Engineering impossible dungeons to EXPLOIT heroes for profit!
Table of contents
- Create a dungeon that’s fun and challenging, where heroes leave happy and come back for more.
- Create a dungeon where heroes can battle and have fun, but remember: too many challenges can lead to unhappy customers. Balance is key!
- In the game of life, sometimes you have to embrace the chaos to find the treasure.
- Create an experience that keeps visitors engaged and happy, even in the chaos.
- Creating the perfect balance in a game is like crafting a great recipe—too much of anything can spoil the fun.
- Investing in the right upgrades can transform your space from mediocre to extraordinary.
- Creating an engaging experience is all about balancing challenge and reward; keep them coming back for more.
Create a dungeon that’s fun and challenging, where heroes leave happy and come back for more.
Hello fellow engineers and welcome to Dungeon Tycoon! So, let's name our dungeon. Architects get free stuff, come right this way please; there's lots of cool nice things inside. It's definitely not a dungeon or anything like that. This is really long—that's what she said. Okay, that's enough now!
Basically, this is our dungeon. There’s not a lot going on at the moment, so we’ve got to build some stuff. Down here in the build menu, we can add a door, so let’s add a dungeon door to the front. That can go there. We can then add various loot containers. If we add a wooden chest, this will store loot that's dropped by monsters or heroes. The idea is we want to attract heroes because, basically, we have this guy here as a sort of a bouncer. All of our heroes will pay an entrance fee, and then they'll go into the dungeon, batter their way through it, and get the chest if they’re lucky enough. Meanwhile, we will be making profit.
Now, we’ve got to make this dungeon look nice, so we need some torches in here just so they can see what they’re doing. Let’s add a torch either side. Then finally, we need a monster spawner. If we put this in, then a monster will spawn as they come in through the door. Let’s shove that like there, then a monster can jump on them. We can click change and then we can add a crawler, so there’s a horrible spider in there waiting.
Before we open up, we just have to go into the research tab and we want to unlock the potion dispenser. Once we get nine visits, we’ll unlock that. So, let’s set that up. You can see in the top left, we just have to get nine visitors. Let’s start the next day, and here’s our first hero! He comes here, pays 10 quid, and then he goes into our dungeon. He does some battling with the spider. The trouble is, if he dies, he’s not going to have a good time, and he’s not going to recommend this dungeon to his friends. So, we don’t want him to die, but he might because that’s quite a hard spider. Thankfully, one of his mates has just come; he’s just paid 10 quid to enter. The spider’s getting double-teamed, but they won! We got 15 quid for that, and look now—they're opening the chest and getting a load of loot. Nice!
That last guy wasn’t much there because of the spider. You’ve got to wait until that rectangle goes all the way around to spawn. This guy goes in, he’s like, “Ooh, a chest!” He gets the chest, then suddenly turns around to face the spider. So, there’s a bit of a battle in there. Meanwhile, there’s someone else coming, and there’s another one as well. Then basically, these guys walk out, and they should be reasonably happy with how they’ve done today.
Let’s end the day and see how we got on. We’ve unlocked that research now, and that’s going to be very handy because we now have a potion dispenser. Anyway, how did we do? We made 110 quid, not bad! People were 12% satisfied. You see, there wasn’t enough monster variety; there weren’t enough monsters to kill, and there was horrible loot. So, that’s what we need to fix.
You can see up here we’ve got 2,600 quid now. What I’m thinking is we could add like a long hallway. If we were to add that down that way, we could then add another room, maybe an 8 by 8 down there. I’m sure some of you can see where this is going. Yeah, then we can shove a door on there, and a door on there as well. We can have a sort of choose your fate. Down this one, we can have a chest at the end. Obviously, we need some light in there as well; I should put some light in this one also.
But yeah, in this one, there’s just going to be monster spawners. I think two for now. We then need to assign a monster. Now, we need to actually summon new monsters if we want to do this, and that costs 250 quid. So, let’s assign. Let’s pick one of these. I imagine the middle one is a spider; we’ve already got a spider, so let’s try that one. Oh, we got a wolf! We can assign a wolf to that one. For this one, we summon another monster. Oh, is that like a bat or something? Let’s see what that is. Oh yeah, a giant bat! Okay, so that is in there as well.
