Based on Demo Feedback and my own experience with re-playing the original 'Kalawaum', I came to the conclusion, that the vision I had for 'Ruins of Calaworm' might not work out the way I intended. 'Kalawaum' was an intricately  crafted One-Time Playthrough experience with more static gameplay than random World Parameters could hide. Procedural Level Scaling messed with that notion, could break it even, since Players were suddenly able to tackle Regions from directions which would render certain puzzles pointless.

My ambition has always been to build on top of the Roguelike Potential which the original certainly has, but barely scratches. So I decided that a systemic  overhaul was due. Combat and Puzzle Mechanics will stay the same , but from henceforth Calaworm's World will be procedurally generated!

Now, please do not expect full ProcGen, like most traditional Roguelikes do it!

With the kind of core gameplay 'Ruins of Calaworm' offers - the puzzly exploration, getting Keys form X to Y, looking for Secret Walls, switching Arcane Barriers around, while dealing with Teleport Traps and getting surprised by One-Way Passages, catapulting you far away into scary unexplored territory with no way out except forward - I currently don't see a way to create these elements randomly AND produce interesting and memorable moments. 'The Ruins of Calaworm' is not that kind of game.

Instead, while Maps remain as handcrafted assets, they will now exist als self-contained chunks to be randomly assembled!

Thought long and hard about it, and I think this is the way to go. Lots of re-factoring, but I can keep ALL my gameplay systems (having plans to introduce new puzzle elements even). Random World Parameters will still be a thing, and provide replayability, even more so with the new system. Players may pre-select relative size of the World they want to explore, from few hour-long Runs, to epic Dungeon Crawls in the veins of original 'Kalawaum'.

Some design issues arise, but nothing I can resolve ... Tilesets are going to be adjusted accordingly to their position in the World; Maps will be logically assembled, so as to provide spatial notion (a.k.a. any Map can become an Overworld Region or a Dungeon). And another, currently dormant WIP-Tileset exists, the icy 'Plateau of Leng'-Dimension, bound to appear as instance with randomized entry point and an equally distributed exit one has to find.

Maps need to be rotated and flipped in such a way, that when entering a new Region, one always has to be in a position where whole Map can be explored (provided Players discovered and memorized a feasible sequence of managing  their Keys). Each Map has 4 Wildcard Exits, each can become an exit to the next Region (some may be locked even - the Map's author should be able to  tag which kind of Doors the Generator may pick, so each Map remains a 100% solvable puzzle.) Up/Down Stair Exits will be procedurally generated (checking via floodFill-Algorithm that Exit Point is reachable from default entry position, so as to maintain viable initial scenario). Random exits to adjacent Maps, which are not in line with Scaling, can be generated as well to obfuscate correct path and provide a learning experience for each Module.

Since the pool of Map Chunks can be indefinitely enhanced, the Editor becomes a way more grateful and efficient tool - one does not have to commit to building a full Module anymore: any Map created can be shared and put in the same folder as the default selection, in order to boost variety.

The first Tutorial Map, as it's short and open, can be fully procedurally generated, also second one, whose function is mainly to introduce core mechanics and not supposed to provide intricate puzzles yet (apart from discovering Secret Areas). I am no stranger to ProcGen concepts, even advanced mechanics like setting up random yet solvable Lock/Key configurations are within my humble coding abilities. And this time around I have an actual game I can work around (and fall back on), so you bloody well believe that I am going to make this a reality!

Goodbye 2022 Release! <3