I'm interested in getting started in modding, but before I do I was hoping to get some thoughts on this idea I had for a room, or that someone with a room-adding mod already published could possibly make and add to theirs. I've felt from time to time that a long corridor that would stretch vertically or horizontally along most of the level would be an interesting, or at least useful, room. It'd be like a main corridor of sorts, with many doors connecting it to the rest of the dungeon. It could also have a smaller version to fit floors generated on "smaller floors" saves. Obviously, by design, it probably wouldn't happen more than once per floor, and even if it did, each would be the same orientation, since they would be unable to overlap. I'm hoping to get some feedback on this idea, or maybe some reasons why this wouldn't work from some more experienced modders. Additionally, to assist in conveying what this room would be, I have used my mastery of MS Paint to create a wondrous feast for the eyes. BEHOLD. This image of course is really simple; the corridor would probably have more connecting doors.
1. NTtG has smaller floors, so the big corridor wouldn't generate. 2. You'd have to add the doors in the template, which meant that EVERY floor would have the EXACT SAME huge corridor, and after a while you'd know all door placings. 3. If you cared to make a smaller corridor for NTtG, that one could still generate in vanilla maps. 4. Straight corridors are really boring. Also, if you're in a rush, you could walk it down and step on a trap once or twice by accident. 5. Gargoyles are meant to be hidden, and if you make a huge corridor, the gargoyles would still only spawn at the north wall, and would be really easy to spot. 6. Many displacement glyphs would spawn in the same corridor, possibly, and they would pretty much lose their value.
All very good points, I suppose. I covered #1, but of course #3 does sort of counter that. A far as #2, I wasn't aware doors were that specific. Like I said, I haven't really delved too far into room creation yet. I was under the impression that rooms had a spot designated as a door, but that it didn't have to be a door; a variable of sorts. #4 is partially an opinion, really, since the corridor would serve as a convenient method of getting from point A to point B quicker, but the traps thing is definitely true. As for #5, gargoyles, that's undeniably true. However, I did say the corridor could also be vertical. There would be a small number of possible gargoyle traps in that case, but at the very least they wouldn't be easily spotted from anywhere but the north end of the corridor. As for the last point about displacement glyphs, my assumption about doors may have been wrong, but I'm almost certain that glyphs are placed in rooms as "possible" glyphs, aren't they? That being the case, it'd be simple to not put any in the corridor. Otherwise, yeah, that would be an issue... Overall you do make a good argument, though. Not all ideas are winners. Thanks for your feedback Alistaire.
Vertical corridors are a hell for characters with low trap sight. If there's only 1 gargoyle, there could be 10 traps in a straight line from top to bottom. Displacement glyphs can be placed in a room, but they are also randomly generated throughout the level. Also, the only "no"- flag that works so far is "noblockers". Traps, monsters and loot will eventually spawn, sometimes even initially.
Actually, not exactly. It is possible to make a room with place for other rooms to spawn inside of it. You need to know what you are doing, but it is possible. Alternatively, just having a long corridor with enough space marked for doors to generate a quasi-elaborate network of rooms from the corridor is also possible. Though there is still the issue of traps and other such things - if the room was 3 or more tiles wide, it wouldn't be any unique, and making it narrower than that means many players wouldn't want to have anything to do with it.
Are you kidding? A bunch of 1-tile wide corridors to be used as a constant chokepoint all the way through a level would make melee players juice their pants.
Until they get into the point where it's impossible to get through them because of teleporters and there is no other way around.
This could be the only way to create something like that, because each floor is just a puzzle made of randomly displaced rooms. Otherwise, it is not even possible to create a floor change: your idea starts with the assumption that a floor can be altered, which is not possible. There was a time when floors were predesigned corridors with doors and rooms behind them, but it didn't worked well in terms of dungeon design and variability. You could create rooms with that design, but not an entire floor. The game isn't even balanced for too many narrow corridors, because of and Characters will have an easy time in something like that OR they will automatically lose the game since they can get struck by impassable territory.
I'm sorry Vitellozo, but the only thing I can reply with here is "huh?". I mean, from the very beginning there was no assumption that "a floor can be altered" - I just pointed out to Alistaire that it is possible to create a room which would have another room in itself, which had already been done and not even by me. I know that the floor generation is quasi-random, based on randomized seeds, and procedural from the point where you first enter the generated dungeon floor. I know the "corridor" would be treated as a room and I never wrote otherwise. I also know its chance to spawn would be as high as Mariana's Trench due to its size not being floor-generator-friendly. And thus, this part of your reply is confusing to me. But perhaps I am reading too deeply into it and you are just agreeing with me in a round-about way...
It the OP there is an image talking about half the floor, and this is why I underlined the possibilities.
