Game Pitching

So our first assignment this semester is pitching a game idea to the class as a possible thesis project.  I'm going to be pitching Dungeon Descent since I've been designing it for the last two years.  When I pitched it in the Capstone class it was well received and moved on to the prototyping phase, but didn't make it past that. This time, hopefully I've refined it enough that it will end up being selected as a thesis game.

The core of the game remains the same:  A rogue-like RPG where the player controls a party of four adventurers through a dungeon, but eventually is forced to return to the surface to avoid dying.  However, doing so resets the party's experience and items so that the next descent is a fresh start.  The one exception to this rule are special artifact items that will last forever once discovered and are the primary means of being able to advance deeper into the dungeon.  Levels will always be randomly generated to ensure that no two playthroughs ever feel the same since the game will force replayabilty.

Previously I'd pitched the game with the concept of an item combiner which would take all the items you'd found in a run and give you a chance to get an artifact item so the player would be rewarded even if they hadn't found an artifact.  I felt this was a band-aid fix to the issue though and wasn't a huge fan of it so I've modified it.  Now the player will get "Descent Experience" each time they go through the dungeon earning more the farther they manage to make it.  This will contribute to your "Descent Level" which will provide small benefits to each run.  For example, at Descent Level 1 the party could start with a health potion.  Hopefully this system will be enough of a reward so that on runs where the player doesn't find an artifact, they don't feel like they'd just wasted their time.

The unique aspect of the RPG part of the game is still the spell system, although  it's changed a bit as well.  Spells are still just a single item that when equipped to a character provides a unique spell.  For instance, the Fire scroll allows the Mage to cast Fireball and the Fighter to cast Protect.  Spells can also be combined, although now only the Mage and Cleric can do this (since they're the more magic oriented classes).  Combination spells can be any combination of two scrolls (or even 3 in the Mage's case at high level) such as Fire + Fire which would result in an AoE version of the normal Fire spell or Fire + Earth which could be Meteor.  Combination spells do more damage, and have special attributes, but also cost more mana to cast.  Spell slots would be unlocked at certain levels, for example the Mage might get a single slot at level 5, and then a double slot at level 10.