The short version
The town is gone. The sky is gone. Your dog is still here. That will have to be enough. It's time to make a dungeon run.
“Are you familiar with Dungeon Crawler Carl?” asked a colleague at work. It was a Monday, and for whatever the reason, I was half-awake. Had I heard of Dungeon Crawler Carl? The answer was, “Yes, I had. A LitRPG, right?” My colleague shared about how this series was what was being avidly read in their house. Sure, I had heard of Dungeon Crawler Carl and avoided it as just so much more LitRPG.
LitRPG, short for literary role-playing game, is a literary genre combining the conventions of computer RPGs with science-fiction and fantasy novels. In LitRPG, game-like elements form an essential part of the story, and visible RPG statistics (for example strength, intelligence, damage) are a significant part of the reading experience.The main character in a LitRPG novel is consciously interacting with the game or game-like world and attempting to progress within it. (Read More)
LitRPG Overload
I had encountered so much LitRPG in online reading, that finding an old-fashioned fantasy, sci-fi story became my top priority for a while. But that frustration wasn’t for the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, but rather, the fact I’d gorged myself on LitRPG for a year, reading Shirtaloon’s excellent He Who Fights With Monsters series, following the adventures of Jason Asano. I also spent some time with Zogarth’s The Primal Hunter, as well as many, many others.
Dungeon Crawler Carl is a LitRPG science-fantasy series by Matt Dinniman, following Carl and his ex-girlfriend’s cat, Princess Donut, as they navigate a sadistic alien game show after Earth’s apocalypse. (Learn More)
But, that’s not all. There must have been dozens of stories I either read in print or listened to as an audiobook focused on LitRPG. Over time, I grew tired of the premise. The character stats kept getting in the way of the story. I could care less about all the character leveling up. I wanted good storytelling. But after my work colleague suggested Dungeon Crawler Carl, I decided to give it another go.
I’m now through most of book one, and enjoying Princess Donut’s antics, as much as Carl’s frustration with not having all the right articles of clothing due to apocalypse happening at an inconvenient time.
Inspiring a New Game
By way of thanks, I decided it might be fun to vibe-code a Dungeon-type game. My co-worker appears as one of the characters you can play as (I asked if it was OK to include my coworker), and another colleague’s dog is the face of Moxie, the poodle (I mean, you can’t say “No” when your coworker asks you to include their dog, then sends you an edited image to use).
I didn’t want to violate copyright or anything, so the game is called “Dungeon Run.” I based it on characters who work in a sawmill in the country (the most outlandish thing I could think of…think Little House on the Prairie sawmill or the sawmill in Crucial Confrontations). I don’t even know if saw mills exist any longer in the manner described in the game, but if they don’t, just think of it as another universe, ok?
I planned 20 levels, and I’m adding them slowly. Here are the first five levels, but the game will probably only “work” levels 1-3 right now:
I probably won’t be adding new levels until the weekend. I’ve used up my scant credits on ChatGPT Codex at the MX Linux command line, so I’m hoarding some of my usage for other projects.
Game Play
Game play is pretty easy, and two-dimensional (2D). While I usually hate 2D games, I know a lot of folks like them. ID Software got me hooked on 3D-FPS, but there are plenty of games that are 2D oriented, so there you go.
Updates and New Levels
In the meantime, you can play Dungeon Run as one of three characters. I suppose, you should even be able to play as Moxie, but alas, I didn’t think of that until too late. Not all the bugs are shaken out, crushed, or smashed, so keep that in mind.