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[Lucaz]

A Dwarf Fortress stage must have either a flooding part, or magma. I mean, irrigation, floods and magma are very important, and quite basic to most fortresses. That, or time based traps, like a corkscrew springing from the floor, or a ballista that shoots once in a while. But floods and magma are better.

[William Broom]

So, I figured I would try making a stage code-first rather than art-first, if only to see how it goes (and because I can't do much art). Bonesaw seemed like a logical choice because it would need quite a bit of coding, and there's a lot of potential for a good stage. Here's what I had in mind:

The stage is not based on any particular area of Bonesaw, but includes two of Bonesaw's most memorable features: Bomb blocks and cannons. The layout of the stage is fairly simple - a wide, flat, solid platform with sheer drops on either side, with two drop-through platforms in the air above it. On the far left and far right of the stage, and at roughly the same height as the two drop-through platforms, are two more platforms, both fairly thick, which just poke in the edges. These platforms cannot be accessed by players because all the space on them is taken up by cannons.

Positioned at intervals on the ground platform are three bomb blocks. Like in Bonesaw, these blocks explode when hit, but do not deal damage - instead, they transform the landscape in some way. The bomb blocks are not solid and can be walked through. The left and right bomb blocks, when hit, will destroy the right and left floating platforms, respectively (i.e. they destroy the one on the opposite side to them). The central bomb block will create a new floating drop-through platform, in the center of the stage and above the other two floating platforms.
After a while, each platform will revert to its original state. Some time after that, the bomb block connected to that platform will also appear again. However, the bomb blocks do not always reappear in the same place - there is a 50% chance they will reappear in a secondary location. The secondary locations for the left and right bomb blocks are on the cannon platforms, where they may be hit by stray projectiles or determined players. The secondary location for the central bomb block is high in the air above the center of the stage, where it may be hit by aerial combatants.

The cannons appear on top of the platforms at the far sides of the stage and aim inwards. Players who touch the cannons will be hurt and knocked back, preventing them from standing on the cannon platforms. Every 20-30 seconds, one of the cannons, or occasionally both, will fire a bomb into the playing field. The bomb will bounce, and after a certain time, explode. If a player hits the bomb, it will fly through the air  in the direction of the attack, while glowing red. This means that it is primed, and will explode as soon as it hits something. The bomb explosion is unblockable.

If stage hazards are turned off, the bomb blocks will still appear but the cannons and cannon platforms will be gone.

tl;dr: Simple stage, bomb blocks create and destroy platforms, cannons occasionally fire bombs that can be knocked into enemies.

How's that? Bear in mind that I won't be able to start on this straight away because of the Lovecraft compo. If anybody else wants to do a Bonesaw stage instead, while I'm working on that, then feel free.

[Valter]

Cool, but "20-30 seconds" is way too long. I'd say 15 myself.

[Zaratustra]

Maybe it'd help potential stage designers to know how big a good stage should be?

[Soulliard]

640 x 480 is a good size for a typical arena.

[Laremere]

What exactly is that in?

I'd like to design a stage, but probably would just do the background image, and give it to someone else to put it in the game.  So what size image or whatnot should I do it? (for the viewing area, not necessarily the whole stage because I might want to do some scrolling)

[Xion]

A LOVE level would be cool

[Laremere]

I think we don't know enough about how to game feels to play it yet to accurately do a level.  There are plenty of other games to do levels for now.

[Xion]

Yeah I know. Just sayin'.

[sereneworx]

I also believe that we should have a Cafe inspired level, despite the game not being nearly done yet. Because it's that awesome.

I would be honoured if this where to happen.

Unless of course if Cafe ends up sucking, THEN WHO WILL BE LAUGHING? WHO? 

[Gainsworthy]

No one. No one in the world would be laughing. The world would be bereft of joy. Forever.

NO PRESSURE


Also, you and Flink would need to be our Cafe consultants on this, when it happens.

[The-Imp]

I also believe that we should have a Cafe inspired level, despite the game not being nearly done yet. Because it's that awesome.

I would be honoured if this where to happen.

Unless of course if Cafe ends up sucking, THEN WHO WILL BE LAUGHING? WHO? 

It could suck.
But I HIGHLY doubt it.

[Zaratustra]

I WAS IN THE WAR stage

A simple horizontal stage. Pressing down+jump while standing on the line switches you to the other side of the line.

Soldiers and tanks occasionally march down one side of the line, and deal some damage if they touch a player. Jump over them or switch sides to avoid.

[William Broom]

For want of a better place to post this:

I think the roguelike Mage Guild could be a good source of items. For example, you could have a Potion of Inversion that 'inverts' a player's health bar, i.e. if they had 70% health they now have 30% health, if they had 10% health they now have 90% health... it's powerful, but I think it would make the gameplay more interesting as a player works out whether to throw it at themselves or the enemy.

[Soulliard]

Brilliant idea.

[William Broom]

Really? I was about to come back and say "DISREGARD THAT I SUCK COCKS".

But if you think it's a good idea, then we should try it at least.

[medieval]

You know, that would give massive amounts of power to Curly's Nemesis attack.

[pnx]

For want of a better place to post this:

I think the roguelike Mage Guild could be a good source of items. For example, you could have a Potion of Inversion that 'inverts' a player's health bar, i.e. if they had 70% health they now have 30% health, if they had 10% health they now have 90% health... it's powerful, but I think it would make the gameplay more interesting as a player works out whether to throw it at themselves or the enemy.

As far as inversion goes, I think it might be best to only have 3/4 of the effect or something similar because it's so powerful, so for example 90% would get you 30% health instead of 10% and 10% would get 70% instead of 90%.

But otherwise I like this idea of a stage with lots of interesting items.

[Laremere]

I think a Aether Stage would work nicely.

You go from planet to planet fighting on clouds, and whatever addition platforms or whatever else the planet provides in its description.  To go from one planet (start at earth, then go to a random one, just making sure not to do the same planet two times in a row) and the stage then moves up from the planet till it is out of view, and then stage then lowers again, but it will be the next random planet.  The planets are:

Earth- Solid ground with a house.

BIBULON- This will have a planet on the bottom of the screen, and a moon taking up a considerable portion of the planet's screen.

MALAISUS- Water and a small island is on the bottom of the screen when on this planet.

GRAVIDA- Not really sure about this one, possibly your fighting over the mouth that covers about half the bottom, so people can fall through the mouth and die.

DEBASA- The bottom half of the planet's screen has a green haze over it, that makes everyone inside it move slower, so you have to keep high or pay the price.

I think the time that the stage spends on each planet will be have to be playtested to figure out what would be best.

Agree/Disagree?  Any comments?

[William Broom]

Sounds like a lot of work, but it would be great in the end.

On a similar note, how about a stage based on Immortal Defence? The screen follows a single, fairly small platform that travels down a long line, the same way the enemies do in ID. There are a few other platforms in front of and behind the central platform, slightly smaller to show they are not the 'main' one. Depending on where the line is pointing, the platforms can be in all sorts of different configurations. Every so often you will reach a corner or a crossroads with Fear Points nearby that slow the platforms down, causing them to bunch up so there are a lot more platforms available - but at the same time, there will be Cut Points that drop spinning blades across the area, or Circuit Points that form a deadly wall that players must jump over.