How long should a dungeon be?

[Aaron]

How long do you think that an average dungeon should take the player to beat? An hour? Two? I don't know because I've never kept track of the time when playing any RPGs. I always play until I nearly pass out . I figured that I'd ask my future players what they think, so they didn't get pissed off at me when they are walking around in a dungeon for hours lost, with only one potion, and a dead character with no way to resurrect him.

[vespuleth]

id say an hour would be good. but you should also provide a save point somewhere.

[Doan the Nado]

Well, it depends how important the "dungeon" is to your game's plot. If it for some small item that is part of a large fetch quest, I would not want the dungeon to be longer than a half hour or so. On the other hand, your game's last dungeon could feasibly be 2-3 hours long, as long as it remains interesting and there are spots to save. I, too, think an hour is a pretty good time for an average dungeon, though.

[Aaron]

What I think I'll have to do is make the dungeon completely, then test play it 3 times and average the times. I will fight a set number of battles and estrimate how long it will take to solve puzzles and add that time to the averages. If it doesn't take as long as I think that it should, I will alter it (the layout, and puzzles) so that it falls near where I think it should. It will vary, I know, but it will give me a good idea if the dungeon is too long or short, then I will add save points accordingly. I will also take into consideration the importance of the dungeon to the plot, because it makes sense. I appreciate the help.

[The Final Rune]

This may seem obvious, but you should try to get some one objective to play your dungeon also, then, factor their time in with your average. I've noticed in my own game I just rush through my puzzles without thinking. Also, consider how long it would take to traverse the dungeon at higher and lower levels.

[Dungeon Warden]

What I wouldn't what you to do is artificially lengthen a dungeon if you think it's too short. Short is good, especially near the beginning. The player should be able to save at least once every half hour with the option to save and quit the game whenever they need to (usually by leaving the dungeon and going back to the last town via items or magic).

How long a dungeon is will depend on the story and developments that happen while traveling. Dungeons can get boring if your just exploring endless caves and tunnels. Breaking up the game play in longer dungeons with some story helps to keep things interesting. The one complant I have with many RPGs is that the final dungeon gets really boring to work though because the story is basically over except for the big boss battle at the end.

[Aaron]

To remedy the save problem I am going to have in- game saving so the player can save when he or she wants to. Sorry, I have to go to anger management class. Be back later tonight.

[Deleted]

I'd say 0:30 to 0:45 for most dungeons, 0:45 to 1:15 for more important ones, and 1:15 to 1:45 for the final one (note that battle systems can change this, I'm assuming the battles are relatively quick like FFs/BoFs/etc.). I'd say the last one can be longer, but as DW mentioned, since the story's virtually over and after 1:45 or so of dungeon already it's hard to make it fun/interesting/whatever for longer than that. I'm aiming for about 0:30 to 0:45 for all the dungeons except a few given ones that'll (projectedly) be 0:45 to 1:00, except for the prequel's one dungeon-one town (so they're both bigger, but the different floors'll be different, and I have story and characters throughout it) and the extra-hard(er)-long sidequest dungeon for special bonuses (with story, class, etc. in it too). Those two I don't know how long they'll be.