Snarl is Not A Rouge-like

Welcome to Snarl!

Growl, Inc. is a new start-up trying to jump on the bandwagon of nostalgic lo-fi games. Its first product, called Snarl, is planned as a turn-based 2D dungeon crawler with a modular multi-player and multi-AI architecture. The game is meant for 1 to 4 human players. Players are dropped in a dim dungeon, which consists of multiple levels.

A level consists of multiple rooms, connected by hallways. Each room consists of multiple tiles, allowing for rooms of different sizes and configurations. In separate rooms are an exit from the dungeon and a key to unlock that exit.

However, the players are not alone in this dungeon as it is haunted by different adversaries looking to expel the players! The folks at Growl, Inc. are currently thinking ghosts and zombies, but might want to expand the arsenal as the project progresses. What is worse is the adversaries can see the whole dungeon level they occupy, whereas the players can only see a limited area around them. So players must explore the dungeon, avoid being eaten or killed, find the key and get to the exit.

Goal

The goal of the players is to find the key that unlocks the exit and then have at least one player exit the dungeon.

Start of the Game

After the map is loaded, the players are placed together in a predetermined room. The enemies are placed throughout the dungeon, in rooms and hallways. The key and exit portal are also placed in different locations of the dungeon.

Playing One Round

Players act in the order they joined. Once all players have acted, the adversaries can act. Each act consists of two parts: movement and interaction.

A players can move by at most two tiles to an unoccupied tile. A tile is occupied if there is a player or an enemy on the tile. Once the player has chosen their tile, their avatar is moved to that tile. Finally, the player automatically interacts with any object on that tile. A system with movement points is also under discussion.

If the object is a key, the key is removed from the level and the exit is unlocked. If that object is a locked exit, nothing happens. If that object is an unlocked exit, the player leaves the dungeon, represented by the avatar being removed from the level. An inventory system might be also in play.

Once all players have acted, the enemies act. Each enemy chooses an adjacent tile for their destination. Finally, the enemy interacts with the object on that new tile.

If that object is a player, the player is expelled from the game, represented by the avatar being removed from the board and the player marked as expelled. Growl, Inc. is considering a system with health and attack points to make the game a little more interesting.

Ending the Game

A Snarl level ends when all player avatars are removed – either because they found the exit or they were expelled.

~~The players win the level and progress further if any player exits the level.~~

~~The players lose if the enemies expel all players from the dungeon.~~

~~The players advance to the next level and progress further if any player found the unlocked exit.~~

A Snarl level ends when all player avatars are removed - either because they found the exit or they were expelled.
All the players advance to the next level if any player reaches the unlocked exit, including previously expelled players.

All players, including expelled players, are then placed at the start of the next level.

A Snarl game ends if one of the following occurs

1. the enemies expel all players in a given level. In this case, the players lose. 2. any player reaches the unlocked exit of the final level of the dungeon. In this case, the players win.

Note