Interview: Dungeon Stalkers Features Dynamic Mechanics With Buffs & Debuffs For Challenging Gameplay

David: Hello! I am Dae Hoon Han (David), the Chief Producer working on Dungeon Stalkers. In the past, I developed action games such as Smashing The Battle, Overturn, and Metallic Child as an indie developer. After joining Action Square, I am now developing Dungeon Stalkers, a dungeon crawler game.

David: Personally, I’ve enjoyed the survival genre for a long time and often thought about how it could be fun to incorporate various ideas I had while playing different games. However, I realized that developing an online multiplayer game of that scale would be challenging as a solo developer, so I put the idea aside.

Last year, after joining Action Square, I decided to take the opportunity to bring this concept to life and started planning in earnest. I know that similar concepts and genres have already been released or are in development. However, we believe we have unique strengths and features in terms of competition and survival in the dungeon.

With this confidence, our team has continued development with bold determination. We are also confident in our ability to stand out when competing with other games.

David: The primary objective in the PvEvP extraction genre is to gather as much as possible and escape safely. This extraction genre is quite hardcore because if you die, you lose your items and have to start over. Some players choose to play cautiously and safely, while others take risks to collect more rewards and try to escape, often getting attacked.

There are also instances where players fight each other, and some take advantage of the situation by attacking from behind to reap the benefits. I believe the phrase ‘high risk, high return’ best describes this genre.

On top of this inherent excitement, we’ve added Dungeon Stalkers’ unique elements in terms of combat, strategy, and character to further differentiate our game.

David: Since extraction games, like battle royale, aim for survival and escape, we believe ‘combat’ is fundamental. We chose a third-person perspective to emphasize the interactive nature of combat with other players and monsters. However, in extraction games based on battle royale or shooting, the battlefield is relatively wide, making ambushes and surprise kills more common. In close-quarters combat, this dynamic is harder to achieve because differences in equipment and physical skills make it difficult to rely on luck.

Emphasizing only ‘combat’ in such situations means that only very skilled players can adapt to the game, making it challenging for new players to enter.

To appeal to both core players and casual players, as well as those with different play styles, we designed combat to be skill-based. Understanding the opponent’s skills and using your own skills appropriately in various situations became a crucial aspect of combat.

David: Various events and incidents occur outside the dungeon, from weather and time changes to the specific circumstances of merchants, all of which are designed to influence gameplay. For example, a merchant who sells potions might run out of stock and stop selling them.

Additionally, the environment within the dungeon will change based on the date and time, which will alter the way players approach PvEvP gameplay. We plan to reveal more details gradually through updates in the future.

David: Let me explain why the heroes became the Witch’s guardians. In the final battle between two long-warring nations, a dungeon appeared in the middle of the battlefield due to the witch, swallowing up the heroes and soldiers of both nations. Both nations sent rescue teams to retrieve their heroes, but even the rescue teams never returned.

Realizing that the knights alone were insufficient, they decided to launch a larger search operation, enlisting ordinary mercenaries to rescue the buried heroes and uncover what lies at the bottom of the dungeon. Now, knights, mercenaries, tomb raiders, and adventurers gather to explore the dungeon. The people of each kingdom started calling these dungeon explorers ‘Dungeon Stalkers.’

The monsters that players encounter are the former heroes and soldiers who have been turned into the witch’s guardians. We plan to continuously update these witches’ guardians, reflecting their abilities from when they were heroes and incorporating those into their monstrous forms.

David: I’d like to introduce Dungeon Stalkers’ unique and innovative systems that differentiate it from other games in the same genre. The ‘Armor Destruction System’ in Dungeon Stalkers plays a crucial role in adding strategic depth to combat. Visually showing armor breaking adds a layer of strategy to battles.

When a character’s armor is destroyed, they become weaker. This allows players to place their weakened party members in the backline, attack opponents with broken armor, or avoid combat and navigate the dungeon cautiously if their own armor is destroyed. There is also the ‘Witch’s Curse,’ which changes the rules of the dungeon. The witch who created the dungeon loves to play tricks, changing the dungeon’s rules with each phase. She might suddenly summon powerful monsters or grant all Stalkers a buff that allows them to use magic.