But remember, we don’t want our heroes to die because we want them to give good reviews and have fun. That’s the ultimate aim. So, I think I will add a potion dispenser and we’ll just have that there facing that way. We can also set the price on this, actually, so maybe we’ll up that just to 12 quid per.
Create a dungeon where heroes can battle and have fun, but remember: too many challenges can lead to unhappy customers. Balance is key!
In our dungeon management game, we are tasked with creating an engaging experience for our heroes while ensuring they don't die, as we want them to provide good reviews and have fun. To start, we need to assign monsters to various rooms. For a cost of 250 quid, we decide to summon a wolf instead of a spider, which we already have. Additionally, we summon a giant bat to add more variety to our monster lineup.
To enhance the experience, we plan to add a potion dispenser facing the entrance, setting the price at 12 quid. This layout seems promising, but we need to check our next research options. We can either get energy dispenser potions, improve our heroes' attack or defense, or expand room sizes. Opting for energy dispensers, we realize we need 15 visitors for that, but currently, we only have 11.
There's also a Quest tab that requires us to sell five potions, which we anticipate completing today. After researching something, we earn 25 points and collect some coins. As we start the next day, we notice our dungeon is connected by a bridge that requires a bridge review. This bridge, which allows heroes to access our dungeon, is quite precarious, towering above a pool of lava. While most heroes initially choose the Goodway, they eventually venture into the room of death, where they battle our monsters. Although they are winning, they lose health and spend money to regain it.
After their adventures, the heroes return home across the bridge, which lacks safety barriers and raises concerns about its structural integrity. I rate this bridge a 4.9 out of 10.
As the day progresses, I notice that most heroes are heading through the reward door, which is frustrating because I want them to engage in battles. Despite this, we are generating decent cash. By the end of day two of dungeon keeping, we made 110 quid, but no one bought any potions. While they enjoyed the monster variety, they are still asking for more monsters to kill and better loot.
To address this, I consider lowering the potion prices to encourage purchases and adding another monster spawner. We summon a giant rat, which offers 21 coins in loot, compared to the 15 coins from the other monsters. This room is quite terrifying, and I think there should be a reward for heroes who successfully navigate it.
As we start the next day, I remind viewers that the game developer has generously provided Steam keys for giveaways. Interested players can sign up for my Weekly Newsletter to enter the draw and stay updated on indie game news.
Our first hero of the day appears to be a mage using a freezing potion on our spider, successfully immobilizing it. Meanwhile, another hero with a sword joins the fray, and it seems they are having a good time. However, I realize that the chest in the battle room is empty because heroes are entering the reward room first.
Unfortunately, we witness a couple of heroes dying in battle, which isn’t the end of the world since we can collect their souls for future use. However, the difficulty of the dungeon is becoming a concern, as one hero expresses his dissatisfaction and runs away. While they initially wanted more monsters, it seems that the increased challenge is not impressing them as expected.
In the game of life, sometimes you have to embrace the chaos to find the treasure.
I think he's using a freezing potion on our little spider. Yeah, look, he's frozen him! He's frozen him, and now his mate's here with a sword. I feel like they're having a good time. So, yeah, all the loot from destroying that monster goes in there. I think the trouble is, because they go down here first, I think that chest has nothing in it. So, they need to come in here first. This is a battle room.
Oh, look, someone died. No, it's not the end of the world if someone dies; you do get their soul, which you can spend on stuff, which you'll see later. Oh no, someone else died! That guy's running as well; he's not happy. He's not happy. Yeah, it's too hard; my dungeon's too hard now. People wanted more monsters, but now they've got them, and they are not impressed. They need to use my potion dispenser over here.
Right, yeah, I think this room is destroying everyone. These guys have no idea what's about to hit them. Like, he just walked through the door like, "Oh my goodness, three animals!" I mean, there are two mages in there as well. Someone else has just joined in the party. Maybe the heroes will win. Yeah, look, they're happy! Did you see their happy faces? Oh yeah, they are loving that. Now they're buying some more potions, getting their health back up. Oh, this is what we want; this is what we want—happy, happy people.
