# ~dvngeon

> ~dvngeon (also written dvngeon) is a free pixel-art action RPG in the survivors and bullet-hell style, played in a web browser at https://dvngeon.com/. Pick one of four heroes, survive six timed waves of monster hordes on one of nine expeditions, build your hero with weapons and passives as you level up, then slay the boss to open the gate home. No download and no account. Made by r13.xyz Games.

Key facts:

- Genre: action RPG; survivors-like bullet hell in the vein of Vampire Survivors; roguelite runs (a fresh build every run, permanent upgrades between runs).
- Price: free, with nothing to buy.
- Platform: any modern web browser, on a computer (keyboard and mouse) or a phone (touch controls). No download, no install, no account.
- Players: single player.
- Version: 0.1.1 (alpha preview), in early development.
- Saves: in the browser's local storage on the device you play on. There is no cloud save yet.
- Developer and publisher: r13.xyz Games (https://r13.xyz/).
- Pixel art: Minifantasy by Krishna Palacio.

How a run works: in the walled hub town of Hearthmere, walk to the Wayfarers' Gate and choose one of nine expeditions, all open from the start and ordered by tier from 1 to 9. After a three-second calm, survive six one-minute waves. Monsters stream in from beyond the screen, events add rushes, sweeping swarms and closing rings, and eight-second transitions lead into named minibosses in waves three and five. Kills drop experience gems, and each level offers three choices (sometimes four): a weapon, a passive, a class talent, or an upgrade to the hero's own attacks. After six minutes the boss arrives with its own telegraphed slams, charges and ring, fan or crossing volleys with visible escape gaps. It enrages at half health. Slaying it opens the gate home. A run takes about seven minutes. Dying returns you home with half your gold and no ingredients. Abandoning returns you with no run rewards or career XP. Only a boss kill counts as a clear.

Heroes:

- Fighter: Cleave (a wide sword arc) and Shockwave (pierces up to three foes). 120 health.
- Ranger: Arrow and Fan Shot (three arrows in a fan). 90 health, the fastest hero.
- Wizard: Arcane Bolt and Fireball (bursts on contact or at full range). 85 health, powerful but fragile.
- Cleric: Holy Strike and Holy Nova (restores 2.5 health when it hits an enemy). 105 health.

Expeditions and their bosses, by tier:

1. Alderwake Wilds: Mycelos, the Rotbloom Colossus
2. Mire of Whispers: Morrowgast, the Mire Physician
3. Glassroot Depths: Vex'thal, Mind of the Glassroot
4. Frostvein Pass: Rimeback, the Frostvein Troll
5. The Saffron Expanse: Khan Asharak of the Saffron Sands
6. Bellgrave Crypt: The Bellgrave Reaper
7. Cinderhammer Halls: Old Cinderhammer, the Anvil Giant
8. The Verdant Sepulchre: Thornback, Idol-Beast of the Sepulchre
9. Crown of Ash: Malzeth of the Ashen Crown

Progression: during a run the hero carries up to four automatic weapons (Spin Cycle, Chop Chop, Pew Pew, Chain Pain, Holy Moly, Brrr, Bad Soup, U-Turn, Sky Oops, Trip Tax, Tiny Boss) and up to four passives, each with five levels, plus signature upgrades to the hero's attack and skill. Each hero has a separate three-rank talent: Bonk, Rebound, Floor Food or Holy Heck. Every expedition starts a fresh build. A clear banks all gold and ingredients. A defeat banks half the gold, rounded down, and no ingredients; earned career XP and recipe slips still count. Abandonment banks nothing and grants no career XP. Gold buys eight permanent boons at the Hearth Shrine. Records track runs, clears, kills, best level and fastest clears.

Controls: WASD or arrow keys to move, mouse to aim, the attack fires by itself, left click for the class skill, Space to dodge, Q to drink a healing potion, E to interact and to fish, B for the Catch Book, 1 to 4 to pick a level-up offer, Esc to pause, M for sound and F for fullscreen. On phones: a movement stick, an aim-and-attack stick, a touch anywhere on the field for the skill, and dodge and potion buttons, in portrait or landscape.

Hearthmere: the walled hub town, with a market square, guild halls, a smithy, gardens, a farm, a tavern and the temple that holds the Hearth Shrine. Townsfolk stop to chat, you can pet the cats and dogs, and there are easter eggs to find. Expedition kills yield regional ingredients, while elites and bosses also yield recipe slips. The tavern gives a one-time starter pantry. Cook known recipes or experiment with two ingredients and an optional spice. Prepared portions are listed on the menu automatically, can be paused, and sell to visiting patrons about every twenty seconds. Service catches up for at most thirty minutes while the page is away.


Fishing: every water in Hearthmere can be fished, Animal Crossing style, with no rod to buy. Press E at a bank, the fountain or the well, cast just ahead of a fish's nose, watch the bobber through the nibbles, and press again, quickly, on the real bite. Some fish lose interest, and now and then the catch is junk, which sells for a few gold from the Catch Book's Junk Drawer. 64 species live in the brook, the deep pools, the salt pond, the fountain and the well, each biting at its own hours and some only in rain, storms, fog or clear skies. Catches go to the pantry, and the Catch Book records every species, count and record size.