These buffs and debuffs significantly impact the game’s balance. In Dungeon Stalkers, the PvE aspect is not just about player versus enemy but player versus environment. The Witch’s Curse creates random in-game situations and adds a layer of challenge and excitement as players strategize to overcome these dynamic changes

David: There weren’t any major issues, but we paid special attention to the design of characters, monsters, and backgrounds. We particularly focused on the design of the Stalkers, the characters players will choose. The development team put a lot of effort into creating distinctive characters with unique personalities. A notable feature of Dungeon Stalkers is the stylish and attractive appearance of the characters. We also had to consider how they would look when their armor was destroyed, which was a significant part of the design process.

For the dungeons, we aimed to create a claustrophobic atmosphere rather than an open one, aligning with the dungeon’s unique characteristics. The randomly generated dungeons will have new locations added in future seasons to keep the exploration exciting and engaging. We plan to embed the lore of Dungeon Stalkers into various content backgrounds.

We want players to feel the narrative flow of this world in the current prison dungeon and the upcoming areas. For the monsters, we aimed to make them something players would prefer not to encounter in a dungeon. Therefore, instead of traditional monster designs, we opted for more grotesque ones. However, for epic raid bosses, we focused on creating designs that evoke excitement and anticipation, making players eager to face such formidable foes.

David: It has been about two years since we joined Action Square and began full-scale development of Dungeon Stalkers. We have a team of 50 experienced members working on the project, including key members like the Art Director, who has over 20 years of development experience.

Action Square itself has been a game development company specializing in action games for 12 years. The extensive experience of our team in creating multiple action games has been immensely beneficial in developing Dungeon Stalkers.

David: We publicly shared our improvement plans based on the surprise test conducted in May on our Steam store page. We received a variety of feedback that exceeded our expectations regarding the newly added content in this test. Around 1,000 people participated in the survey, providing us with a wealth of feedback.

We are currently working on improvements based on this feedback, and many aspects will be changed in the upcoming test. We sincerely thank all the players who participated.

David: Recently, the PvEvP dungeon exploration game ‘Dark and Darker’ was released on Steam, and ‘Dungeonborne’ is also set to be released. Both games are well-made, first-person perspective games.

While first-person games offer strong immersion in the game world, third-person games provide a strong sense of character immersion. This makes it easier to emphasize character traits, which is a significant advantage in Dungeon Stalkers, allowing us to highlight the appearance and combat actions of the characters.

As mentioned earlier, we chose a third-person perspective for Dungeon Stalkers to emphasize the interaction in combat with other players and monsters. The third-person action perspective also allows for a broader field of view, making it easier to strategize and respond to opponents. This perspective can appeal to players who prefer a lighter, more casual gameplay experience with lower skill requirements and less tension.

Each Stalker has unique classes and skills, and using these skills appropriately in different situations will make combat easier and more dynamic. This approach helps players understand the combat system more easily and increases their overall enjoyment.

David: Procedural generation technology enhances player experience and replayability by providing diversity and novelty. With procedural generation, we can create new maps and varied environments each time, offering players fresh challenges and exploration opportunities. This helps maintain the initial excitement of the game and prevents it from becoming monotonous, even after multiple plays. It also emphasizes the importance of strategic decisions.

Since each playthrough presents different scenarios, players must develop new strategies every time. This adds depth to the gameplay and fosters creativity and strategic thinking. Moreover, it can enhance the competitive element among players. Experiencing different maps and comparing achievements in various environments can stimulate competition and rivalry.

This promotes community building and contributes to the game’s long-term sustainability. In summary, procedural generation significantly increases the game’s value.

David: Dungeon Stalkers is designed to provide a fun and competitive survival experience that is both casual and light. While maintaining the genre’s core appeal, we’ve made the hardcore aspects of this genre more accessible, making it a recommended game for fans of combat and action. Those who enjoy cooperative play with friends will find it especially enjoyable, to experiment with different character combinations.

We’ve put in considerable effort to make the extraction genre approachable and less stressful for players who find it challenging. The overall playtime of each game session is appropriately set, and we offer free safety bags to help new players. For those stressed by PvP, we also have a PvE mode. Our PvE mode has received positive feedback through multiple tests.

Players can gear up and strengthen themselves here before challenging the PvEvP dungeons. Additionally, we are preparing a tutorial to help players unfamiliar with the extraction genre. If you’ve been interested but hesitant to try due to the high entry barriers, we encourage you to give Dungeon Stalkers a try