[The Backrooms] Expand the Backrooms to multiple Z-levels, add stairs

[Standing-Storm]

Summary

Mods "[The Backrooms] Expand the Backrooms to multiple Z-levels, add stairs"

Purpose of change

You thought you were getting hopelessly lost already? Well, well.

Describe the solution

Increase the range of Backrooms levels from Z level 0 only to Z levels -3 to 3.

Add a stairway map special, linking one Z level to the Z level above. Make it extremely common (much more common than other specials), and increase the frequency of specials to compensate.

The map special silently refused to spawn no matter what I did, so I added a series of overmap specials instead that link the different Z levels. This also makes both ends of the stairwell more obvious. Each Z level has between 15 and 40 staircases linking to the Z level above (except Z level 3, obviously)

Describe alternatives you've considered

21 Z levels of Backrooms

Those weird alternate Backrooms levels like the one that's just a Japanese onsen. Seriously, what's liminal about an onsen?

Testing

Staircases spawn:

Additional context

Did you know "almond water" is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the true hopelessness of the Backrooms? It's true!

[github-actions]

Auto-requesting reviews from non-collaborators: @onura46

[onura46]

I will give this a look over asap; I just need to recompile the program again and give it a quick playtest. The changes look pretty sleek!

I would love to have more oddly-shaped multi-floor map connections in the future, but as you found out, the Backrooms mapgen works in weird ways, so you have deal through overmap specials.

[Standing-Storm]

the Backrooms mapgen works in weird ways, so you have deal through overmap specials.

I was trying to get ravines to spawn (for a personal mod I set all the walls and floors to metal for a BLAME!-esque megastructure feel) but absolutely could not get it to work. Maybe I need to give that a try again...

[onura46]

I was trying to get ravines to spawn

I think most terrain has been overridden out by the game_balance.json file in the mod, but I'm not 100% sure on that. Check out

Cataclysm-DDA/data/mods/Backrooms/game_balance.json

Line 51 in daa4080

"type": "EXTERNAL_OPTION",

I had ravines working at one point like a year ago, but I don't remember exactly why I didn't enable it. Maybe I just thought it was weird to show the rock floor underneath you. Ruined the illusion lol.

[Standing-Storm]

Well, I did get them to work but I found one problem with them:

it happily places specials over them, leading to floating furniture

(There's also a big giant "cliffside" field of carpet on Z level 0 rather than the rooms going all the way up to the edge of the ravine

[onura46]

Ahhhh yeah, that could be one of the reasons 😅

Anyway, this looks good to me! The gray walls help make the stairwell a little more obvious when you're wandering, which helps. If I ever get the time to add more specials, I'll probably use them more.

[Standing-Storm]

Perfect!

It’ll be another PR, but I realized it’d also be nice to have rarer multi-Z-level staircases (like 3 to 0, 1 to -1, and 0 to -3) and then a very rare 3 to -3 big staircase. Something else for players to search for