Oh no, he's not going to be happy; all the animals have just spawned. No, he's not happy. Oh dear, he's dead anyway. Good news, we got the research done; we can get some energy potions. First off, I'm going to select my next research. I just sold some souls, by the way, to get some money. So, what the soul trade was... but yeah, my next research, I reckon more visitors would be good.
All right then, I'm going to look at these traps—75 quid each. So, what I'm thinking is we try and make it like a little bit of a maze so they have to just go through the correct way. Yes, I like that! Hopefully, people will find that sort of fun to try and get to the loot without standing on a spike. I don't have enough money left for the energy potion dispenser, but that's fine.
Right, let's start the next day. So, let's see our first victim. He paid the entry fee; he comes in, and he's got to battle the spider. So, the spider is down thanks to his mate. They get some loot, so they're pretty happy. Then they're going to go into here, and oh, he's getting hurt by all the spikes. I think maybe you only get loot from the chests that are in the room with the monsters. I think when you kill a monster, loot goes into a chest. I guess it's only in the room that you're in. Do you see those coins go into that chest? So, that's got loot in it, which makes that guy happy.
I think this one, because there's no monsters in it, we don't get any loot, and this one, because there's no chest, they also don't get any loot. So at least we know what we got to work on for next time. Let's just fast forward through this.
All right, that room is so scary! Look, everyone died. The visitors are not very happy, so we got to do some stuff in here. What I'm thinking is we add a chest to this room. Then at least if our monsters get killed, people have some loot, so they'll be a bit happy that way. I can't afford anything else, so we'll just keep going with that. Actually, I could have gone into research and sold some souls. Maybe we'll do that next time.
Anyway, the death room—look, people are actually getting happy because they destroyed all the monsters. There's loot in the chest, and then they can go. Once they've got that loot, they can spend it on getting their health up. However, other monsters have spawned. Oh no, they're all spawning! Thankfully, these guys had spent their money already on the potion machine. But oh no, the bats are there now! There are loads of people about to come in.
Okay, okay, people are happy! People are happy! This is good; this is good! I think people are actually loving this. Look at all the arrows flying down from the ceiling; that's like some sort of special move, I think. Yeah, I'm just hoping once the monsters stop spawning, some of them go and spend some money in the dispenser. Yeah, there we go, there we go. Very nice! You guys really need to get out of this room; it's a death room for a reason! Like, look, I literally named it the death room.
Anyway, all the kills again—so much money is going in that chest! All right, nice, we're going to get a new visitor because the research has finished. People are complaining...
Create an experience that keeps visitors engaged and happy, even in the chaos.
There are now loads of people about to come in. Okay, okay, people are happy; this is good, this is good! I think people are actually loving this. Look at all the arrows flying down from the ceiling; that's like some sort of special move, I think. I'm just hoping once the monsters stop spawning, some of them go and spend some money in the dispenser. There we go, there we go, very nice!
You guys really need to get out of this room; it's a death room. It's called the death room for a reason—look, I literally named it the death room! Anyway, all the kills are adding up; so much money is going into that chest. Alright, nice, we’re going to get a new visitor because the research has finished. People are complaining they can't heal; I think that's because they kept not leaving the room.
Let's have a look at our quests. We've completed selling potions; we sold six, and we need one more visitor to get that one. Guess it's time to do some research so we can sell more souls. Yeah, let's do that! Ooh, I might get some wooden decorations that increase our dungeon's rating, and we'll get that done today as well. Let's do that!
I think having a higher rated dungeon is better for attracting people. But yeah, what do I want to do? I want to add a monster to this room, I think, and then maybe in this room in here, I'll add another dispenser. Let me do the monster spawner first, so that can go there. Can I then unsummon this room to make it a bit easier? I’ll get rid of that bat. Yeah, unassign, and over here I can assign. Okay, that's better; we've spread out our monsters a little bit. I don't want to make the death room too easy, though, so I'm going to grab a trap and put it right under the health dispenser, and then maybe put another one under the loot as well, just because I can.
