Dungeon Plunder: an iOS Roguelike RPG game.
 

Hello everyone,

Update: It's out! Download the game now:


Trailer: YouTube

Here's a rundown of the main features:



** Full randomization of overland and underground maps **

Every game offers a different environment with a beautiful and diverse scenery, 90+ different monsters and bosses to defeat, ensuring several hours of replayability. Everything is rendered in classic yet crisp looking isometric style graphics.



** A fun and engaging combat system **

Gone are the days of mindless tap tap until the mob dies with Dungeon Plunder. Combats are based on a pseudo-slots machine designed from the grounds up to be easily played on a mobile device: both your thumbs will quickly select symbols defining your battle moves for that round followed by a respin phase.

There's also a cooldowns management aspect: burn them too early or hold on them for too long may cost your life.

** 3 character classes with distinct abilities and playing styles **

At launch the Warrior, Mage and Rogue will be available to play with more to come. Each of them is different enough to entice you finishing the game several times.



** Skill points distribution on level up and many equipment slots to manage **

I like RPGs with lots of equipment slots and skills customization so I shaped up Dungeon Plunder to be that way: every time you level up you will have 5 points to distribute among several different skills improving various aspect of your fighting abilities and your character has 11 equipment slots to upgrade



** An extensive legacy system **

Roguelikes are typically merciless when you die. Dungeon Plunder is no exception but there's a twist: you will leave an inheritance to your next character such as gold, some of your old magical items and life scrolls that can heal you mid-fight.

You may even unlock higher starting levels for future characters of your class and earn the ability to scribe legacy runes: mysterious stones that provide buffs shared among all your future characters.

** Full game center integration **

40 achievements and 8 leader boards should keep you busy for a while with more to come in future updates.

** 8 Orchestral music tracks **

High quality music suited to your surroundings will accompany your travel enhancing your game playing experience. The album will also be available for download on iTunes.



** Save the world! **

Ultimately you will confront an evil archmage conjuring an ice age: the environment will be covered progressively in ice and snow as you travel through the perilous lands.

** Universal game and widescreen support **

Dungeon Plunder is a universal game with full support of the widescreen iPhone5 and iPod Touch 5th generation.

** Launch promo for a limited time **

As an early adopter your copy will be tagged as an Heroic Edition and you will be rewarded with an intermediate legacy rune of your choice providing a bonus to all your characters right as you start! Choose wisely!

I will update with the release date as soon as it's been determined. If you have any questions about the game fire away.

Web site: http://www.dungeonplunder.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/DungeonPlunder
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dungeo…00571750068087

"Gone are the days of mindless tap tap until the mob dies with Dungeon Plunder. Combats are based on a pseudo-slots machine designed from the grounds up to be easily played on a mobile device: both your thumbs will quickly select symbols defining your battle moves for that round followed by a respin phase. "

*Sigh*

Why are there no good single player turn based RPG's on a platform that seems to be ideal for turn based RPG's?

Looks pretty interesting and congrats on the release. Are there any plans for an Android version? I don't have an iOS device to play this on - but it looks like something I'd want to try.

I'm curious how the slot-machine combat mechanic works. Is that a random element that takes the place of dice rolls we traditionally see in RPGs?

There have been a couple of other slot machine based RPGs, it can actually work reasonably well if you don't mind the strangeness of it. Usually they do just take the place of die rolls.

I'm a big fan of roguelikes, and especially roguelikes that have some form of legacy or unlock system, so I'll probably check this one out.

Looks interesting to me. Will take a look at it when it becomes available.

Pibbur

Yes pretty much: Think of the reels as dice basically - you keep the ones you like (and fits your current goal in the fight) and reroll those you don't. And maybe you'll actually see a dice mode to the game one day… not so far… ;)

I'll do my very best to bring this to Android if the game has a good reception (I'm confident it will) - wether I'll do it personally or partner up with someone remains to be seen. Unfortunately I coded the game in a native way platform wise which means a rewrite but the logic, random map generator and assets are done so it's not so bad really. Still even at best case Android will not be until at least a good 2-3 months following release - nothing against the platform, just a bad call from me when I started the project.

Fun fact: I didn't even bothered to check for other slots rpgs when I decided to go that road with the game as I was somewhat convinced I was the first to think about it! The good thing is that they didn't "contaminated" my design.

Main difference with King Cashing and Towers of Fortune is that it's not pure random: There's cooldowns to manage (there's a few shown in the trailer) and you get to choose symbols with a respin phase. It has a good pace to it, not too head scratching but still must be careful to not fall into auto-pilot mode.

Also King Cashing has a stop reel mechanic to it involving eye dexterity which can be attractive to some. I don't, all the reels stop within 0.5 seconds of the round starting.

As far as legacy goes: It's a fairly robust system that I'm pretty proud of. Originally my design had merciless perma-death mode and a casual "respawn at last shop with 15% less gold" mode but I ended up merging them both that way.

There's also an achievement for running a "marathon" if you choose to decline the higher starting level and go from 1 to 21 and finish the game in one go. I never succeeded myself but should be doable with a good previous legacy and lots of runes unlocked.

It's turn based combat but in a non-traditional form factor. I aimed for something that would have a chance to please to a more casual crowd as well. Another goal was that I wanted it to be easy/satisfying to play "on the go": it doesn't require precise touches like an hex combat system would and you can play it with just a thumb on each side of the screen.

As I'm starting to think about my next game atm could you point out what kind of single player turn-based combat mechanic with strategical choices you'd like to see in a mobile game? (PC games references etc.)

Thanks.

I haven't tried King Cashing yet, the sequel just came out so I may give that a shot. There is a far better slots RPG then tower of fortune though, which might be worth checking out if your curious to see what others have done with the genre. It's called Battle slots, although I believe it's only available for the PC. It's not perfect, but it's really fun for awhile, an in a whole different league from tower of fortune, at the very least. They probably really should make an IOS version.

Hey thanks for the tip - crazy the number of games available nowadays with the indie scene and all. A quick glance at the screenshot makes me glad I don't have to compete against them on iOS!

My first design involved collecting cards "Shandalar style" (Microprose's Magic the Gathering version in the 1990s - yeah I'm in my late 30s) to be used in combat but that proved to be a bit heavy to play. After trying to tweak it several ways I gave up and went a more simpler, but still fun, road and had much more positive feedback from players.

I might give it a shot again and try to do it right the next time around if I keep going in that kind of game for my next one. But then I have other ideas… so much ideas, so little time… ;)

Yes, indie games are really doing well right now. It's getting very interesting to be honest.

Anyway, good luck with the game!

Thanks!

Update: It's out! Download the game now:

Bought it. Now let's see if I enjoy it.