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[Johan Peitz]

Balder Dash?

Great job everyone, this is a great thread!

[BMcC]

Arne: Sweet!  It looks great, my man. 

My tile system is quick and flexible, so ANY themes you wanna do, do em.  Even if it's just for a one off bonus room (like the Metroid one).

I like the dithering, it makes it look grittier (in a good way).  And it matches the style fine. 

The rotating drums look very cool.  The water brings us to a design decision:

I propose that he can swim, but only on the surface of the water, ala Yoshi's Island.  What do you think?

Re: The Title

I always thought it'd be funny to do a title like, "Guy Balding: The Adventures of Guy Balding."  (I.e., _CHARACTER NAME_: The Adventures of _CHARACTER NAME_)  That's funny to me.  :D

The game's coming along well by the way!  I'm THIS close.  I do have a pretty big bug to kill, but I'm pretty sure I know exactly what's going on.

Keep those concepts coming!  They're great!

Johan:  Thanks!  ::swoons:: 

[Akhel]

Balding's Adventure for the Lost (Game-)Discs? 

The sewers look nice, but I think the level of detail of the bricks (all textured) kind of contrasts with the pipes (which are just shapes). Or perhaps it doesn't.

[Arne]

Re: water:
Maybe I should make the waterlevel lower, so he wades through it... like when you walk out into the ocean from a beach and the water reaches the balls and it's cooold! Arms flailing high.

Oh, another thing, he can drop into the water from high up without dieing too. Maybe he falls on his ass though.

When he's damaged but just stunned... maybe there should be an animation for a short recovery? Stuff circling the head, stars ejecting, whatever. Maybe it has been mentioned.

Sewer is here:



Any name proposals are welcome. Yeah, redundant stuff is funny.

[Bezzy]

Guy Balding in: Guy Balding Versus The Fathers Against Justice.

GBIGBVTFAJ

Gerbigbervutfaj!

Balder Dash?

Oh wait, ignore me. I like this one too much!

[Arne]

I was thinking about the continue/life aspect.

Maybe it's best to keep it simple.

- You have infinite lives, but the level resets and can be difficult.
- You can replay the level to get a good time.
- You can replay the level to get the bonus item or a super secret/ester egg.

And that's it. The challenge is to complete the level at all, and progress on the level map. (i.e. no losing any progress.) This rhymes with each level being an independent mini game of sorts.

Hmm?

[BenH]

I was thinking about the continue/life aspect.

Maybe it's best to keep it simple.

- You have infinite lives, but the level resets and can be difficult.
- You can replay the level to get a good time.
- You can replay the level to get the bonus item or a super secret/ester egg.

And that's it. The challenge is to complete the level at all, and progress on the level map. (i.e. no losing any progress.) This rhymes with each level being an independent mini game of sorts.

Hmm?

Sounds good to me. I like challenges like that, stops it from becoming too frustrating. It's bad enough not having the skill to complete a level without the game taking away from your progress as well :D

[BMcC]

I like it.  Simple is good. 

So, if you lost, you would have to play the previous room, correct?  Which would allow you to choose a new path if you just couldn't beat a certain room?

[Arne]

Well, my initial idea was to un-clear a cleared level when the player lost a life, or  lost 3 lives. But now I'm thinking of skipping that aspect.

The player would still be forced to take another path if he can't clear a level because it's 'nodes' will never be activated.

But this mechanic (continues and all lives lost penalties) isn't a lot of code really, it'll become clearer what works later.

[BMcC]

The reason I like that mechanic is for situations like this:

Suppose there's a real hard part of the map and you want to get through it to get some great secret.  If the game didnt un-clear levels, you could just try and try at the same stage 'til you beat it, then do the same with the next and the next and etc. until you reach the goal.  With the original mechanic, however, it would be a little more old school in that you'd actually have to be good enough to clear the whole path of levels, y'know?

But you're right -- it's simple as pie to code in and out.  We could just make it an option when we have enough levels, even, and feel it out then.

[lowpoly]

With the original mechanic, however, it would be a little more old school in that you'd actually have to be good enough to clear the whole path of levels, y'know?

How about two modes? Normal and Hardcore/Old-School. Normal let's you advance at your own pace and isn't as rewarding/punishing. Hardcore would reward skill and efficiency, but the payoff would be bigger (ie. the Best Ending, additional secrets, minigames, etc.)

[BMcC]

With the original mechanic, however, it would be a little more old school in that you'd actually have to be good enough to clear the whole path of levels, y'know?

How about two modes? Normal and Hardcore/Old-School. Normal let's you advance at your own pace and isn't as rewarding/punishing. Hardcore would reward skill and efficiency, but the payoff would be bigger (ie. the Best Ending, additional secrets, minigames, etc.)

I guess...  But I (personally) would want there to be areas that only the best players would be able to see.

Luckily, we don't have to decide on any of this yet. 

[Arne]

Yeah, I'm really unsure about this. I suppose it's a matter for later really.

I think, you can already try and try again, the question is how far you want to push the player back...

Lousy players wouldn't get anywhere of course Nor would they manage to get the bonus items needed for unlocking secret levels.

[BenH]

What about save point type things in some of the rooms along the way? Just throwing random ideas out there.

[Xion]

I like that save room idea.
So, if a person keeps dying consecutively, they get pushed further and further back...? But they can't get pushed back beyond where they last saved.

Speaking of death and demise,

Gotta love the spindeath.

Hey, do I see a little fleshy Octorok in the sewer mockup?

[BenH]

I like that save room idea.
So, if a person keeps dying consecutively, they get pushed further and further back...? But they can't get pushed back beyond where they last saved.

Speaking of death and demise,

Gotta love the spindeath.

Hey, do I see a little fleshy Octorok in the sewer mockup?

Hahahaha, spin death is awesome!

[BMcC]

Haha, super.    ::right-click-saves::

Hey, er... Can I get a ladder idling animation, please?  It doesn't have to be fancy or anything.

SIDENOTE:  Crawling under obstacles is a lot more fun than you'd think. 

[vitaminNewB]

Haha, super.    ::right-click-saves::

Hey, er... Can I get a ladder idling animation, please?  It doesn't have to be fancy or anything.

SIDENOTE:  Crawling under obstacles is a lot more fun than you'd think. 

I can whip it up. Hope Xion sees this.

[vitaminNewB]

Haha, super.    ::right-click-saves::

Hey, er... Can I get a ladder idling animation, please?  It doesn't have to be fancy or anything.

SIDENOTE:  Crawling under obstacles is a lot more fun than you'd think. 

I can whip it up. Hope Xion sees this.

 If you're working on it Xion let me nooose

[Bezzy]

SIDENOTE:  Crawling under obstacles is a lot more fun than you'd think. 

Oooh... question: Do you auto duck when moving into same-level overhung blocks? Like, say you've got a flat piece of land, and it turns into a 1 block high gap, do you run up to the block and clip, and you then have to manually duck, or do you automatically duck when this happens so it's smooth and easy?

Hmm. Is there any reason you'd *want* to clip against a low overhang while standing? I can't think of any, but then, I am drunk again.