Right, we’ll then start the next day. Then we should find everyone has a bit of an easier time. So yeah, they’ve just got a load of loot that makes them happy. Then what room are they going to pick? They’ve gone to the death room; that guy's gone to the other room, so he's got to fight a bat while standing on spikes. Alright, they won; they got the loot, they should be happy.
They’ve gone into this room; they’ve got to take down a wolf first, but they’ve done it. Unfortunately, the big rats spawned at the same time. I mean, if they can take that out, then they should be happy. Yeah, they can go get some health; they stood on the spike trap, but those getting loot out of the chest also stood on the spike trap. So yeah, spending lots of money in the potion dispenser.
Oh no, it's actually running out of potions. I better up the price; let’s go up to 15 quid just because we're running out of potions in there. There are only five a day, but yeah, looking at the room stat in the bottom right, I think the stars there represent the rating. People are loving this room; the spiky room, not so much, and the mean room is really bad as well. But yeah, this room here is a success, so that's good at least!
By the way, we finished our research, so let’s collect some dirt. So yeah, that changes the floor type, so we're going to call this room the dirt room from now on. Anyway, the research is finished; we've unlocked a shelf and a barrel. Now we can also collect a small painting as well as some coins.
Alright then, we have this decoration tab, so yeah, we can add these. Oh look, yeah, they increase the stats of a room. Let’s add a painting over there; that was pricey, but it added 25% happiness. I think in this room as well, we’ll do a couple of paintings down that side. Then this room is 100% room, so we’ll call that the shaft because it adds 100% happiness.
Ooh, look, a camping spot! We could unlock that, you know. There are also iron props down here, some iron objects. Let’s go with a camping spot because what I’m thinking is we can start making this a bit more cozy. If we were to add another room down here, it can be like a reward, maybe after this room. Actually, we can have a reward down here; they can have somewhere to camp, then they go to the next room afterwards. Yeah, I like this; I like this!
Alright anyway, let’s start the next day. It’s still worth noting, though, I think this is like a hardcore guy; he’s all armored up. You can see up here we’re going to get two of those and eleven of the lower-grade level. So yeah, he’s just destroyed my spider; he gets some loot, so he’s semi-happy with that in the dirt room.
Creating the perfect balance in a game is like crafting a great recipe—too much of anything can spoil the fun.
In our current project, we have some iron props down here and various iron objects. Let's consider establishing a camping spot since I believe we can enhance this area to make it more engaging. If we were to add another room down here, it could serve as a reward after completing the current room. This way, players can have a place to camp before proceeding to the next room. I really like this idea!
Moving on, we need to start the next day. It's worth noting that one of our characters seems to be a hardcore guy; he is fully armored. Up here, we are going to acquire two of those and eleven of the lower grade level items. He successfully defeated my spider, which means he gets some loot and is somewhat happy about that. Now, he is heading up the shaft to battle a bat, which is quite a tough enemy. However, since he is accompanied by friends, he is effectively clearing my dungeon and collecting loot.
After that, he is making his way back to the death room where several enemies are waiting. Oh man, he completely destroyed them; it was too easy for him! Now, he is on his way home and mentions that the health potion prices are kind of expensive. I acknowledge this and decide to lower them, as that was a bit naughty of me. Let’s adjust the price down to 12.
This game is all about balance; we want players to find it challenging but not overly difficult, and they should receive loot but not too much. I see three happy customers there, and one of them mentions, "I could use a heal right now." There are indeed ways to heal, so perhaps I should just make the potions cheaper again. Let’s set them back to ten; that seemed to work well before. I got a bit greedy with the pricing!
I love the moment when players open the chest and the potion dispenser, only to get a spike through the foot. Our dungeon has now reached 0.5 Stars with incredible loot and a nice variety of monsters, but they are asking for more monsters to kill.
As a tip of the day, players can click on the chest to lock it and keep all the loot for themselves, although it does cost a soul to do so, which might annoy some people. I’m trying to keep my customers happy. We just completed another quest, which means more money for us. I’m thinking of adding one of those energy potion dispensers. Let’s place that there, probably with a spike trap underneath, just because that’s what I like to do. We can also add a couple of shelves on either side of the door to enhance the room's decoration.
