How long do you like it?

[Emciel]

(Hope you liked the suggestive title ^_^)

I've been working on a few different dungeons, mainly experimenting on the editor.
But I was wondering about the length of user made dungeons.
Of course at the moment noone has made any truly epicly long dungeons, simply because we haven't had the time,
and when downloading a whole load of new dungeons I often feel like a short length dungeon (say only a couple of levels) is actually great.
It means I can sit down and just play through it, and have an enjoyable experience.
Of course, long dungeons allow for more character specialisation and a longer more satisfying adventure.

So I ask you, do you prefer the short exhilarating dungeon run?
Or the slow and long lasting dungeon crawl?
Or something in between (maybe you end up saving and returning the next day)?

[Neikun]

I thought that's what you were doing.. Cheeky guy.
If there is enough plot to really engage the audience, I see no reason why a 13+level shouldn't be just fine.
However, if it's just a dungeon crawler (loose term), emphasis on quick fun, simpler puzzles, I'd say a good 3-7 level dungeon is a good run.
The problem with making a dungeon too short is that you lose the fun of getting progressively better equipment and stats.

[Disasterrific]

Puzzle-based should probably be about 5 levels, give or take. Plot-based should come in about 10-15. If you can sustain the quality and once we have more scenery and monsters to play with then 20 should be a good epic quest, but those are really going to have to be labours of love to keep them fun throughout.

I personally am going to work on a series of themed levels and aim for about 10, good mix of puzzles and interesting combat situations.

[guigr]

It's a good question as I'm finding myself having some kind of writter block on my dungeon. I made only 5 levels but I can't see myself doing 10+ without repeating myself.

[spectre900]

A vanilla based dungeon with good balance between puzzle, combat and exploration... probably 5 or more levels.

story based levels should probably be even longer.

it also depends on difficulty level. if its an easy dungeon then a shorter one may be preferred, but if it's a hard dungeon it may be more challenging and fun with a longer one.

a dungeon with custom wall set, monsters and weapons may be a lot more fun if its as long, if not longer than the original dungeon.

[Ixnatifual]

I prefer a long dungeon crawl where I get a chance to really immerse myself into it and develop my characters. Around the length of the original Grimrock game or even much longer would be great. I typically wouldn't bother with super short dungeons thar are only 1-5 levels deep, even if they're well-made. I'm also not interested in dungeons that are only hack n' slash or only puzzles. I like a good balance between fighting and solving puzzles, like what AH achieved. It can be a bit more combat heavy than that, as long as it doesn't forget the puzzles.

[Neikun]

You make a good point, Ixy.