Mining Environments | Patreon Poll #42

Hey Patrons!

Firstly, please go read this week’s Weeklyif you haven’t already! This week the weekly and poll are meant to go hand in hand.

As mentioned in this week’s weekly, I’ve got some ideas for potential environments to the blacksmith’s quest! Each of these is meant to provide some theming around hazards and enemies that encourage positional gameplay via mining. Please keep in mind that these are fairly early concepts; they will likely get refined a fair bit during development.

Please vote for each environment idea that interests you! The strength of support for each option will help me evaluate my design direction for the Blacksmith’s quest.

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Please vote for all the options that you like, not just for your one favourite! I allow multiple votes as it means that a higher proportion of people will end up voting for the winning choice.

All patrons are encouraged to share their opinion by commenting and voting, but currently only the votes from Golden+ Supporters are counted when determining a poll winner. Votes from Shattered Supporters are worth double!

Spinner’s Lair

Everyone’s favourite caves enemy is an obvious candidate for a themed environment. The Spinner’s lair would involve plenty of spiders and thick layers of webbing that obstructs the player’s path. Unlike in the regular dungeon, spinners will be attracted to any webs that are disrupted as well. Digging through walls will let the player get around without having to bumble through webs and attract unwanted attention. Of course, you could also consider throwing things into the webs if you want attention, or even setting them on fire if you want A LOT of attention.

Gnoll Encampment

The gnolls value minerals too and have set up a little encampment in the area, along with a bunch of nasty traps! Aside from the usual problems of dealing with gnolls, the traps provide extra complexity by limiting your movement options. With a bunch of gnoll shamans around, you probably want to be careful about staying in the open as well. Of course, some of these traps might be used to your benefit if you trigger them at the right time.

Crystal Cave

A bit more of a slow burn than the previous environments, the Crystal Cave would be relatively undisturbed by encroaching gnolls or wildlife. Instead, you would be the disruptor, and the local inhabitants won’t be too pleased with you interrupting their rest! Instead of traps or webs, thick walls of crystal would block your passage, and while mining trough it is pretty easy, doing so will also disturb whatever is waiting on the other side. You get to choose how you open up the area, which will determine how the crystalline enemies will reach and attack you.

Mushroom Forest

Another more ‘natural’ area, the Mushroom Forest would have passages blocked off by thick walls of vegetation. You might consider this a bit like an expanded version of the rotberry quest from the prison, as there would surely be various stationary enemies and plant-based hazards the player would need to move around. These enemies would likely be quite tough, so it’s all about using your mining ability to avoid them.

Collapsed Mine

I’m a little unsure of this theme, as it will likely end up overlapping with the DM-300 fight a fair bit, but a mine style environment is also such an obvious candidate that I have to include it. The Collapsed Mine would be the most structured environment, with planned passageways mixed with collapsed walls. You’d likely need to do more exploration-based mining here, but the existing structure will provide some obvious hints as to where you’ll need to strike the earth. Of course, the local dwarven machines probably won’t be too happy with being disturbed.