Conflux/What is Conflux

What is Conflux?

Conflux is a fan-made custom dungeon for the seminal 20 year old dungeon crawler computer game Dungeon Master. Dungeon Master is still beloved of many fans worldwide, and various tools have been created over the years to help edit the dungeon layout and increase the limited graphics sets.

No custom dungeon has done more to push fan's efforts into increasing this than Conflux, the twisted, wonderful and awe inspiring creation of Benjamin Prieu (aka Zyx).

Is Conflux III a sequel of Conflux II ?

Although there are three series of dungeons, they are not sequels, merely stages of the dungeon as it has evolved and grown.

• Conflux I was a basic DM custom dungeon released for the PC version of the engine.

• Conflux II took advantage of the work of Paul Stevens in creating a PC version of the expansion/sequel to DM, Chaos Strikes Back. That engine had only been available on the Atari and Amiga, but after porting it to Windows, Paul expanded the engine in terms of editability, allowing the designer to create myriads of skins for monsters and levels, and, very importantly, creating a pseudo code that allows many of the seemingly immuteable engine limitations to be broken and circumvented by an able designer.
  Conflux II was created when zyx ported his dungeon to this engine, and it was this dungeon that pushed this clone to breaking point, turning a simple porting of an engine into a powerhouse when compared to the original game. The ability to interrupt both player commands and monster actions has seen surprising results, as well as the ability to generate complex state machines to power otherwise simple dungeon mechanics.

• Conflux III is the latest (final?) release of this dungeon series, where the enhanced custom graphics, monster skinning, and engine capability is showcased.

Ok, seriously, what is Conflux ?

Conflux is a fan-made custom dungeon. It is a basic dungeon crawl over many levels. Like the offical expansion Chaos Strikes Back, Conflux is a very non-linear affair. Unlike that dungeon, Conflux allows you to explore the various realms of the Undercity freely. While there are central quests, there are many endings. Party choice matters, one of the fundamental original ideas. Waiting to retrieve the guild leaders allows access to their endings. Possessing a certain character, especially a guild guide, allows you to open secrets or gives you information.

Conflux boasts many features not found in the original game - myriads of secrets and side quests, and most importantly atmosphere by the bucketload. Of course, a dungeon based upon a 20 year old game will not visually compare to anything today. However, a good game is a good game, a good custom dungeon is a good custom dungeon, and conflux is a masterstroke of depth and genius ideas.

Many graphics are borrowed from classic games; many items and even champions can be seen. The dungeon has organically grown, and both this and the breaking point of the engine that tries to support it are sometimes evident. It is hoped that any who play the dungeon will be able to ignore these niggles.

For those who have not played the games, these pages will not be helpful - please, download from Conflux Versions, and step into the weird and compelling world.

Once you have started to beat your head repeatedly on the walls looking for inspiration, these pages may provide illumination and comfort. Please feel free to request a username, and expand this knowledge base with your own findings!