Now, let’s start the next day. There are lots of happy Heroes today, and I see our star ratings absolutely flying up! I think it’s time to expand our dungeon. Next time, we can add that campfire in, but for now, I can’t afford it as it costs 300 quid. We can add just a little room at the end, which might seem planned, but it wasn’t. Oh dear!
We will add a wooden door to that room for access, and I want to include a camping spot, but it costs 250 quid, so we will have to wait. However, we can look into research options. Yes, we can trade some souls for 350 quid. Thank you! We can also add more monsters, which could be useful. I unlocked that with souls, which is quite interesting; I didn’t realize some of these could be unlocked this way. Most of them are just visits, but we can increase the chance for heroes to drop souls, which is always beneficial.
Now that we have enough money, we can collect our rewards, including our skull and a wide painting. However, all of that will cost money. The wide painting is 125 quid, and the skull is 25 quid. Let’s add a camping spot in here; there we go! This creates a nice little reward for players who make it through.
I was considering adding another dispenser in this area, but unfortunately, it doesn’t fit; there’s not enough room. So, we will start the next day. I’m hopeful that this glowing tip area, which has pretty good room stats, might improve our average rating so we can achieve our Max rating of a whole star. I can also increase the entrance fee to 12 quid; I think that’s a fair value.
However, it seems that no one has used my camping spot yet, which is a bit disappointing. Many players struggled that day, and a lot of them died, expressing a strong desire for a heal. I could enhance my offerings to better meet their needs.
Investing in the right upgrades can transform your space from mediocre to extraordinary.
In the ongoing project, we have a wide painting priced at 125 quid and a skull for 25 quid. I’m considering adding a camping spot in here, which would serve as a nice little reward for those who make it through. However, it seems we can't fit another dispenser in this area due to space constraints. So, we'll start planning for the next day.
What I’m hoping for is that this glowing tip area, which has pretty good room stats, might help bring up the average. This could potentially raise our Max rating to a whole star. I can also increase the entrance fee to 12 quid, which I believe is a fair value. Unfortunately, it seems that no one has used my camping spot, which is a bit disappointing. Many players struggled that day; a lot of them died and wanted healing.
I could enhance my potion dispenser, but I think that just upgrades it to a higher grade, resulting in higher prices. Given the difficulty, I might unassign one of the dispensers and add it to a different room. For instance, we could place a wooden door and add a spawner in the pitch-black area, potentially introducing a wolf. For now, let’s see how the players fare.
I hope that people start using my dispenser, as I’ve invested quite a lot of money into it. It’s a common complaint that players aren’t utilizing it. On a positive note, some players are gaining energy and moving into a room where there's only a rat, making it easier for them. They’ve just acquired some loot and are now heading to get health. This is a good sign; things are working better.
I’m curious to see if anyone will camp or take down the wolf. It appears they are camping, but one player is in with the wolf and can't see anything. Fortunately, they managed to take down the wolf, although they didn’t get any loot since I haven’t placed a chest there—oops. Currently, the satisfaction rate is only 20%, which indicates we need to improve somehow.
I’m considering adding a potion dispenser to the first room, along with a trap underneath it. This way, players can gain health before proceeding. However, I need to check if we can afford another monster; unfortunately, we need 250 quid for that. Perhaps completing some quests will yield some funds, but we are just five short—that’s quite annoying.
I can’t sell any souls, but I do have an ancient chest with a huge capacity. We need 21 visitors to unlock that, which will take a couple of days. So, we’ll start this next day with the plan to increase the entrance fee to 15 quid—it’s worth it, and I believe everyone will pay.
The potion dispenser in the dirt room has run out of stock, so I can raise that price to 13 quid. I might even consider enhancing it. However, I’m unsure if enhancing this one will add more stock—it didn’t last time. Despite that, we made some cash that round, although satisfaction dropped massively while income rose significantly.
Players are asking for more monsters, and since they are healing in this room, I can assign another monster. I think I’ll go for a skeleton, as I missed the green goblin. This will add an extra monster, and I’ll also place a wooden chest and some lights in that area, although it’s still pretty dark.
