The thing I don't like about difficulty in this case is that the game innovates and is difficult.

If you're going to innovate, I think you should try to increase accessibility as much as you can.

Have easy modes, have harder modes, and you get two groups of people playing the game however they want to, and not being harmed by the other group's play-style at all.

The casual group (assuming you guys know how to not connect "casual" with "stupid," as some people tend to) can have fun with the engine, along with a bit of challenge, but no really hard to overcome walls, while the hardcore group can have their fun with the satisfaction of overcoming one of Spelunky's atrociously high walls.

Innovation + restriction = bad
Innovation + open doors = good
Common mechanics + restriction = indifference
Common mechanics + open doors = somewhat disappointing
(Also, heavy interesting story + restriction = bad, too.)

See how it works? This is the reason I didn't get mad at I Wanna Be The Guy, and the reason I don't complain about bullet hell SHMUPs. But if someone were to make the first GRGBRT (it's a new genre in the future, come up with a meaning for the acronym if you really want to), then say, "I don't think I want you, or you, or you to play me," then I'd say something's wrong, because you should at least try to increase interest in the genre, and when there's only one game in an entire genre, the whole weight of that problem lies on your shoulders.

That's why I think an easy mode should be included.

How 'bout a minigame where you play as a shopkeeper, and there's an endless stream of spelunkers coming from the top. You have a shop that sells golden idols, and you have to defend the shop from spelunkers, keep them from reaching an exit with any of your idols (you lose when all four are stolen), and toss them into a pit so they can be rounded up by the police later?

OH MAN I HATE THIS GAME IT'S SO HARD also you should make insoluble levels plz

Wait, what?

I suggested it as a minigame... If it were in the normal level generator, it would make the game too reliant on chance. If it were a minigame, though, it would be perfectly fine. Just play until you can't play anymore, then start over. Hell, the way my friend had it, he had the entrance and the exit both at the top, so no matter what, you could finish the level after doing whatever you wanted tunneling through the rest of the map.

And I would never say, "plz"...

Also, (TREES IN LEVEL EDITOR NOW) if you go to the black market, buy the ankh, smack a shopkeeper, and come back to life, you can rob everyone in the market totally blind and only the one you smacked the crap out of will want to return the favor...

SUGGESTION!!!

My friend had a level idea in the level editor, and I think it should be incorporated into the game, or at least have a special minigame like this.

Basically, it was a huge level that was all just cave, so you had to use pickaxes (placed in places throughout the map) to get stuff and make it to the end, and there were enemies and treasure in the place.

I think if one of those were randomly generated, it would be fun. Having to decide to go for the next pickaxe or try to to get the treasure first or choosing the path to take around the little pockets of air filled with monsters (he had one that was basically a little box with nothing but webs and spiders up at the top, and another that was a crystal skull guarded by four moving block traps, lots of cool stuff).

Also, the bow problem, with the arrows being the same even if you pick up a new bow, is not fixed, and should be.

I've made lots of progress today.

Which means, "I have a screenshot!"



I've decided to change the mech idea to a sort of, half-sphere low-altitude aircraft, partly because they're easier to draw, and... Well, almost entirely because they're easier to draw.

And sort of partly because I had the idea (when trying to think of something easier to draw) and thought (after thinking, "Damn, that would be easy to draw.") "Wow, I don't really see many low-altitude UFO-resembling aircraft, they're always way up in the sky. That could be cool..."

So far, I have levels, enemies that exist and can be be made nonexistent, and shooting, and some basic textures. Next, I need to make basic enemy AI (Done, now I have AI that's capable of chasing you around one corner (making one turn when they can't see you will lose them). After that, I'll start working on the energy fuel tetris system thingy. Saving the hardest part for last. I do think I'll have to make different tiles for Tetris, though. Instead of the classic tetrominoes, I'll probably have to go with:

Code:

X
XX

XX

XX
XX

X
 X

I shall now post a sort of framework for one of the possible cockpits.

