Creating an Infinite Office for my roguelike

[@Deynum]

This devlog has been sitting in my editing software for about two weeks now, and I originally wasn’t going to release it (see my last community post). I think it’s a good devlog, and I cover everything pretty well, but I found the ending really unsatisfying as I basically work on something that I’m gonna completely redo at some point. So I’ve been trying to improve this by making the procedural generation system better, with help from the internet this time, but I haven’t been able to find anything that’s compatible with my game and my skills. And that’s where you come in. I would like your help in figuring this out. If you have any suggestions at all on how to make this system work, in the way the way that I’ve described in this video or something similar to it, please let me know. Whether its a comment, a message on discord, or a letter send in the mail. Thank you in advance, and I hope you still enjoyed this devlog, even if what we made wasn’t perfect. Because that’s just how it is sometimes. I’ll see you in the next devlog, bye.

[@Hietakissa]

you shouldn't worry about "wasting" our time, everything you've uploaded thus far has been good content and it's ultimately up to us what we like to watch and what we feel is a waste of time. For me personally watching this was NOT a waste of time but I actually enjoyed it quite a bit, keep up the good work!

[@makesnosense6304]

Seeing that you wanted to reuse certain type of rooms, I was reminded of the "Wavefunction Collapse Algorithm". Something to look into maybe?

[@slBrelaz]

I was also going to suggest looking up wave function collapse. This is where each room restricts what can be spawned next to it (e.g. a room with no up enterance prevents hallways from trying to connect to it).

[@makesnosense6304]

@@slBrelaz Yep.

[@willtree8142]

another +1 for wave function collapse, seems perfect for this application. I recommend checking out jdh's video on it.

[@propengwin6546]

What about a key board melee weapon

[@squarezum6904]

I mean if the game is set in america it would really fits the environment

[@Robyamdam]

how about both? you could with guns that shoot paper but as you continue you get cooler weapons

[@propengwin6546]

@@squarezum6904 I know but then the game would be basic and generic

[@propengwin6546]

@@Robyamdam that's also a good idea

[@squarezum6904]

@@propengwin6546 i was just kidding

[@FergsGames]

Hey Deynum! I think it could be a really cool idea to "Take the Stairs" instead of riding the elevator after each floor. It could be more risky than the elevator but could have a chance for rewards i.e A Shop, rare items or more enemies, or mini-bosses or maybe even the chance to skip a floor entirely. If it's a really fast-paced game, you could even knock players down floors, or they could "climb on the outside of the building" adding new areas to get through that are platform-y I guess. Just throwing my ideas out there.

[@Deynum]

I really like those ideas, and if I wasn't desperetly trying to keep the scope of this game as small as possible, I would definetly want to impliment (basically) all of them :)

[@doomsgray2946]

Get the basics first, and then add all that stuff

[@creeperprozach]

@@doomsgray2946yeah

[@oli4665]

A small idea for the game is that you could have the 'ground floor' where you prepare for the run like a home base before you get into the action

[@eversostrange6337]

A brief case in the elevator could serve this function too.

[@vinta2094]

And the items you could take on the run would be at the back of your car

[@Plagueonic]

I think, you should go full in for the office themed style for this game personally! Like what if instead of guns they had staplers and printers that shot

[@Deynum]

I am seriously considering doing that, but I also need to make sure I don't make it too complicated (for my own sanity). So I need to figure out what is managable

[@PrestOhNo]

Going with your idea of the appliances coming to life and attacking the player, it would be interesting if the office floors got progressively more corrupted as if there was some demonic malware possessing the electronics and possibly the employees. This could allow for new artistic, narrative, and gameplay possibilities.

[@Oceans24misson]

I know it might be a bit tricky but it would be really cool if you added like 3 different destruction animations for each object to add some extra realism. Game looks amazing btw keep up the great work

[@Deynum]

I am already working on that, but I wasn't able to add it for this devlog asI still need to do a lot

[@calcite_dragon]

Instead of the desk parts falling outwards when It breaks, they should fall inwards, as if collapsing on themselves like the other breakables.

[@Deynum]

I tried that, but the problem is that the entire desk is basically 2 colours, which makes it very unclear what exactly is happening :(

[@Mr_Pringle593]

They way you felt at the end by making something bad with no tutorial, I LOVE THAT FEELING, I made my own camera system for a platformer puzzle game I’m making, and I used no tutorials, I am very proud of it!

[@supercooldud]

Final level: printers that shoot at you, and there is 1 for each printer you destroyed throughout the entire game play-through.

