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Dungeon Crawl Movement issue

8 replies [Last post]
Thu, 09/08/2016 - 16:26
impyo
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Joined: 12/31/2015

Hi everyone!
I am working on an early stage dungeon crawler and i came up with a movement issue.Here it is:

Lets say i am in ROOM A and when i defeat the monsters i want to go from ROOM A to ROOM B.The distance between these two (for example purpose) is 15 blocks.
My champions movement is 5. My champion just defeated the monsters so now there is "Free" time meaning that if no monsters exist in the room and everything is defeated the "overlord" or "bad guy" does not do anything until the next encounter.Also there is no turn restriction in the game(like, do the quest in 20 turns or fail etc).

My problem is that because of that "Free" time the champion will just teleport to ROOM B (skipping all those 15 blocks) instead of using his speed(5).

Of course this is a reasonable thing to do from a players perspective and i would do the same.

I find this issue really annoying and bad design.Is this true?Or maybe is this "flaw" acceptable?Are there any other games that have this "flaw".

To solve this i thought of giving some kind of penalty like every 3 non combat turns the "bad guy" gains one token and does something with that just to make players to move at their speed and counting turns instead of just teleporting from door to door on their "free" time or some penalties on treasure cards or trap cards but nothing seemed to be good enough and/or reasonable.

My last thought was to make players move on a world map and just play the encounters/fights on the board and then continue to travel on the world map but i feel that this way the game loses its crawling effect.

I hope i described the problem in a proper way and you will understand that silly thing that bugs me.

What are your opinions/suggestions?
What do you like most in general?

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Thu, 09/08/2016 - 17:02
#1
Squinshee
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Joined: 10/17/2012
I say it all the time here,

I say it all the time here, and I'll say it again: designing movement mechanics is toughtoughtough.

If a game gave me the option to A) instantly warp to the next encounter or B) waste time walking to the next encounter, I'd prefer A. A seems likes GOOD design as it respects my time and streamlines the experience.

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Thu, 09/08/2016 - 18:00
#2
TwentyPercent
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Joined: 12/25/2012
Know the design theory Keep

Know the design theory Keep It Simple Stupid? This works for game design too. Movement is through to design, so simplicity is critical.

Why do the two rooms have 15 spaces between them? Why not just make it like 3 spaces?

I had this exact same problem in my adventure, rpg board game also, and after many playtests (solo and with about 10 friends), I learned that no one wants to count out turns of just movement (unless there is some puzzle element to it, but that doesn't sound like the case here).

Anyways, based off my limited knowledge, here are a few options I see available:

1. Reduce the space between the rooms.
2. When there are no active enemies, heroes do not have turns. They are free to act or move however they wish. (ie there would be no counting spaces or turns.)
3. Similar to #2, when there are no active enemies, heroes can teleport from one inactive room to the entrance of another room.
4. Alluding to your suggestion (and what Myth does), when heroes loiter (ie spend turns when there are no active enemies), there is some penalty or mechanic that advances the enemies or hinders the heroes.

IMO, I'd recommend a combination of 1 and 4. Just to reiterate, you want to minimize or preferably eliminate turns where players don't have a true decision to make.

Hope that helps!

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Thu, 09/08/2016 - 18:57
#3
X3M
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Joined: 10/28/2013
Why do you have movement in

Why do you have movement in the first place? If you end up warping around the game any way?

The only reason why you use movement is that there is something that can happen while you move.

For example, an enemy has an ranged attack. And shoots at you for several times.

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Thu, 09/08/2016 - 19:21
#4
Willem Verheij
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Joined: 06/08/2016
Reminds me of Dungeons and

Reminds me of Dungeons and Dragons: the board game which I could really recommend to give a try since you are doing something similar.

It also has this issue. However it does have the risk of traps that might get triggered.

Some sort of timer mechanic might help.. not that the players would lose, but maybe a timer that adds a stalwart enemy to the evil forces?

Like, every four turns they get an extra goblin, to use where they wish?

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Fri, 09/09/2016 - 02:53
#5
ElKobold
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Joined: 04/10/2015
Not forcing players to do

Not forcing players to do boring stuff (empty turns when nothing happens but movement) is a good thing.

Notice how some recent CMON games in this genre ditch the squares entirely and use area movement instead.

Why do you find this "really annoying and bad design?".
Why do you think it's a "flaw"?

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Fri, 09/09/2016 - 03:30
#6
adversitygames
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Joined: 09/02/2014
One example that has this but

One example that has this but has some features that stop it being boring is Doom (old version, I can't speak for the new one)

First of all, every turn you spend moving the invader player draws a card which can let them spawn extra monsters or do other nasty things.

Secondly there are lots of little bonus pickups.

So the "moving around" isn't really boring, since even then you're weighing up the issues of: get the extra shiny things, or move faster so the invader player doesn't get more nasty cards

It's not perfect though, it did have it's moment of move->move->move->yawn
Maybe that's improved in the new edition.

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Fri, 09/09/2016 - 08:54
#7
impyo
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Joined: 12/31/2015
thanks!

Thanks for all your suggestions.
@X3M Yes i understand.So thats why i though it would be better for players to travel in a global map and just fight any encounters in a different board and then continue their journey on the global map.My concern is that there is no crawling feeling that way but i prefer this than warping between rooms.

@Willem Verheij Thank you i will definitely check these rules to see whats going on.

@ElKobold I will consider this area movement instead of space movement ,thanks.I just feel that this warp thing seems clumsy.I find it somewhat silly to have a board big with corridors bridges and stuff and the players just warp above all these.Thats my opinion though and i do not have much experience thats why i asked you guys.

@TwentyPercent Thank that really helps.I like your suggestions but 1 and 2 most.i Have seen Myth loitering thing and its good but i dont think that could work on this game although i could use some of it.

@iamseph Hmm i will check Doom again.I have seen it before but i dont remember much

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Fri, 09/09/2016 - 10:09
#8
X3M
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another idea.

Random encounter!
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ohK_-MXolZg/maxresdefault.jpg

For each movement, a die roll for a small creature to appear. If it appears. The hero has to fight it off.

Higher movement values are often less rolls.

So when your hero with movement 5, has to move 3 times through a distance of 15. Than 3 rolls are required.
So during this "warping" 3 die rolls.

I'll leave the chances and the strenght of the opponents to you, if you like the idea.

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