DungeonScript is a simple browser tool for building dungeon crawlers
Go forth and dunge
If you are reading this now, you could instead be making your own dungeon crawler. That's the magic of DungeonScript [official site], a fairly simple browser-based game-making tool intended for first-person dungeon crawlers. After a little studying, you could be making your own dungeon crawlers and sharing them online for us all to play. DungeonScript is an adaptation of PuzzleScript, the puzzle-making tool from Stephen's Sausage Roll creator increpare. PuzzleScript's simple tools and easy sharing have given us some fun games (and many more we haven't covered) as well as being used to prototype other games so fingers crossed for some good dungeoning.
DungeonScript overlord (and Captain Forever creator) Farbs explains its origins:
"The other day Blue Manchu's Jon mentioned he wouldn't know where to start designing a Dungeon Master style game. That got me wondering how I'd start designing a Dungeon Master style game, and what tools I'd use. Immediately I thought of increpare's very wonderful PuzzleScript, which is great for turn and grid based puzzle game development, but, like, in first person. That'd be really cool, I thought. If only PuzzleScript would draw in first person.
"So that's what DungeonScript is. It's PuzzleScript in first person.
"What's most wonderful about PuzzleScript, and therefore also DungeonScript, is that you can build and share an entire game using just the editor webpage screenshotted above. Everything from the art to the audio to the game logic sits in one simple text file, and there's a share button right there on the screen. Some fantastic games have come out of PuzzleScript, and I'm hoping people will use DungeonScript to create crazy new worlds for us to explore."
As an example, here, Farbs put out a DungeonScript version of Dungeon Janitor, a game he created in PuzzleScript. I hate cleaning up after this damn slime.
Hit the DungeonScript site to get started making your own things, and don't forget the documentation. The editor also offers the source to a few games as examples so you can figure out what they're up to.
It's also totally cool if you don't want to. I don't buy the idea that "everyone should learn to code", which The Establishment seem so keen to promote. That seems pretty low-priority for a society when so many cannot make a good cup of tea (bag, water, steep, THEN MILK oh my god why would you put milk in first please dispose of this weak brew I've gone right off it). And I know that learning is never as easy as the Illuminati technomancers would have us believe. It's peachy if you simply want to crawl the dungeons other people create.
Disclosure: I know increpare a bit through his flatmate. I don't believe I've sampled his tea so I couldn't tell you whether he's to be trusted. Milkfirsters are everywhere, and you don't know until it's too late.