Dungeon Depths - Roadmap

Look through the past and the future of the game.

Development Roadmap

2021-2023

I started writing ideas down for a game similar in story and style to Dark Souls games. Stories, items, enemies, the world, biomes, animals everything. I really got into creating and refining this world, especially in classes since I was bored out of my mind. I wanted to create something out of it, a book, a comic, a game? I didn't know yet.
I didn't think a game was realistic, since I had no experience in game development and felt I wouldn't be able to do it alone. I tried writing the book but never got very far. The comic I still would love to do, but I don't have the time or skills to do it justice. So the project sat on the back-burner for a while, while I was learning programming at school and game development in my own time.

TL;DR

  • Came up with the first idea for the world the game will be set in.

Q4 2023

I needed to do something as a graduation project for my high school, and one of the things that I could make was a game. So obviously I chose that. I had a couple months to decide what the game would be about. That's when I remembered about the story I was working on.
While I obviously couldn't make a whole 3d dark souls game. I could make something that is inspired or maybe even set in the same world. So I decided to create this game, at first it was called "Dungeoneer" a single-player 2d top-down pixel-art dungeon-runner with procedurally generated dungeons. It took heavy inspirations from my favorite games like Hypixel Skyblock, Metin 2 and Soul Knight.

TL;DR

  • Decided to make a game as a graduation project. Created the theme and the core gameplay.

Q1 2024

I started working on the game, while I already knew how to make games in Unity I definitely wasn't any good and a lot of the things that I made at this time would be remade/changed later on. I created the player movement, attacking and the first iteration of the inventory and the visuals of the dungeons. The first iteration of the game was very different from what it is now, but the core gameplay was already there.
Also started working on the enemy AI which would be completely in the future. The first enemies were extremely simple. They would just walk towards the player if he was in their range of vision and attack when the player was too close. The dungeon generation was also very simple. It would decide whether it would go from the bottom left to the top right or the other way around. Then it would generate a very simple route from the start to the end. I don't understand why I made it this way, but I did.
The town was also created in this time, but it was very simple and basic. It had a couple shops, a blacksmith, a quest-giver NPC and an entrance to the dungeon.

TL;DR

  • Created the first iteration of the player movement, attacking, inventory, dungeon generation, enemy AI and the town.

Q2 2024

Remade the whole visuals of the game, created a new pixel art style that I still use today. Before the art was very simple and basic, but now it has a lot more detail and personality. One of the big visual changes was the UI which changed color from a leathery yellow to a grayish blue to a dark red to match the demonic theme of the game. The UI didn't change in just art style but also in functionality. The inventory was completely redone to be more user-friendly and easier to use. Being similar to minecraft with a hot-bar and a one slot for the item in hand.
Also added the first iteration of quests which would later be completely redone too.
And a big thing was added, armor visuals which would change the look of the player depending on what armor they were wearing. This was a big pain to add, but it really made the difference and made the game feel a lot more polished. It also gave me a lot of reassurance that I was going in the right direction and that I could actually make this game.

TL;DR

  • Completely redid the visuals, UI, inventory and added armor visuals and quests.

Q3 2024

Reworked the way dungeons are generated. The new system is way more complex and creates way more interesting dungeons. It is a simple pathfinding algorithm that creates a path from the start to a random end position, but it also creates side paths and rooms.
Reworked the enemy AI to be more complex and interesting. It still isn't perfect and might get reworked again in the future, but it is way better than the first iteration. The enemies now use weights to decide where to move being influence by the player position, other enemies and close walls. Also added more enemy types with different behaviors and attacks.
Added more NPCs to the town to make it feel more alive and interesting. The town also got a visual overhaul to make it look better and more detailed. Also reworked the shops to have more items and be easier to use.
Added weapon upgrading which allows the player to upgrade their weapons to make them more powerful.

TL;DR

  • Completely redid the dungeon generation, enemy AI and updated the town and shops.

Q4 2024

Added a lot of new content to the game. Animals, resources like wood, stone, ores and food.
Added crafting recipes and crafting stations to the game. The player can now craft items like food, weapons and armor.
Reworked the quest system to be more complex and interesting. The quests can now be repeatable and there's more types of them. Also reworked the UI of the quest menu, crafting menu and skills/collections menu to be more user-friendly and easier to use.
And added the player detail panel where the player can see their overall stats, skills and collections and other information about their character. T hey can also equip banners and icons they unlocked from quests or achievements.

TL;DR

  • Added animals, resources, crafting, crafting stations and reworked the quest system and UI.

Q1 2025

Added the tutorial fight boss for when a new player is created so the player gets familiar with the controls. The player is also given some basic weapons
Reworked the progression system to be more complex and interesting.
Added a magic system. Some weapons are magical and have special attacks that can be cast costing the player mana. Ranging from shooting a fireball setting the enemies on fire but also dealing damage, to healing yourself and others within a space or summoning a shield. This new system uses the mana which was already in the game but the only use it had was for rolling which it still does. The system is made to be easy to build of off making it so any new magical ability is easily implemented.

