Hi, Any Forums. I'm making a Darkest Dungeon 2D clone with a party of 4 exploring the labyrinths beneath a town ala bloodborne. I'd like to make my game similar to Darkest Dungeon but since I've never actually played it much I was wondering if you could help me with some stuff about the gameplay and progression. I'm confident I can nail down the grim dark aesthetics, the UI, and combat but I can't come up with a way to make the game "fun" to progress.
How do I reward the player to keep continuing? How do I scale difficulties? How do I make the game less RNG based?
Well since DD2 is in 3D now. I can't get into it too much because of how much I suck at it lol. Will more people play my game if I had skimpy characters? Yeah
Carson Hall
>Will more people play my game if I had skimpy characters? Yes
Chase Jenkins
it might genuinely help it stick out from the other darkest dungeon clones
Jace Adams
Why not clone a game that's good?
Gabriel Bennett
Got it. Yeah but I can't really nail down progression. For now, all I have in mind is >Tavern area where you recruit Parties. >Appearance customization options for cosmetic Micro$$$ >Enemies like slimes skeleton knights zombies dogs werewolves etc etc >Turn based combat with RNG evasions and crits. >Random Room generations. I can't think of anything else when it comes to actual progress. The party goes beneath into the dungeons. They defeat the boss of the area and recover gold or other valuables. Rinse and repeat with increasing difficulties.
Lucas Butler
You need something interesting to set it apart from all other 100 DD clones that never surpassed the original. Cool mechanics or an interesting setting are good places to start.
Kayden Hughes
Like the other user said, try going for something unique to make your game distinct. Werewolevs/zombies a la Bloodborne should suffice at the start but you could always shift the themes as the game progresses and the setting unfolds: - more demonic in nature: hell, occultists, demons, portals in later locations - more sci-fi/ayy based approach like Elden Ring: weird, confusing enemies, alternate dimensions, this world being a testing ground for their experiments Maybe you could delve deeper into religion/faith of the charcters because it was pretty bare-bones in DD. More religious classes, maybe a separate stat/resource (Devotion) that influences powerful skills.
Liam Lopez
I forgot, one other thing you could incorporate to further deviate from DD - hub/dungeon events with dice rolls and stat checks (lots of item/character-specific unlocks to encourage replayability). It'd be pretty cool.
make more variety in high tier dungeon, be it enemy or curio.
Anthony Scott
This guy's got the right idea. I'd be careful going too far with the occultists/lovecraftian stuff though because that's already territory that DD covered. People probably wouldn't be as interested in a game that covers the exact same themes and ideas as the game it's 'inspired' by.
Owen Perez
>How do I reward the player to keep continuing? in dd, you acquire loot in the form of equipment for your party (new trinkets, etc) and currency that you can then use to buy items and/or upgrade the town each time you dive into a dungeon this + special items you can only get from bosses is how dd kept things interesting for the player
>How do I scale difficulties? in dd, there are three difficulty tiers - easy, medium, and hard. harder = special tougher enemy variants show up and existing enemy variants have more hp, deal more damage, and have access to new moves (rarely)
>How do I make the game less RNG based? that's part of the "fun" of dd though, user
Jose Turner
Why not instead of a dungeon of monsters doing a dungeon full of depraved girls that get more lewd the deeper you go
Carter Carter
And your characters are all paladins trying to keep their chastity
Nicholas Sanchez
>Will more people play my game if I had skimpy characters? Absolutely. If you're worried about adult/sex themes clashing with your original vision, I'd suggest adopting some of the Diablo aesthetics - cultis, gore, thematic nudity, skimpy occultists and heretics etc. Just because we're talking about nudity or similar motiffs that doesn't mean the game has to devolve into UwU kawaii monster girls or something.
do you know how to handle an engine well and program enough to make a well featured demo?
if the answer is no, you are months or a year away from producing anything useful from the feedback here. don't waste everyone's time.
Jacob Barnes
why are you making a clone of a game you didnt play? you do realise that making a clone is going to get your project memoryholed no matter how much tits you put in it right?
Christian Morgan
Oh, I had another idea - ever played TW Warhammer? Your lords/heroes can get a shitton of traits because of battle/event results i.e. >Win lots of battles against Vampires -> your Vampire trait will progress and award you certain bonuses (goes towards green) >Lose battles against Vampires -> your trait regresses and gives you penalties until you start winning fights (goes towards red) You could easily tailor it to a DD clone: dodging, crit landing, monster/faction X affinity, heal given/received, tanking, fainting etc. You better be writing it all down, you fuck.
That's called Castle of Temptation and at least a few other hgames
Kayden Allen
Sexy monsters with titties and huge dicks
Asher Richardson
> I wanna clone X game > But I haven't played X game Pajeet mate, next time you wanna make a rip off, the least you could do is play and study what your ripping off. Y'know, to get a grasp at what your target audience likes.
