While I love dungeon crawlers (and have one in the works), I very much like flipping archetypes and this is something you’ll discover in my Murkgrind* games. Let’s flip the perspective and tell the story from the eyes of the dungeon creatures. Let’s explore their lives and struggles. I’d be lying if I said Dungeon Keeper (and subsequent games) weren’t a big inspiration for me. I’ve always enjoyed being the bad guys, the antagonists, the devil’s advocate. But are these bogaefolk really the bad guys or just in a bad situation?
This is a theme I will explore in the Murkgrind series, starting with The Hungry Dungeon. You play the so-called bad guys, with the so-called heroes being the bad guys from your perspective.
So how can a dungeon be hungry? Is the Dungeon alive? In the same way an ecosystem is, yes. Behind the walls, under the slabs, above the stalactites… Is life. Whether it’s the mycelial network of the Mykelings, the ever-diminishing essence splinters of Old Dead Eyes or naturally coalescing elementals and other entities. The factions within this environment represent such tribes with the dungeon environment.
The scope of this will evolve throughout the ascending complexity of each game that I put out, but with The Hungry Dungeon, it will begin simple. This first game is not aiming to score a fanbase or pay my wages – I just want to set myself the challenge to put an idea out there and then build upon it. The challenge is set.
*My game worlds fall into various “-grind” suffix names. Stargrind being the umbrella for my Science Fiction, Axegrind the catch-all for Fantasy. Murkgrind is specifically assigned for my dungeon-based games.