This isn't set-in-stone, but so far it's the only one that I've transferred from paper to monitor (but the paper version had more curves). As for overall art quality, that's really as good as I can do. If someone wants to awesome it up for me, I would appreciate it.

Other than indulging myself in drawing (I really felt like using my relatively weak art skills lately, so I decided I would have some fun and drew up around ten alternative cockpits during class), I have movement, and shooting. Up next is a level system, then enemies, then my Tetris\M3 system, then I plan on making the full levels and requesting some help in the art department. (For levels I plan on just having a bunch of cubes with different textures. I need a dense forest area, an urban area, and a junkyard-looking area.) Then I'll add polish, like airstrikes and little people to run around below your feet that can be crushed. Fun fun.



And another. My friend pointed this one out from a page of four examples as his favorite.



Which is your favorite from these two?

Hehe, knives do beat webs currently... Damn, ninja'd.

And I also think that springy shoes should increase the distance you can fall (and maybe even have you bounce around a bit if you fall from a distance greater than you would normally fall).

Survive a dark level without a flare? Ha, can be done. Just a bit hard is all, and totally worth having a campfire to try.

And I don't think an entire altar should be added... maybe just a small shrine (which you should be able to interact with... it should act like a "magic 8-ball").

And the giant idol for beating the game seems a bit too bland, as well as space-consuming... Maybe, have the huge ruby in the boss's forehead in a frame on the wall.

And the yeti-rug idea is genius!

Perhaps, if you kill 100 cavemen, you should get a caveman-maid that goes around polishing all the objects you've amassed.

Yes, but I think it would be hilarious if as you go through the game, the beginning of the cave begins to go from a simple room to something more resembling large house with many rooms. (And I still think objects should be added to the beginning room as you progress through the game, like a campfire, or a hammock, or some of those deerhead thingies people hang on their walls except with a giant fish head on it or a king yeti head.)

As for only being able to advance by starting at level 1, I'm forced to give off a really loud, "NO!"

Well, it'd be okay if an easy mode were included also, but if it really were to be like that, more people really would be completely locked out of content. If it were like that, then after my 900 tries plus two wins, I would have 900 tries and the lowest level I would have been to would be around 9. I wouldn't make it to the tomb probably until around 1600 tries, and by that time I would have given up.

I'm aiming for the game being more inclusive to different play-styles, and that seems totally contrary to it, so I'm forced to disagree with it.

I really liked the endless idea mentioned a while back, where it's essentially one GIANT ENDLESS level that procedurally generates itself as you travel further and further down.

²

You play a mech-suit pilot. Your mech-thingy is damaged in battle. The part that controls the fuel in the suit and sorts it and converts it into usable energy for the different parts of the suit had to revert to manual control by you, the pilot. Manual control is eerily similar to tetris and <random match-3 game>.

So you have your cockpit and you have two displays, one on each side. One display has the energy routing chamber (the tetris part) that has blocks of different colors (these are different fuels) and you must try to avoid the fuel-conversion chamber from overloading due to a hole between the fuel storage chamber and the fuel conversion chamber. When you get a full row at the bottom, the fuel transfers to the fuel activation chamber, where you must again try to avoid an overflow problem, as well as manually use the energy usage arm to convert the fuel's potential energy into kinetic energy for any one part of your suit, or to compress it in your so far undamaged energy storage unit.

So, in gameplay terms...

