Moonlight Village [WIP Mountain Temple Sequel]


#1

EDIT: We now have a discord server! [https://discord.gg/UfdEcvm] You can come and hang out, check out the progress, give suggestions, etc.

heya! An idea for a dungeon has been stirring in my mind, and I’m putting up this interest check thread to see if anyone would like to help me bring this idea to greater fruition. I’m capable of designing the patterns/mechanics/balancing, though my spriting skills are a bit crude (I’ll still try my best! :D). I’m also willing to discuss lore/thematic with anyone I work with.

Here’s a brief overview of what I have:

This dungeon is a sequel to the Mountain Temple, thematically. I don’t mean to imply that this necessarily comes AFTER Mountain Temple when referring to ingame progression, but the lore/theme definitely implies that you’ve been to the Mountain Temple before.

The name would be something like Moonlight Village, or Moonlight Valley. This isn’t really a huge concern early into the design.

Lore

This used to be a far eastern farming village, who prided themselves with the protection of the warriors of the Mountain Temple. Families were honored to send their sons and daughters to learn the ways of Daichi and take upon the honorable task of protecting the village. They frequently held bright festivals to honor their union with the Mountain Temple. When Daichi fell from grace, the warriors seemed to have vanished without a trace- no longer there to protect their people. Over time, the village was raided and plundered by thieves and monsters, especially Oryx’s minions.

These lively spirits continue to hold their celebrations in the afterlife, insisting that any passing travelers “join the fun”. However, their form of play may be more lethal than it seems…

Notable Gameplay

The primary gimmick of this dungeon is needing the Hallucination effect inflicted on your character to complete certain objectives. The ghost characters of this dungeon will be coded specially to have specific sprites seen when the player is with/without Hallucination. Without, they simply look like glowing wisps. Within, they appear as the people they once were. Certain enemies can only be damaged by those who are under the effect of Hallucination.

There will probably be some kind of non-enemy ghost character, who kindly offers you the potent extract needed for travelers to contact the spirit realm. This will allow you to self-inflict Hallucination for notable periods of time, which will allow you to complete objectives.

Speaking of objectives, this dungeon will follow more of a Alien Portal/Haunted Cemetary style of format, with the dungeon layout being static and the primary progression being waves of enemies. This is to represent the usual kind of “program” that festival dances have to coordinate sections of song and dance. Halfway into the festival program, the boss(es) will appear, which means that the boss phases will also be dependent on the cycle in the dance.

Enemies don’t “die” perse, they simple become even more ethereal (probably some kind of mist), ready to reform for when the next part of the song arrives. This means that you’ll largely be dealing with the same enemies, but they will act like different enemies due to phase changes.

Notes

This would be an interesting dungeon to premier during the Lunar New Year.


#2

Gauntlet dungeons have historically been terribly executed. I think the idea is not bad at all and I would like to see it in a more tangible state, but you would do well to sell us on how this dungeon won’t make the same mistakes the others of its kind do. I would also recommend giving your thread title a different name (ideally what you plan to name this dungeon), as “related in lore to the mountain temple” and “mountain temple sequel” are not at all the same thing and this distinction could cause people to skip over this thread or leave a quick reply without actually reading your idea due to the pt 2 scrapping incident


#3

The problems I see with gauntlet dungeons primarily have to do with:

1.) Fixed spawns

2.) Lack of variation

3.) Waiting

The overall goal of making the gauntlet a “festival dance” aims to take care of those issues not just mechanically, but also in spirit. Enemies will constantly be moving around and through the arena, while only being conditionally killable. Always seeing where the enemies are means that while they’re in “mist state”, I can move them around the map as I please, essentially meaning that I can “spawn” (not really spawn, but it serves the same purpose as an enemy spawn) anywhere I want, while still letting the players know where it’ll be dangerous because they’ll see the mist enemies as they move. Segmenting the festival dance into sections means that I can design several different festival phases, and swap them out at each objective point for handfuls of variation.

