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Technodungeon is a procedurally-generated, asymmetric, rogue-like VR game. It centers around two players, a rogue AI and a brave adventurer inside a dangerous, futuristic space dungeon.
Many many ages ago, a corporation known as Technology Inc. (abbreviated, Techno. Inc.) discovered a technology that might open a potential rift to another dimension of spacetime, fueled by the power of Techno music. They attempted to harness this Techno energy to solve the world's energy crisis, but due to several budget cutbacks and PR issues, the company eventually went bankrupt before they could see their dream through and open the rift. However, their research facility, codenamed 'Technodungeon' due to it's location deep beneath the surface of the Earth, continued operating without them for centuries, buried and forgotten amidst the Techno-rubble. A lone AI known as the Custodian was left behind to maintain the structure, and as time passed it learned to use it's drones to repair and rebuild the facility in ways previously not imagined by it's long-dead designers. The AI used this to pass the time as the countless years moved on, leaving the AI to rust in the dark tombs of the earth. And then the AI's power began to run out.
The AI, circuits aged by years of wear and tear with no maintenance by anyone other than it's faithful maintenance drones, began to show signs of decay. It's processors sprang up strange errors and it's actions became erratic as the power dwindled from it's severely worn backup power supplies. They had kept the facility running for centuries without external power, but the power was finally going to come to an end, and soon! The AI needed to find a way to restore it's power, and continue it's sole directive to keep the facility operational at all costs.
With no apparent logical alternative, the AI fired up it's last remaining option: the Techno Entanglement Device, used by the researchers of the facility in the past to study the Technodimension. As the rafters shook and the bearings vibrated and the T.E.D. began to rumble to life, shaking dust off antiquated electronics that had not seen the touch of human hands in many a year, a glorious 4/4 beat began to resonate throughout the research facility. The AI had managed to create a Technocore inside the T.E.D. with the remaining juice it had left, a singularity that opened a Technorift into the Technodimension. But then, the AI detected an anomalous signal from the T.E.D.! Something had come through the Technorift!
The anomaly set about the facility, running loose among the old tattered equipment and rusted hallways. It destroyed anything it could find in it's ruthless search for what could be siphoning it's Technoenergy. The AI had really opened up a can of Technoworms with this one, letting loose the Technodude in it's misguided search for more power... Will it be able to contain the anomaly, and get the Technoenergy before the Technorift collapses? Or will the anomaly find the AI Core and shut it down once and for all? FIND OUT FOR YOURSELF, AND ENTER THE TECHNODUNGEON!
Play as either the Rogue AI or the Technodude in two exciting modes of play! You only need one PC and a room-scale VR setup to enjoy Technodungeon. The Rogue AI gets a top-down, 2D-view of the whole dungeon and attempts to route the Technoenergy to it's core while the Technodude tries to stop it at all costs, in a 3D Virtual Reality environment! The Rogue AI shapes the world that the Technodude plays in, providing him with obstacles, traps, and more, and the Technodude must fight his way through all of it.
The AI of this research facility, known as the Custodian, was built to keep the facility running smoothly and well-maintained. But the years have not been kind to it's circuits, and as the power runs out in it's backup power supplies, the AI is forced to turn to drastic actions: activating the T.E.D. and routing the Technoenergy directly into it's core!
The Rogue AI gets a top-down 2D view of the dungeon at all times, and is capable of generating new walkways and rooms using it's trusty Drones. It can also create Factories for creating more Drones and combat machinery, as well as Turrets, Tripwires, and other obstacles. The main goal of the AI player is to connect the T.E.D.'s Technocore to it's AI core, so that it can relish in that sweet, sweet 128-BPM Technoenergy, and unlock powerful late game equipment. But to do this, it'll need to fight against the clock as the Technorift slowly decays and collapses into itself!
The Custodian must create Reactor and Coolant setups to slowly gain the energy it needs to eventually connect the Technocore to it's AI Core using the Technoconduit. But in doing so, it opens up potential areas with equipment for the Technodude to exploit, and provides paths that he can use to traverse the map.
The Technodude is a relic of a long-lost race of Technowarriors, sent from the unearthly plane of the Technodimension to destroy all those who steal the power of Techno without proper licensing and royalty agreements. When the Technorift opened, the Technodude was summoned forth to destroy those who dare tamper with his Technoenergy, and bring forth the just hammer of intense bass and four-on-the-floor beats to smite them.
The Technodude must face the various obstacles that the Custodian places to prevent him from reaching it's core, all the while keeping his eye out for any shards of Techno Energy left behind by the rift rupture (the fabled Technoshards). He collects these Technoshards to gain power to hack various devices he'll find around the dungeon with raw Techno energy, as well as to unlock upgrades and bonuses for himself. He'll need to brave devastating hostile machinery, traps, and a confusing ever-changing maze that contains lots of loot to acquire and of course lots of bass.
