The Research Dungeon

[WeebamNa]

Hi, you all don't know me, but I've been working with different rpg makers for five or six years now, and decided to post my most recent project here.

I've had this idea for a while now and just finally completed the game. I thought it would be interesting to see how the average player goes through a dungeon, such as what paths they take, and when faced with other choices, which ones they choose. I don't really want to be any more specific in this, because it might affect your gameplay because you'd be thinking more about everything you do.

There are five different characters in the game, with not much story to them, simply because the main point of the game was to record how the player plays, and not to deliver a fantastic storyline, although I still tried to make it fun to play.

The battle system is an evented back attack/preemptive attack system that I've been working on for a long time. It's a lot like Lufia II, in case you've ever played it. There are no random battles, and you can choose to avoid enemies if you want (and are able to go by them without touching them).

The total playtime is about 25 - 30 minutes.
Even though there isn't too much of a deep plot, you should be able to enjoy playing it.
It was made with RMXP.

Here are a few screens:

The download link:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=E5JY6IPG

At the end, you'll be given a list of numbers that are the variables I used to tell me how you played. Just write them into notepad or something then post here or pm them to me.

The Results Thread

Enjoy!

 

[Nachos]

I'll give it a try, it looks interesting


Got the the white-hooded guy, got this numbers:

0,0,0,2,0,0,0
0,1,0,0,1,2,0
1,23,1,1,1,1,1
1,2,1,3,3,1,16
0,1,0,1


leveles 8,8,3,5

Bernard was dead all the time!

 

[fikan]

Alright, I tried it:

1,0,0,1,0,0,1
1,2,0,1,1,2,1
1,57,1,1,1,1,0
1,2,3,1,5,3,17
1,0,0,1

I think it's a good idea, personally. So, great job, my friend.

 

[WeebamNa]

Thanks for the results!

I'll post a result thread with the compiled results tomorrow.

 

[Nachos]

can you at least tell us what do they mean?

 

[MukanshinBlack]

0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 0, 1,
1, 2, 1, 0, 1, 2, 0,
1, 36, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0,
1, 2, 3, 3, 5, 1, 14,
0, 1

Game was enjoyable for a generic dungeon RPG, but I wanna see what the results will be like.

 

[Nearly Infinite]

So, basically, anyone who plays this game is a guinea pig?

 

[KuidonNZ]

Fun little game you have made here,
I will have to play throught it again to see what was behind the other two doors,
I wonder what these results will show.

Heres what i got...
0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1,
0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 2, 0,
1, 46, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
1, 2, 1, 3, 7, 1, 16,
0, 1, 1, 1

 

[WeebamNa]

Thank you for everyone's plays!

So, basically, anyone who plays this game is a guinea pig?

Well, yes, I suppose so, but I did put some thought into the design, puzzles, and graphics to make the "survey" fun to play.

I'll post the compiled results along with what the numbers mean in a thread in a few minutes.

 

[arion]

0,0,0,1,0,0,1,
1,1,0,0,1,2,0,
1,34,1,1,1,1,1,
1,2,1,3,3,3,17,
1,0,0,2

My results. I have to say, this was a very interesting idea you had. After reading the results thread, it really made me think of the way I play a dungeon. I feel that the results would be different, if the player had been built into a gaming style, however. For example, a game that rewards the player occasionally for snooping in holes, cracks, and of course skulls, would probably entice the player to check the skull in the corner.

Just a thought.

 

[amber dawn firebaugh]

here's my data strand fun idea

1, 1, 1, 1, 0 , 0, 1
1, 2, 0, 1, 1, 2, 0
1, 62, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0
1, 1, 3, 30, 1, 1, 17
0, 1, 0, 3

 

[Nachos]

I didn't see the other thread, sorry

 

[WeebamNa]

Thanks for the comments. Yes, it probably would have be better to hide more smaller things in cracks and skulls and such. Wouldv'e been a bit more fun, and could've supplied some more data.

It doesn't matter what thread you post results in. Even though the other thread is called the results thread, I mainly just wanted that to be where I posted the compiled results and people can discuss trends and stuff.

