{"id":110,"date":"2007-04-15T21:57:50","date_gmt":"2007-04-16T02:57:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wurb.com\/stack\/archives\/110"},"modified":"2016-06-05T18:38:15","modified_gmt":"2016-06-06T01:38:15","slug":"drod-the-city-beneath","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wurb.com\/stack\/archives\/110","title":{"rendered":"DROD: The City Beneath"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wurb.com\/stack\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/04\/drod-city-1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.wurb.com\/stack\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/04\/drod-city-1-300x225.png\" alt=\"drod-city\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-3344\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.wurb.com\/stack\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/04\/drod-city-1-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/www.wurb.com\/stack\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/04\/drod-city-1-768x576.png 768w, https:\/\/www.wurb.com\/stack\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/04\/drod-city-1.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>Having played the oldest games on the Stack, it&#8217;s meet that we now continue with the newest: the first game on the Stack to be released after I started this blog.  <em>DROD: The City Beneath<\/em> is a game I&#8217;ve been looking forward to.<\/p>\n<p>I suppose I&#8217;ll have to explain the <em>DROD<\/em> phenomenon a little, because it&#8217;s way too indy to attract any significant media attention.  Known to connoisseurs but not sold in stores.  The word &#8220;cult&#8221; probably belongs in here somewhere.  Originally known as <em>Deadly Rooms of Death<\/em>, it&#8217;s a turn-based puzzle game in the dungeon-crawl idiom, its gameplay somewhere between <em>Gauntlet<\/em> and <em>Sokoban<\/em>.  The goal is simple: kill all the monsters.  A single blow from your Really Big Sword will destroy any living thing in the square it touches.  The controls are also simple: use the arrow keys to move one square in any direction, and the &#8220;Q&#8221; and &#8220;W&#8221; keys to rotate 45 degrees, swinging your Really Big Sword <span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_110_1('footnote_plugin_reference_110_1_1');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_110_1('footnote_plugin_reference_110_1_1');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_110_1_1\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">1<\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_110_1_1\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">Yes, it has to be capitalized like that.  Be grateful I have enough self-control to refrain from adding a trademark symbol.<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_110_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_110_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top right', relative: true, offset: [10, 10], });<\/script> as you do so.  It uses these two simple things to create complex puzzles.  The basic way the game works, from the first episode onward, is that most levels introduce a new monster type or terrain feature and then exploit its puzzle potential in every imaginable way.  When its potential is exhausted, you proceed to the next level and get a new puzzle theme to explore exhaustively.<\/p>\n<p>The first game had a simple storyline involving Beethro Budkin, dungeon exterminator, being hired to clear out the levels below the castle of one King Dugan.  It left one hook for future adventures: one room had a door that could only be opened from the other side.  The sequel, <em>Journey to Rooted Hold<\/em>, had Beethro getting through that door and discovering to his shock and surprise that the game had a plot.  It seems that the accretion of additional levels to the bottom of Dugan&#8217;s dungeon in successive versions of the original game isn&#8217;t just a natural phenomenon, but the activity of an underground empire founded in the pursuit of knowledge &#8212; a hive of secrets, seemingly pointless activity, and endless bureaucracy.  NPCs were introduced, Beethro&#8217;s nephew Halph (who assisted Beethro with some of the puzzles) started acting creepy and disappeared, a voice from a vast pit muttered cryptic nonsense.  <em>The City Beneath<\/em>, the new episode, picks up where that left off, with Beethro arriving at the empire&#8217;s capital.  The city is a hub of pure scenery and NPC interaction where Beethro isn&#8217;t even allowed to use his sword, with puzzle areas around its periphery.  In a way, this hub section reminds me of <a href=\"http:\/\/knytt.ni2.se\/\"><em>Knytt<\/em><\/a>, an experimental work that&#8217;s more art object than game.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s the basics.  More details will follow, when I&#8217;m not in a hurry to get back to playing it.  This is a real 5 AM game.<\/p>\n<div class=\"speaker-mute footnotes_reference_container\"> <div class=\"footnote_container_prepare\"><p><span role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" class=\"footnote_reference_container_label pointer\" onclick=\"footnote_expand_collapse_reference_container_110_1();\">&#x202F;<\/span><span role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" class=\"footnote_reference_container_collapse_button\" style=\"display: none;\" onclick=\"footnote_expand_collapse_reference_container_110_1();\">[<a id=\"footnote_reference_container_collapse_button_110_1\">+<\/a>]<\/span><\/p><\/div> <div id=\"footnote_references_container_110_1\" style=\"\"><table class=\"footnotes_table footnote-reference-container\"><caption class=\"accessibility\">References<\/caption> <tbody> \r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_110_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_110_1_1');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_110_1_1\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>1<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">Yes, it has to be capitalized like that.  Be grateful I have enough self-control to refrain from adding a trademark symbol.<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n <\/tbody> <\/table> <\/div><\/div><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> function footnote_expand_reference_container_110_1() { jQuery('#footnote_references_container_110_1').show(); jQuery('#footnote_reference_container_collapse_button_110_1').text('\u2212'); } function footnote_collapse_reference_container_110_1() { jQuery('#footnote_references_container_110_1').hide(); jQuery('#footnote_reference_container_collapse_button_110_1').text('+'); } function footnote_expand_collapse_reference_container_110_1() { if (jQuery('#footnote_references_container_110_1').is(':hidden')) { footnote_expand_reference_container_110_1(); } else { footnote_collapse_reference_container_110_1(); } } function footnote_moveToReference_110_1(p_str_TargetID) { footnote_expand_reference_container_110_1(); var l_obj_Target = jQuery('#' + p_str_TargetID); if (l_obj_Target.length) { jQuery( 'html, body' ).delay( 0 ); jQuery('html, body').animate({ scrollTop: l_obj_Target.offset().top - window.innerHeight * 0.2 }, 380); } } function footnote_moveToAnchor_110_1(p_str_TargetID) { footnote_expand_reference_container_110_1(); var l_obj_Target = jQuery('#' + p_str_TargetID); if (l_obj_Target.length) { jQuery( 'html, body' ).delay( 0 ); jQuery('html, body').animate({ scrollTop: l_obj_Target.offset().top - window.innerHeight * 0.2 }, 380); } }<\/script>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Having played the oldest games on the Stack, it&#8217;s meet that we now continue with the newest: the first game on the Stack to be released after I started this blog. DROD: The City Beneath is a game I&#8217;ve been looking forward to. I suppose I&#8217;ll have to explain the DROD phenomenon a little, because [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[92,120,119,93],"class_list":["post-110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-puzzle","tag-drod","tag-drod-journey-to-rooted-hold","tag-drod-king-dugans-dungeon","tag-drod-the-city-beneath"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wurb.com\/stack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wurb.com\/stack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wurb.com\/stack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wurb.com\/stack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wurb.com\/stack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.wurb.com\/stack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3346,"href":"https:\/\/www.wurb.com\/stack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110\/revisions\/3346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wurb.com\/stack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wurb.com\/stack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wurb.com\/stack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}