As much as I'd like to work on my magic hold, I have a feeling it makes more sense to learn the ropes of RPG hold building now. So I've started making this.
It is pretty old school, at least regarding scripting (only some cut scenes, custom monsters and an inventory script), but there are some things that haven't been done often before but which I really like. The most obvious is that it's a no backtracking hold, since I really like the idea and DCoD worked out pretty well in my opinion. Other things are secreted as they might be a bit spoilery and you might want to discover them yourself first:
Click here to view the secret text
×I want to try a new way to tackle the usual stat problems of large holds. While a secret boss can help keeping it interesting for a variety of players, you might still end up with ridiculously easy late-game levels on a good run and practically impossible ones on a mediocre run.
So here's my idea: A secret boss on every single level that costs you resources (keys, health, maybe even money) and only rewards you with an accessory item. In order to reach and beat the final secret boss, you will have to collect every accessory and never use them.
Also, similarly to Fetch the Pie, I intend to have one hidden challenge room on each level that is a pure logic puzzle. However, the reward for solving it will only be health, and none of them should be required to reach the normal ending, but ideally needed to get to the secret ending. (And since it's me, they might be harder than the actual optimization problem)
Ideally, beating both secret bosses so far with at least a few keys left should require a pretty decent playthrough.
I'm not really sure if the direction in which I want to take the plot will work out, but I guess I'll just have to see. So far, it's a pretty standard "
stalwarts have bigger mouths than swords"
theme.
I must admit I'm not entirely sure how the whole RPG architecture process works, but it seems like a good idea to post what I've got so far now and wait for feedback and stats before designing the next level.
So yeah, I hope you like this more traditional effort.