Resource centre for ZX Spectrum games
using Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy game engines
Archive of the
Manic Miner & Jet Set Willy Yahoo! Group
messages
|
|
|
|
|
Message: 5146
Author: Alexandra
Date: 24/11/2005
Subject: Re: Andrew's first playtest of "Mind Control" - Daniel's reply
> 1. The geography problem and "The Mystic Room of Many Exits"You could include a map, either of screenshots, or a text-based one?
>
> I do admit that geography is a problem in "MC". I also think that
> there is little that can be done about it at this stage of
> development.
> My inspiration for "The Mystic Room of Many Exits" came from StuartI prefer 'mysterious' or 'mystical', since 'mystic' is a noun AFAIK.
> J. Hill's "Utility Cubicles" and the sequence "The Green Room" "The
> Red Room" "The Blue Room", which makes the navigation easier
> between various points of the game. And I hope that the word "Mystic"
> justifies to an extent the fact that the exits take you to unexpected
> places :-) . Or would "Mysterious" be better, as it's a mystery where
> each of the exits takes you?
> 2. The room-names problemEither way is fine by me. "Everywhere But In the Water" was a mistake
>
> Andrew wrote:
>
> > Of course, in a game which reuses many existing rooms, you may feel
> > you wish to copy the room-names exactly, but since you've already
> > modified the rooms in other ways...
>
> No, I always thought it was more important to stick to one consistent
> rule throughout the game than keep the original room-names exactly.
> And since Sendy hasn't screamed at me yet...
with the capital 'B', that's all I remember...
> It seemed to me that it was a reasonable rule and that it generallyI have to admit, my take is, as long as it looks neat, it's all good.
> followed what Matthew Smith did in the original game (even though he
> wasn't entirely consistent). In the original JSW the room-names: "I'm
> sure I've seen this before..", "We must perform a Quirkafleeg"
> and "Dr Jones will never believe this" are sentences and they are
> spelled like sentences (assuming that "Quirkafleeg" is a proper
> name). At the same time, the names "Out on a limb", "A bit of tree"
> and "On top of the house" do not stick to the rule general rule, but
> I think this is just because Matthew Smith wasn't such a
> perfectionist as some of us are...
Some bad cases can annoy me though, but a bit of inconsistency is
sometimes required since English is not as pure as logic or mathematics.
> I was aware of this problem, which concerns three rooms in the game You've told them not to go up there by making them stop at the top of
> "Clouds over the Plain. No Rain" [046], "The Elusive Passage
> continues" [091] and a third room whose name I will not mention at
> this point. I was really unhappy about it, but even though I gave it
> much thought, I have not been able to invent any reasonable solution.
> Does anyone have any clever ideas? Or shall we just confide in the
> players' alertness they can only land on these ropes after falling
> from above or having been to the room above, so they should know that
> there is nothing above the ropes and they will get 'hanged' if they
> try to jump up.
the rope. It's for their own good. If they go getting ideas into their
head and start taking it upon themselves to try jumping back up
anyway, they deserve to hang :P
> > In particular, a JSW player should be able to fall off the bottomPersonally I think the only problem is that the rightmost hole looks
> > of the screen from a height of four (or fewer) character-rows
> > without expecting an infinite-death scenario.
>
> I agree, this is a very important point.
>
> In spite of the above, I would rather leave "Sky Landing" as it is,
> because:
>
> - When you stand on the first, second or third ledge counting from
> the left, the infinite-death scenario below is, IMO, absolutely fair,
> because you can clearly see you are too high to be able to drop down
> safely.
>
> - When you stand on the fourth ledge from the left (or second from
> the right), the infinite-death scenario below /is/ kind of unfair in
> the sense that the player is standing at a height of four character-
> rows, so according to the above postulate he/she could expect to be
> able to drop down safely. However, taking into account the whole
> design of the room, I think that players instinctively should not try
> doing it. I am also afraid that adding Fire-cells in the top or
> bottom row would spoil the room design. I will leave it up to Sendy
> if she decides Fire-cells are needed, I will add them, if not, than
> you'd better watch out, you all-too-confident players! :-)
like you might be able to drop down onto a lower screen and come to
think of it the hole to the left of that is also a candidate for
luring the player to an unfair death. One possible solution is to
extend the conveyor at the bottom to go right the way along, blocking
up all the holes and 'conveying' you into the fire blocks if you fall
in but don't die from falling.
