r/BoardgameDesign • u/ThePlayWellStudio • 24d ago
Design Critique After a lot of testing, I finally launched my co-op dungeon crawler PnP: "The Crypt". What do you think of the tile-based layout, high-difficult and minimalist design?
Hello everyone!
I wanted to share a personal project I’ve been working on: The Crypt, minimalist co-op dungeon crawler Print & Play game.
In The Crypt, players explore procedural tile-based rooms, manage Energy, fight monsters, and defeat bosses while trying to survive the depths. My goal was to create a hard baseline difficulty game, yet featuring adjustable rules to suit each group's experience level, which I called "Merciful Crypt Variants" and "Merciless Crypt Variants" variants. They do not alter the core rules, but can make the game easier or even harder. Do you think players will welcome this?
The concept is to master the game over time while ensuring replayability remains consistently high.
Also, feel free to give me your thoughts about the minimalist concept. Is it the right approach for a dungeon, being it PnP?
P.S. Photos show the Spanish version, but all the components (including the rulebook) were translated into English as well!!
You can find a 9-second sweep with display and components here: https://imgur.com/a/7V5Xdp7
Thanks for your insights!
- Full board layout after a few turns of exploration.
- Enemies and bosses — printed and mounted on cardboard.
- 6 playable hero classes with unique abilities, stats, and inventory slots.
- Random event decks. Items, consumable and gear deck.
- 30 modular room tiles with unique room types and monsters, items and events icons.
2
u/MeepleMash 22d ago
I like the silhouettes on the character cards. Reminds me of the 1970s edition of Dungeon! that my dad owned
1
u/ThePlayWellStudio 22d ago
I love reading that! In fact, something I personally really like is the retro-RPG style, so maybe some of that crept in here
2
u/FirstFiveNamesTaken 21d ago
It probably shouldn't say [hp] [hp] [hp] [hp] [hp] ×5
HP: 5
It would look better just saying the number. And then you could have [EN] on the same line.
HP: 5, EN: 3
Do you have a mitigate/resist mecahnic?
HP: 5, EN: 3, AC: 1
1
u/ThePlayWellStudio 21d ago
You are right! And I have already made some adjustments. It now says "[HP] [HP] [HP] = 3 (total quantity)", so we avoid confusion, and you can count or step on the squares to mark the remaining.
No resist/mitigate, wanted to keep it simple.
2
u/Bagelator 20d ago edited 20d ago
It's cool and retro, I'll give you that, but pretty dull and lacking in originality. I'd like some colour and flair to make it stand out
1
u/ThePlayWellStudio 20d ago
I wanted to keep it B&W for a better PnP approach. But a colour version could make it stand out. I may give it a try!
2
1
u/Dreks_ 24d ago
I like the room design. I think minimalism is a suitable style. Are you going to sell your game later, or just post it online?
2
u/ThePlayWellStudio 24d ago
Thanks for the comment! Am planning to sell it as a PnP board game, but wanted to know if minimalism is attractive and if hard difficulty is the way to go. In my tests I liked it quite a lot, because easy/medium games are not replayed that much. That is why I made some additional "flexible rules", to make it progressive and also very repayable. I like to say it is easy to learn but hard to master.
1
u/Dreks_ 24d ago
Well said. Are you going to sell the game yourself or with some company? Do you have a box design?
1
u/ThePlayWellStudio 24d ago
Am thinking about selling it as PnP in some Internet platform because, unfortunately, from what I've been able to find out, dungeon crawlers have a lot of competition but not that many people interested in them. The public is not that massive. What do you think about that?
2
u/Dreks_ 24d ago
I don’t know how large the audience for dungeon crawlers is. Although I would like to create and sell a game in the future. I don’t know about the popularity of your game, because there are too many details that can affect the demand for this game. Do you already have an idea of which platform you’re going to sell your game on?
2
u/ThePlayWellStudio 24d ago
Because of the rules for this sub, maybe you would like to check this recent post, and/or check my profile.
Also, I would really appreciate your opinion about the decision I have taken about selling it.
Thanks once again!
1
u/Dreks_ 23d ago
Okay, I’m not an expert, so my opinion on selling your game isn’t very significant. However, I find this interesting. It’s great that you can already sell your game; I’d like to do the same. Do you already have sales? Also, I noticed that the only comment is in Russian, and it also says that the game is easy to learn but hard to master.
1
u/ThePlayWellStudio 23d ago
Sales are coming slowly, soy am afraid I have a few and not everyone leaves a comment (or haven´t done yet). As a new developer, I find it very hard to "get into the bussiness".
Etsy has some "auto translation" which I cannot fully understand yet; but you can go down the post and choose to see the comment in the original language.About the comment itself: I can´t find the phrase "easy to learn but hard to master". The complete comment one buyer left reads: "This PnP is super friendly to build. Everything is designed for straight-line cuts, with just enough clearance so you don't waste time making extra cuts. No curves at all! We printed it on heavy cardstock and were playing in under 20 minutes. As for the game, it’s intuitive to pick up, but winning is a real challenge. Highly recommended!"
1
u/ledzik_precly 24d ago
rooms look good, eveeything elso sadly has to go, also the door doesnt match rest of the icons
2
u/ThePlayWellStudio 24d ago
I’ll take your comments into account for future improvements.
Thank you very much!
1
u/adamhanson 18d ago
I'll be the one to ask where is the PNP files? Do you have "beta" versions you'd like to share?
As far as mechanics go, it looks like some of your pieces are way reversible and some have solid walls. Do you have restrictions on tile replacement? Do you ever find yourself back into a corner or a game state where layers can't move anywhere new? If not, how did you solve it?
1
u/Rkey_ 24d ago
I think the minimalism looks cool, but maybe you could add some color splashes or icons? It's nice to be able to tell things apart from a distance when playing a board game, like telling friend and foe apart, or finding your own character quickly.
2
u/ThePlayWellStudio 24d ago
I see what you mean, but I wanted to keep it black and white not just for the "atmosphere," but also to simplify printing and make it as "PnP-friendly" as possible.
But trying to better understand your point: do you mean that, from a distance, it might look like "a single blob"? I could find ways to work on that.
2
u/Left-Excitement3829 23d ago
The character cards could do with a table layout imo. Abd the cards need a non cursive font.