TL;DR

  • Added the tutorial boss fight, progression system and magic system.

Q2 2025

Added the effects system which allows weapons, armor, enemies and other things to have special effects. Effects can be positive or negative and can affect the player or enemies in different ways. Fire, poison, bleed, stun, slow, heal over time and many more. These effects can be stacked and combined to create interesting gameplay situations. Right now the effects are mostly tied to weapons and enemies but in the future they could be tied to armor, items and other things too. The system right now is simple but it is made to be easily built on and expanded in the future.
Added more content to the game. New enemies, new weapons, new armor, new crafting recipes and new quests.

TL;DR

  • Added the effects system and more content to the game.

Q3 2025

Lots of visual reworks ranging from the town, to the dungeons and even the enemies.
Tried to implement multiplayer and failed. :(
After failing to implement multiplayer I decided to try and move the data saving from local .json files to a proper database. I chose to use Firebase since it is free for small projects and easy to use. I managed to get the player data saving and loading from the database working. :) Registering, logging in is also implemented but email authentication isn't yet.

TL;DR

  • Reworked visuals, tried to implement multiplayer and added database saving/loading.

Q4 2025

Implement multiplayer properly.
Release the game on early access.
Add more content to the game. New enemies, new weapons, new armor, new crafting recipes and new quests.
Fix bugs and improve the game based on player feedback.

Q1 2026

Add more content to the game. New enemies, new weapons, new armor, new crafting recipes and new quests.
Finish the first floor of the default biome.
Fix more bugs and improve the game based on player feedback.
QoL improvements.
Finish the game and release the 1.0 version, don't be afraid, this isn't the end of the game.

Q2 2026

Add more content to the game. New enemies, new weapons, new armor, new crafting recipes and new quests.
Desert biome with new enemies, new weapons, new armor, new crafting recipes and new quests.
Pets system.

Q3 2026

Add more content to the game. New enemies, new weapons, new armor, new crafting recipes and new quests.
Ice biome with new enemies, new weapons, new armor, new crafting recipes and new quests.
Bug catching.

Future updates

New Biomes

More layers to the dungeon each with a different boss more difficult enemies and new items More towns - Different towns the player can travel to each with different environments, NPCs, items, resources, enemies, bosses, dungeons

Biomes

  • Jungle
  • Port
  • Island
  • Desert
  • Water
  • Mountains
  • Swamp
  • Mountain peaks
  • Lava
  • Redwood forest
  • Light house
  • Abandoned Kingdom

Farming

Growing crops to use in crafting and progressing in the game by unlocking new crafting recipes, completing quests and gaining buffs for leveling up your farming skill.

Mining

Gathering ores and stones from rocks to use in crafting and progressing in the game by unlocking new crafting recipes, completing quests and gaining buffs for leveling up your mining skill.

Lumbering

Gathering wood from trees to use in crafting and progressing in the game by unlocking new crafting recipes, completing quests and gaining buffs for leveling up your lumbering skill.

Fishing

Fishing rods, Fish, Each town will have its own fish, Fishing armor

Pets

Each have their own attacks and follow the player around but also give the player a stat boost in some way Pets can improve themselves by being used by the player

Pets

  • Animals
  • Dog - starter
  • Cat - starter
  • Snake
  • Tiger
  • Hawk
  • Hog
  • Crab
  • Pangolin
  • Ect.

Exotic Pets

  • Snowman
  • Phoenix

Bug update

Small bugs that crawl around places at random. They can be picked up with a net and the player can give them to a NPC and in return the player will unlock new crafting recipes new, special bosses, special armor, special weapons ect.
There are different rarities to these bugs and some of them you need to find more than others.

MMO

The hub/town will go from being just for one player to a small server for around 50 people.
The players will be able to interact with each other, talk in chat look at each others gear and trade items and money with each other.

Temporary Procedural Worlds

A procedurally generated the player can enter for a limited time. These worlds will follow the biomes of the game but will be completely random each time. They will have unique animals, resources and enemies. The worlds have no linear progression and the player can explore them freely. The worlds will be less difficult than the main game and will have lesser rewards but the player can find unique items and resources that they can't find in the main game. These items and resources can be used to craft unique items and gear. Some worlds can have multiple layers for example a world would have a underground(cave) layer a surface layer and a mountain layer.

Permanent Procedural Player Worlds & Base building

Same as the temporary procedural worlds but the player can keep them forever. Only one world per player and only the player that created it can enter it. The player can build a base in these worlds and customize it to their liking.

Automation

There would also be infinite resources in these worlds so the player could build automated farms and resource gatherers. This would allow the player to gather resources without having to manually gather them. Adding a new layer of gameplay to the game.

Dungeon Depths

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The map

Look through the map of Dungeon Depths and learn more about the biomes.

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