## Careers, hunts and packed meals

Each hero has a separate persistent career from level 1 to 20. Fighting, completed waves and clears award XP, with a first-clear bonus for each hero in each region. Career bonuses cap at +38 health and +9.5% damage. All nine Normal regions stay open and repeatable. Clearing a region unlocks its Veteran hunt, then Mythic, with stronger enemies and better champion harvests. Enemies do not automatically scale to hero level.

Champions add class specialties alongside regional drops: Fighter gets Iron Marrow, Ranger gets Trail Berry, Wizard gets Aether Curd, and Cleric gets Blessed Culture. Each specialty has a recipe. Pack one cooked portion from the tavern menu for a health, pickup, regeneration or area bonus on your next expedition. Reserved meals are kept away from customers and consumed when you successfully enter, including runs later lost or abandoned.

Start each expedition with one reroll; minibosses restore one up to three. After two offer sets without an eligible owned-weapon upgrade, the next set contains one. A rank-five U-Turn plus Thick Skin, Brrr plus Big Deal, Holy Moly plus Leftovers, or Trip Tax plus Bean Juice can earn one mastery from a miniboss chest. It replaces one chest reward. Trip Tax leaves traps, and Tiny Boss follows your aim as an attacking companion. The last twelve seconds of waves two, four and six reduce new spawn pressure for gathering.

Roadmap. Everything below is planned, not in the game yet, and plans can change:

- Planned: online accounts, so progress can follow you between devices.
- Planned: a fantasy economy with player auctions.
- Planned: farming and equipment crafting.

## Docs

- [Play ~dvngeon](https://dvngeon.com/): the game itself, free in the browser
- [Guide](https://dvngeon.com/guide/): how to play, heroes, expeditions and bosses, weapons, controls, tips and FAQ
- [Full text](https://dvngeon.com/llms-full.txt): the whole guide as one Markdown file

## Optional

- [r13.xyz Games](https://r13.xyz/): the studio that makes ~dvngeon
- [Minifantasy by Krishna Palacio](https://krishna-palacio.itch.io/): the pixel art used in the game

## Under the town

Under the town is a second combat mode and part of the same character progression. Enter through the candlelit burial court in Hearthmere's eastern quarter, south of the restaurant. Nine procedural underground depths unlock in sequence: The Old Drains, Drowned Cistern, Hollow Ways, Candleless Catacombs, Buried Foundry, The Reliquary, Silent Necropolis, The Black Rift and Heart of the Abyss. The first is open to new heroes. Clear Normal to unlock the next depth and Veteran on the cleared depth; clear Veteran to unlock Mythic. Explore 408 by 288 tile floors with roughly 75 chambers, caves, halls, loops and winding tunnels. Mixed squads with broods of lesser creatures use guards, flankers, ranged attackers and limited support healing, with telegraphed ambushes. Every species has a telegraphed signature technique (pounce, charge, slam, drag, aimed volley, lobbed poison, blink strike, death fuse, split, frenzy or war cry); squads surround the hero and take turns, lead their shots, sidestep projectiles and can call one neighbouring room for help. The monster that kills a hero underground becomes that depth's nemesis: named and ranked, with traits, it waits on the next descent and pays a bounty when slain. Complete two randomized key, lever or relic objectives to open gates, and defeat the keeper. Treasure applies without a Continue screen. No timed horde waves. Career XP, permanent boons, gold, pantry ingredients and packed meals are shared with outdoor journeys. First clears award a bonus per hero; floor unlocks are shared across heroes. Defeat keeps half gold and earned career XP, abandonment keeps nothing.

Crimson Space (v0.1.0): six worlds of ten levels at Hearthmere's crimson gateway. Ash March, Brood Wilds, Drowned Dominion, Cinder Engine, Hollow Winter and Crimson Abyss each retain a consistent tile, scenery and lighting theme, with ten different arena compositions. Level ten in every world is a distinct three-phase boss encounter. Objectives mix swarms, finite waves, spawning nests, shrine control, survival and marked hunts. Later levels combine flankers, warned chargers, snipers, healing support, directional guards and explosive creatures. Uses the currently chosen Fighter, Ranger, Wizard or Cleric with matching art and class specialties. No separate arena hero selection or hero unlocks. Clears permanently unlock the next level. Continue within a world with the same hero, weapon and perks and recover up to 25 health. Entering a new world preserves your hero but resets weapon and perks and restores full health. Replays start fresh builds. Two perk drafts per level, ranks capped at three. Daily seeds remix supplies and spawns; continuing preserves the original date. First victory each UTC date awards one trophy seal. Six fantasy weapons equip automatically. Mouse attacks, R readies, Space dodges, Q bursts, Esc pauses; touch has two sticks and offscreen objective arrows. Level records and unlocks live locally, including migrated earlier records. No accounts or online ranking. Town upgrades do not apply. Abandonment preserves completed levels but earns nothing for the current fight.

Music in v0.1.1: seven shuffled Crimson Space combat tracks, separate Crimson menu music, two victory variations, defeat and tavern music. Hearthmere has an early-morning track from 05:00 to 08:00 and a second night track. Music preloads its successor, crossfades between tracks and scenes, and fades back in after sound or focus is restored.