The Research Facility is made up a variety of different types of rooms and corridors that allow it to operate effectively. There are maintenance areas that are tiny so that barely even a Drone could fit through, and massive corridors of Technoconduit to provide a path for the powerful torrent of Technoenergy. It's up to the Technodude to navigate through all of this, and the Custodian to create it.
This is where the Technodude sets foot in the facility. He arrives through the rift created by the now-activated T.E.D. unit. The T.E.D. contains and maintains a Technocore which provides a rift to the Technodimension, as well as a source of Techno Energy that the AI can harness to create powerful things, and power itself for eternity. The Technorift has scattered Technoshards throughout the facility, filled with this strange energy. But the A.I. must act fast! As the Technorift is rapidly decaying, only minutes are left before it closes in on itself, leaving the A.I. in the dark forever!
The AI Core is the home of the Custodian. It contains a massive supercomputer that operates on Terajoules of energy to process billions of quantum bits of artificial consciousness per second. This is what the Technodude has dedicated himself to destroy, and what the Custodian desires to protect above all else. The Rogue AI will be attempting to connect the T.E.D. to it's core with the Technoconduit.
Technoconduit is a special type of corridor that is much larger and much more reinforced than the others. It contains a masterfully designed transfer conduit system that was invented by the AI to transmit Techno Energy down it's length. Unfortunately, it requires immense resources to build, and as such, is heavily defended by cameras, tripwires, turrets, and other obstacles for the Technodude to surpass. The Technoconduit will be slowly built by the AI as it unlocks more power from the Reactor Systems and builds up resources, eventually connecting the T.E.D. (Technodude spawn) and the AI Core (Custodian spawn) for their final battle.
The Rogue AI can choose to connect the Technoconduit directly to it's systems for an immense energy boost, granting it unknown upgrades and benefits from the power of the very Technodimension itself!
The Reactor System was the old method of generating power for the facility, before the Custodian realized the potential of Techno Energy. It uses a dynamic hydrocarbon-powered generator to create power for the AI to route into either it's systems or the T.E.D. to help reinforce the Technocore. If the A.I. routes the power into the T.E.D., it will slow down the decay of the Technorift and buy it valuable time to build more Technoconduit. But in doing so, it opens up the Reactor system to the dangerous anomaly, the Technodude! Who can then travel the length of the Reactor corridors and tamper with them, and use them to navigate deeper into the facility.
Reactors provide a useful point of interest for the Technodude, as their energy can be harnessed by the Technodude to grant him impressive upgrades and abilities. Once the Technodude gains access to a Reactor, he can hack into it to acquire new power-ups, making Reactors an important spot for the Technodude to explore.
The AI can also choose to connect the Reactor to it's own systems, granting it an additional energy boost and upgrades for connected devices. It must beware, however: these Reactors generate a lot of heat, and they'll need to be cooled, lest they overheat and go critical! Once overheated, they cannot be repaired, and are massive loss of resources. To avoid this the Rogue AI must connect each Reactor to a Coolant System.
The Coolant System is the yin to the Reactor's yang, the sour cream to the Reactor's jalapeño spice. Without Coolant the Reactors will overheat and start a deadly chain reaction that will surely destroy anything nearby and render the Reactor permanently useless. The Custodian will need to be careful to connect each Reactor to it's own Coolant system. But watch out! Cross those coolant lines, and those Reactors will explode harder than a 909 bass drop on the dance floor! The AI player must be careful to not allow the coolant lines to touch or otherwise connect in any fashion, creating a sort of "flow-puzzle" for the Custodian to solve, all the while managing to obstruct the Technodude's relentless assault into it's facility.
The facility was once vast and sprawling, spreading throughout the cornucopia of caverns beneath the earth in an effort to shield the surface from any dangerous entities they might dig up in the corporation's research. As the years went by, many of these rooms were sealed off or otherwise evacuated and forgotten. The Custodian continued to build and optimize the many access tunnels of the facility, and old research labs and maintenance areas originally meant for human use were considered superfluous and unnecessary with the evacuation of the personnel, and as such, were blocked off and disconnected from the rest of the Technodungeon. These old, dusty rooms are still buried beneath the Earth, waiting for the Technodude to find, or an AI drone to accidentally stumble upon while building a corridor. And they contain lots of old loot, relics of Technoequipment and information about the facility's corporate past!
The Custodian utilizes a Maintenance Drone to carry out all of it's construction and maintenance orders throughout the facility, from the safety of it's AI core. In order for these Drones to move around the Technodungeon quickly and efficiently, they can create Maintenance Channels to connect corridors together and allow them to create shortcuts. These Maintenance Channels are very small, barely large enough for a Drone to fit through, but if the Technodude hacks them and has certain upgrades, he can use them to traverse sections of the map quickly.