....
Ariel is all freed up again and we are trying to get labyrinth set up and done as soon as we can.
But....given the extra time to stew on the game.... I couldn't help but start to mess with the design (-ducks-).
Basically, as I was playing some more Gauntlet to see how they were handling stuff....it's obvious there are a lot of problems with the core game loop. It turns out running around shooting a bunch of stuff is fun ....for 5 minutes. Even with the quest mode in later Gauntlets, it wasn't exactly enough to keep it that interesting (at least to me).
So, I have no choice but to shake things up a bit in how we are approaching Labyrinth!
First off, we are going to be focusing in on the single player aspect more (if the core experience isn't fun, it won't really survive with multiplayer). Ideally it will be structured as multiple attempts to make it through the Labyrinth ....each time growing stronger so you can progress further.
This also means we can keep a better sense of exploration randomizing in just a few of each areas maps before getting something new.
To go with that, we are also slowing down the game play a bit, making it harder, and giving players a chance to breath.
One idea for this is to borrow from a really old game I used to play as a kid....where they had an interesting crystal farming mechanic. Basically you would place them down and they would duplicate, but while they were doing that you had to guard them from being eaten by normal people walking around.
....
