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🕹️Darkest Dungeon Breaking Down Game Design EP 1

🕹️Darkest Dungeon Breaking Down Game Design EP 1

Goal: Make it into the Darkest Dungeon and redeem your ancestor.

Fundamental Experience/Game Theme:

It wants you to feel like you're exploring somewhere you shouldn't be, making the most of a difficult situation, while taking great risks for incredible rewards.

Game Loop Or Core Dynamic:

  • Choose Mercenary Team And Dungeon To Explore
  • Buy Supplies For The Adventure
  • Explore The Dungeon, Fighting Monsters And Acquiring Loot
  • Level Up Characters, Buy And Upgrade Gear And Town, Destress And De-Afflict Mercenaries, And Recruit New Mercenaries
  • Repeat

Game Mechanics:

  • Characters have unique skills in battle, in camp, and in scouting, as well as preferred positions (CD3)
  • Different dungeons have different enemies, loot, risks, and supplies necessary. Art is in choosing which characters to play in a group, which dungeon to put them in, and how much supplies to get (CD7, CD3)
  • While exploring random chance determines if you come across enemies, objects, and often a reward (CD7)
  • Dungeons are procedurally generated increasing replayability a ton (CD7)
  • While exploring, characters can accrue stress from enemies, exploration, and more. At 100 stress they go insane and can get a negative affliction. Chance they don't go insane but remain bulwark (CD8, CD7)
  • While exploring, characters can camp to replenish health, de-stress, get buffs and more (CD3)
  • Every dungeon has a different quest attributed to it to complete it and be able to go home (CD3, CD7)
  • Progress Loss: At deaths door, characters get debuffed and any next hit can kill them (CD8)
  • Risky Reward And Progress Loss Completing the full dungeon gives the dungeon reward which is usually heirlooms, gold, and a unique item, but characters can leave a dungeon early at the expense of a lot of stress and no reward for completing the whole dungeon (CD8, CD3, CD6, CD4)
  • Risky Reward: The darker the light, the harder fights are, but the greater the loot is as well (CD7)
  • Labor Driven Points: Exploration with characters levels them up (CD2)
  • Every character level gives the chance of having a new attribute good or bad
  • Exchangeable Points: Exploration gives heirlooms which can be used to upgrade town and gear, as well as gold which can be used to upgrade mercenaries, the town, and de-stress (CD2, CD4)
  • Some dungeons become bosses which don't allow you to move forward in that dungeon until you kill them (CD1, CD2)
  • Milestone Unlock: Some areas of town and dungeons don't unlock until players are higher level and have explored more dungeons (CD3, CD2)

Game Elements:

  • Character Appearance And Name Customization (Investment Aspect Of Hooked Model) (CD4)
  • Chance in exploration, loot, skills succeeding, critical attacks, afflictions gotten, mercenaries showing up in the trade coach, and more (CD7)
  • Dreary, Lovecraft Style Aesthetic And Music (CD9)
  • Cooperation (Multiplayer Mode) (CD5)
  • Story Of Ancestor (CD1)
  • Strategy (CD3, CD4)
  • Time (CD6)
  • Rewards (CD4, CD2)
  • Resources (CD4)
  • Levels (CD2)

Octalysis Breakdown

Game Mechanics: