The Vote

55 Members cast their votes for the next GameDev challenge. Doom gave the poll a good effort, but ultimately it was the dungeon fans who won out.

Dungeon Crawler Challenge

Your challenge is to create a dungeon crawl game in which the protagonist(s) navigate a labyrinth environment, battling enemies, looting treasure, and exploring the environment.

While the vast majority of dungeon crawlers are set in a fantasy environment, this challenge will not impose fantasy as a requirement. Please feel free to explore ways in which the dungeon crawl style can be applied to non-fantasy environments.

Gameplay

Dungeon crawlers encompass a wide variety of sub-genres, including roguelike, RPGs, hack-and-slash, and MMOs. Obvious games of this type include Dungeons and Dragons, Gauntlet, and Diablo.

The more recently released Below also qualifies:

According to Wikipedia, the very first dungeon crawler was pedit5 (aka The Dungeon), created in 1975 by Rusty Rutherford. In this game the character wanders a single-level dungeon gathering treasure and killing monsters - the core elements of a dungeon crawler and the core requirements for this challenge.

pedit5 (aka The Dungeon)

Challenge Requirements

The game must include:

• Main menu and a way to return to the main menu
• Game Design
  • Player navigating in a maze or labyrinth of a style defined by the developer
    • Minimum one protagonist character controlled by the player
    • Must maneuver the player around moving and stationary obstacles
    • Minimum one level
    • Must define the end goal for the level
  • Enemies or antagonists attempting to disrupt the player's progress and/or kill the player
    • The player can kill or ignore the enemies
    • Enemies may or may not drop items or "loot" that can be used by the protagonist to further their progress
  • Items or "loot"
    • Must include a minimum of 3 items that may be used by the player to perform various actions in the game
    • The player must be able to carry these items, but items may expire (i.e. when used)
    • An additional item representing "credit" must be included
      • Examples of "credit" include treasure, cash, points, etc.
      • No restrictions on how "credit" is obtained - up to the game design
      • To simplify the challenge, there is no requirement to allow "credits" to be used but there is a bonus for entrants who implement this
    • Players can acquire items by killing enemies or picking up items through discovery
  • No player perspective restrictions - the game may be text-based (MUD-style - but must include all the above requirements!), 2D, 3D, top-down, first-person, etc
• Audio
  • Minimum 1 music track fitting of the chosen labyrinth environment
  • Sound effects fitting for the environment
• Visual Arts
  • No restrictions
• Minimum one GameDev.net reference or easter egg

Dates

The official Challenge period starts on December 15, 2018 and ends at 11:59pm UTC February 16, 2019.

Submission

Create a new topic in the GameDev Challenge Group Forum as a submission announcement and include:

• Required: Link to project posted for download in GameDev Projects
  • Upload your files to the project so other members can download and play
  • Please contact me if your submission is a web-based game (GameDev Projects does support them!)
• Required: Screenshots should be included on the GameDev Project page and/or the Gallery Album for your project. Embedding screenshots in the topic announcement is encouraged.
  • Embedding YouTube or Vimeo trailers in your Project is also encouraged
• Required: A GameDev.net Blog post-mortem associated with your GameDev Project (select Project when posting blog).
  • Share what went right, what went wrong, or something you learned
• Optional: Source-code link is encouraged for educational purposes but not required
  • Github link, zip download in GameDev Project, or otherwise

Challenge Award

Participants who complete the Challenge Requirements and all of the Required submission elements will receive:

• 1,000 Pixels
• Mentions in the GameDev.net Direct weekly newsletter
• Your own Treasure Chest Award for your GameDev.net profile representing your completion of the Dungeon Crawler Challenge 

BONUS:

• Participants that include a way for players to use "credits" will earn a free month of GDNet+.
  • See challenge rule for Items: To simplify the challenge, there is no requirement to allow "credits" to be used but there is a bonus for entrants who implement this