ideas
JohnR
What do you think of the following ideas:
1) A sign prop. This could be used to show text when the player
presses enter on it, for level explanations, etc...
2) Deadly obstacle. I'm thinking of spikes that would kill the player
if they touch it, but I suppose it could be used for other things.
This would have to change the death logic somewhat to probably send
the player back to the last portal (or first platform of a level) if
they touch the deadly obstacle.
3) Allow the player to crouch. It could be fun to have to crawl
through tunnels, for example.
Thanks,
-John
Chris McCormick
On Tue, Mar 01, 2011 at 11:03:09PM -0800, JohnR wrote:
> What do you think of the following ideas:
>
> 1) A sign prop. This could be used to show text when the player
> presses enter on it, for level explanations, etc...
I like this idea. I want to make the initial release quite simple, and once
there are some users I would like to have features like this added in a
democratic fashion, e.g. the users get to decide what goes into the game and
how. A similar idea I had was being able to leave messages, like post-it notes
in the game, but I think maybe your idea is better.
Actually I really like this idea. I will add it to the TODO list.
> 2) Deadly obstacle. I'm thinking of spikes that would kill the player
> if they touch it, but I suppose it could be used for other things.
> This would have to change the death logic somewhat to probably send
> the player back to the last portal (or first platform of a level) if
> they touch the deadly obstacle.
One of my fundemental philosophical ideas when making infinite platformer is to
make there be no real death, no "baddies", and no killing. At the moment if you
fall off a platform you "die" but the penalty is extremely modest, and that is
intentional. Mostly it's intended to be a game of exploration and creativity.
One idea I had (and this is very very pie-in-the-sky) was to add a lightweight
scripting language so that users could create interactive elements in the game.
E.g. a tree that rustles as you run past it or something like that, or a
platform that moves to another part of the level once you jump on it.
Another thing was parallax backgrounds, and also foreground items that are
infront of the player.
Those things are not very high on the TODO list. :)
> 3) Allow the player to crouch. It could be fun to have to crawl
> through tunnels, for example.
That would be cool too! I will add your suggestions to the TODO list.
Probably the first two features I want to add after release will be the ability
to edit your character graphic (+pixel collisions), and then soon after that a
proper inventory for the items you have collected.
I am very close to beta release candidate one now.
Chris.
-------------------
http://mccormick.cx
JohnR
shouldn't be too difficult and it will help me learn the code layout.
Chris McCormick
Wonderful, your patches are very welcome. I will accept a patch for a
sign/message object for sure. If you are up for implementing the 'foreground'
object after that, let me know. This is basically exactly like the Platform()
class but it should get drawn after everything else.
Cheers,
Chris.
On Wed, Mar 02, 2011 at 07:35:36PM -0800, JohnR wrote:
> Well, I'll work on the sign/message if you don't mind, because it
> shouldn't be too difficult and it will help me learn the code layout.
>
> On Mar 2, 6:08ï¿œam, Chris McCormick <ch...@mccormick.cx> wrote:
> > Hi John,
> >
> > On Tue, Mar 01, 2011 at 11:03:09PM -0800, JohnR wrote:
> > > What do you think of the following ideas:
> >
> > > 1) A sign prop. ï¿œThis could be used to show text when the player
> > > presses enter on it, for level explanations, etc...
> >
> > I like this idea. I want to make the initial release quite simple, and once
> > there are some users I would like to have features like this added in a
> > democratic fashion, e.g. the users get to decide what goes into the game and
> > how. A similar idea I had was being able to leave messages, like post-it notes
> > in the game, but I think maybe your idea is better.
> >
> > Actually I really like this idea. I will add it to the TODO list.
> >
> > > 2) Deadly obstacle. ï¿œI'm thinking of spikes that would kill the player
> > > if they touch it, but I suppose it could be used for other things.
> > > This would have to change the death logic somewhat to probably send
> > > the player back to the last portal (or first platform of a level) if
> > > they touch the deadly obstacle.
> >
> > One of my fundemental philosophical ideas when making infinite platformer is to
> > make there be no real death, no "baddies", and no killing. At the moment if you
> > fall off a platform you "die" but the penalty is extremely modest, and that is
> > intentional. Mostly it's intended to be a game of exploration and creativity.
> >
> > One idea I had (and this is very very pie-in-the-sky) was to add a lightweight
> > scripting language so that users could create interactive elements in the game.
> > E.g. a tree that rustles as you run past it or something like that, or a
> > platform that moves to another part of the level once you jump on it.
> >
> > Another thing was parallax backgrounds, and also foreground items that are
> > infront of the player.
