2D, top-down, movable screens like Shatterloop and Gem Genie.
An endless cavern with a lot of shatterloop's old (and some new) Caves stuff and survival elements. Meant to capture some of the magic of modern minecraft caving with the ender chest / shulker box thing and the overall immersion.
Caves should render in a similar way to zones in shatterloop except they're infinite in all directions. Basically new terrain gets generated as you get close and offloaded as you move away from it.
I'd like to experiment with more modern versions of the ruingen{} to make those kinds of passageways and whatnot. It's a pretty solid engine overall, just needs some work to make structures better and set things within them.
Caverns should have multiple floors -- basically the generators look at a 3D seed. These floors are accessible with Rappelling Ropes (to go down) or Grappling Ropes (to go up).
Caverns should also contain Chasms -- these go down any number of levels and if not descended (or ascended) properly deal enormous amounts of damage.
Water and lava as needed. Very similar generation to shatterloop.
Various resources scattered around -- Ores, mushrooms, etc. Things you'd expect to find in cave games.
Some definite danger elements -- I'm thinking more things you have to avoid subnautica-style rather than fight. Lots of fun environmental hazards, leviathan bosses, visible traps, etc.
Everything is super dark (with some exceptions), which is kinda the point.
Survival is definitely a big one -- you need to Eat and Drink and stay warm but also stay cool in hotter areas. You need to sleep and can tire from too much exertion. Most of what you need is actually findable in the Cavern or is part of your survival kit, but you can't Farm anything -- nomadism is the name of the game here and a big part of the overall game theme. Lots of overlap with Wanderer and will help inform that game.
Ropes and Bombs will help you traverse things better. They have their own distinct mechanics and each type is a bit different. There might be some procgen stuff going on with it.
Lighting is a big part of the game -- the caverns are naturally dark but you can throw items around that help you see better and you also see a radius around you with Torches. I'm thinking something minecraftesque where you place consumable craftable torches down, except you can throw them at range so it's less annoying.
