Dungeon Fighter Online

Dungeon Fighter Online is a Korean multiplayer PC beat 'em up video game developed by Neople, originally published by Hangame and currently published by Nexon. The game was originally released in Korea as Dungeon & Fighter (던전앤파이터) and in Japan as Arad Senki (アラド戦記). Dungeon Fighter Online has a total player base of over 197 million, with a world record 2 million concurrent users in China. Closed Beta for an English version of the game ran from July 28, 2009 to August 3, 2009. Early access has begun on September 15, 2009. Open beta started September 22, 2009. It was featured in WCG 2009, and is still a popular televised program in South Korea, where a league is active.

Gameplay
Dungeon Fighter Online is similar to classic 2D side-scrolling arcade hack and slash games, such as Golden Axe or Double Dragon. Players will traverse 2D screens while fighting hordes of monsters.

Character classes
There are 6 base character classes in Dungeon Fighter Online', and each class can specialize in a one of several subclasses upon reaching level 18. Each subclass can further advance at level 48 by accomplishing an awakening quest, gaining a new title and two new powerful skills. Awakened subclasses are an upgraded form of the original subclass. For example, a Gunner can become a Ranger at level 18, and is able to awaken as a Desperado, an upgraded Ranger, at level 48.

Slayer
The Slayer is a swordsman who uses melee weapons such as swords or blunt weapons. They are the all-around melee class, with good offense, defense, and speed. In the game, the Slayer is constantly battling against the demonic presence in his arm. A female variant of the Slayer class has been announced, but has not yet been released.

Promoted slayers can take several forms. { Through a quest to seal the demonic presence in his arm, the Slayer can become a Blade Master. Blade Masters utilize sheer damage per second output to become glass cannons. They do not gain many extra skills as the other classes, but gain the ability to quickly chain their starting skills together as well as the ability to use upgraded versions of them. This, coupled with the fact that they can use a wide variety of weapons effectively, makes them very easy to use and are popular amongst beginner players. They wear Light Armor for the passive hit recovery bonus, though Heavy Armor can be used for more unconventional purposes. Most Blademasters choose to use their specialty weapon called the Lightsabre, of which access is granted when the Slayer becomes a Blade Master. There are also Bludgeon enthusiasts who enjoy the extra bounce effects on certain skills for easier combos. Skilled Blade Masters even swap weapons midcombo in order to activate an effect unique to that weapon type, though it is not normally necessary since the extra damage is small. Blade Masters can be visually identified by their white arm which is caused by a regulating device that helps to suppress the demonic influence residing in the arm.

Through a quest to give in to the demonic influence, the Slayer can become a Berserker. Berserkers combine mobility, survivability, and damage over time to outlast opponents. As their health decreases, their evasion and attack power increases, making them very difficult to kill. With the ability to heal themselves through a health regeneration skill when near death, they have earned the nickname of "cockroach" by the Korean Dungeon and Fighter community and have become notorious for being unable to die quickly. Berserkers can buff themselves to the point of having not only the biggest attack speed buff in the game but they also have large hit recovery, hit rate, and damage bonuses of any class. By using one of their attack speed increasing skills combined with the skill Frenzy, they are capable of more than doubling their power. However, this comes at the cost of massive continuous HP loss and having their armor rating reduced by 70 percent. While risky, this is a great way to come back from the depths of defeat. Berserkers use Great Swords for power and range and Katanas for blindingly fast speed. They wear Heavy Armor which increases their max HP. They can be visually identified by their red eyes, though player avatars may obscure it.

Through a quest to control the demonic influence, he can become a Soul Bender. A Soul Bender patiently uses an effective defensive playstyle to safely attack his foes. By buffing himself with demonic spirits, he gains many benefits such as temporary invincibility, large amounts of damage mitigation, and ranged attacks. The Soul Bender can use summoned spirits to effectively control areas of the map where the opponent periodically takes damage or is afflicted with status ailments. By being able to control his opponent's movements easily and being able to carefully strike at will using the temporary invincibility, the Soul Bender is a powerful opponent in PvP. He uses either a Short Sword for optimum magic damage or a Katana for a hybrid mix of magic and melee. Soul Benders wear Cloth Armor for the mana bonuses and mana regeneration, so they must take special care not to get hit when they do not have the appropriate buffs active. Soul Benders can be visually identified by the demonic aura emitting from their bodies and the loosened chain on their demonic arm.