> >
> > Those things are not very high on the TODO list. :)
> >
> > > 3) Allow the player to crouch. ï¿œIt could be fun to have to crawl
> > > through tunnels, for example.
> >
> > That would be cool too! I will add your suggestions to the TODO list.
> >
> > Probably the first two features I want to add after release will be the ability
> > to edit your character graphic (+pixel collisions), and then soon after that a
> > proper inventory for the items you have collected.
> >
> > I am very close to beta release candidate one now.
> >
> > Chris.
> >
> > -------------------http://mccormick.cx
-------------------
http://mccormick.cx
JohnR
Sure, I'll try to do a foreground as well after the sign.
The issue with the sign right now is that I'm using the text entry box
at the bottom and it is limited to about 80 characters. And with the
font for the message display, it only shows about 75 characters, all
on one line.
So how do you think it should work? Allow longer text entry in the
entry box that will just scroll left as you type? Allowing a message
up to, say, 256 characters?
And for the chat and sign/message display on the screen when the
player presses enter, can we increase the word wrap column to about 30
characters instead of what it is now(17?) ?
More ideas for the future:
*Auto character repeat in the chat box.
*A chat/command history, so you could arrow up and repeat the same
things
Thanks,
-John
> sign/message object for sure. If you are up for implementing the 'foreground'
> object after that, let me know. This is basically exactly like the Platform()
> class but it should get drawn after everything else.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Chris.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Wed, Mar 02, 2011 at 07:35:36PM -0800, JohnR wrote:
> > Well, I'll work on the sign/message if you don't mind, because it
> > shouldn't be too difficult and it will help me learn the code layout.
>
> > > Hi John,
>
> > > On Tue, Mar 01, 2011 at 11:03:09PM -0800, JohnR wrote:
> > > > What do you think of the following ideas:
>
>
> > > I like this idea. I want to make the initial release quite simple, and once
> > > there are some users I would like to have features like this added in a
> > > democratic fashion, e.g. the users get to decide what goes into the game and
> > > how. A similar idea I had was being able to leave messages, like post-it notes
> > > in the game, but I think maybe your idea is better.
>
> > > Actually I really like this idea. I will add it to the TODO list.
>
> > > > This would have to change the death logic somewhat to probably send
> > > > the player back to the last portal (or first platform of a level) if
> > > > they touch the deadly obstacle.
>
> > > One of my fundemental philosophical ideas when making infinite platformer is to
> > > make there be no real death, no "baddies", and no killing. At the moment if you
> > > fall off a platform you "die" but the penalty is extremely modest, and that is
> > > intentional. Mostly it's intended to be a game of exploration and creativity.
>
> > > One idea I had (and this is very very pie-in-the-sky) was to add a lightweight
> > > scripting language so that users could create interactive elements in the game.
> > > E.g. a tree that rustles as you run past it or something like that, or a
> > > platform that moves to another part of the level once you jump on it.
>
> > > Another thing was parallax backgrounds, and also foreground items that are
> > > infront of the player.
>
> > > Those things are not very high on the TODO list. :)
>
Chris McCormick
On Thu, Mar 03, 2011 at 12:23:56AM -0800, JohnR wrote:
> The issue with the sign right now is that I'm using the text entry box
> at the bottom and it is limited to about 80 characters. And with the
> font for the message display, it only shows about 75 characters, all
> on one line.
>
> So how do you think it should work? Allow longer text entry in the
> entry box that will just scroll left as you type? Allowing a message
> up to, say, 256 characters?
Hm, I kind of like the idea of a twitter-style economy of words. I guess if
they want longer messages they can make multiple message objects. I'm not sure
how you feel about this, but to me it fits with the game design and aesthetic
of this game to encourage less words. Hm, but I don't want to be a dictator
about this.
> And for the chat and sign/message display on the screen when the
> player presses enter, can we increase the word wrap column to about 30
> characters instead of what it is now(17?) ?
Yeah, maybe it's too small here. I was thinking anyway about switching to a
font with more utf8 character sets supported anyway, instead of the pixelly one
(just for speech bubbles). I really would like non-english speakers to be able
to write their characters in chat messages, and that should allow more text in
the speech bubbles too. I've already written that code, I just need to enable
it.
So I guess you are using the same code for the sign as that to display
SpeechBubble()s?
> More ideas for the future:
> *Auto character repeat in the chat box.
This one is in the TODO list already.
> *A chat/command history, so you could arrow up and repeat the same
> things
Good idea! Julian already added arrow-key navigation, so that is a big plus. I
will add this to the TODO list.
Cheers,
Chris.
-------------------
http://mccormick.cx
JohnR
I suppose I have to use SpeechBubble or something based on it.
-John