





(thanks to Uomo for giving me permission to use his awesome sprites)



(thanks to Uomo for giving me permission to use his awesome sprites)

A little bit of philosophy

After running over 2000 trenches and tombs, both public and private, I started noticing a very obvious behavioural pattern. People like piñatas. They genuinely enjoy shooting at stationary enemies like Oryx 2, the Immortals and Thessal whilst circling, dodging and weaving through the obstacles that those particular encounters present. The rest of these dungeons however do not provide any thrills, reward or satisfaction in clearing. The fame/loot there is no good, and even if it was, there is no real sense of accomplishment in clearing a dungeon. That all comes from the boss.

So why don't we cut to the chase. Let's have a dungeon of bosses.

The most fun I've ever had in this game is when Chedd has come onto testing or production, opened up a Wine Cellar and told us to back off whilst he spawns a crazy amount of miscellaneous bosses. Malphas isn't exactly an exciting boss to fight, but walking around a corner finding 3 of him is an engaging and exciting duel that keeps you on your feet.

That element of surprise is what this dungeon aims to capture. By having a fairly large pool of bosses to pick from, those 3 middle rooms will give you unexpected results. Some bosses will be hard, some bosses will be easy, some bosses will be brutal. Some won't even be bosses. Imagine chasing around a high HP, high DEF, high SPD treasure bandit that runs away from you, requiring huntresses strategically placing traps around the room. How about a maze room that requires teamwork and co-ordination between players.

No teleporting means that free-loading won't go down well in The Gauntlet. Players will need to keep up with the group, or they risk being locked out of the previous room. The buttons between rooms start the countdown to warn players that they are about to move onto the next boss. As for sitting in a corner - some rooms will have moving bosses, some bosses will have scarab-like minions, some rooms will have towers (tomb like bomb-towers, slow towers etc.), so if you plan on bringing an alt, I hope you don't value its equipment. The doors will also close behind you 20 seconds after someone steps on the button, so you waiting at the start isn't going to get you anywhere.

The Loot Conundrum

One of the most difficult obstacles for RPG developers to overcome is giving the player base an end game goal that is almost impossible to achieve.

Taking this into account, I would like to consider 4 different categories of rewards players could receive for grinding through end game content:

Items (including additional tiers, untiered/legendary items, enchantments, trophy items such as medals, etc.)

Stats (in RotMG, this is obviously awarded through potions)

Cosmetics (such as hats and other changes to the character's sprite)

Numerical Glory (# of times you have completed the game, achievements, global leaderboards, etc.)

Looking at this in finer detail:

A new tier of items, whilst this seems like a logical reward at first, it is actually one of the worst paths the dungeon could take. The reason? It undermines the rest of the game content. No reason to kill Oryx, events or anything else thrown at you when you know exactly where to go for the best items in the game. It is also achievable in a finite amount of time. Once you have obtained everything, you are essentially done with the end-game once again.

Obtaining untiered items is also a very arbitrary goal for an end-game player. First of all, you're going to want the items to be of use to your class. You're going to want them to actually drop in the first X hundred runs of the dungeon. And you're going to want the untiered items to actually be good (Ghostly Prism...). None of these are guaranteed with the untiered route.

Trophy items are a bit of fun, but the novelty of these will certainly wear off as they start to stack up with hundreds of gauntlet runs.

Enchantments. Guaranteed loot. No random thresholds. You choose the item you want enchanted. Still requires you to get the loot from elsewhere - ie. other content is required to be completed if you want the best items enchanted. No tacky UTs. No soulbound fails. Always something to gain for your character, no matter how maxed you are, and what items you wield.

Potions. Tacky. Makes players more powerful, which conflicts with the point of the gauntlet - to match maxed characters up with the firing squad. It is also another achievable goal.

Cosmetics - not sure how this would work on an 8x8 sprite, but it's a suggestion that I am not opposed to should someone find a way to make them a worthwhile prize for an end-game dungeon.

Numerical Glory. This could be a straight out prize for completing the dungeon, if done correctly. Imagine a number or rank appearing next to your name that determines how hard you have been going at the gauntlet. 'Gauntlet Levels' is also another possible outcome. Other statistical based rewards such as leaderboards (blue glow) and 'fastest gauntlet runner' challenges are also a possibility here. If enchanting was chosen over this at launch, it could be launched at a later date to really freshen up the experience of running the gauntlet.

In the end, it is all about setting goals that players can feel they are progressing through, yet they should never reach the end. The enchantment system is expandable in the sense that should the developers feel that players are breezing through it, they can simply just add more enchantments along with some complimentary bosses.

Sample Layout Made using amitp's level editor

Insight into a boss - Shu

The Setting - Upon entering the room, players will be able draw the similarities between Shu's hideout and the Immortal's residence in the Tomb of the Ancients. Shu inhabits a much smaller space, but it is no less deadly than that of his counterparts, as most of the solid ground has worn out over time.

The Fight - Shu, like the other immortals, moves slowly around the room, but instead of using fellow immortals as protection like the others do, Shu casts minions, visions and artifacts that possess the precise and unpredictable attacks of his daughter, Nut, yet the same deadliness and finesse of his son, Geb.

Stage 1 - Upon being awoken, Shu releases a stun nova, and begins his attacking ritual. His standard arsenal consists of status-inducing rings, deadly bolts and brutal spells. He regularly releases an array of status-effect rings which include hazards that not even Nut can possess such as Bleeding and Armor Break. Shu will also periodically release a coralbomb-like spell that will destroy even the strongest of heroes should one attempt to absorb it.

Stage 2 - Being the master of the Sphinx and Nile artifacts, having taught these great powers to his children, Shu will begin to periodically release artifacts to combat the heroes attacks. Shu's sphinx artifacts are known to stop players in their tracks, and his Nile artifacts have the potential to break down their armor temporarily.

Stage 3 - An attack speed increase sees Shu's attacks now become more deadly. With his novas, bolts, rings and artifacts having the potential to break even the strongest players, Shu will now periodically release Scarabs to eat away at his victims.

Stage 4 - Shu will spawn a vision of a single immortal to circle around the room with him. This vision will be periodically healed by Shu, a power which he passed on to Nut.

Final Phase - Should a hero be able to bring Shu into his last stand, he will call upon the power of Nut and Geb, spawning an enraged ghost of each, whilst remaining stationary in the center of the room and protected by his visions. Once his ghosts are dead, Shu uses what energy he has left to release Armor Breaking and Stunning novas along with scarabs. Should players be able to overcome the final challenge, then they are worthy of proceeding through the Gauntlet...