Last week I did a bit of work on lighting and applying normals to my walls. This gives the impression that they are made up of more than just a flat polygon. However because the viewpoint is so fixed (at 90 degrees and no vertical movement) it's really difficult to tell that the normals are even there! I might take them out at some point in the future, or put in a switch so I can turn them off if necessary.

So with the pathfinding in place, my engine is just about complete. I've implemented -

Procedural level generation
Mapped level generation
Movement with collision detection
Item management, with equipment/inventory screen
Interactive objects (doors etc)
Wandering monsters
Combat
Heat management
Automapping

wow, there's a lot of work gone into that lot! My next step is to start putting in the game elements and making it fun. The first step is to design a 'tutorial' level which introduces the elements of the game, tells you how to play, what are the goals etc. When I was playtesting other dungeon games, I found this was a big let down for some of them, there was no help at all so you didn't know how to play the game, what keys to press, what the goals were etc. I'm a big fan of in-built help systems and I think they are especially useful in an RPG game.

So I have started programming the first level, it is mapped rather than generated so it will be the same every time. I have a portrait graphic and a script which runs and gives you the basics from your Mission Controller, 'Theora'.

By the way I found this wonderful site, really useful if you are struggling for art assets.

http://opengameart.org/blog