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[lumin]

Has anybody read "Journey to the Center of the earth" or seen the old movie from the 50s?  After reading the book a few months ago, it really got me thinking about a game implementation.

   

According to Bloat16, there will be more capability to enter chasms and wells through the Dwarf Fortress in both modes.  This could even be expanded to randomly generated volcanoes created in the world map.  Some would be active cones, while others would be dormant with caving possibilites (as in the book/movie).

This could be a lot of fun with some added tools like the torch, rope, hooks, food/water sources (remember the almost-edible giant mushrooms from the movie?) and taking full advantage of z-coordinates.  There need'nt even be a lot of monsters to fight, exploring and making cool discoveries would be fun enough.  

The initial descent into a chasm would be something like this:
---------------
X.
XX...
XX..
X..
X.

X = rock walls
. = floor
-------------------
Each level would be similar for a long time until you reached the bottom.  Perhaps, you would first need to hook the rope to a rock outcropping.  Depending on the type of rock (shale, granite, chalk) the hook could be attached longer.  Length of the rope would also be important.  Not all cliffs would have outcroppings either, so it may not always be possible to descend unless you bought a longer rope (or possibly fall to your death).

Once you reached the bottom, all kinds of mysterious things could be found.  Magma lakes and rivers.  Subterranean forests, beaches, creatures.  More, even deeper passages would lead to other treasures.  

Now imagine how cool this would be playing this as a Bloodline Game.  Each player could make an attempt to reach the bottom of the deepest cave.  He could possibly leave notes along the way (carvings in the walls or paper) to help the next player along.  Dozens of adventurers could pass along the same route, evidence from their bodies.

The best thing about this is that a lot of the code is already implemented.  Toady has already hinted at it in development.  If you haven't read the book by Jules Verne, do it it's a great (short) read.  The only movie that did the book justice is the 1959 version - check it out.

[ November 20, 2006: Message edited by: lumin ]

[Capntastic]

This would be a neat way to add variation to cave types.   Instead of just your standard maze-like formation of chambers and such, there'd be vastly different levels as you descend deeper and deeper.  You would need to pack your tools and supplies wisely, as getting stuck in pitch black oblivion would be horrid.

There could be all manner of surprises and historical grooviness in these places as well- like a giant woolly mammoth frozen in ice or something.

[axus]

Maybe at the deepest part of the cave could be a magical amulet, and a castle.  Then you could try to retrieve it and ascend back to the surface.

[Surma]

Someone's been playing too much Nethack  :roll:

[lumin]

quote:There could be all manner of surprises and historical grooviness in these places as well- like a giant woolly mammoth frozen in ice or something.  

Well, the cool thing about engravings is that these could be applied to things like a mammoth or a cave man frozen in an ice wall.  The wall would show a symbol like an engraving, and when you viewed it it would describe some random creature frozen in some random substance (ice, stone, magma, etc).

One of the things I've hated about the tendency in roguelikes is that descending into caves is never realistic.  In a real cave, there are never a set of "stairs" leading down to the next level, and the layout is never so nice and neat.  Real caves like Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico are twisting, winding passages with pitfalls at every turn - hidden, submerged lakes that lead to new passages.  The only way to get down to the next level is to use a rope and harness over an abysmal cliff.  There is always the fear of getting lost, not having enough light, food, or water and the constant fear of losing your footing to fall to your death.

There is just a ton of potential in the DF game engine to do something like this.  And its not like it would be too difficult either.  You would just need some definitions for much deeper z-axis caves with more randomness thrown in.  There would have to be a procedure for stepping off of a cliff, depending on if you had firmly attached your rope to the wall.  Coding the use of ropes and hooks would take some time, but would be totally worth it for a much more realistic experience.

Of course not all caves would be this way.  We would still keep the default monster killing caves, but we could also have a few of these super caves that have few creatures, but a lot of other, more realistic, dangers.  These new caverns would be found near mountain peaks, volcano mouths, and down Fortress chasms.