and I’m in it! If you recall not too long ago I talked a bit about indie games? One of the games I mentioned there was Desktop Dungeons, a fun little pseudo rogue-like that had quite a bit of depth to it. The game has been in Alpha for about a year now, two days ago I got an e-mail from the developer, QCF Design, letting me know that the game had officially entered it’s Beta stage (one of the benefits of pre-ordering the final version was getting in on the beta.) I sat down last night for an hour or so and test-drove the latest iteration of the game. The biggest change I noted was graphical:
Of course, graphics aren’t the only change to the game. The developers have scrapped the old system of completing random dungeons as specific classes/races to unlock other classes/races and have instead instituted a buy-in system. Unlike the Alpha any money you end a dungeon with is saved over into the overworld, also new, and you use cash to buy new classes or races by improving your city (the first image in this post.) Dungeons aren’t dripping in loot, but dungeon bosses drop trophy which can be sold for stacks of cash as are completing various challenges or missions found at the new tavern. Money isn’t just for unlocking classes and races, you can now also outfit your adventurer before they descends into dungeons; the city blacksmith offers equipment upgrades that will also cost gold.
Once you’re in the dungeons everything seems to be the same as the alpha; they, and what they contain (spells, loot, monsters, and boss), are all randomly generated. Sp, if you’re familiar with the game already you won’t have any hick-ups here. Try to conserve unexplored space, get spells early, take on enemies stronger than you to gain greater experience, and convert useless spells and items into stats and you’ll be in good shape when you encounter the dungeon boss…
As I said at the top I’ve only spent an hour or so with the game so far and so I’m sure there is a lot of new things in the game that I haven’t yet unlocked or encountered yet… The one big, new thing I have uncovered, similar to the super two boss dungeons of the alpha, are the puzzle dungeons, that hand you a preset character and dungeon and require you to solve them. I’m just through with the tutorials and they’ve thrown half a dozen of them at me:
Overall, I’m excited about what the developers are doing with the game; it looks great and maintains the addictive gameplay that made the alpha so popular. My only concern right now is that the game can only be played in-browser. I’m hoping that is just for the beta and that eventually I’ll have a file to carry around on a USB card with me so I can play the game wherever…
Oh, and I hope they get some background mood music at some point but, that is more of a request.
