In the classic dungeon model, descending a staircase generally means getting closer to the goal (treasure, boss, relic, etc.) and also increasing the difficulty of the obstacles (traps, terrain, monsters, etc.). The vertical dimension of a dungeon denotes progress. While to a great extent the concepts of a goal and progress towards that goal are designed to be left up to the player in Dig Deep Dungeons, I wanted each player’s dungeon to have an apparent classic structure where descending deeper equates making progress (of a kind). The dungeon is supposed to be “deep”, after all. So the mechanism by which the player moves vertically is by a set of randomly placed stairs on each floor, one ascending (with the exception of the first floor) and one descending.
I put together a demo showing this here.
If you’re following along, this is a small step away from the previous demo, but what is interesting to me is while adding the stairs and linking the floors together is a relatively simple operation, it is creating a significant change to the model of the world by adding the concept of the unknown. An isolated floor indicates a complete and contained space, but adding a single descending staircase exposes the possibility of something unexplored which lies beyond, a void which the imagination fills with potential. It creates a feeling of depth without literally adding depth (the literal depth gets added when the player descends).
In the current design, you can play Dig Deep Dungeons without ever leaving the first floor — you could never descend, but would you?
