General Dungeon Design guidelines

See Player inventory guidelines.

Each dungeon shall have the following:

• Spikes (Damage player)
• Puzzles include:
  • Finding a key
  • Toggle switch to open a door
  • Floor switch to open a door
• Enemies to slay (these sometimes drop things)
• Hidden life boosters (in chests / breakable vases)
• A boss (some dungeons are dead ends)
• Own color scheme to match boss (requires some palette work)
• Dungeons will progress in difficulty
• Dungeons can have up to 1 to 9 levels

Dungeon layout considerations

• Each dungeon should not be more than 70 tiles wide or 70 tiles tall
• Minimum map width is 10 tiles
• Minimum map height is 7 tiles
• Tile maps organized in multiples of screens with a beginning and end.
• Dungeons are NOT flat. Stairs to go up/down. Have multiple levels / floors.
• Each Dungeon level has a single entry and exit.
• Dungeons can jump levels. For example, [ L1 ] <-> [ L5 ] <-> [ L2 ]
• Dungeons must be lined by at least one tile width of walls (even if virtual)
• Each dungeon will consist of layers
  • OBJECT_ATTRIBUTES_LAYER
  • OBJECT_LAYER
  • MAP_ATTRIBUTES_LAYER
  • MAP_LAYER
• When the player transitions from one area to another, we'll use a Mosiac effect
• Layers shall be designed so we do not over paint significant portions of the screen
• “Flat” stairs to be used for aesthetic purposes only. Should be used with half walls that restrict movement.
• (unused) Flames should be animated (3 frames)
• Multiple tile patterns should be used on the floor to break give it texture
• Each dungeon has its own sprite sheet bitmap file
• All dungeons share same Objects and Object Attributes Layer files

Example dungeon