Through a quest to sacrifice his sight to the demon Kazan for power, the Slayer can become an Asura. The Asura is the tank of the game. He specializes in projectiles and area of effect abilities in the form of auras for crowd control. He also possesses the ability to taunt enemies into attacking him. The Asura uses the Short Sword for the raw magical damage and wears Plate Armor, the heaviest armor in the game. While they do possess very respectable damage, they often experience trouble with landing hits on faster moving characters - meaning while they have trouble landing a combo, they make up for it by easily taking 1/2-3/4 of an opponent's HP in 1 combo. PvP Asuras enjoy moderate success though experienced players and certain matchups will make winning very troublesome. Asuras can be visually identified by their blindfold, which resembles one that the non-playable character GSD has, though player avatars may obscure it.

Upon reaching level 48, the classes can further advance to Grand Master, Hell Bringer, Soul Reaper, and Dark Knight respectively.

Fighter
The Fighter is a close-range brawler class. They possess powerful offense, good defense, and the fastest movement speed in the game at the expense of attack range. Fighters use gauntlets, knuckles, claws (similar to serrated patas), tonfas, and boxing gloves. A male version of the Fighter class is currently in development.

Promoted fighters can take several forms.

Through an advancement quest to master the art of Nen, the Fighter can become a Nen Master. Nen Masters support their teammates and primarily use ranged attacks in the form of projectiles. They have a mix of good defensive abilities to protect themselves as well as offensive abilities to put pressure on their opponents. With an assortment of melee and ranged skills, Nen Masters do not have trouble fighting at any distance though their damage output isn't as impressive as other classes. Like the Soul Bender, the Nen Master plays a defensive style to attack opponents from safety while possessing several melee techniques if needed. They use knuckles or tonfas although knuckles are preferred and wear cloth armor. Nen Masters can be visually identified by the yellow aura emitting from their bodies.

Strikers are martial artists who have powered up melee attacks and improved reach. Strikers are an offensive class designed to inflict large damage in a short amount of time primarily through melee attacks. While effective at trading hits, they aim to land a single combo instead due to the huge damage output from their skills. They also have survivability in the form of a Super Armor buff, which prevents enemy attacks from interrupting their own. Their high damage output is often enough to finish the match within three to four combos.Strikers can be visually identified by their glowing hands.

Brawlers inflict status effects and specialize in handicapping the other player. They can blind the other player, which reduces his visible range, poison, confuse, etc... Brawlers can also mount fallen opponents to deal guaranteed damage and always outputs extra damage to opponents who are under a status ailment. With the ability to throw mid-range projectiles and to reel opponents in from long distance, Brawlers are generally able to fight from a favorable position throughout the entire match; they perform well in PvP. Brawlers can be visually identified by the band-aids on their faces and more importantly, the scars on their body.

Grapplers trade survivability and attack range for raw damage in the form of throws, making them the glass cannons of this class. They have the strongest wake up game (attacking a downed opponent) because of their many different types of throws; if the opponent isn't experienced with the use of Quick Rebound, an opportunistic Grappler will swiftly finish the match. Grapplers are held in high esteem by the Korean Dungeon and Fighter community due to their ability to chase opponents and their high damage output from chaining throws together after juggling an airborne opponent with their dash attack. Furthermore, throws possess high priority and speed while completely bypassing Super Armor, giving Grapplers a major advantage at melee range. Unfortunately, Grapplers rely on low latencies the most since catching an opponent with lag present is very difficult. With this exception, Grapplers are regarded as a reliable PvP class with few faults. They can be visually identified by the long headband they wear.

Upon reaching level 48, the classes can further advance to Blazing Flower, Champion, Hellcat, and Dervish respectively.