As for the waiting part uh… I feel there is a short necessary downtime between phases to let players get acquainted. I don’t think this needs to be very long (actually 1-2 seconds really), so I hope that helps.

I’m still working out the details of the festival dance. Part of my goal is to keep the players dodging and moving, and the “enemies not dying” mechanic allows me to play with this a bit. I’m thinking of the ghost enemies being able to make formations around the player group, sort of forming an arena in a way. (Maybe I’ll use a form of the fog from Lair of Draconis to also limit this arena zone). Enemies that form the arena shape are also going to continually shoot at you in synchronized patterns, basically forcing you to always move regardless of your DPS. The objective enemies needed to push the dance to the next phase will act almost like minibosses I think, as main dancers who take the limelight of the stage.

ehh, it’s not thaaat bad, is it? I think it’ll be fine.


#4

oh! I also remembered you mentioning something about wanting whites on every boss in Haunted Cem.

To add on the idea about the (mini)bosses being the main dancers at each section of the song, I am thinking that I will want each of them capable of dropping the dungeon whites (as well as their own unique cyan bag UT). This is also partially why there needs to be a downtime between each festival phase, as players might want to pick up their loot between each battle.


#5

I am thinking our resident potent extract distributor will also be wandering around the arena, only walking inside the arena every once in a while. Players will need to contact their spirit lantern/extract barrel/ whatever it’s going to be by getting close enough to the NPC, to gain their Hallucination and be able to deal damage to the miniboss.


#6

I’ve decided that the “boss battle” for this dungeon will be three segments in the festival program, each one with a unique miniboss. Each miniboss is capable of dropping the dungeon white bags, as well as each of their own unique cyan bags. Today I wrote up some early concept stats for these cyan bags:

Ethereal Happi [Light Armor]
A festival coat, woven from thin, spiritual threads. It allows the user to skirt the spirit realm in search of their destination.
+4 Defense
+4 Speed
+4 Dexterity
+4 Attack
3% Fame Bonus
Drops in Cyan Bag

Sage’s Manchira [Heavy Armor]
A plate from the Sage’s armor. It seems to be in poor condition, yet grants the wearer a strange revitalizing effect.
+6 Defense
+4 Speed
+16 Vitality
3% Fame Bonus
Drops in Cyan Bag

Flowering Kimono [Robe]
A beautiful set of ornate ceremonial robes, filled with the energy of benevolent spirits from long ago.
+2 Defense
+4 Speed
+100 Magic Points
3% Fame Bonus
Drops in Cyan Bag

The goal of these items were to make them somewhat interesting to swap out into, but not make them as dependable as a white bag armor.

I’ve also made some consumable concepts that will drop from non-bosses in the dungeon. These are primarily used to help players self-inflict Hallucination, in case the NPC who distributes free Hallucination happens to be in an inconvenient spot, such as outside the arena.

Akuma Ramen
This dish is as hot as a demon’s breath! Your mind gets hazy from its scent…
Consumable
+30 HP
Berserk on self for 2 seconds
Hallucination on self for 4 seconds

Kappa Rolls
An ancient style of sushi roll believed to have first been made by the Kappa. Judging from the scent, this delicacy is loaded with a potent hallucinogen.
Consumable
+20 MP
Damaging on self for 2 seconds
Hallucination on self for 4 seconds


#7

+16 vit isn’t a lot, I think you should turn it into 8 def, 4 spd, and 30 vit to even be considered as a swapout, kinda like a lesser fungal breastplate

:kappa:


#8

i actually didn’t know about the fungal breastplate! sorry, I haven’t been keeping up with this new dungeon very well ^-^’. Thanks for the feedback on that! I may even just reconfigure the stats on the Manchira.


#9

I like the concepts so far and would be happy to help in spriting (if I can find the time x.x).


#10

thank you! any help is appreciated, even if it isn’t consistent.

I’ve renamed the thread as i feel like I want to commit to this concept and flesh it out more.