[@eloqi]

Hiya! Firstly, at 7:11, easel is technically the right word, though I would just call it a chart or a stand with a chart on it. I saw someone call it a pastel in your comments. I have no idea what they are talking about, and seemingly neither does Mr Google. Also, great video as per, I'm glad that you chose to upload it after all - trial and improvement is seldom a waste of time. also my holiday was better, in your face :)

[@sirdave48]

A cool visual would be wall decoration. Some vents, paintings or even some type of a safe/vault thingish thing where the player could get items from! Also just found the channel. Great video, love it. The animations are sick tho

[@metgangames]

I think that's coming together super nicely. Wish you luck (and patience.. a lot of), keep up!

[@itsCompanionsheep]

I am so excited for this! Don't know if you can implement this but would be fun to have interns that give you items or help you on your journey

[@twomur_]

the generation is looking great as well as the animations! the only thing i would change if maybe speed up the breaking animations on the desk, chair, and pastel (not easel or whatever lol) to make them look a little more realistic but keep it up!

[@DharmaScienceRadio]

Failure is but a stepping stone on the pathway to success! Looks great =D

[@rainingBrackets]

When you get later on in development and work on the elevators you could make them a small room and not just a transition with a loading screen. The player could maybe talk to an npc and visit a shop in the elevator accompanied by elevator music. Like a nice safe space where you could chill before moving on that would also have a purpose. Love the devlogs, happy that I found you so early in development!

[@petebaron]

Making these maps is massively simpler if you start with a large empty grid, then mark the rooms on it as randomly placed rectangles which try to avoid overlapping other rectangles. Corridors are added in a second pass, using a path finding algorithm to determine if any room is inaccessible. Connect closed rooms to any other nearby room by finding unused areas around the edge (walls) and marking them as open. For windier paths start from a random point on walls of both rooms for the start/end of the passage. Well done on getting your system to work, I tried that way originally and it was hard - totally agree about the satisfaction of completing a system like this your own way though. You do you :D

[@theoneandonly24665]

Idea: Make a boss named “Boss” that will appear randomly within one of the infinite rooms. It could have a range of attacks, such as throwing coffee cups, slamming a chair into your face, crushing you with a giant stamp with the word “Fired” on it, but that’s just an idea. You could do any attacks you want, I’m just giving some good examples.

[@abigfootwithinternetaccess8605]

hey deynum, for the easel animation you could have the piece of paper float down like the copy machine one while the easel part collapses in on itself

[@henke37]

Don't forget that printers contain a lot of toner. A black dust cloud getting over everything would be nice, maybe even smearing as entities walk over it. And sparks in general! Better remember this when it is time for all the juicy particle effects later.

[@Charlorian]

An idea that I had is that the enemies can slip over the spilt water dispensers.

[@litgh]

I don't know if you'd planned to do this at a later moment but it would probably be a good idea to give some input when an enemy or the player is hit (like turning it red or something for a split second) Anyway, great video. Definitely think this is the best one yet and the editing is great. Keep up the good work

[@eversostrange6337]

You almost need power ups besides weapons like movement speed or multiple projectiles. But that could be handled down the developement road. Also loving the pixel art for the game.

[@TheRealBoof]

I wrote a system similar to this for the game I'm working on (top secret!). It's interesting how sometimes it feels like there's only a few solutions possible to some problems. I had to deal with multi-doored rooms (NESW) and supporting branches closing not only on themselves (loop) but also with other branches. This kind of "dungeon" generator is really tricky, and I think you did a really good job.

[@TheRealBoof]

Psyche, I rewrote my script. I learned that the only actual solution is a problem inversion: find all the situations where the generator fails, not all the situations where the generator succeeds.

[@SmellyRio]

LETTSSGOOOOOOO NEW DEVLOG

[@SpikeStudio]

Small things like breaking the environment will make this game fantastic to play through, pretty epic stuff

[@a_random_roy2667]

Imo your editing style has become a lot better and funnier

[@Deynum]

Thank you, that means a lot!

[@JD-wv1yi]

"the code is an absolute mess but I'm still really proud of it" i don't think there's a more relatable line among devs than that

[@tomkc516]

As soon as i saw the half way with the items going above it, i loved it! Also i love how all the items are so interesting to kill, and the enemies are not... haha

[@isabellabarto4994]

Maybe the top level can have a final boss which is then a combination of office supplies like the printer shooting papers or a stapler shooting staples. Love this series btw! Keep it up!

