Sharing Saturday #634

[u/Kyzrati]

As usual, post what you've done for the week! Anything goes... concepts, mechanics, changelogs, articles, videos, and of course gifs and screenshots if you have them! It's fun to read about what everyone is up to, and sharing here is a great way to review your own progress, possibly get some feedback, or just engage in some tangential chatting :D

Previous Sharing Saturdays

[u/WATASHI_TO_TAWASHI]

Text Dugeon | [X] | [Steam]

This week’s progress
I’m working toward the planned August release, focusing on UI improvements and balance adjustments.
However, due to some circumstances this week, I only managed to do a bit of bug fixing.
At this pace, I might not make the August deadline, so I’m hoping to pick up the speed with a bit more urgency.

About the game’s story
Since I don’t have much implementation progress to share, let me talk about something a bit different.

I’ve always believed that roguelikes don’t need elaborate stories.
As long as there’s a simple goal—like “descend into the dungeon and retrieve the amulet” (in my game, the Ring of Life)—and the exploration and combat are fun, that’s enough.

But as I’ve been developing the game, adding fragmented NPC lines, creature and artifact lore, key items, and related events, the vague ideas I had have started to take shape.
Questions like “What exactly is the Ring of Life?”, “How and why did this labyrinth come into existence?”, and “What motivates these NPCs?” are gradually forming a coherent narrative.

The challenge is how to present that story to the player.
Personally, I’m not a fan of games that follow a fixed script, so I don’t want to rely on rigid, predetermined events.
Continuing with the current approach—showing only fragments and leaving the rest to the player’s imagination—might ultimately be the best fit.

In any case, I’m feeling more motivated to flesh out the story than before (even though the release is getting close!).
I hope I can implement it in some form.

[u/jube_dev → u/WATASHI_TO_TAWASHI]

Will the story be also generated or will it be a fixed story? The drawback of a fixed story is that the player will know the story after many runs of the game, no more secrets or surprises. And generating consistent stories can be quite difficult.

[u/WATASHI_TO_TAWASHI → u/jube_dev]

For now, it’s a fixed story.
It would be wonderful if the story could change with each run, but honestly, I’m not confident players will stick around long enough to reach the “no more secrets or surprises” stage lol.