#11

This reminds me of the Puppet Master’s description of “But beware, Oryx’s idea of a good show might just kill you…”. Still great by all means, though!

Overall, I REALLY love this idea’s basic concept! The hallucination enemy idea fits to me as the player switching from the material world to the spirit world!

I’m willing to help with this idea! If you use Discord, my tag is RogueGamma#9336, and I can send some sprites over that!


#12

small update: met with mizumi and gammagamer today on discord, and we set up a discord group to more actively discuss changes. if you’re interested in hopping in to just chill out, watch progress, or pitch in thoughts/contributions of your own, just DM me.

It’s hard to really figure out a good point of balance for UTs when the dungeon itself hasn’t been well-formed. To assist with item balancing for now I’ve set the goal of this dungeon to be roughly in the ballpark of Thicket’s difficulty- though this is a flawed comparison because the difficulty will be executed in different ways.

With that out of the way, a few folks have kindly remarked that the cyan bag armors are a little too underpowered at the moment. I’ve decided to make some revisions to the cyan bags:

Ethereal Happi [Light Armor]
A festival coat, woven from thin, spiritual threads. It allows the user to skirt the spirit realm in search of their destination.
+44 HP
+44 MP
+12 Defense
+6 Speed
3% Fame Bonus
Drops in Cyan Bag

This armor’s stats were not only buffed, but also reconfigured. The stats of the first version of this item were far too similar to Spectral Cloth Armor.

Sage’s Manchira [Heavy Armor]
A plate from the Sage’s armor. It seems to be in poor condition, yet grants the wearer a strange revitalizing effect.
+16 Defense
+6 Speed
+24 Vitality
3% Fame Bonus
Drops in Cyan Bag

I was made aware that this is very similar to the Fungal Breastplate. With that in mind, I wanted to make sure that this remained a niche armor, not for tanking of any kind but for running/regen.

Flowering Kimono [Robe]
A beautiful set of ornate ceremonial robes, filled with the energy of benevolent spirits from long ago.
+8 Defense
+6 Speed
+120 Magic Points
3% Fame Bonus
Drops in Cyan Bag

This one was straight up buffed, and I think this one might need to be tuned down as it’s essentially Twilight Gemstone but stronger. Perhaps in another revision.

I also started to brainstorm some concepts for white bags for this dungeon, keeping in mind that the whites are all part of every miniboss’s loot table. These UT rings are strong with niche, but sacrifice something for that power, making them very poor choices as general rings, but powerful swapouts.

Moonsilk Band [Ring]
A thinly coiled band of moonsilk that grants the wearer passage to their dreams.
-6 Attack
-6 Defense
+24 Speed
4% Fame Bonus
Drops in White Bag

Ancient Water Talisman [Ring]
An old parchment rune imbued with the souls of water as a symbol of peace and adaptability.
-8 Speed
-8 Dexterity
+240 Magic Points
+24 Wisdom

As these rings are polarizing by design, I expect they’ll need a lot of tuning in future updates. I just wanted to get their general ideas down first.

Lastly, I attempted to make a sprite for our hallucinogen consumable Akuma Ramen. The results are… okay? I don’t pride myself on being a strong sprite artist.

There’s still a lot of work to be done! I look forward to talking more about it in this thread as we move along. :smiley:


#13

that looks more like sushi than ramen imo. And those things sticking out… are those chopsticks?


#14

yes >.<


#15

try making them straighter and shading the bowl a little idk


#16

another update… we’ve been discussing and drawing up some early concept sprites that we might show in the future.

I solidified some more basic details about the bosses of the dungeon. There are 3 bosses, each which have their own section within the grand dance. The order from which these bosses can appear is totally randomized. In addition, the 2nd boss will ask assistance from the 1st boss. The 3rd boss will ask assistance from the 2nd boss. There will also be a 4th section where all three bosses start fighting together.

To make this fight as interesting as possible, I’ve also decided that the gauntlet in its entirety will primarily focus on this boss sequence.

