Overview
Dunjanitor — The Begrudging Ginger Dungeon Janitor casts you as the dungeon’s janitor: the underpaid maintenance worker who repairs the traps, keeps the Lord alive, and collects a minimum-wage paycheck while so-called “heroes” smash your work on their way in.
I wrote it in 48 hours for the Global Game Jam 2020, theme: “Repair.”
The loop
It looks like a dungeon crawler, and it plays like tower defense in reverse. The traps are already placed, the heroes are already coming, and your job is to keep the dungeon from falling apart, one deathtrap at a time.
Every triggered trap breaks. To fix it, you sprint over and clear a fast QTE, all while dodging the heroes stomping toward your Lord.
If they reach him, he takes damage. He is strong enough to wipe them out himself, but you still get blamed for the mess.
Each hero behaves differently, and the text teaches you how to survive them.
The tutorial is hidden in the sarcasm.
The constraint
With not enough playtime to develop narrative across the levels, the tutorial was the only storytelling surface I had.
So I made it do everything at once:
- teach the enemy roster and their mechanics,
- establish the worker’s-eye worldview,
- set the tone.
Writing Sample: The Tutorial
The dungeon where you work as a janitor is teeming with deplorable creatures: so-called "heroes" of the forces of good, who have the nasty habit of breaking your traps when they die in them, or worse, killing you on sight. Your one and only job is to repair the traps, keep your Lord alive, and get your minimum-wage paycheck at the end of the month.
Let's take a closer look at them. Paladin. Heavy armour, heavier ego. Thanks to a protein-rich diet and divine nepotism, he moves just as fast as everyone else. Carries the sacred family shield, which protects him from the first trap. Warrior. She doesn't just break stereotypes. She breaks everything. If she reaches your Lord, it's double the damage and zero regret. Rogue. You love her. She hates you. She slides through shadows, disarms traps mid-step, and stabs with flair. She's immune to everything — except a goblin's perfectly timed shove. Wait until she starts fiddling with your trap. Then drop her. Mage. Squishy. Arrogant. Deadly. Wrapped in delusions and no armour at all. Launches spells down corridors like fireworks at a funeral. Traps don't faze his spells, but he sure as hell won't survive them. Cleric. Smells like righteousness and rotting herbs. Has the charming habit of bringing the dead back to life, which, tragically, does not include your traps. Guess who's fixing them?
And then there's you. Hold the line, get your gold, and live to repair another day.
