Dungeon Crawler Caravan
Short version: a Vampire Survivors-style crawl with a Dungeon Crawler Carl coat of paint. You move, your weapons fire themselves, the screen fills up with things trying to kill you, and every level-up hands you three cards and makes you pick one.
The idea
What stuck with me about Dungeon Crawler Carl isn't the loot or the levels — it's the System tightening the screws while narrating your beating back to you like it's entertainment. So the run doesn't end when you win it. Surviving fifteen minutes banks the victory and drops you into overtime, which doesn't stop until you're dead, and the bosses stop being numbered and start being named: "TWO WATCHERS", then "A CONCERNING NUMBER OF WATCHERS", then "MANAGEMENT".
What's in it right now
- Nine weapons against six slots, so what you leave behind is a decision.
- Every passive gates exactly one evolution, so no pick is filler.
- Mythics come with a Take It / Leave It prompt. One of them is x100 damage dealt, and you take double.
- Bosses on the clock at five and ten minutes, then encore bosses that never stop.
- Ruined villages that stay put — walk away, come back, the same houses are standing.
- Per-character records: best time, kills and level.
One of the seven is my sticker guy. Protente is a satyr, his ability is Scream — two seconds of stun on everything in earshot — and he's the most fragile character in the game. No more warm hugs, exactly as advertised.
Dev log
Big change: the game has gone from 2D to 3D. That's a lot of rebuilding, and progress is slower than I expected because of it. But slow and steady is going to make a better game, and I'd rather get it right than get it out fast.
The March begins — patch .1 is being deployed.
Roadmap
Meet the companions
First look at three of the champions on deck — Patches, Needle, and Button. Stitched, patched-up, and clearly held together by whoever sewed them, which is exactly the vibe I'm going for. They're Bautista's pets.
Patches
Stuffed bear, boxing gloves, one eye stitched shut. Throws hands first, asks questions never.
Needle
Sewing scissors as a melee weapon. Somehow more unsettling in motion than it sounds.
Button
Cape, staff, button eyes. The healer of the group, and clearly knows it.
Where it's at
It runs end to end, and almost none of it has been properly played. The balance came off the numbers rather than off play, the escalation past the win is entirely untested, and the 900-enemy crowd ceiling is a guess at what the machine can push. No screenshots yet either — the enemy art is from a pack I can't redistribute, which is why that repo is private.
Played this kind of thing?
Vampire Survivors, Brotato, Halls of Torment — if you've got opinions about what makes a run feel good, I want them.
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