⚔️ Dungeon Crawler Game with Procedural Generation

💡 The Concept

This project is a 2D top-down dungeon crawler where the player explores procedurally generated dungeons, battles enemies, and seeks an exit. The dungeon layout is randomly generated using Depth-First Search (DFS), ensuring each playthrough is unique. The game is built using Java, and we will soon integrate graphics via the SimpleGraphics library. Currently, the game runs in a console environment, but it will evolve with additional features like enhanced combat, inventory management, and sound.

🛠️ Current Features

• Procedural Dungeon Generation: The dungeon layout is generated using a Depth-First Search (DFS) algorithm. This ensures the dungeon layout is unique every time.
• Basic Player and Enemy Movement: The player and enemies move on the dungeon grid. Player movement is controlled by keyboard input (w, a, s, d), and enemies move randomly after each player turn.
• Console-Based Interface: The game is currently played through the console, with the dungeon, player, and enemies represented using ASCII characters.
• High Score System: Player progress, such as levels completed and enemies defeated, is tracked and stored even after the game is closed.
• Combat System: The player can attack enemies if they occupy the same tile. Once attacked, enemies are removed from the game.

🚧 Features In Progress and Upcoming

• Graphics Integration: We'll be integrating SimpleGraphics to display the game visually beyond the console. Players will soon see the dungeon, enemies, and characters in a more interactive and aesthetic environment;
• Improved Combat System: The current system instantly removes enemies upon contact. We are adding health points (HP) and attack mechanics, so both players and enemies can take damage over time;
• Inventory System: A system where players can collect, manage, and use items like potions, weapons, and armor;
• High Scores & Persistence: We will implement a high-score system that tracks progress across multiple playthroughs, using file-based storage to retain data after closing the game;
• Sound Effects and Music: Background music and sound effects for key events like movement, attacks, and winning will soon be part of the experience;
• Cheat Codes: Fun cheat codes like invincibility or speed boosts will be added to provide a playful twist;
• Enhanced Enemy AI: Enemies will soon have smarter movement, possibly even tracking or targeting the player instead of moving randomly.

🎮 Game Mechanics

• Player Movement: The player moves through the dungeon using w, a, s, d for directional control;
• Enemies: Randomly spawned enemies populate the dungeon, and more challenging enemies will appear as the player progresses;
• Procedural Generation: Each dungeon is procedurally generated upon game start, ensuring a fresh experience every time;
• Victory Condition: The game is won when the player finds the exit, marked by an X on the map.

🔧 Technologies Used

• Java: Core language for building the game logic;
• SimpleGraphics Library (planned): Will be used for rendering the game graphically.
• Java I/O (planed): Used to handle high score persistence.;
• Design Patterns (planned): Strategy and Factory patterns will be incorporated to make the code more modular and maintainable.

🚀 Possible Future Enhancments

• Multiplayer Mode: Adding support for two players to explore the dungeon together;
• More Complex Enemy AI: Enemies with unique attack patterns and behavior;
• Power-ups: Adding more variety to the items players can collect, such as temporary invincibility or speed boosts;
• Additional Game Modes: Introducing new challenges like time limits or endless dungeon modes for high replayability.

📝 How to Run

1. Clone the repository;
2. Compile and run the Main.java class from the command line or your preferred IDE;
3. Move your player using W (UP), A (LEFT), S (DOWN) and D (RIGHT);
4. Find the exist (X) and avoid or defeat enemies (E).

Stay tunned for the integration of graphics that will make this game even more exciting!