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5:05am - Well this is a weird time to be starting a work post. Five in the morning! I just finished watching some videos with a friend and normally I'd be going to bed now at the latest, but I've run out of distilled water and I need to get some before I sleep again, so I'll be up for a few more hours. I've got to do something to fill that time, so I thought I'd try starting up a work post.
I've basically got two things to choose from for work right now. Everything else is emotionally blocked or just not reasonable. So, I get to pick between trying to write more of Inktail's story, or work more on my Unreal Random Dungeon game.
I'm a bit tired to be doing either, but what else am I gonna do for three hours in the morning without sleep?
For Inktail's story, I've already gotten it all outlined, so I just need to fill in the details, but that takes a lot of creativity. So maybe I shouldn't do that one.
Conversely, my Unreal Random Dungeon game is in the early planning stages, and I need to figure out how the dungeon generator will work for me. It's mostly busywork though. So I guess that one wins.
I've got the general idea from the book, but the way that I'm implementing it is different, since I'm only using large dungeon 'tiles' of premade features and not generating whole rooms and caves.
Because of that, a loop has to be either two or four square tiles at a minimum. Two would be a straight there and back along the same path, though. Likewise three, if I made it three tiles long.
The four tile 'loop' is a good one, since the first of the four tiles can branch off in an additional way that is blocked until you finish the loop.
A five tile 'loop' would probably just be a hallway leading to a four tile loop, or a room preceding a standard four tile loop. I was thinking it might be like a four tile loop with a single room offshoot with 'the treasure' in it, but that's just a one tile loop off a four tile loop, not a five tile loop.
A six tile loop would work well with two hallways connecting four rooms, but it could also be just rooms or just hallways, like the others.
An eight tile loop would form the edges of a 3x3 grid and have a hollow middle. That middle could be a one tile loop or a passage to a new level.
Past eight tiles things would be awful big for a single loop.
Now that I think of it, so far I've only been thinking of the sort of loops that end back at the beginning, rather than the other options listed in the book.
The ones it mentions are:
Two paths to the same goal, with different hazards
One obvious path, one hidden shortcut
The Lock and Key path, like I've been describing
A short path both ways with a patroling monster
A double key system, with the key to the goal locked until you traverse both sides of the loop
A key behind a valve, which is functionally the same as the previous
The Dramatic Cycle, where one path is only a window to the goal, and you have to traverse the other path to get there
The Dangerous Route, where one path has more hazards but is shorter, and the other is longer but safer
The Unknown Return Path, where something stops you from going back the way you first came, like a collapsing bridge, but you can get back there via the other route, but can't use that other route due to a valve
The lure and setback, where there's one route that goes past the goal to some reward, but if you take the reward you have to use the other route back to the start in order to finish the circuit
A simplified lock and key, where there's a window showing the key on the second route, and you have to go past the goal to get it and come back
And the Gambit, where there's a reward on the other side of a window and it's past the goal, so you have the option of going there, but there may be danger there
Those are of course, just the ones suggested in the book. There are doubtless other patterns.
Now, with my discussion of loops earlier, I was mostly thinking of the lock and key type loops, which are more linear than the others. Instead of short loops back to the start to continue, the others are often simply alternate paths.
I think I'll try to diagram each of these patterns for now, see what I come up with.
7:43am - I've made a few diagrams and a pattern is emerging. Each primary loop is obvious, with a T shaped intersection beginning it. I might need to do some short side loops with retracing to make things less obvious. I'll experiment with some loops with subloops and multiloop dungeons next time, but for now I need to tend to some grooming and prepare to go to the store, come home and sleep.
I've basically got two things to choose from for work right now. Everything else is emotionally blocked or just not reasonable. So, I get to pick between trying to write more of Inktail's story, or work more on my Unreal Random Dungeon game.
I'm a bit tired to be doing either, but what else am I gonna do for three hours in the morning without sleep?
For Inktail's story, I've already gotten it all outlined, so I just need to fill in the details, but that takes a lot of creativity. So maybe I shouldn't do that one.
Conversely, my Unreal Random Dungeon game is in the early planning stages, and I need to figure out how the dungeon generator will work for me. It's mostly busywork though. So I guess that one wins.
I've got the general idea from the book, but the way that I'm implementing it is different, since I'm only using large dungeon 'tiles' of premade features and not generating whole rooms and caves.
Because of that, a loop has to be either two or four square tiles at a minimum. Two would be a straight there and back along the same path, though. Likewise three, if I made it three tiles long.
The four tile 'loop' is a good one, since the first of the four tiles can branch off in an additional way that is blocked until you finish the loop.
A five tile 'loop' would probably just be a hallway leading to a four tile loop, or a room preceding a standard four tile loop. I was thinking it might be like a four tile loop with a single room offshoot with 'the treasure' in it, but that's just a one tile loop off a four tile loop, not a five tile loop.
A six tile loop would work well with two hallways connecting four rooms, but it could also be just rooms or just hallways, like the others.
An eight tile loop would form the edges of a 3x3 grid and have a hollow middle. That middle could be a one tile loop or a passage to a new level.
Past eight tiles things would be awful big for a single loop.
Now that I think of it, so far I've only been thinking of the sort of loops that end back at the beginning, rather than the other options listed in the book.
The ones it mentions are:
Two paths to the same goal, with different hazards
One obvious path, one hidden shortcut
The Lock and Key path, like I've been describing
A short path both ways with a patroling monster
A double key system, with the key to the goal locked until you traverse both sides of the loop
A key behind a valve, which is functionally the same as the previous
The Dramatic Cycle, where one path is only a window to the goal, and you have to traverse the other path to get there
The Dangerous Route, where one path has more hazards but is shorter, and the other is longer but safer
The Unknown Return Path, where something stops you from going back the way you first came, like a collapsing bridge, but you can get back there via the other route, but can't use that other route due to a valve
The lure and setback, where there's one route that goes past the goal to some reward, but if you take the reward you have to use the other route back to the start in order to finish the circuit
A simplified lock and key, where there's a window showing the key on the second route, and you have to go past the goal to get it and come back
And the Gambit, where there's a reward on the other side of a window and it's past the goal, so you have the option of going there, but there may be danger there
Those are of course, just the ones suggested in the book. There are doubtless other patterns.
Now, with my discussion of loops earlier, I was mostly thinking of the lock and key type loops, which are more linear than the others. Instead of short loops back to the start to continue, the others are often simply alternate paths.
I think I'll try to diagram each of these patterns for now, see what I come up with.
7:43am - I've made a few diagrams and a pattern is emerging. Each primary loop is obvious, with a T shaped intersection beginning it. I might need to do some short side loops with retracing to make things less obvious. I'll experiment with some loops with subloops and multiloop dungeons next time, but for now I need to tend to some grooming and prepare to go to the store, come home and sleep.