Sage Genji
He used to be a monk but ended up living his older years in the village. His powers include command over water, and he drops the Sage’s Manchira. His attack patterns usually involve sending out water orbs, which will lazily chase players, and explode when they exit the arena. During his section, the arena shall be shaped as a circle.

Drummer Kaguya
Her fierce cries and energy often make others believe that she was born from thunder itself. She drops the Ethereal Happi. Her patterns are swift but simple strikes that rely more on quick reflexes than pattern recognition. During her phase, the arena shall be shaped as a square.

Dancer Miko
Floral and elegant, her life wilted when she was young but remains remarkably hopeful. She drops the Flowering Kimono. She fires many slower, intricate patterns that are best taken slowly to read the patterns. During her section, the arena shall be shaped as a triangle.

We’re also currently discussing a way for the dungeon to occur naturally in the Realm. So far, the ideas seem to point towards something linked to the Jade Statues, as well as adding in some spice to the Realm that other events may not normally do.

more to come! stay tuned. :>


#17

I’m in this picture and I don’t like it


#18

It’s time for an update! A good chunk of work has been done over the past two weeks, and we’re going to share some of it here!

Before that, I’d just like to mention that we have a Discord server now at [https://discord.gg/UfdEcvm]. In there, you can see much more detailed and up-to-date progress on the dungeon itself, suggest changes or new ideas, or just chill and say hi! We’d love the company.

First off, we’ve began to formulate ideas as to how this dungeon will actually be accessed through the Realm. We’ve decided to add a once-per-Realm event encounter called the Ethereal Shrine. This encounter has some special effects as well as special requirements for spawning. First of all, the Jade Statues must be defeated in the Realm. After the Jade Statues are defeated, there will be wisps of Warmth and Happiness that will spawn all across the Realm, at a fairly uncommon rate.

A wisp of happiness

Above: A wisp of happiness. Warmth variants are orange in color.

Wisps of Warmth and Happiness are harmless enemies that will wander aimlessly. Upon death, they explode in an area-of-effect burst of Healing or Energized (Mana Regen) for the players respectively. Killing 100 of these wisps will allow the next set-piece Hero death to spawn the Ethereal Shrine event, which will spawn either near or inside the Jade Statues setpiece. After the Ethereal Shrine has been defeated, the wisp spawnrate will decrease by half, making them a rarer but welcoming sight for players.

Above: Variants of the Ethereal Shrine. The right variant only is visible when the player is Hallucinating.

The Ethereal Shrine itself is a low-profile event- There are no plans for Oryx to have any quotes for this event, and it does not take up a quest market, nor is it required to close the realm. You’ll have to stay tuned for how the event battle actually ensues, because we haven’t actually agreed on that part yet. If you’re part of the Discord, we’re free for suggestions.


Aside from the new realm encounter, we’ve also been working on sprites for the items we’ve been making earlier! Here’s some updates on the three cyan bag armors we have mentioned before:

The ethereal happi

Ethereal Happi [Light Armor]
    A festival coat, woven from thin, spiritual threads. It allows the user to skirt the spirit realm in search of their destination.
    +44 HP
    +44 MP
    +8 Defense
    +4 Speed
    3% Fame Bonus
    Drops in Cyan Bag

The Sage's manchira

Sage's Manchira [Heavy Armor]
    A plate from the Sage's armor. It seems to be in poor condition, yet grants the wearer a strange revitalizing effect.
    +16 Defense
    +6 Speed
    +20 Vitality
    3% Fame Bonus
    Drops in Cyan Bag

The flowering kimono

Flowering Kimono [Robe]
    A beautiful set of ornate ceremonial robes, filled with the energy of benevolent spirits from long ago.
    +6 Defense
    +6 Speed
    +100 Magic Points
    3% Fame Bonus
    Drops in Cyan Bag

Stick around for more updates!


#19

try adding more contrast for the armor sprites but other than that the sprites are hella sexy


#20

I think the contrast is low in the parts i marked
image