 

[Zander]

That was fun, short, but fun.
Here are mine:

1, 0, 1, 2, 0, 1, 1,
1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 2, 0,
1, 51, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0,
1, 1, 1, 3, 2, 7, 16,
0, 1, 0, 2


I wondered around for EVER! What does the gaurd do? I have a hunch, but I dont want to say it XD

 

[regi]

Very interesting idea you had here. I enjoyed playing through the entire thing, and the results were pretty cool, too. It was definitely a fun project to play, but there are a few minor things I'd like to comment on as well.

The mapping was nice and decent. The only mistake I found in the whole dungeon was the waterfall (the bottom tile isn't correct). Otherwise it was nice and easy to navigate. That's the second time I've actually seen the space tileset in use, so good job with that.

Graphics were all right. I don't mind the RTP stuff, but there were a few small edits that didn't look too great. The biggest thing I noticed was the skulls. They were rather blurry and inconsistent with the other tiles. It wasn't too big of a deal, though.

There isn't much to comment on with music; they all fit the atmosphere, so good job with that. I can tell some aren't original though, but it doesn't really matter.

Gameplay was decent. There weren't too many puzzles (only one that took a little thinking was pushing the statue-- it was just a little confusing at first as to where I was supposed to push it). The rest of it was just exploration and battles, which you pulled off pretty well.

The battle system was pretty nice, but the calculations were very uneven. I don't get why the soldier got so much more MP than the old mage, or why some enemies could do 0 damage to Graham but could two-hit KO the mage. Overall it was too easy, but you still put some work into it so kudos to that.

A few final notes: I found the choices a little confusing. For example, when someone asked to be in your party he said, "Do you mind if I join?" 'Yes' here would mean 'yes, I do mind', while no would mean 'I don't mind if you're in my party'. When recruiting the girl in the jail, something similar occurred.

All in all, it was an interesting game and fun to play. Just work on a couple of minor things and the project will be better. :thumb: Good job with it, and before I forget, here are my results:

1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1,
1, 2, 0, 1, 1, 2, 0,
1, 93, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
1, 1, 2, 3, 8, 1, 17,
0, 2, 1, 3

 

[WeebamNa]

Thanks for the comments. Sorry, I must've missed your post in the last few days, Regi, thanks for the detailed analysis, though!

Let's see... I'll have to look at that waterfall, and as for the tileset, it's an edit of the space thing. The space one had purple glow on the rocks, and I just chnaged this one to red.

Yeah, haha, the skulls are actually a blown up skull from a rm2k3 tileset that I tried to touchup and sharpen in the GIMP. They were kind of a quick, thrown together job.

All of the music is from vgmusic.com, from some of my favorite games, so none of it is original.

I couldv'e worked on the stats a bit more, but I didn't want the difficulty to be hard at all, because I didn't want anyone to say halfway through, "this is too hard, I quit," so I made it very easy. :P

I'll update the results thread in a few minutes.

 

[Sozerius]

I played it, its pretty nice! =]

:biggrin:
Heres my numbers.

1,3,0,1,0,1,1
1,1,3,1,0,2,0
1,37,1,1,1,1,0
1,2,1,3,6,3,16
1,0,1,2

 

[waves of the lagoon]

My numbers were

0,1,1,1,0,1,1
1,1,0,1,1,2,0
1,48,1,1,1,1,0
1,2,1,2,13,3,17
1,0 (0,1)

When I got my results the last two numbers in the fifth row did not appear the first time. Then it told me to mkae sure I had four numbers and gave me the last two. I didn't know if this was supposed to be some kind of test or a bug.

 

[Ozuf]

1 1 1 2 0 1 1
1 1 0 1 1 2 0
1 81 1 1 1 1 0
1 2 1 3 9 1 17
0 1 (0 2)

Thanks for posting the statistics thread, which I read and enjoyed after playing the dungeon.

 

[WeebamNa]

Ah, yes, that would just be a bug. Sorry about that. Thanks for the heads-up.