Dungeon DiveMichael Holden

ITGM 705 – Professor MeyersProject B – Non-Digital Interactive Project

Part 1: Proposal

The initial proposal for Project B, was a board game centered around the idea of an “openexploration board.” Most simply, if a player wants to go left, the board expands to the left, and if theykeep going left, the board will let them. A map that you explore and changes every time that you play.

original sketch for board exploration

The original theme was post-apocalyptic cityscape, as you explore you encounter enemies andchallenges, and the board determines broad quests for you to solve that could be different each time youplay based on your layout. The final objective: a board game that was similar to itself, but fundamentallydifferent every time you played.

The game is aimed at an older board gaming audience, starting at about age 12, though still beingdifficult to master as objectives and location can change so strongly.

original sketch of a sample board layout from above

I set out to do this, as an avid board gamer, tile based games are rather common these days, thoughmost just use the tiles for setup, or as the puzzle itself, and I think that underutilized a media whichallows for mass customization.

Part 2: Visualization, Conceptualization and Prototypes

After many attempts I finally have a working prototype. Rather than city blocks, though, the tileshave been re-purposed as dungeon tunnels as I could not find a flavorful way to control player movementfrom tile to tile. That said the simplification makes the board easier to read.

The main objective is to collect the most treasure, as each turn an “event” changes the board insome way. Eventually an event starts a countdown timer after which all the players have to get back tothe start with their treasure and whoever has the most at the end wins.

First Playtest:

I went through a lot of levels of simplification as the board mechanic is complicated enough as is.So all the players are now the same, and only have two actions, “explore” which is to move off the boardand add a tile, and “gather” which is to grab up all the treasure in the tile they are in. Each tile had acolor designation, as well as the 6 possible players – this allowed to event cards to randomly chose tilesor players to effect. There are also an additional 2 markers – Fire and Ice, which are more likely to havevery good or very bad effects. The main enemy that spawns is a Gremlin, that blocks movement, but canbe paid off with treasure – no hp and player combat, its more of the strategy of knowing when to workaround the enemies, and when they need to remove the obstacle. I played this version with 2 classmatesand got a lot of good feedback, particularly that I needed some more variety in enemies/obstacles andevents.

Second Playtest:

The next version I brought to class had a new enemy type – the “moleman” who destroys tiles thatplayers exit if the moleman is there. Basically the moleman gets angry and collapses the roof! This wasin response to the best card in the earlier playtest being the “cave-in” card that removed previously playedtiles, allowing the older parts of the board to change. I feel that the playtest was very successful, I wasinitially very worried, as it looked like only 1 of the 4 players would make it back to start, but in the end 3out of 4 made it. Some feedback from this test that really resonated, for one, the board was so varied thatoften events didn't effect the board or players. Also players wanted more interaction – I want that, but amadverse to adding abilities or power-ups for players to directly fight each other – I want them to fightthrough the effects of the dungeon. The moleman was a definite hit though, especially because wehappened to draw way too many deadends. Lastly it was suggested I try and line up deadends where tilescome together so that the tunnels look continuous.

The last changes I made with this feedback were to reduce theplayers and colors to 4. The board grew quick enough and was crowdedenough with the 4 in the class, and with only 4 colors to draw on theevent cards stuff happens more across the board. Also through eventsplayers can now place and move monsters on the board. I also removedthe last separating player power-ups (the event “artifacts” which whilefun, often made one player way more powerful and everyone's bane.That effect happens naturally anyway, to whoever is perceived to be inthe lead. I added 2 new tile types, and balanced the number of deadendpieces.

Part 4: Final Dungeon Dive Version

Below are images of the final production version of Dungeon Dive. The colors and players havebeen reduced to 4, Red, Blue, Yellow, and Green. The event choices are now drawn from a deck, whichcan also give you the ability to rotate your tile like a secret door. Molemen, and Gremlin's have cleartiles, as well as special tiles for the dragon, gremlin king, and also the ancient portal – which lastedunchanged from the first version of the game! Clear colors and symbols on the tiles really increase thereadability of the board.

Game Rules:

Dungeon Diveby Michael Holden2-4 PlayersEstimated Playtime: 20-60 minutes.

Materials1 Start Dungeon Tile60 Assorted Dungeon Tiles

-12 'T' Tiles-12 'L' Tiles-12 'I' Tiles-6 'X' Tiles-6 Double 'L' Tiles-6 Deadend Tiles-6 Double Deadend Tiles

18 Event Cards including 1 'The End is Nigh'18 Endtimes Event Cards5 Player/Tile Select Cards

-Red/Blue/Yellow/Green/Rotate30 Double Sided Moleman/Gremlin Tokens4 Unique Tokens

-Dragon, Gremlin King, 2 Ancient Portals

NarrativeYou are a Dungeon Diver, questing for the Queen. The most dangerous yet enticing dungeon of all

has been discovered. A constantly changing and monster infested dungeon, but oh the glittering rewards.Be wary of what you may face, and make sure you make it out alive with more money than the othercompetitors.

GoalTo collect treasure and make it out of the dungeon before the endtimes timer runs out.

Setting Up the Game

To set up the game, place the Start Tile in thecenter of a large table with the player pieces on the tile.The rest of the tiles can be spread out facedown aroundthe table within easy reach of the players. Shuffle andstack the Event cards face down, and the same with theEndtimes Event cards face down next to them. Shufflethe 5 player select cards together and place them by theEvent cards, and that is all the setup.

First Turn/ Turns

Youngest player goes first, continue clockwise from there. On each player's turn they have 1 ofthree actions. They may:

Explore: → Move off the map on an open path. Pick a new tile face down, and place it in any orientation you like – as long as it connects to the path you came from.Move: → Move 1 space to a already explored tile.Gather: → Take all of the treasure on the space you are on.

Whenever a tile is added, add treasure to the board equal to the number written in the center of thetile next to the crystal symbol.

After the first round of turns, the first player draws an event card. If it asks to “draw for player” or“draw for tile” the player picks a card from the draw deck to determine the choice. If you draw theRotate card, you may immediately rotate your tile, and then draw again for the event card. Return theRotate to the draw deck. Follow the rest of the instructions on the card. Leave event cards face up on theboard to keep track of changes. Rotate the player that plays the event card and draws for player.

Eventually the Event card “The End is Nigh” will be played. When it does, put a treasure on it'scounter to keep track of the turns till the end of the game. Events are now drawn from the Endtimesdeck, and are generally smaller effects. Make it back to the start or you lose.

Winning the Game

A player wins if they make it back to the start and have the most treasure out of all players thatmade it out.

Other General Information

Gremlin – Blocks movement, Bribed with 1 treasure to leave.

Moleman – Removes a tile that a survivor moves out of that he shares.

Gremlin King – Blocks movement, cannot be removed till Endtimes, bribed treasures are paid here.Special tile, cannot be removed by a cave-in.

Dragon – Blocks movement, cannot be removed till Endtimes. Special tile, cannot be removed by acave-in.

Ancient Portal – Creates a link between two tiles as if they were directly connected. Special tile, cannotbe removed by a cave-in.

Conclusion

Ultimately I am very happy with the final product of this game. It has been particularly enjoyablefor me as playtesters have always had fun while playing the game, which has not always been the truth ofmy other forays into boardgames. I am also happy with the simplicity and size of the game – easy tothrow in your backpack and play whenever, and simple to explain with rules all on each individual card.