[@HelperWesley]

Very cool stuff, I love the environment objects that can be destroyed. 👍

[@alexdev9497]

I think it would be really cool if you add these large windows they have in big office buildings because at this point it kind of looks like its underground. I guess it would be challenging to calculate which of the rooms are actually inside and which could have windows. Already excited vor the next video, keep it up!

[@wazaDev]

The way you approached level generation (Option A) is really amazing, great job and the props look awesome. Enemy Idea. A guy that has a tank like Desk

[@danielkun593]

Thanks for your easy to follow explanations

[@lukasgeiger4086]

Minecraft uses a similar system when generating structures, as you descriped it, hope that helps. I have some ideas for the breakable stuff: Dont just turn off collision, when you shoot them, make them do something more interesting: The water dispenser could put water on the floor around it, which would make it more slippery, the chairs would get knocked back(perhaps into some enemies to knock them over or deal damage), ... I don't have ideas for the printer and table, but I'm sure you can think of something.

[@dennismakesgames]

YOU STOLE ME GAME IDEA ! No just kidding, I'm sure you didn't but we are making very similar games :O It's a great idea ;D I'm also making a roguelike in an office, however you play as a Pig and it's 3D. Great progress so far, keep it up.

[@Deynum]

You know what they say, great minds think alike :)

[@dennismakesgames]

@@Deynum haha true, I love your vids btw.

[@quivx1925]

Lol KZbin suggested me your 2-year video and wow... Your progress is amazing starting with diction (you used to wait 1sec before finishing your sentence (let's do a ... GAME) like you would expect me to answer this xD that was so frustrating). Second is montage which make your videos much more interesting and last thing that you are still making this shit. I'm so impressed where you are now and wish you best! 🔥🔥🤙

[@leysont]

I can see how the water things could spawn enemies by somehow turning into a cloning machine by getting infected with something that forms an embryo in the liquid and then turns into a monster and makes the thing explode. Might be a fun enemy if it fits the theme.

[@sirdumpybear]

they might be able to fall on the copy machines and glitch it out, making it copy enemies

[@atom104n]

What if the water from the spilled dispenser is able to make entities slip. This could add environmental dynamics and could serve as either as a hindrance or aid to the player. Another similar idea is what if when u shoot at the printer, there is a chance that paper could temporary blind the player and enemies (a big paper covers most of your screen). Whether it being a 100% chance or a randomized thing is up to you. So far, this is looking interesting and I could feel the passion and satisfaction from you creating and then watching it come to life. It is such a good feeling and I wish you the best of luck on this journey.

[@blueslime5787]

9:55 maybe the printers could shoot balled up papers at you and the easels shooting markers and erasers at you, or the seats charging towards you and the desks doing damage on contact

[@jamesmoore1945]

I think it would be cool for the basic story of this game to be you're a new hire trying to work your way up through the ranks of the company. You could have a working day be represented by 8 floors for an 8 hour shift, with the last one being a boss that if you beat earns you a promotion. And there could be special bonus floors called overtime. You could start as an intern, work your way up to boss, and finally end up as a ceo in order to beat the game

[@RushRage]

I think the print could have a better sprite for when it's completely destroyed (like, better telegraphed to the player when there shots of going over the destroyed object). Maybe some cracks and smoke? Fun to see the process! I really enjoyed this devlog!

[@zynnonP]

First boss: The Controller ( hes an actual controller ) with joystick attacks :D, great game keep up the good work i look forward to it

[@totoisayal5045]

An enemy idea: Stickler, very weak enemy that comes in groups. breaking things makes them fix it for a while. letting you shoot them, they have little pistols that dont deal alot,the more of them there are the faster they fix things.

[@fenx987]

Great work ! You have done an amazing job with the animation, but I couldn't help but feel like it miss some feedback with the enemies. A health bar, making them become redder for each hit or something else would help. Moreover, a small dead animation would be very rewarding. Keep going, it's gonna be great ;)

[@kevinwetherell1748]

Boss ideas: crunch, price slashing, market crash, severance, the boss, sick leave, the grind, death march, worker drone, the shirker (someone lazy idk), budget cut, the 1%, union breaker, punch card, time lord, the synergizer, the suck up, pencil pusher, overseer Gun: Paper clip, the gun%, fired, magazine rack, full auto (automization), bullet point, the shell (shell of former self and bullet), HR trigger warning, the fired, health and safety off, hammer

[@amyworrall9246]

You should check out Harry the Handsome Executive. It has the main character scooting around in a swivel chair, firing staple guns and throwing shaken-up soda at enemies.

[@owenrubir4939]

the elevator idea is really cool! it would be sick to have a small chance to elevator to the backrooms. Just a suggestion :)

[@evangeliel]

This is such a cool idea for a game :o also I'm your 9000TH SUBSCRIBER WOOOOO!!!!

