Dwarf Legends

Dwarf Legends is a 16-bit 2D top down multiplayer game where each player controls their own dwarf. Players work together carving a fortress into the mountains for shelter, using rudimentary tools to gather food, water, wood, and other vital resources. The resources are combined to create better tools and items including weapons and armor. The players will need to take on various roles including defense, farming, fishing, mining, cooking, animal herding, etc. The world is filled with dangerous creatures they will need to defend against, and digging too deep into the earth risks unleashing demons to overwhelm their fortress.

Doesn't this sound familiar?

This game is inspired from an amazing game that I love called Dwarf Fortress. As much as DF is a wonderful game, it is not without its flaws. The game is very complex with a high learning curve that requires watching 40+ tutorials on YouTube, with additional guidance from the games official wiki and forums in order to run a successful fortress. Further, the game employs Rouge/Nethack inspired graphics, which means the world and characters are made out of ASCII. This further increases the learning curve as you must master what every character on screen represents, some can mean two or more completely different things. While there are graphic mods to improve the look of the game, since the game was not built with graphics in mind, the mods have their own quirks which leads to text being replaced by game objects. Finally, in order to interact with the game, you are forced to work with a clumsy interface.

How is Dwarf Legends different?

• Built from the ground up as a Multiplayer experience, everyone controls their own unique dwarf.
• Colorful easy to understand 16 bit graphics inspired by games like Legend of Zelda and Harvest Moon.
• Custom sound effects and music to go along with the new 16-bit graphic style.
• Gain experience in various job skills, unlocking levels and skill points that can be spent in the talent tree offering unique perks and abilities to customize your dwarf.
• A simplified user interface custom tailored to be non-intrusive, eye pleasing, and a breeze to use.

Dwarf Legends is my attempt to create a game inspired by the fun of creating and maintaining a thriving fortress as in Dwarf Fortress, combined with the thrill of working together with friends to survive a procedurally generated world filled with dangers as in Minecraft, and the addictiveness of improving your game character through leveling, talent trees, and gear. My hope is to create a unique experience for players that is more accessible and can be enjoyed by a wider audience, that allows them to experience the joys of planning and creating a well balanced fortress, and adventure together as a team.

Dungeon Creator

This is a flash based version of Zelda that I worked on for a few months. The premise was that players would be able to create their own dungeons within the game, which they would then be able to share with friends to try and complete. Although I never finsihed it, I learned a ton about game design while building this, from the programming involved in a game engine, all the way to design principles itself including usability and extendability. I also gained a new found respect for Nintendo, you learn many reasons for why they designed Zelda the way they did when you experience the restrictions they endured in the gameplay first hand.