Axel
asked
Andrew Rowe:
I just finished On the Shoulders of Titans (Save for the appendix), and I was wondering one thing. How do you make sure that the rooms in the spire (that is shown at least) feels different from one another?
Andrew Rowe
This answer contains spoilers…
(view spoiler)[Warning: This discussion contains some spoilers for how spire rooms work. They're relatively minor, but it includes a few things that haven't been explicitly specified in the books yet, so be warned.
I treat it like creating a dungeon for a tabletop game or PC RPG.
I start with creating a first draft of a physical layout. This layout usually has multiple viable paths from a start point to the destination, which is usually stairs up or down. Typically, I also include a number of things like secret doors, breakable walls, hidden teleporters, or other alternate means to progress.
After that, I get into the individual breakdown of the rooms. In most cases, spire rooms are designed to lead into rooms of a similar style based on a color code for the gem above the doorway. The entrance room usually has two to three paths with different colors, providing options from that start point.
Red gems indicate a challenge based on force. This doesn't necessarily mean physical force, but it generally requires power of some kind.
Yellow gems indicate a challenge based on speed, either physical or mental. For example, having to solve a chess problem in less than a given period of time, or having to run a short distance quickly. Agility challenges often fall into this category as well.
Blue gems indicate a strategic challenge, where time is generally less important than the decisions made.
There's always going to be some ambiguity and flexibility there, and each room will often have multiple solutions. Those multiple solutions often lead into different rooms; for example, a red room that is solved in a blue way might lead to a purple room, which contains a challenge that represents a combination of force and strategy.
Each spire also has specific themes which help influence the challenges. For example, the Phoenix Spire will have a high number of fire-based challenges.
A Red fire challenge might involve fighting a fire-based monster, or simply getting through a wall of fire.
A Yellow fire challenge might involve running through a chamber that has fire traps that trigger on specific intervals, dodging the flames, or solving a puzzle while lava fills the room.
A Blue fire challenge might involve stepping across tiles in a specific pattern, where some tiles fall into the lava or trigger fire-based traps if you step on the wrong ones.
In terms of making sure they're unique, it's mostly just having enough sources of inspiration to give me cool ideas. Often times this means taking a classic challenge (e.g. playing chess) and simply applying spire-specific modifiers to it.
I hope this helps! (hide spoiler)]
I treat it like creating a dungeon for a tabletop game or PC RPG.
I start with creating a first draft of a physical layout. This layout usually has multiple viable paths from a start point to the destination, which is usually stairs up or down. Typically, I also include a number of things like secret doors, breakable walls, hidden teleporters, or other alternate means to progress.
After that, I get into the individual breakdown of the rooms. In most cases, spire rooms are designed to lead into rooms of a similar style based on a color code for the gem above the doorway. The entrance room usually has two to three paths with different colors, providing options from that start point.
Red gems indicate a challenge based on force. This doesn't necessarily mean physical force, but it generally requires power of some kind.
Yellow gems indicate a challenge based on speed, either physical or mental. For example, having to solve a chess problem in less than a given period of time, or having to run a short distance quickly. Agility challenges often fall into this category as well.
Blue gems indicate a strategic challenge, where time is generally less important than the decisions made.
There's always going to be some ambiguity and flexibility there, and each room will often have multiple solutions. Those multiple solutions often lead into different rooms; for example, a red room that is solved in a blue way might lead to a purple room, which contains a challenge that represents a combination of force and strategy.
Each spire also has specific themes which help influence the challenges. For example, the Phoenix Spire will have a high number of fire-based challenges.
A Red fire challenge might involve fighting a fire-based monster, or simply getting through a wall of fire.
A Yellow fire challenge might involve running through a chamber that has fire traps that trigger on specific intervals, dodging the flames, or solving a puzzle while lava fills the room.
A Blue fire challenge might involve stepping across tiles in a specific pattern, where some tiles fall into the lava or trigger fire-based traps if you step on the wrong ones.
In terms of making sure they're unique, it's mostly just having enough sources of inspiration to give me cool ideas. Often times this means taking a classic challenge (e.g. playing chess) and simply applying spire-specific modifiers to it.
I hope this helps! (hide spoiler)]
More Answered Questions
Matthew Cramer
asked
Andrew Rowe:
This question contains spoilers…
(view spoiler)[
I was wondering about monster contracts. Is it possible for anyone with the knowledge to form them or are they restricted to the summoner specific attunements? Like could an enchanter make a contract to get an additional mana type? or can an Arbitor make contracts as their attunement lines up similar to the Summoner and Soulblades?
(hide spoiler)]
Skrylon
asked
Andrew Rowe:
This question contains spoilers…
(view spoiler)[
Hey there, I really enjoy your work. I just finished Defying Destiny and started AA again, because I really can't wait for the next one. Its been mentioned a few times, that Corin can't really keep enchanting a thousand items for every situations, because of interference between them. Would it be possible, to use that interference between items, to activate some synergistic effect?
(hide spoiler)]
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