I've made a campaign: "A Dungeon Keeper - New Game+". It is the original bullfrog campaign, tweaked for for experienced players.
The levels have received minor tweaks to make them interesting again. A slight increase in difficulty, but still below that of "The Deeper Dungeons".
What's different from the original campaign:
• Tutorial levels streamlined for experienced players: Faster, no tutorial messages.
• Additional hero’s added in first few levels. Not to increase difficulty, but to at least include a fight.
• Boosted all rival keepers with the best AI, a dungeon to start out with and a prison. This to compensate for the lack of a brain.
• Transfer creature special is no longer ‘easy mode’. The first 7 levels assume you transfer a creature when available; the other levels have the transfer special removed or only accessible by earning it.
• The two secret levels with the ‘Rogue Imps’ now truly have Rogue imps. It will take a skilled player to get complete them, and the reward is reduced.
• Small tweaks to the levels to prevent the player cheesing through. Starting on level 7, expect to be challenged.
• Other minor changes to keep you on your guard.
I've played through it myself a few times, and I'd love to hear feedback: Not just on what you like or dislike, but also if the levels seem to play out like they should. Keepers act out differently every time, and I can only play-test so much. I will update the file when people have issues.
Personally I was surprised how enjoyable some of the levels became with some minor modifications. It almost seems like the original map designers where told the keeper AI would improve before release, but it never did. Giving them a head start makes a world of difference.
As a child, I delved countless times into the original Dungeon Keeper campaign, reveling in leading my army of wicked minions against the forces of good. Among the myriad maps, favorites like Lushmeadow-on-down, Hearth, and Elve's Dance left an indelible mark on my memory. However, the original campaign had its shortcomings, notably the lackluster challenge posed by the blue keeper, whose dungeons often crumbled due to financial mismanagement rather than strategic prowess.
Enter New Game+, a revitalization of the beloved original campaign that addresses this longstanding issue head-on. Seamlessly blending the essence of the original with subtle tweaks, New Game+ elevates the blue keeper into a formidable adversary, finally offering the satisfying challenge that Dungeon Keeper players have longed for. While staying true to the original's atmosphere, this custom map feels like the campaign as it was truly meant to be experienced.
Gone are the days of run-off-the-mill showdowns; battles require some level of strategy now, ensuring that every level presents an adequate challenge. The campaign's learning curve feels organic, with only a few notable difficulty spikes along the way. New Game+ strikes a delicate balance, offering a moderate level of challenge that caters to both newcomers and seasoned veterans alike.
True to the quality expected from a Loobinex project, each level boasts flawless execution, free of bugs and logical inconsistencies. However, one minor hiccup arises in the form of the scavenging room mechanic. Despite my best efforts to lure my enemy's creatures, particularly evident in level 19 with a horde of level 10 bile demons, the scavenging room often fell short of expectations when I realised that my enemy's bile demons were left completely unaffected by my attempts to convince them to my cause. Nonetheless, this slight drawback did little to diminish the sheer enjoyment derived from playing this meticulously crafted map.
Transported back to my youth, I reveled in the challenge presented by New Game+. It's a testament to the enduring appeal of Dungeon Keeper, offering a nostalgic trip down memory lane coupled with a newfound level of difficulty that makes this experience outshine the one of my memory.
Difficulty: 3/5 Rating: 5/5
Glad you enjoyed it. There seems to be a scavenging bug, but it is game-wide at this point. I have yet to investigate and fix it. So not specific to NG+, and hopefully when the bug is fixed you can try to lure gassy monstrosities to your hearts content again.
Edit: The scavenging bug is fixed in the latest alphas and this fix will be in the 1.1 version of the game.
Some missions was really hard, but some was still easy, like when You got unlimited time to be stronger. A small brief would be cool in some leves, like when your portal can't make more units for You, but maybe because the enemy got too much monster from the start. After beating the campaign, i recommend beating this one too. 5 star for me.
The ?-menu (press 1) will always have your player icon blink when you are at the portal limit. The other player icons will blink if the other keepers are at their portal limit.
Glad you enjoyed it.
Feature request:
Add Druid and Time Mage on some map, I could see Druid join on later level and also Time Mage spawn on level 18 and level 20.
yeah why not,...
You never did! Did you forgot or it's not a good change maybe?
I never did rework NG+ since then. And I would have to think how to incorporate them, NG+ is a big nostalgia thing after all.