Dungeon Player's Guide

1. Start Here

Dungeon is a browser-based, GE-supported adventure game built around map exploration, actors, abilities, Essence, containers, party management, and Battle Mode. It may be played with mouse, keyboard, gamepad, and the GE HUD depending on your current device and the build you are running.

Dungeon uses the word actor for active map entities. That includes enemies, merchants, chests, body bags, party members, interactive features, and any map entity that carries behavior.

2. What You Are Doing

Your moment-to-moment goal is to explore the current dungeon map, survive encounters, collect or spend Essence, manage your party and inventory, unlock paths, and use abilities or items at the right time. Some maps are test maps or works in progress, so the local goal may be different from one save slot to another.

Dungeon's rules are condition-driven. That means timing, battle behavior, shop rules, locks, and interaction details may be tuned by the current project data rather than being identical in every map.

3. Screen and HUD

The main view is the Game Portal. It shows the map, your player actor or party, nearby actors, animated ability sprites, panel overlays, GE HUD elements, and contextual feedback. The HUD and panels may change depending on the game state.

4. Controls

Dungeon supports multiple input surfaces. The exact physical labels can vary by controller, and GE resolves device-specific aliases so that Xbox, Sony, Nintendo, 8BitDo, keyboard, and mouse layouts can be handled without assuming one raw button order.

Core action vocabulary

Keyboard and mouse

Use the on-screen prompts for the current build when they are present. This guide uses the stable action names, not a promise that every map binds every key the same way.

Gamepad

Raw face labels such as A, B, X, and Y are treated as Xbox-style labels by default. Nintendo-style labels are selected only when GE or the device configuration identifies a Nintendo/Switch/Joy-Con/8BitDo Nintendo-style layout.

5. Movement and Exploration

Movement is tile- and actor-aware. Some actors block movement, some can move out of the way, some are hidden, and some tiles or doors require a condition, key, lock amount, or actor interaction before you can pass.

• Face or hover before using a context action on a nearby target.
• Do not assume an actor is hostile just because it occupies a tile. Merchants, chests, body bags, guards, and special map logic are all actors.
• Party members should not step through each other. When a unit moves, members may need to recursively get out of each other's way.
• Guard units may track the whole player unit rather than only the leader.
• Roads, corridors, or authored paths may use Auto-Walk behavior when the current map supports it.

Blocking and Z order

Actors can have blocking behavior and a visual order. If an actor looks like it is in front of you, treat it as interactable or blocking until the game state proves otherwise. Doors and other actors should respect their intended ZIndex and hitbox order so the visible target matches the clickable target.

6. Actors and Interaction

An actor is any map entity that can carry identity, stats, inventory, flags, sounds, BGM, blocking, hidden state, trade behavior, purge behavior, or battle behavior. Player-facing actor types can include party members, enemies, guards, merchants, chests, doors, body bags, special triggers, and level-up services.

When an actor does not react the way you expect, try a different approach: move adjacent, face it, hover it, use Action A, use Action B, or open the relevant panel.

7. Party Panel

The Party Panel is where you review party members, check resources, choose or inspect inventory slots, and manage party-specific actions. Party members may have battle stats, inventory slots, and abilities.

8. Items and Abilities

Dungeon treats items and abilities through shared inventory slot behavior. Actors can carry up to 15 item/ability slots, and the same amount and depletion rules should apply to ordinary items, abilities, keys, locks, containers, shops, and battle actions.

Displayed sprites

In ability listings, the ability sprite appears before the ability name. If an ability has no animation in the live game, it should show a grey placeholder box. That grey placeholder is specifically for listed abilities without animations, not for every missing sprite in the game.

Amounts are rounded up for display

Stored amounts can be fractional. The displayed count rounds up so the player sees that a partial remaining amount still exists.

stored amount: 0.25  → displayed count: 1
stored amount: 1.00  → displayed count: 1
stored amount: 1.10  → displayed count: 2

• A slot with a visible count of 1 may contain a fractional amount.
• Using an item, key, lock charge, or ability may deplete part of the stored amount.
• When an amount reaches zero, purge behavior may remove the empty stack.
• Do not assume a displayed count tells you the exact decimal amount.

9. Essence and Appraisal

Essence is the value/currency resource used by shops, appraisal, level services, and other economy behavior. It should display with a space before the unit: 12 Ess, not 12Ess.

For level purchases and sell-back, Dungeon can use an appraisal ramp. If sell-back is available, it may use half-current-level appraisal per tier instead of refunding the original full purchase value.

10. Shops, Chests, and Body Bags

Dungeon uses the shop panel for more than merchants. Chests, body bags, and special actors can use the same transfer machinery. The panel may represent a normal shop, a free container, a two-way trade interface, a level-up service, or a purge source.

Transfer rules

• Matching item or ability slots are preferred.
• If no matching slot exists, an empty slot may be used.
• Fractional amounts are preserved behind the displayed rounded-up count.
• Zero-unit stacks can be purged automatically.
• Panel input is captured while the shop is open, except for allowed GE HUD activation.

11. Battle Mode

Battle Mode opens when the current actor, condition, map, or action triggers combat. While it is open, Battle Mode owns normal input so the game does not accidentally move or interact with the map behind the battle panel.

Battle stats

Battle actors can use Health, Stamina, Mana, Essence, Level, and a 15-slot Action Inventory. Health, Stamina, and Mana can each have current, minimum, maximum, regeneration, enchanted, and undead-style behavior depending on the actor data.

Defeated enemy actors may be removed from the blocking map and replaced with walkable body-bag tiles. Enemy body bags are expected to be brown; player body bags are expected to be dark grey when that state is used.

12. Levels and Defeat

Level is both progression and a survival buffer. In the current Dungeon rules, combat defeat costs 1 Player Level. If the resulting level is 0 or less, the defeated player actor is expired.

Level-up services

Some actors can provide dedicated level-up shop behavior. When an actor has the right level-up and shop behavior, use Action B while hovering or focusing that actor to open the level-up service.

• Level purchases may cost Essence based on an appraisal ramp.
• Sell-back, when available, may use half-current-level appraisal per tier.
• Check the cost and resulting level before confirming.
• Do not open a level service in a hurry while a battle or other panel is already active.

13. Doors, Keys, and Locks

Doors and locks can use the same amount/depletion rules as other items. That means key and lock amounts can be fractional internally while the displayed count rounds up.

• Face, hover, or focus a door before interacting if the action is directional.
• A key count of 1 may be a partial remaining amount.
• A lock may consume a fractional or full amount depending on conditions.
• Door behavior can depend on actor blocking, ZIndex, current conditions, and inventory state.
• If a door does not respond, try moving adjacent, facing it, using the other action, or checking inventory.

Because Dungeon is data-driven, not every door is only a door. Some door-like actors may also carry BGM, hidden trigger behavior, trade logic, lock logic, or battle conditions.

14. Audio and Areas

Dungeon can attach BGM behavior to actors, not only to fixed map regions. Any actor can carry BGM behavior, and tracks can loop or crossfade when the authored data calls for it.

If audio seems silent at first, interact once inside the Game Portal and confirm the tab is not muted. Crossfades may take a moment, especially when a save slot loads a different track set.

15. Saves and Active Slots

Dungeon can save active map and project changes into server-side storage. That means the active play state may come from a selected private save slot rather than the original public source assets.

• Use the intended save slot when testing a map.
• Do not assume the public default is the one you are currently playing.
• If a shop, chest, door, or battle changed recently, reload the active slot before judging the behavior.
• If the Editor and the game disagree, check which slot each one is using.

16. Troubleshooting

17. Quick Reference

Glossary