There is no set of rules to decide whether a dungeon is good or bad. No matter how you went about completing it, in the end all that matters is… is it fun? There are so many dungeons out there that work hard at torturing the player. These masochist style dungeons may appeal to a small niche of people but most players won't stand for it and they shouldn't either. Games are supposed to be fun and when it becomes work they become a chore. There is no way to cover all of dungeon design in one article, but I have focused on the aspects that I think may be most helpful.
Start your own design journal. You would be surprised how many great ideas you can come up with when just doodling away on a pad. It doesn’t even have to be a design journal per se, but having one gives you a certain air of professionalism. Use it to draw zoomed out views of your dungeon maps to give you a better idea of the layout. Then when it comes time to map the dungeons it will have a more natural structure. It is also a fun thing to look back on to see how older ideas shaped into the actual product. Best of all it is a portable and accessible way to design (turned my throw away college class into creativity hour).
Mapping should not take priority over design. If it does, it will show when the player finds himself in the empty shell of a map. To add depth to these maps, thought should first go into the goal the player will be presented with. The layout of the map may be important to the completion of the task at hand. Rarely will an already completed map be flexible enough to properly execute a later conceived idea. When the innards of the map are completed, then it is time to make the map look pretty. I think Anaryu put it best when he said "A poor map with great gameplay is still interesting, but a great map with poor gameplay will be thrown aside much more quickly."
There are a few things you can be sure of in life: Death, taxes, and that there will be no more story until the end of the dungeon. I blame our nostalgic memories of older RPGs for this disconnection. Most dungeons are based on the classic rules set by the forefathers of the genre. These games weren't rich with plot and dialogue in the first place, so it was no surprise when the dungeons didn't feature much of either. Now that RPGs do have richer stories, dungeons should no longer function as an intermission from the game's main plot. Rather than reward the player for beating a dungeon with more story, make the playing through of the dungeon rewarding.
Mother Nature Can Kick your Butt. Most places your party will visit are probably hostile locations inhabited by territorial creatures that are not happy to see you. Whether you need to gain their affection or slaughter them for standing in the way of your noble quest, it is important to pick enemies that actually pose some form of threat. Cute little bunnies and bees are something you want to stay away from, although wererabbits and giant irate hornets are fair game. These inhabitants can also affect the experience by interacting with the party outside of the battles. Whether they are hostile or friendly or neutral they can make for some interesting puzzles. Bats can fly through maps holding in their clutches the only source of light, kobolds can attempt to crush you with giant boulders, or moles can lead you into a maze of holes (all examples of puzzles used in Master of the Wind). Nature is your friend (or enemy in case of the player) when it comes to dungeon design.
Don't be a save Nazi. Nothing kills a player's immersion in a game faster than having to replay an entire dungeon. Test your dungeons and place save points appropriately. If there is a lengthy scene with a boss fight at the end that may lead to death and frustration, place a save point in there or cut down on the scene itself. Make sure your save points don't trap the player in an endless cycle of game overs either. A poorly placed save can cut the player off from all form of help leaving them with no hope to continue. Allow the player to level, buy items, change equipment, or whatever else they may require. If your game doesn't restrict save areas, make it clear when the player should save. In those games I tend to save often in fear there will be a boss battle right around the corner I wasn't expecting.
Good things cost good money but even better things can be found lying around in dungeons. These items are usually sitting in a chest protected by some sort of puzzle or trap that the player must overcome. Categorizing chests can help people who want to put in the effort for only the real good stuff. Smaller chests can hold more commonplace items while bigger chests will have rarities that cannot be found anywhere else. When deciding the puzzle around these items, one can be a bit more creative since the item is optional. Puzzles that reward a clever player for doing them a certain way or answering a series of questions correctly are a few examples of smaller ones but they can be much more elaborate.
Games that only have dungeons where you walk from point A to point B while fighting progressively stronger monsters are not fun. Be more creative with your layout. One of my favorite designs focuses around a central room in which all the other maps are connected to. There is usually one path at least that is closed off until the other routes have been visited. This opens up your dungeon to exploration and creates a unique experience for the player who can freely choose which path to discover first. Dungeons like these, which are designed for back tracking are more difficult to design than a linear path since players are forced to return to maps they have already seen before. But with some creative thought, an intricate puzzle that spans back and forth between rooms can capture the intrigue of a player much more than an isolated puzzle could. Fortunately dungeon design isn’t as black and white as this and there are many more layout options to explore.
Give them a reason to come back. This is probably the biggest problem with any game and the level design. Once it is completed it becomes a hassle if someone wants to replay the game and retrace the same steps they did before. My dungeons suffer from this problem also so this is more a discussion of theories to make dungeons more exciting to play again. One way is not to restrict one path of completion for the dungeon but to instead allow many optional paths. This can lead to different developments in the story or different pieces of treasure as a reward for going down one path over the other. Another way involves making the main path to finish the dungeon shorter but allowing several side paths that are optional for the player to complete. This gives the player the freedom to spend more or less time in the dungeon depending on how much they enjoy it.