Gunner
The Gunner is a tall, gun-wielding character class. They have the second fastest movement speed as well as a higher jump, and a unique sliding attack that also ducks under certain attacks. With these tools, they are known for their ability to escape danger easily as well as being extremely popular in PvP. They come from another country (the "Sky Realm") where magic does not exist and have therefore developed technology to compensate for it. Gunner is currently the only class available in both genders. Promoted gunners can take several forms.
 * In the Anime, Arad Senki, The demon sealed their magic, but it may not be a part of the storyline***

Through a quest to master sharpshooting, a Gunner can become a Ranger. Rangers are a stylish sort of gunner who specialize in using Revolvers. Their revolver specialization skills such as Pan Revolver and Death by Revolver increase their attack speed and critical hit damage when wielding a revolver class weapon; the damage from the Headshot skill becomes particularly demoralizing to the receiving player. Rangers excel even in melee combat by comboing their melee abilities into ranged attacks to setup big combos. With this combination of ranged and melee skills, they are very popular to use in PvP because they can fight in any range effectively. They wear Leather Armor for passive attack speed bonuses, and are not able to mitigate incoming damage very well. Rangers can be visually identified by the cigarette in their mouths, though some players may obscure it with avatar items.

Through a quest to specialize in heavy weapons, a Gunner can become a Launcher. With an assortment of abilities that use weapons such as the Gatling Gun, Flamethrower, and Laser Rifle, they are able to fight very effectively at long range (even off screen by using the player names on the side of the screen) with the benefit of lowered mana costs. While they do not have many tools for melee combat, they have fearsome combos because of the firepower contained in a single attack. Launchers specialize in Handcannons for the raw physical attack power. They can be visually identified by the large guns slung behind their backs.

Through a quest to learn robotics, a Gunner can become a Mechanic. Mechanics are considered to be the PvP summoner. They can build robots that single-mindedly march towards the opponent only to detonate, as well as flood the screen with projectiles from stationary turrets and air support. They wear Cloth Armor for the increase in casting speed, and rely on halting enemy advance by controlling zones with their robots. Due to the amazing amounts of projectiles and marching robots on the screen in PvP, other players are often intimidated very easily even though Mechanics lack overall survivability. Mechanics tend to use either an Autogun for the highest magical damage, or a Bowgun for a hybrid mix of magical and physical damage. They can be visually identified by the small mechanical assistant robot floating behind them.

Through a quest to create a special magazine cartridge, a gunner can become a Spitfire. Spitfires specialize in infusing various elements into bullets and grenades to deal damage over large areas and inflict status effects. Their playstyle involves trapping the opponent with mines, grenades, and other AoE abilities. They aim to create knockdowns so that they can follow it up with a barrage of magic infused bullets to a downed opponent. This "cheese" strategy coupled with their amazing damage output has created negative sentiment towards Spitfires. A Spitfire's weapon of choice is either a Bowgun to increase the burst damage from the barrage or a Musket to increase efficiency of imbued bullet shots. They can be visually identified by the special cross-shaped magazine cartridges behind their hips.

Upon reaching level 48, the classes can further advance to Desperado, Wrecking Ball, Machinist, and Viper respectively.

Mage
The Mages are the smallest in terms of physical stature, but wield considerable powers by using magic. They have the third fastest movement speed in the game. Their defensive power is the weakest, but is partly offset by the use of a Mana Shield, which mitigates incoming damage by draining some mana points instead of health points. Their offensive power is powerful, but difficult to land. They come from the magical world of Pandemonium.

Promoted magicians can take several forms.

Elementalist control the four elements Fire (火), Water (水), Light (明), and Darkness (暗). They are the ranged spellcasters of this game and are able to effectively fill the screen with projectiles. They have a solid defense in the ability to teleport away from an opponent once every 30 seconds and the ability to create walls of ice. Their magic spells comes in many forms and each travels in a different pattern. By casting a specific pattern of spells, they are able to create a confusing web of dangerous magic to halt any enemy advance. With their ability to hit targets from any distance and their fast movement speed, Elementalists are a powerful opponent in PvP. They can be visually identified by their aura that represents the four elements.

Summoners are mages who specialize in summoning minions to help them in battle. The summoned creatures have a timed duration and the artificial intelligence is lacking, which makes them very difficult to use in PvP situations. Most importantly, PvP further restricts the duration of skills and their effectiveness; in PvP, the summons function for only a fraction of their PvE duration. In PvE, Summoners are received with mixed feelings; though the summoned minions are extremely helpful and last long in PvE, they tend to obscure other players' sight since they cover up the screen. They can be visually identified by the summoning book they carry with them.