In the tetris display, you try to get rows. When a row fills up, it goes to the top of the match-3 display, and the individual blocks fall. In the M3 display, if you click on a cluster of blocks of the same color, you can either immediately use the energy, or you can add it to a little thing on the screen to charge it for later use. When you use a form of energy, the action that form of energy is used for becomes available. So, say, red energy is for firing, you have to get red blocks from the tetris to the M3 and then use it to fire a small burst, or you can charge it to fire a longer, sustained burst. If green energy is movement, you have to get green blocks from the tetris to the M3 and then either activate the green energy and be able to move around for a few seconds, or you can charge it up a bit so you can have a longer, sustained window for movement later. For shield energy, you'd have to do the process with blue blocks, and activate the blue blocks to get a few seconds of shielding, or you can save up your blue energy for a longer, sustained shield later. Or, with any energy, you can do a "charge release" and it gets rid of all the charged energy at once, for a huge super-laser, a short super-fast burst of speed, or a few seconds of invulnerability.

Now we just need to see if I can actually do this...

(And if it hasn't already been done before, however unlikely it may be?)

I like it!

Nice an simplistic. And interesting graphics!

I made it to wave 9 one time, in a crazy trigger-happy rage. Then I was destroyed.

Oh, hey, I have another suggestion!

Super-strength gloves! They allow you to lift pushable blocks as if they were normal objects.

(And it could also lead to the problem of "But you already have two gloves on!" when you try to pick it up.)

But would the difference between human running speed and walking speed really make all that much difference in a firearm?

I know that inertia and such would still affect bullets, but causing a bullet's speed to double seems a bit much to me.

There's a black box around the treetop image.

And I found a bug relating to firearms again. If you fire a weapon while running, the resultant projectiles will move much faster. Doing this can make a shotgun so accurate all the pellets land on a single block instead of spreading like they should.

Also, I have an idea relating to trees. Instead of the branches just being hang-on-able, I think you should make it so that when you're sharing screen-space a tree-branch or tree top, you can jump. It might not have a huge impact on gameplay, but it would be a nice addition and could help in some situations.

Yes, I've had that problem before, but I wasn't doing anything.

I was in the tomb waiting for the mummy to cross under me, I had 46 bombs, 18 ropes, the hedjet, and the eye. And then I died. I had 4 health. I was standing on a platform, totally ready for my venture into the City of Gold, and I just died. Waiting, waiting, waiting, dead. You really can't describe the sensation it produced in words alone.

Remote control bombs? DEREK! NOW!

That leads to another idea, though; proximity mines.

Cavemen are probably cult initiates, while the mask-wearers are probably higher-up priest figures. Would explain why they only appear in the tomb as well as why they seem much more pissed off at you for being there.

EDIT: Well, I guess that makes sense also.

Hrm... That's the best I got right now...

Maybe... "You enter my chamber without a sufficient sacrifice? Then I will take you instead!"

Also, we need side-facing spikes. And an air-cannon, so you can knock enemies around, along with objects. And machine guns and bomb launchers. Machine guns would be awesome ambush tools, and bomb launchers would just be awesome.

And as for the last boss not being Kali, I thought about this for a while, but eventually decided, "What else could it be?" I also thought about suggesting that if Derek adds an easy mode, in the normal\hard mode, you actually fight Kali after the current boss, which could just be her guardian.

Also, concerning my idea recently that had the rebels fighting the Shopkeeper Union, I decided something. Instead of having the rebels be able to lose the fight, have it so that shops are always under attack, but have no chance. The attack would be different each time, though. One different attack for each weapon, and the weapon would be randomized each time. For examples, if the game chose machine gun, there would be a rebel standing in the doorway, and when you came into range he would shout, "Say hello to my little friend!" and drill the shopkeeper into the corner for a while. For bomb launcher, there would be a temporary stand two blocks wide (destructible via whip) with a bomb launcher wielding rebel on it, and another standing next to him. One shouts "FIRE!" and the bomb launcher man fires bombs at the shop until the shopkeeper dies (he doesn't react, he just shouts, "NOOOOO!!!"). If it chose machete, a shopkeeper would be pacing the shop with a shotgun (walking into the shop, away from the doorway) and a rebel would drop down from a short rope hanging from over the shop, and sneak up behind the shopkeeper and stab him in the back. That'd be really cool.