Level Design is the most important screw that holds DungeoNeer together. As a roguelite game the player gets a randomized set of tools and equipment at the start of each run. As they progress through the dungeon they can collect materials and other components to craft more tools that would allow them to access previously inaccessible areas. The game is primarily a stealth game (with action and combat elements), so the levels have to be intricately designed to allow players to sneak past the enemies and obstacles, however they choose to. Since the player may not have access to some of the pathways due to them not having the right tool to open a vent or a locked door that requires a keycard; the levels have to be constructed in such a way that there is always a way for the player to progress regardless of what loadout they start with. So, in essence the game doesn't fully halt the players progress, it merely slows down and restricts the player's passage through that path temporarily and makes they explore the map and find alternate routes or find solutions to get past previous obstacles they came across, be it an enemy or an environmental hazard or a locked container.
Roguelites currently in the market are predominantly action/hack and slash games, there are no Roguelites that are stealth based at their core. The reason being, in a roguelite the levels are reset everytime the player dies and respawns. So the next time the player goes through the same area its redesigned and reconstructed in terms of its actual map layout as well its enemy locations and resource positions. To overcome the repetitive aspect of roguelites wherein you have to play through the same areas again and beat all the bosses again, roguelites randomizes the level and enemies with each run.
The reason there are no stealth-roguelites is that stealth games require dedicated level design to intricately construct levels, the map flow, the possible traversal pathways, the positioning of enemies with respect to the map and other obstacles or hazards, designing the level around a specific objective and so on. So, developing levels for a linear stealth game where the levels don't change constantly is itself an arduous task, so roguelite mechanics were never implemented with stealth games.
This is where the concept of Equilibrium shines through again. In every other roguelite game the reset occurs with each death i.e for every run, but in DungeoNeer, the resets do not occur after each run, but rather after the Equilibrium is maxed out. The duration of time from the start to the point to where Equilibrium reaches maximum value is referred to as a single 'Cycle'. So, the levels are resets along with the enemies, hazards, loot and obstacles with each 'Cycle' rather than each player death(i.e with every run) and players can fit several 'Runs' within each Cycle.
Lets say the player dies in the middle of a Dungeon, this would be the end of the 'Run', now if the Equilibrium meter is not maxed out, then when the player starts their next run the level remains the same. So, all the defeated enemies will stay dead, all the hazards that have been neutralized in the previous run will remain as is and all the obstacles like doors opened using an keycard will remain open.
The level design in DungeoNeer is Procedurally Generated, so there are certain pre-made level elements and assets that are randomly selected and fabricated to form a new never before seen level by running through a combination Ontogenetic and teleological algorithms.
There are 2 main algorithms used for procedural content generation- Teleological and Ontogenetic, the former is a bottom up approach where levels are generated from scratch organically and systemically via models of processes that build up to an undetermined result , whereas the latter is an ad hoc algorithm which tries to replicate an environment by any means necessary, it works in a top down manner similar to working backwards from having an answer and are hence designed to achieve a specific end result. The technical feasibility of developing a 3D game with large levels, assets and complex AI is questionable, maybe that's why no one has ever made a Stealth Roguelite.
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