skarfester <automailer(a)forum.secretchronicles.de> writes:
- quit lives: the progress is saved so they have no sense.
Agreed. The current system simply is flawed.
- save points, save states, checkpoints: I'll suggest to
automatically
save after a completed level. This way the player doesn't need to care
about that and can continue playing or quitting the game without
losing (worldmap) progress. In addition to that I suggest a new
power-up wich acts as a checkpoint. With that level developers can
design larger levels without the risk of becoming too frustating. We
can add as well arbitrary save-states bought by the players with
diamonds, for special ocasions.
Auto-saving after a completed level is a good idea, though that’s not
"saving" in the nearer sense, but retaining the current "progress".
I’d be okay with checkpoint powerups that can both be found in normal
gameplay and bought. However, to prevent people from stacking them, the
price for the save powerup should always be exactly 75% of all your
jewels. I remember having played Mario with 99 lifes, which is the same
kind of nonsense that needs to be prevented or at least made difficult
to achieve.
As for the in-level save powerups: Shall they persist over levels? I’d
rather not think so. They should be constrained to the level they have
been found in, exactly for the same reason why I want buyable save
powerups to be extremely expensive.
- diamonds as a currency: if we cannot earn lives, we can use
diamonds
for buying regular or special items, like save states or "flying"
ability to pass difficult areas (very expensive).
Whatever is buyable should not break the level designer’s assumption of
how the level is to be played. For example buying Omega Mode would make
levels too easy to pass and most likely reveal secret areas too
quickly. For shortcut items I suggest that the level designer marks
areas for shortcutting, for example he places a "shortcut start" point
before a difficult area and a "shortcut end" point after it. For players
who have bought (or otherwise gained access to) the shortcut item, it is
possible to activate this shortcut item when they’re standing on the
start point, and only there!, and they will then be taken to the end
point. These points could be highlighted somehow; there’s no need to
hide them, as in 90% of the cases the player will not have the required
shortcut item available. Kind of locked teleporters, and the shortcut
item is they key to open them.
We'll need an intem menu for this (the pause menu is enough).
When we introduce spells, we’ll need one anyway.
- quit score points?: they'll have no impact in the game, so we
can
keep as hi-score ranking information or remove completely.
If we keep the score points, we need to make them more
predictable. Currently it is possible to gain an infinite amount of
points by jumping on Army over and over again. There should be a maximum
number of points that can be achieved in a level.
- quit game over screen: obvious. When die, you just go back to the
worldmap or the previous checkpoint or save state.
Which means removing the game over screen, because the game is not
"over". You’re just reset a little bit. A "game over" would mean you
have to start from all anew.
That being said, I think the game over screen needs to go.
- energy system: I prefer a "hit system", because is more
simple and
straightforward than a energy bar with different damage levels.
I agree with this. I think an energy system akin to that of
Super Mario 64 is the best choice. Not because I want to copy Mario,
but because I think it fits our purposes best.
In my opinion is a good idea to reflect the hit status
in Alex itself (like small/big Alex) for example in his shoes
An interesting idea, and I think it is okay. However, the number of hits
taken should not have such an impact on the gameplay it has
currently. For example, if you have firepowers, getting hit should not
remove those from you.
I think additionally to the visual change of the hero the number of hits
you can still take should be indicated somehow, to give the player a
feeling how far he can go. Super Mario 64 displayed a kind of circle
(well okay, in a Mario head) at the top of the screen with the total
amount of hits you can take as sections, like parts of a cake. Each time
you got hit, one part got blacked out. If all went black, you got kicked
out of the level and returned to the overworld.
Disclaimer: I don’t have played Mario games newer than Super Mario
Sunshine for the GameCube, which also had a similar system. I don’t know
if they still have this system (or something similar). If so, we should
consider if that’s too blatant a Mario copy. Otherwise, I think it is a
fairly nice approach.
I think we should let empty pits kill Alex
instantly, but using them only on special ocasions, such as
castle/boss levels.
I agree in a modified version. I would like to get a sense of falling
depth into the game. If you fall a long way down, you take more
damage. For a bottomless pit, you naturally get infinite damage,
i.e. you get killed. However, in my vision you can also take quite some
damage points when you fall of a platform high above the ground when you
hit the ground.
I don’t have a nailed opinion on this, but I want to suggest this. If
people think falling damage is to RPG-like (or I have again been
inspired too much by Super Mario 64), then I won’t hold onto it.
Vale,
Quintus
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