In this line of work, you’re used to being promised things. Many game developers are happy to work on their game, and will have a big shiny version of their game in their head that only the constrains of time and budget can get in the way of.
Let’s Build A Dungeon by Springloaded was one of these games, with a populated booth at the Indie Wavemakers section of gamescom asia. Speaking to studio founder James Barnard, he shared his vision for the game about making a game about RPGs.
Making A GTA-Like Experience In Let’s Build A Dungeon
James enthusiastically says that while the studio is aiming to actually finish Let’s Build A Dungeon, he’s also approaching it with a swansong mindset: to give it all the love and passion of someone who was planning to walk away after.
“Unfortunately, I’ve come up with the stupid idea that this is the last game I’ll ever build”, he says. “This is my last game that’s what I tell myself. Feature creep is fine”.
A lot of that stems from just how potent the current build of Let’s Build A Dungeon actually is. From what I was shown, the game makes it imperative to go beyond simple “build your own RPG”. You handle the business end just as much as you do the creative, and you’ll need to upsize your team if you want to start making more elaborate features for your fictional MMO.
“It’s all the things I think of as a game developer again and again”, James explains.
Throughout the game you’ll be developing an MMO as it’s being played- that means making dungeons and putting up with user feedback if it’s too hard or too boring.
The build they’ve been parading around game shows is fairly simple in its application. You get a dungeon editor, you don’t play long enough to have to deal with the financial ramifications of your design and you get in just long enough to actually have to play your atrocities.
Still, it gives you a peek into the irreverent humor of the game: as you put together the boss room you’re suddenly made to alt-tab out of the game to answer a text from Totally-Not-Richard-Garriott, and have a conversation about how much of a struggle it is demoing an online game at a game show.
While it wasn’t part of the gamescom asia build, he did show us a more developed version of the game that had access to its Creative Mode- one that lets you make the game of your dreams without worrying about running out of cash or development time.
To me this is where the game really blew me away: from sprite editors to tweaking fundamental properties like hitstun, Let’s Build A Dungeon looked more like a playable game engine than anything else. We got shown dialogue tree programmers, quest editors, all the kind of things you’d expect to see in RPG Maker rather than a game. Again, these aren’t empty promises: I beheld these features with my own eyes.
There’s so much more we’ve yet to see, too: full multiplayer, letting other players play your RPG, more classes. If you enjoy an almost fetishistic use of the word simulator, Let’s Build A Dungeon looks specifically targeted at you. Yes, you.
