Denial

Dungeon of Dance is an old-school, but somewhat subverted, roguelike game for the unexpanded VIC-20. It has the classic genre elements: explore the dungeon, find food, armor, and potions that may or may not behave as advertised when imbibed. You'll encounter goblins to vex, wraiths to confound, and dragons to banish. The dragon holds the key to the door to the next level, and the only way to get that key is to best the dragon in a winner-take-all dance off! Find the Magic Mirror Ball to complete your quest.

You need a good memory to match your opponents' moves, and it only gets harder as you descend further into the depths of the Dungeon of Dance!

Dungeon of Dance will be available for sale on cassette on July 4, 2021.

Dungeon of Dance

The Status Display:

• LV The current Level number
• XP Your current score
• HP Hit Points. When you reach 0 HP, the game is over.
• EN Energy. Each time you move, you consume 1 Energy. When you reach 0 Energy, you will automatically consume 1 HP to gain 30 Energy.

Under these is your Inventory bar. You may carry four types of items: Up to 6 Armor,
up to 1 Key, up to 6 Healing Potions, and the Magic Mirror Ball.

Items:

Healing Potion

• Each Level has 3 Healing Potions.
• Press the Fire button to drink a Potion to heal 10 HP (up to your maximum).
• Warning! Healing Potions may not always behave as expected!
• You may carry a maximum of 6 Healing Potions.

Food

• Each Level has 6 Food.
• Food adds 30 Energy, up to a maximum of 200.

Armor

• Each Level has 1 Armor.
• Finding Armor adds 5 HP immediately.
• Each Armor adds 5 to your maximum HP.
• You may wear a maximum of 6 Armor (for a total of 30 maximum HP).

Key

• Each Level has 1 Key, which is defended by the Dragon.
• After you defeat the Dragon, you may acquire the Key.
• When you have the Key, you may open the Door to the next Level.

Door

• Move to the Door while holding the Key to descend to the next Level.

Magic Mirror Ball

• Starting at Level 6, the Magic Mirror Ball will be hidden in the Dungeon.
• Exit the Level while holding the Mirror Ball, and you win the game!
• After you've won, you may continue to play new levels by pressing the Fire button.

Monsters:

When you encounter a Monster, it will challenge you to a Dance-Off. It will show
you some dance moves, which you must repeat with the joystick. If you win, the
Monster will be banished from the Dungeon. If you lose, you will lose a random
number of HP, based on the Monster's Strength and the current Level. More info
about Monsters:

Goblin (Strength 1)

• Each Level has 8 Goblins.
• Dance Length: 1 step per Level, maximum of 4 steps
• Damage: Up to 1 HP per Level, minimum of 1
• When you defeat a Goblin, there is a 25% chance that it will drop Food.
• A defeated Goblin is banished from the Dungeon until the next Level.

Wraith (Strength 2)

• Each Level has 3 Wraiths.
• Dance Length: 1 step per Level + 1, maximum of 6 steps
• Damage: Up to 2 HP per Level, minimum of 2
• When you lose to a Wraith, there is a chance that it will steal your map.
• When you defeat a Wraith, it is not banished; it finds a new place to haunt.
• When you defeat a Wraith, you will gain 1 HP.

Dragon (Strength 3)

• Each Level has 1 Dragon, and it is always in the center of the Dungeon.
• Dance Length: 1 step per Level + 2
• Damage: Up to 3 HP per Level, minimum of 3
• When you defeat the Dragon, it drops the Key to the Door.

Tips!

• Try not to leave a Level without finding the Armor. You'll want as much as possible.
• Heed your maximum HP (5 x Armor) to optimize the value of Healing Potions.
• Heed the maximum damage (Strength x Level). Use Healing Potions before a Dance-Off.
• Engage with Goblins, because they're easy to beat and might have Food.
• On higher levels, when the risk-to-reward ratio is low, avoid engaging Wraiths.
• If a Dragon's pattern is too difficult, engage a lower-Strength monster to change the Dragon's pattern.

So nice . You wanna be a knight? Just dance!

That looks really good. Shame I can't dance so I will never make it past the first level

Love these types of games and that looks excellent.

Still on track for a 4th of July release. Everything now is just refinement and balance. But this should be super-close to the game play; I don't expect any major changes at this point. This is a relatively complex game, and there are several things that the video doesn't show. Those will have to be surprises!



I think this is the best game I've made. The combat mechanic is a lot of fun, and I love the new generative drums 'n bass music engine.

The release candidate for Dungeon of Dance, in PRG format, is attached to the original post. You can drag it to VICE, or LOAD it on real hardware.

The manual is also in the original post.

chysn wrote: ↑Thu Jul 01, 2021 8:48 pm The release candidate for Dungeon of Dance, in PRG format, is attached to the original post. You can drag it to VICE, or LOAD it on real hardware.

The manual is also in the original post.

Not work!!

marco.bergomi wrote: ↑Fri Jul 02, 2021 5:58 am

chysn wrote: ↑Thu Jul 01, 2021 8:48 pm The release candidate for Dungeon of Dance, in PRG format, is attached to the original post. You can drag it to VICE, or LOAD it on real hardware.

The manual is also in the original post.

Not work!!

Sorry, I uploaded the wrong file. Please try it again!

It works!

Cool game!

Great stuff Chysn!. Just tried it. Really funny and original!.

Cheers

Ready to ship!
The cassette version is slightly different than the posted release candidate, just a few interface refinements. The gameplay is identical.

Really enjoyed this one. Love the idea and design.

Lechuck wrote: ↑Sat Jul 03, 2021 3:02 am Great stuff Chysn!. Just tried it. Really funny and original!.

AndyH wrote: ↑Sun Jul 04, 2021 5:04 am Really enjoyed this one. Love the idea and design.

Philsan wrote: ↑Fri Jul 02, 2021 9:13 am Cool game!

Thanks for trying it, everyone!

I'm trying some new things with my "business" model. I'm as committed as ever to free open-source software, and everything that I develop (that's not done for my employer) is open-source. But I'm going to try waiting 30 days from a physical release to make a repository public, with the goal of being able to finance materials (labels, tapes, EPROMs, cartridge cases, PCBs, capacitors, solder...). Since my next physical release will be a cartridge, I'll need to be able to recoup those costs reliably.

(In the U.S.A., tax implications of running a super-tiny business require an inordinate amount of strategizing and record-keeping. Trump's tax reform rendered the "hobby business" no longer advantageous)

Anyway, thanks again, and I'll be back in 28 days with the GitHub URL!

Fun concept! I love your games.

Jeff-20 wrote: ↑Tue Jul 13, 2021 7:52 pm Fun concept! I love your games.

Thank you!