Comments on: An Example of a Good Dungeon

By: Bobturkey

Bobturkey — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:25:42 +0000

Good choice. Goblin-town is one of my favourites too. Why? Because it is long and complex and you can just wander around exploring. Most dungeons in most games don’t feel like they should be explored or can be explored in 30 minutes.

Gobble gobble

By: flosch

flosch — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 06:45:44 +0000

Thank you. My goal was always to have some posts about general game-related thoughts, and some posts that are more like a diary for later reference. (“When exactly did I reach Moria?”)

And I agree for the most part. NPCs can be memorable and important to the game, but most of them are too static to be useful, always just standing around, with maybe one line of standard conversation. Funny enough, that is often especially true for A-cast characters, like the Fellowship members in LotRO.

On the other hand, LotRO has great scenery. I often spend a lot fo time just riding around, because I like the scenery so much. Of course, LotRO has the advantage that they had a world waiting for them, so the design probably started with looking at this coherent world, and then splitting it up in zones. Instead, it feels most other games just decide they need “a snow zone”, “a lava zone”, “a forest zone”, etc., and then they get just placed next to each other without any rhyme or reason.

By: Ahtchu

Ahtchu — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 03:31:15 +0000

I enjoyed this post very much, and enjoy the personal perspective of it.
I keep being reaffirmed that good game design starts with good world design. In the MMORPG setting, it isn’t the (NPC) cast that makes the scene, it’s the background. With that in place, everything seems to flow.

By: flosch

flosch — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:35:58 +0000

With the level 50 lock in place, it was probably nicer, just because you didn’t have to fear leveling out of range. I find the leveling curve in LotRO pretty steep anyway, especially when it comes to experience. Two levels can make a huge difference for many things.

I postponed Moria for some time, if only because I am afraid I might tired of not seeing any sky for so long. It’s about time to go there now, though.

By: Wilhelm Arcturus

Wilhelm Arcturus — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:33:18 +0000

Goblin-town is a pretty neat dungeon. The unfortunate part about it is that it is at the top of the level range for the original game, so you end up either exploring it or running off to Moria as soon as you can.