Battle Mages specialize in melee attacks and gains significant mobility to perform well in melee combat. They are the most popular class in South Korea because of the offensive power they have and the tools they are given to land it with accuracy. With the fast skill chaining of a Blademaster and the mobility of a Monk, they are able to deal heavy damage with the additional use of chasers. Chasers are magical orbs created by the Battle Mage. They follow behind the player automatically and can be used to extend normal combos through manual input of the player. By using the chasers effectively, the player can create a devastating improvised combos that would not normally chain together. Each chaser has its own elemental property as well and grants an appropriate buff to the player after successfully hitting the opponent. While Battle Mages have enormous offensive power, they are still Mages so they lack overall survivability. Battle Mages can be visually identified by a dark glove adorned with a blue jewel.

Witches use a powerful variety of random chance magical spells and gains extreme mobility with the ability to air dash on their class weapon, the broomstick. The air dash also enables Witches to perform air combos effectively. Additionally, Witches gain massive area of effect spells along with high damage single target abilities. Unfortunately, they all rely on chance to be casted successfully. When successful, Witches are able to greatly restrict their opponents' movement as well as deal powerful damage to them. Witches can be visually identified by the alchemy ingredients they carry on their belt.

Upon reaching level 48, the classes can further advance to Archmage, Gaia, Bellatrix, and Sorceress respectively.

Priest
The Priest is a heavy melee class, preferring to combine the power of raw offense with raw defense at the expense of speed and attack range. They also can choose from a basic healing spell and a couple of other ability increasing spells.

Promoted priests can take several forms.

Crusaders are the full support class in the game. They have a large variety of buff spells and healing spells to support their teammates. However, they can also fight effectively by using their own buffs to increase their combat abilities at the expense of being able to support the team. Crusaders are the only other class aside from the Asura that specializes in wearing Plate Armor, the heaviest in the game. They can be visually identified by their glowing yellow aura that takes the shape of a cross.

Monks specialize in high speed melee combat. They gain high mobility in the form of the ducking and swaying techniques from boxing. Since Monks gain mobility skills at level 20, it is advised for players levelling a Monk to reach 20 first before promoting so that they do not have a hard time levelling to 20 without it. Monks can drive different weapons into the ground to form a ring that grants appropriate buffs including, but not limited to, attack speed, hit recovery, and movement speed as long as the Monk is within it. The totem is the most popular weapon to form the ring with because it is the one that grants the attack speed buff when driven into the ground. With the ring in place, Monks gain access to special boxing techniques along with high speed dashing to quickly overwhelm their opponents. The weapon can be removed from the ground for repositioning, at which the Monk will be unable to use his boxing techniques until it is in place again. In trade off for the speed, Monks sacrifice the ability to perform extended combos and rely on landing more individual strikes. Their movements are often confusing to new players but it should be noted that their ducking and swaying will always travel in a set pattern and can be countered by experienced players, especially those who play Exorcists. Monks wear Light Armor for more hit recovery passive bonuses. They can be visually identified by their glowing blue hands.

Exorcists are able to output the highest damage in the game at the equal expense of having the slowest movement speed in the game. They are feared for being able to end fights with simply two or three combos, as well as being unable to win against faster opponents because they cannot catch them. In PvP, they often spend the vast majority of the match chasing the fleeing opponent down because to be caught by an Exorcist means certain death. They specialize in Super Armor, which prevents enemy attacks from causing interruptions. This allows the Exorcist to enjoy an immense advantage by comboing through an opponent's attacks even when simply trading blows. Exorcists can choose to integrate magic into their playstyle for an easier time trapping and pressuring the opponent from a mid range distance, or to focus on raw physical damage output. These playstyles are categorized by players as Magic Exorcists and Physical Exorcists, who specialize in Cloth Armor and Heavy Armor respectively. Exorcists can be visually identified by a fiery familiar floating behind them.

Avengers transform their bodies into demons, making them physically stronger at the cost of reducing speed. Currently, they are not available in Dungeon Fighter Online.

With the exception of Monks, priests are generally advised to invest in equipment that grants movement speed bonuses to compensate for their slow movement speed. Once properly geared, catching faster players becomes much easier, though certain matchups will always be difficult such as Elementalist vs Exorcist.

Upon reaching level 48, the classes can further advance to Holy Order, God Hand, and Dragon Slayer respectively.

