Kyon

Thanks all! This is very helpful!
If you have any more ideas I would be thankful! (:

For maximum developer points slowly unravel a mystery about the castle (e.g.: haunted) and slowly turn it from friendly to hostile therefore making the npcs, castle and game itself more interesting

Also can act as tutorial level with seamless transition from easy (friendly) to hard (hostile) difficulty.

Just my 2 cents

Ah yes, I now chose to let the player go through an underground passage. I'm more free with adding anything hostile there
Thanks!

I'd say that rather than having a tutorial level, you should use the Rule Of Threes to present anything the player should know about.

--

Use this approach with enemies and breakables, and there should be no need for an actual tutorial level. Preferably, you should have a really short mood-setting intro ("From somewhere... a transmission...") and then a pretty long (5+ mins) playable part, and THEN the real intro. You have to capture the players with how fun the game is before telling them "why the heck they got here" and "why the other guys are shooting them", especially if you have a deep story the player will need to care about. Presenting them a place, a fun level, and some memorable-personality sidekick usually hooks them long enough to watch a 20-minute cutscene without complaints.

This is very helpful!
Though, does this also work in a free roaming game? As in, maybe you have to walk back a part of the level to let's say.. deliver a quest.
Should the enemies/breakables be there again, or stay defeaten/used?

Or you can make the environment more interactive, like have some pots the player can smash, some curtains he can close/open (or slash to pieces), maybe let the player climb some shelves as a bit of an alternate path.

Great idea! Smashing stuff for fun, or maybe to even clear your way. Thanks!

By treasure map I meant something apart from the main storyline, because not everyone will see it so it cannot be a vital part of your story. I meant something he could go outside and look for on his own spare time, perhaps a new map/level/dungeon/whatever that will lead to an optional but useful reward. Kind of like a bonus level.

Also another idea: add people. It always interesting to have a nice conversation

by the way, your game looks fantastic from what I can see!  

Aaah, yeah that's a great idea. As in, some sort of riddle, map, or just a story, which tells you some specific item is in a specific room, though for the storyline, there is no need to go to that room. So like you say, optional. that's awesome!

Adding people in this part of the game doesn't really fit with the storyline. Though, there will be one person you'll talk to at the beginning, but he dissapears fast.

Oh and thank you! I'm trying really hard to make the graphics look even better

It depends on what he can do on his journey. It could kind of be like a treasure hunt. You could put some valuable items he can pick up (if he sees them) and it also depends on what is in the books. Make the books interesting. Perhaps put something in the book that he can use, like a spell, or an item, or a treasure map or something along those lines. I would definitely like that.

Thanks for your reply man! I've edited the main post with some more info about the game, sorry for the lack of information.

I like your ideas, but what kind of treasure are you thinking about? what will you find in a castle? Also I was planning to use the books to let the player know more about the big storyline I wrote, though, your idea about finding useable items in the books is very nice! Thanks! If you have more examples I would be very thankful.

I still want to know, are you trying to reboot the drikels?

Not soon, though, there is coming another game made by me.
The game will kinda be like "skipper".

The dirkels project is on hold.