I’m hopeful that this time, players will have a better experience. The star rating for our dungeon is improving. Interestingly, I’ve noticed that if you look closely, the layout resembles Great Britain—does anyone else see that?
On a positive note, the wolf has dropped some loot, which should cheer people up a bit. I wonder if the extra skeleton has helped or hindered their experience. We have unlocked the ancient chest, which is quite large and holds 100 quid, but unfortunately, we cannot afford it at the moment.
For now, I plan to decorate some rooms to enhance their appeal. In one room, I’ll add some paintings, which brings that room’s score up to 98%. I’ll also add a wool torch, which should help reach 100%. The campfire room is currently at 87%, and since we can’t fit anything on the floor, I’ll have to place paintings on the wall. Although that was quite expensive, it has now reached 100% as well.
Surely this will improve our overall rating. Additionally, we have unlocked an ancient spawner, which allows for a faster spawner and more enemies, along with a grouping table.
Creating an engaging experience is all about balancing challenge and reward; keep them coming back for more.
In the game, we have unlocked the ancient chest, which is quite significant as it holds 100 quid. However, we cannot afford it at the moment. For now, I plan to focus on decorating some rooms to enhance their appeal. In one room, I added paintings, bringing its rating up to 98. Then, I added a wool torch, which completed that room at 100%. The shaft room is also at 100%, while another room is currently at 87%. I considered adding a campfire, but since we can't fit anything on the floor, I opted to put more paintings on the wall. Although it was quite expensive, that room is now also at 100%.
Next, we unlocked an ancient spawner, which allows for a faster spawner and more enemies. Additionally, we acquired a grouping table, enabling our heroes to form parties, which should help them last longer in battles. After collecting some money, I thought about adding skulls to the death room to signify its purpose. As we started the next day, I noticed that potions in this room are selling like hot cakes, as we were down to just one stock. It seems that everyone has made it up to the wolf gate, and people are genuinely enjoying the loot, resulting in many happy faces this time. Satisfaction is returning among the players.
However, people still want more monsters, so I considered adding another potion dispenser in this room with spikes underneath. If we can increase their health, we might be able to add another monster to the death room, bringing it back up to three. I discovered that I can enhance the enemies, spending 10 souls to make the wolf stronger, and I could do it again for 15 more souls. I thought it would be fitting to call this enhanced wolf Paddy the ultimate final boss.
I also considered the grouping table, which costs 500 quid, and thought about creating a side room for it. However, I ultimately decided to add another monster to the death room, specifically a slime. I also wanted to unlock a boss door for Paddy's Lair. To make the dungeon feel more authentic, I planned to change the door and add a stone floor inside. Now that we have created a proper dungeon, I felt it was time for a slight price increase to 18 quid before starting the next day.
I had a good feeling about this; I anticipated that the ratings would be through the roof. As the day progressed, Paddy took down one of the enemies, but unfortunately, he got killed. We needed just four more kills to collect enough souls for a level-up. Thankfully, Paddy managed to secure another kill, and with that, we could level him up to level four, making him a beast.
However, I realized I had neglected to keep the players happy, as they were upset due to their repeated deaths at the hands of Paddy. I sold the door and replaced it with the boss door, which is a double door, so I had to adjust the flames accordingly. Only a group can pass through this door, so we definitely need the grouping table. I also wanted to swap the loot crate with the ancient one and possibly get rid of the camping spot to make room for the grouping table.
My strategy was for players to work through the dungeon, reach the grouping table, form a group, and then attempt to take down Paddy the final boss. Before they face him, I realized we should probably provide more healing options.
As the players ventured into the room of death, they destroyed everything in sight while collecting loot. They were heading up the shaft to face a bat, but I noticed that one player died on the spikes. Now, with four players in the room, the bat stood no chance. The question remained whether they would team up in the next room, but it appeared that no one did. Perhaps there wasn't enough space for them to strategize.
In conclusion, we learned that Paddy is the ultimate boss. That wraps up our session of Dungeon Tycoon. I hope you all enjoyed it, and I look forward to catching you next time. Peace, love, and Great Britain!