Thief
The Thief is a new class that is only available in the South Korean and Japanese version. They are agile, dagger-wielding dark elves that specialize in high-speed attacks and aerial combat. The class is currently under development and was revealed at the 2009 Dungeon & Fighter Festival.

Thieves are able to advance to one of four forms (currently 2). Rogues specialize in close-range combat and are skilled at dodging. Necromancers make use of the dark powers inherited from their dark elven blood, and are able to do battle with the aid of an undead servant. Kunoichi (not yet released) move quickly and utilize long-range and wide-area magic spells. Shadow Dancers (not yet released) rely on stealth and assassination techniques. Upon reaching level 48, the classes can further advance to Silver Moon, and Death Bringer classes respectively.

Areas
A player starts out in a town every time he logs onto a server. NPCs sell items, buy things from the player, give quests, fix equipment, etc.

In every town there is a "Seria's". It is marked with a two white stone statues on both sides of the doorway. In here, a girl named Seria gives some quests and sells items and avatar accessories that require money counted in Seras. Seras are converted from real money or obtained free of charge from some special events. They are not in the American Release yet. There is also a safe (stores up to eight different items, as long as their total weight is below 8 kg, however the safe can be upgraded holding more items, and also unlimited weight) and a Mailbox (used to send messages and items to other characters/players.)

In every town there is at least one area where when a character walks off the screen, the player will enter a dungeon selection mode. When in a dungeon, each room you enter will decrease your fatigue by 1. Each character has 156 fatigue to spend each day. If you run out of fatigue in the middle of a dungeon, you may continue to clear as many rooms as you wish until you either die or finish the dungeon. Without fatigue, a character can still walk around town and do PVP.

Battles: Dungeons
A town may have one or more dungeon areas. When the player's character walks off the screen, the player will be presented with a map select screen with dungeons available to the player. Hidden dungeons may be unlocked after completing certain "epic" quests.

Battles take place in a player selected "dungeon" where the player starts off in a starting room, destroying monsters and collecting dropped items spoils. Upon destroying all enemies in a room, all doorways leading out of the conquered room light up and become accessible. Through these the player enter new rooms where more enemies are. The player may revisit any room previously cleared. Cleared rooms remain enemy-less and any spoils dropped on the ground stay. Finally, the player may enter a specially lit doorway that flashes in a different color than normal doors. This is the gate to the dungeon boss, where normal monsters and the dungeon bosses lurk. The dungeon is cleared as soon as the boss dies. Any monsters left alive when the boss dies die along with it. If a player leaves the dungeon before killing the boss or dies in battle without using a continue coin, a countdown will start and the player will be returned to town.

Upon the Death of the Boss
When the Boss dies, the screen reverts to a blue "stage final scores" screen where the player is shown the scores of Technique bonuses (score total of: overkill, counters, and back attacks), Style Bonuses (aerial, 5+ combos, and union attacks), and Dodge Bonuses. (The lesser times hit by an enemy, the higher the score) The totals add to give the player a rank from F to SSS. (F, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, SSS.) The player may receive extra experience points according to if the stage is cleared with the rank B or higher, with party members, while a special event, among other cumulative bonuses.

Then the player gets to choose a reward card from the spoils pile. There will always be eight cards, four on top and four on the bottom. The ones on the bottom cost gold to purchase. Each person may only choose one card from each side. Other players may see what other people receive. Rewards consist of two parts: gold and one item - a weapon, equip, or recipe. (sometimes there are no items and sometimes there is no gold) There is a 3 second countdown for the reward selection screen, and after the countdown is up the cards are automatically chosen according to party order.

When the score and reward screen is gone a campfire is automatically generated in the boss room. From the NPC next to the campfire players may sell items and fix broken equipment. The boss room gates remain closed, but players are free to pick up items and whatever they want to do before either leaving the dungeon safely to town, choosing a different dungeon from the same area, or redoing the same dungeon (items and experience are not reset).

Mini-Map
A minimap to the top right corner of the screen shows the room layout of the dungeon. Unvisited rooms are not marked, and accessible but not yet visited places are marked with a flashing question mark once a room is cleared. In the minimap, the boss room is marked with a red head, the special "Hell Mode" boss room is marked with a purple head, and normal rooms display directions of open gates.

