Simon Hayward - Shaven Wookie
18 June 2023
Super Dungeon Maker
Do you like exploring dungeons? How about making your own dungeon? Well, Super Dungeon Maker may be the game for you! From Developers FIRECHICK and Rokaplay. Inspired by the classic 2D adventure games where you can create and play your own adventure from a variety of dungeons made by yourself, friends, and the community. Whether you want to go on an adventure or scratch that itch on your creative side, Super Dungeon Maker has the best of both worlds.
To start this off I can break up the game into two aspects, playing as the adventurer and the dungeon creator aspect. Even though it's all the same thing to some extent, you can pursue either one or the other. But as it states in the name, the dungeon-making aspect is the real highlight. Playing as a cute chicken adventurer, the game is highly inspired by the classics like Legend of Zelda and other 2d adventure games. Having useful items to help you on your quests, such as your trusty sword, a grappling hook, bombs, a shield, and your witts. The game controls may be second nature to those who are familiar with the classic games but for those who are not, they are easy to pick up and remember.
I do have to say the cute sound made whenever you take out the shield is so adorable along with those little birds with the hardhats. As the game gives you a basic tutorial to get your head around the mechanics of the game and you can start off your adventure with a selection of dungeons made by the developers of the game along with an almost endless amount of community dungeons to explore. In between your adventures, you can spend time in the local village to either see what dungeons the community has made or learn and make your own dungeon. In the village, you can go to an actual sandbox to learn how to make dungeons and to be taught by cute little birds is so adorable. Also, the music of the game really brings me back to those classic games and set that enthusiastic 8-bit and fits the world of the game from the home village to explore the vast amount of dungeons.
Now with that segway, onto the dungeon making. You have a decent amount of tools at your disposal but the game does seem a little limited in some aspects such as the number of enemies to put in and types. But the developers are adding more features in the future this will surely be a fun replayable game for adventures and as stated by the developers they appreciate feedback and plan on adding more content to the game in the future. Also, to note on the Rokaplay website the game is offered free for students to teach students the ins and outs of level design and is already been used in several universities across Europe and North America.
Several themes are available to choose from when designing your dungeon, from nature desert, ice, and cyber/sci-fi type and multiple levels can be added to the dungeon with being able to go three up and 3 down. A neat option is to change the lighting to create difficulty and mood in certain rooms and the use of switches and set triggers for when the player reaches a certain spot. Unfortunately, only a maximum of three bosses can be placed in each dungeon but I understand things like this is to stop people from making ridiculously hard dungeons. Another factor to making sure the community is not submitting unrealistically hard dungeons is that you have to first play and complete the dungeon to be able to upload it for the community, which is a good way to stop people from creating dungeons that are almost impossible to complete. Going into the community, they can vote on which dungeon is their favorite using a heart system, the more hearts are voted, moves the dungeon will appear more often to the community to see in the top trending section.
Super Dungeon Makers, is a great game not just for fun and creative types but for anyone that wants to explore level design, with the developers and community content and feedback the game has potential not just for now but for the future. The only thing holding this back at this point in time is the extremely limited amount of tiles in the creation menu. From some ready-made dungeons by the developers or you can dive straight into the almost infinite amount of community-made dungeons Super Dungeon Maker can satisfy your style whether you like a more action-focused dungeon or a more puzzle-focused adventure. Crafting dungeons is a breeze and with the developers adding more features in the future this will surely be a fun replayable game for adventures and creators alike.
6.5
10
The Bad
- Fun Gameplay
- Solid Gameplay Mechanics
- Free for students
- Great for the adventurer or dungeon master
- Some limited assets
- Dungeons feel repetitive
- Limited gameplay