> - The first ledge on the right is OK, because you areOh, I didn't spot that. In that case, I'd be tempted to just leave the
> actually /meant/ to step off it and fall down.
Sky Landing as it is *shrug*. Preferably, you should make it so both
'friendly' looking holes are safe to go down, perhaps so that the
second hole down into the clouds should land you on a right conveyor
which then drops you down the chute?
> Plus the whole thing is very early into the game, so even if somebodyI aggree. I also think it's cool to have places where there's a risk
> falls into an infinite death scenario without having saved a snapshot
> first, he/she will not have much terrain to replay.
of infinite death, provided it's not difficult. It adds a bit of tension.
> This general rule is something I am wondering about. After all, ifMy rule of thumb is - if you have to enter a room, and the room is
> you MUST have seen the danger, but didn't take it into consideration,
> it's your problem, isn't it? How does everybody feel about this rule?
> because myself I'm not really sure...
small, and you have to turn back, /then/ and only then should the
player be expected to remember something like a sheer drop off the
side of the screen, or walking straight into a trap. The idea being
that there's no excuse for them to forget (and also it can be fun to
know the designer is trying to get you to walk into the trap but
giving you a fair chance). However I don't think I've ever put a
guardian right in a room boundary like that!
> This is one of the places where I will ask Sendy to decide :-) . IfI'm inclined to say leave it, but if you want to change it, go ahead.
> you think, Sendy, that it should be modified, let me know and I will
> do it (either rearranging the bottom left-hand side of "Coming Down"
> or eliminating the green flower altogether, whichever way you prefer).
I've playtested it and it's easy as it is.
> The problem of Water and Fire looking completely alike okay, it'sYeap. It's unfair and there are so many other more legitimate ways to
> fair enough criticism (and I am pretty sure Sendy will express it,
> too, when she gets to this point). I have modified the Fire cell
> slightly, so that it's not identical to Water any more (not /very/
> different either, though :-) ).
kill someone ;)
> I have eliminated the BRIGHTness according to your suggestion,I tried both and I have to say to me it's one of those rare instances
> Andrew. However, since the colours were taken from Sendy's "The N
> trance Hall", if you want to preserve the BRIGHTness, Sendy, let me
> know, and I will put it back in spite of Andrew's preference :-) .
where Bright doesn't seem to make a huge amount of difference, but I
generally prefer it with the bright since it seems to sit better with
the hanging sign and the portcullis more.
However, some emulators seem to display all Bright colours as really
ugly and garish. I like zx32 because it seems to aggree with JSWED
about colours :)
> Okay, I admit it is unfair, and I promise I will avoid this kind ofMaybe, but if you think about it, disguising one game element for
> trick in the future (I think it would be justified, though, if there
> was some other indication, e.g. in the room layout, that there must
> be a way to get to the room on the right).
another isn't a true puzzle - you can do much better! But again it
depends on the context and 'story' of the game, as to how acceptable
something like that would be. You might want to show Willy escaping
from a seemingly impossible situation, such as from captivity, in
which case this kind of deception is more acceptable since you've
nowhere else to go and it becomes a 'leap of faith'.
> Just as a bit of self-advertisement: "Climbing up the Castle Tower"Incidentally, I meant to post the feedback I wrote for WNM to the
> is practically a copy (with changed cell-graphics and colours and
> guardian sprites) of the room "Upper Balcony" [32] from my first
> game "Willy's New Mansion".
club, instead of privately sending it to you :). I was really
impressed by it. I might dig it up and post it if I can find it.
> This room, as well as the one below ("You chose falling" [065]) comeThis game originally had the fall-any-height poke applied, so it was
> from Sendy's otherwise excellent set of rooms contained in the
> file "New" of "The Unlucky Seven".
designed with free-fall in mind.
> o) "The Frustration Machine" [067]This has become a standard type of room for me in the way that the
> I absolutely agree. This is Sendy's room great job, Sendy!
Kitchen is for a lot of people - there is a similar room in Death TV.
Sendy
|
|
|