Dungeon design is tough and few can pull it off real well. Relying on impressive visuals and mapping will not cover up poor gameplay. Spend some time designing your next dungeon around these suggestions I have offered here. Remember to keep an open mind in game design because like I said before there is no perfect way to do it.
Start your own design journal. You would be surprised how many great ideas you can come up with when just doodling away on a pad. It doesn’t even have to be a design journal per se, but having one gives you a certain air of professionalism. Use it to draw zoomed out views of your dungeon maps to give you a better idea of the layout. Then when it comes time to map the dungeons it will have a more natural structure. It is also a fun thing to look back on to see how older ideas shaped into the actual product. Best of all it is a portable and accessible way to design (turned my throw away college class into creativity hour).
Mapping should not take priority over design. If it does, it will show when the player finds himself in the empty shell of a map. To add depth to these maps, thought should first go into the goal the player will be presented with. The layout of the map may be important to the completion of the task at hand. Rarely will an already completed map be flexible enough to properly execute a later conceived idea. When the innards of the map are completed, then it is time to make the map look pretty. I think Anaryu put it best when he said "A poor map with great gameplay is still interesting, but a great map with poor gameplay will be thrown aside much more quickly."
There are a few things you can be sure of in life: Death, taxes, and that there will be no more story until the end of the dungeon. I blame our nostalgic memories of older RPGs for this disconnection. Most dungeons are based on the classic rules set by the forefathers of the genre. These games weren't rich with plot and dialogue in the first place, so it was no surprise when the dungeons didn't feature much of either. Now that RPGs do have richer stories, dungeons should no longer function as an intermission from the game's main plot. Rather than reward the player for beating a dungeon with more story, make the playing through of the dungeon rewarding.
Mother Nature Can Kick your Butt. Most places your party will visit are probably hostile locations inhabited by territorial creatures that are not happy to see you. Whether you need to gain their affection or slaughter them for standing in the way of your noble quest, it is important to pick enemies that actually pose some form of threat. Cute little bunnies and bees are something you want to stay away from, although wererabbits and giant irate hornets are fair game. These inhabitants can also affect the experience by interacting with the party outside of the battles. Whether they are hostile or friendly or neutral they can make for some interesting puzzles. Bats can fly through maps holding in their clutches the only source of light, kobolds can attempt to crush you with giant boulders, or moles can lead you into a maze of holes (all examples of puzzles used in Master of the Wind). Nature is your friend (or enemy in case of the player) when it comes to dungeon design.
Don't be a save Nazi. Nothing kills a player's immersion in a game faster than having to replay an entire dungeon. Test your dungeons and place save points appropriately. If there is a lengthy scene with a boss fight at the end that may lead to death and frustration, place a save point in there or cut down on the scene itself. Make sure your save points don't trap the player in an endless cycle of game overs either. A poorly placed save can cut the player off from all form of help leaving them with no hope to continue. Allow the player to level, buy items, change equipment, or whatever else they may require. If your game doesn't restrict save areas, make it clear when the player should save. In those games I tend to save often in fear there will be a boss battle right around the corner I wasn't expecting.
Good things cost good money but even better things can be found lying around in dungeons. These items are usually sitting in a chest protected by some sort of puzzle or trap that the player must overcome. Categorizing chests can help people who want to put in the effort for only the real good stuff. Smaller chests can hold more commonplace items while bigger chests will have rarities that cannot be found anywhere else. When deciding the puzzle around these items, one can be a bit more creative since the item is optional. Puzzles that reward a clever player for doing them a certain way or answering a series of questions correctly are a few examples of smaller ones but they can be much more elaborate.
Games that only have dungeons where you walk from point A to point B while fighting progressively stronger monsters are not fun. Be more creative with your layout. One of my favorite designs focuses around a central room in which all the other maps are connected to. There is usually one path at least that is closed off until the other routes have been visited. This opens up your dungeon to exploration and creates a unique experience for the player who can freely choose which path to discover first. Dungeons like these, which are designed for back tracking are more difficult to design than a linear path since players are forced to return to maps they have already seen before. But with some creative thought, an intricate puzzle that spans back and forth between rooms can capture the intrigue of a player much more than an isolated puzzle could. Fortunately dungeon design isn’t as black and white as this and there are many more layout options to explore.
Give them a reason to come back. This is probably the biggest problem with any game and the level design. Once it is completed it becomes a hassle if someone wants to replay the game and retrace the same steps they did before. My dungeons suffer from this problem also so this is more a discussion of theories to make dungeons more exciting to play again. One way is not to restrict one path of completion for the dungeon but to instead allow many optional paths. This can lead to different developments in the story or different pieces of treasure as a reward for going down one path over the other. Another way involves making the main path to finish the dungeon shorter but allowing several side paths that are optional for the player to complete. This gives the player the freedom to spend more or less time in the dungeon depending on how much they enjoy it.
Dungeon design is tough and few can pull it off real well. Relying on impressive visuals and mapping will not cover up poor gameplay. Spend some time designing your next dungeon around these suggestions I have offered here. Remember to keep an open mind in game design because like I said before there is no perfect way to do it.