[@ShinoSarna]

Posting my feedback from reddit here: if your dungeons are primarily linear path, backtracking is going to take forever. You should probably add some method of backtracking, like teleportation to earlier rooms. This is especially important since you want to have branching paths I see literally no reason why corridors need to be premade. They're corridors. Nothing interesting happens in them, unless you want to have enemy encounters in corridors. It's literally just a box of tiles oblong in one direction, and maybe joined by a box of tiles oblong in other direction. You can totally write code that will generate new corridors, rather than using premade ones - and if anything, that's going to make it slightly less repetititve to go down them. all items that you added to them game don't actually do anything. They're destructible, but they do literally nothing interesting. Perhaps water cooler when destroyed can create a large puddle of water that has slippery ice physics - both for you and for enemies? Destroyed printer creates an explosion and acts like an explosive barrel? Maybe you can flip over desks to use as impromptu cover like in Enter the Gungeon?

[@Deynum]

I'm gonne strart by saying I am by no means a great game developer and with projects like these I need to be very careful to not make them too big or try to make them too good (because that's a thing lol). -I definetly plan for you to be able to teleport from the ends of branches and to/from shops or other special rooms, I don't see need for any other sort of backtracking. -The reason I made the corridors pre-made is because it's easier than generating them, however I am currently in the process of completely redesigning this system, and I am pretty sure in the new one the corridors (and possibly the rooms) will be procedurally generated, instead of fully pre-made. -Again, the 'keeping it easy' thing comes in to play with this, all of the things you mentions are good ideas, but they're also really complicated to make loop good and work well. I'd impliment them if I had the time and skills, but currently I don't (although that doesn't mean I won't impiment anything like it in the future) Thank you very much for the feedback, I really appreciate it.

[@LeeAnnC]

I like the idea of elevators being the level transition point- but in-world what would stop our main character from choosing the top floor if it was an option? I guess I mean elevators instantly make the entire building available to us so it seems strange to me our character would only go up one floor at a time.

[@Deynum]

There could be multiple in-world explainations for this. 1. you are an intruder, so it would make sense that the building would be on "high alert" and that elevators are only going up one floor at a time for a sort of "security check", but once you've elimintated everyone on a floor, there is noneone to check anymore and you can continue on. 2. The elevator you come out of isn't the same as the elevator you enter at the end of a floor (there are seperate start and end elevators). This is obviously a really impracticle way of moving around the building for the people who work there, but it's a giant evil company, so it isn't that far fetched.

[@madmanskeleton3016]

Some recommendations: make a stapler as a basic weapon that shoots staplers. make the water that spills out of the water coolers an environmental hazard where enemies and players will slip on when walking over.

[@Neopolis3]

Very cool, been enjoying these devlogs! It's a shame there aren't any loops in the floor though. Maybe after the generation you could try connecting some rooms to make some loops and make the floor layout a bit more unpredictable?

[@tableclothninja]

this video sounds like a johnny test episode with all the impact sound effects for everything 😭

[@beidero]

I am making a similar game with pretty much the same kind of room / corridor generation system. I am dynamically loading/unloading the rooms while you are in the corridors (use a fog of war shader to cover it) so for my game overlap doesn't actually matter, you could even have a U shaped corridoor that leads back to a completely new room that would be in the same location as the old room. I am not sure if I will keep it but I kind of like the fact that it subverts expectations.

[@DevNoob]

Really cool! Awesome editing too.

[@DevNoob]

The end is fine imo

[@jungervin8765]

As you improve the design, you can add shaders, lighting, weapons (papers,pens,nailgun etc.) from the office and other interesting weapons.. this could be a really cool game. You can put in the game bosses, I mean literal office bosses. :D

[@redman3513]

Incredible idea! But I think instead of guns, you should try using the environment around you as weapons. Like paper which you shoot out paper airplanes, and you can only refill the ammo if there’s paper in the office. And maybe a chair which you just throw a chair. Yknow, get a bit creative instead of sticking with the usual guns.

[@pickstud3488]

this game is just so cool i can't wait to it be released

[@kevinwetherell1748]

Make broom closets where the power ups are because that’s where they store all the good supplies

[@CoGames_]

7:13 😂 As a Dutch man. This was hilarious

[@animationtakesalongtime]

Can’t wait to play the game!

[@thealekstudios]

When an object is damaged shaking might add to the effect.

