzle activates or changes the wind, thereby showing you the path.

 

The last simple idea I can think of is to have whirlwinds that thrust magic in a different direction (basically mirror type combos)

[Mani Kanina]

Windrobes and windturrets that the player has to dodge!

[Shane]

Huge fans that push Link away from a treasure chest or a desired point of interest (like a boss door). Have conveyor belts + half solid combos facing the direction the fan is blowing. In theory, Link should be able to get pushed by the fan, but he can't walk towards the fan. Not sure if it works in practice but it's worth a shot.

[Phosphor]

The dungeon is about half-way through the game. The player has, at most, 10 hearts, a short hookshot, a magical boomerang, a bow with a medium quiver, red candle, 4 magic containers, power bracelet, din's fire, various rings, and a magical shield.

 

I already have the 2 dungeon items planned, that being Roc's Feather and the wand. I forgot to mention that.

[Cukeman]

I would combine wind with block puzzles. Make it so that the wind can't go through blocks, then:

 

1) Make a switch than can only be triggered by wind (i.e. with the block out of the way the wind can turn a fan)

2) Make a button that only activates when the wind pushes an object onto it.

 

Then it becomes Link's job to move blocks so that the wind is no longer blocked. Puzzles of the second type could become complex- imagine guiding a floating object through a maze to land on a button by blocking and unblocking different wind currents. Likewise the object pushed by the wind might be the only way to damage an enemy.

 

Another idea could be platforms that are only at the right elevation for Link to use when the wind is blowing (they could have fans underneath that go into overdrive). Or other devices that only last for a short span of time when the wind blows.

Edited by Cukeman, 21 July 2016 - 03:25 PM.

[symbiote01]

Four large pipes (like a pipe-organ, or some kind of low, bagpipe-like drones) need a constant airflow so a specific chord plays to unlock the Inner Sanctum of some kind of Musical Dungeon.  After going through a puzzle to gather parts/repair/turn them on, you find that one or more of them are out-of- alignment/tune: causing a dissonance/minor chord and violent changes/strange magical effects in the local fauna.  Correct the alignment, make peace, and open up the Inner Sanctum for the win?

[Cukeman]

Use the wind to activate robots (with fans on their heads that act as on/off switches)

Edited by Cukeman, 21 July 2016 - 03:27 PM.