Fatigue Points
You start with 156 fatigue points, and upon entering a room in a dungeon you lose one of them. After all 156 fatigue points are used you can't enter any dungeons until 6:00 AM PST the next day (server time), they cannot be healed like frustration points. However, if you run out of fatigue points while in a dungeon, you will still be able to complete the dungeon.

Champions
Champions look like normal monsters, but are marked with a special aura emanating around them and a specially colored name above them and their special status or special abilities. (example: Icy Tau Guard, Freezes upon attack) Champions are not that much harder to take on than normal monsters, but they do have extra hp and their levels may be higher than normal ones. Upon death, a picture of a good luck sack/charm appears next to the minimap in the upper right hand corner of the screen, and a number next to it showing how many mutated monsters killed. More mutant monsters killed will result in better rewards when the dungeon is cleared.

Difficulty levels
When a player clears a dungeon and scores the appropriate rank, he gains access to the next difficulty level for that dungeon. Dungeons of higher difficulty can be selected by clicking on the arrows underneath a dungeon icon. The second level of difficulty is labeled as "Expert's Road" (pass Normal), the 3rd level "Master's Road" (receive a B on Expert), and the 4th level "King's Road" (receive an S on Master). Higher difficulty results in monsters with more hp, higher attack, higher aggression, and more chances for a player to miss their attacks. Higher difficulty results in more experience and better quality of items. There is also "Hero's Road"(only in dungeons higher than 60 and can be received by epic quests) that is not implemented in North America yet.

Development
Dungeon Fighter Online was developed by a South Korean company called Neople who previously only published a number of casual online games through their own game portal site. It was originally planned as a small game as the entire game was developed in five months based on the forecasted life expectancy. However, the response was better than they expected so the budget was increased and the game was expanded.

Extensive testing took place before the premiere launch in Korea. Three closed beta periods were held between December 17–31, 2004, February 1–13, 2005, and June 28-July 11, 2005. Neople accepted only 999 players per test and allowed only one hundred minutes of gameplay per day. Content was fine-tuned and updated daily throughout the test period based on testers feedback. After a short hiatus, open beta commenced on August 10, 2005 at 3 pm. By 11 pm, there were over 15 thousand concurrent users

Even though many games being released at the time were 3D, Neople decided to create Dungeon Fighter Online in 2D because they didn't believe it affected gameplay, they didn't feel a 3D game could capture the look and feel of the original illustrations of the characters, the ease of casual players getting into the game, and they had more experience with 2D games. Hi-res is not a likely path the game will take because director Yun Jong Kim's main focus is "efficiency".

North American release
Three years after the original release in Korea, Nexon America revealed plans for an English version of Dungeon Fighter Online at the 2009 Game Developers Conference in late March. The title was renamed from Dungeon & Fighter to Dungeon Fighter Online because of the awkwardness to say “Dungeon” and “Fighter".

Thousands of applicants were accepted into closed beta, which held for seven days between July 28-August 3, 2009. Open beta plans were announced at Penny Arcade Expo 2009. Early access to open beta, available for players who received a beta key, proceeded on September 15, 2009. Open beta began a week later on September 22, 2009. Dungeon Fighter Online officially launched on June 9, 2010.

Future Updates
Dungeon Fighter developers recently announced in Korea that DFO will be going through major updates including: lower experience requirements and latency issues.

Anime
An anime adaption of the game was announced by Gonzo at the Hangame 2008 Summer Festival event on August 24, 2008. Titled as Slap-up Party: Arad Senki (スラップアップパーティ −アラド戦記−), it is produced by Gonzo and GK Entertainment and directed by Takahiro Ikezoe. The anime premiered on TV Tokyo on April 3, 2009 and is slated for a run of twenty-six episodes. It is loosely based on material from the official webcomic, The Vagrants in Arad (Korean: 아라드의 방랑파티, Japanese: アラドの放浪パーティー, lit. The Wandering Party of Arad), and features several of the same characters.

Manga
A manga based on the game titled Arad Senki: Slap-up Party (アラド戦記 −スラップアップパーティ−), written and illustrated by Kiku Ueda was announced on April 30, 2009. It premiered on May 30, 2009 in the June issue of Gentosha's Monthly Comic Birz magazine.