[@toothpick1902]

For the printer destroying animation ink shooting out and paper shooting out of the print hole would look a lot cooler

[@DerSolinski]

You are halfway to a wave function collapse system. It is really powerful when done right and I think you could adapt your mess to one.

[@albingrahn5576]

you should have a secret floor set in a dungeon, perhaps only accessible from the 4th floor? this would of course create contrast and clash with the normal office environment, making it funny.

[@ThylineTheGay]

the cabin in the woods sounded nicer than the beach one, until you mentioned there being other people

[@peachymunmagenta]

0:45 I think these would be great save points, along with maybe some other thing to save along the way to the next elevator

[@attinsgd2961]

what if the elevator breaks sometime and leads you to the basement randomly and then you fight objects?

[@kairu_b]

Awesome devlog

[@Skeffles]

I love those destruction animations for the office furniture! Also great to see the levels being generated. Do you have any plans to make going down side rooms/paths rewarding for the player, especially since they'll have to walk back through them after clearing them.

[@fastalpaca]

Great video!

[@Deynum]

thx!

[@floppydisk4500]

If you're talking about objects coming to life and shooting you that sounds like a mimic you should totally make one of the items that spawns on every floor randomly a mimic so when you start to shoot it it'll fight back lol

[@KRUSH-R]

man I can't wait for Enter The Gungeo...ffice to release!

[@jutton11]

Gamer tip: have an NPC in the elevator (like an elevator attendant) who shit talks to you.

[@williamhu9567]

You could make the water dispensers have other substances that have an area of effect, slowing, damaging, etc. the enemies or you the player

[@Soap2953]

I don’t think it would work for this kind of game, being set in an office and whatnot, but I did an extremely similar system for a game I started a few months ago. Bassically, instead of brute forcing it or checking for collisions (A can be faster but can take an eternity and B can soft lock if there’s no safety check for it) I made it so when a floor tile and a wall tile collided, it created a floor tile. If you’re going for a more organized looking game this won’t work well lol

[@MudakTheMultiplier]

If you want alternative ideas to trawl through that you might not have seen yet I recommend looking at DND random dungeon generations. they have a similar goal but a different application so maybe some of them might apply to what you want without being to specialized.

[@real_szop4692]

Maybe you should add a water dispenser that can spill water onto the floor and you can kill enemies by throwing some electronics into the water or something like that

[@sirdumpybear]

at the end you should have someone say how much money you lost the compony in damages, also the enemies should be able to destroy things with their bullets.

[@theskinegg9168]

you should make multiple different breaking animations so it doesn’t feel too stale

[@Lunimoose]

What if some of the rooms on the floors were other rooms you’d see on the office floor such as a staff break room, a small janitors closet or even the bathrooms. These would be small dead ends that the map could also generate

[@racking570]

I think there should be preset spots for stuff to generate within each room so that it’s not so messy and there’s not so many random printers and stuff

[@caseyleenb]

mystery dungeon also may i suggest using stuff like, a pen shooter as the starting weapon? or like, paper wasps (tiny folded bits of paper kids would shoot at each other with a rubber band between their thumb and index finger), or having a gun be a rare thing from a gun but coworker? unless this game is set in america im not sure how accurate the prevalence of guns is

[@caseyleenb]

mimics?

[@satindra.r]

It would be cool if there were some side optional objectives like filling up the printer cartridges for extra difficulty like the strawberries in celeste

[@quincyisrandom7487]

Petition for Deynum to add a stapler gun.

[@Zedryx69]

You could link this to the backrooms, call that lore, and immediately get praise.

[@nicogonzalez7973]

good job! i bet you are great at making s! good luck

[@moggy_jr]

This would work really well as a prophunt game

[@BigManBilliam]

I think you should create a carpet texture so you can see roughly how far you are travelling

[@questionableguitarplayer7721]

keep it up!!!

[@redfuzzredfuzz5580]

the right and it will soft like magic!!

[@chymty6603]

Idea:there can be a lab room where the lazer gun spawns or some other special guns

[@pokemonstuff2055]

What if, after you destroy the Printer- I mean copy machine, it explodes? Might give a bit of strategy to go for it first to take out multiple enemies at a time. (Also maybe the water could make the ground slippery or something)

[@OberonixZ]

Will start to learn it tomorrow, lets be patient pips! Godbless us haha

[@rx2316]

Damn!! Shooting at the office. This won't age well.

[@MC_CN]

"Creating an Infinite Office for my rougelike" *Backrooms flashbacks*

[@abrr2000]

I'm assuming that to get to the elevator, you'll have to fight your way through a board meeting or presentation.

[@Lando_HotelStory]

Unique idea my friend