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I have some ideas for Pirate Quest regarding game progression and the map. Instead of having a [b]huge[/b] map I believe it would be a lot more fun with several smaller maps. A map could also vary between 2x2 - 5x5 screens big(?) and be randomly constructed as it is now. Here's what I'm thinking: You don't get confused or loose sense of direction as easy on a smaller map. It's easier to see the finishing line i.e. the game doesn't feel endless. You should be able to guess how many spots are left to examine which makes you eager to finish the map. You get a sense of progression when you finish a map. (Three stages of accomplishment: finishing levels, finishing maps, finishing game.) Maps can be thematically linked to a minor story - a nice picture with some text between maps for example. ("[i]After searching [b]Sunshine Bay[/b] for days and nights, our brave captain and his crew finally found [b]Black Pete's Pipe[/b]. Aye! A small map is hidden in the pipe! It looks like the treacherous [b]Skull Reef[/b] is their next destination...[/i]") Maps can be differentiated by color, tileset, placement algorithm or a combination thereof. Difficulty in game can be adjusted to map progression. One solution is that you get less time on map 2, even less time on map 3 etc. (Which would mean a map in itself only gets harder and harder due to increased level difficulty, not by both time [i]and[/i] level difficulty.) Another solution is to let the amount of time per level decrease for each level cleared, but to "reset" the timer when playing a new map. Increased difficulty instead comes from new features/obstacles on the map. Just for fun, I made some quick examples of map themes: [img]http://www.spellofplay.com/files/images/MapA01.jpg[/img] [img]http://www.spellofplay.com/files/images/MapB01.jpg[/img] [img]http://www.spellofplay.com/files/images/MapC01.jpg[/img] |
Submitted by samplerInfo
Wed, 07/11/2007 - 23:44
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Progression
Yes I like the idea of smaller maps, the current map is 128*128 tiles and I use ~ 96*64 or something like that...
The maps should not be to small, if we want the clue system to work... but 5*5 screens should definitly do it...
I think the maps should be handdrawn... it gets much more interesting and not so much weird-trubbles (like hero maps
)
Progression
Sounds like a very neat idea! I especially like the ability to link theme and difficulty.
/hObbE
Progression
Hm the more I look at the pictures above, I think we lack color in the map...
It would be gr8 to get some color here... I still like the idea of an treasuremap, but some colors would definitly do the trick! I think we will start with one tileset and make a few smaller maps + storyscreens.
But first we need to get good background tiles for the ingame levels!!!
And replace my programmers art!!! :oops:
Today I have done some small changes and movement should hopefully be much smoother, and not so yerky anymore...
It is gr8 to see so much postings in the forum!!!
Progression
Sounds and looks absolutley great! I'll start workin on the gfx as soon as possible! Great work toll!
Progression
Today I have started working on the 3 maps and it is much better this way! With three 32*32 sized maps and a minimap you can find your way around and is not so lost! Gr8 idea!!!
3 randomly hidden treasures on every map.
I want to focus on audio-visual feedback in this game, we should definitvly have nice story-screen-images (3, if anyone wants to do a few) and special music when you find treasures, fireworks and cheers!
When I get this working I will start working on sorting the levels in different difficulties, this means lots and lots of gameplay-testing...
Progression
I have started some rewriting of the code to enable more screens and to get the three maps working, it will be done this week.
Some refactoring needs to be done to get this to work, old complex addhoc code has to be replaced!
Progression
More progress, We now have three maps instead of one, We might want to add some screen when you sail from one map to another, right now I only write a silly text when you find the last treasure of a map, and when you click you get teleported to the new map...
I have drawn the first map, and I think the size is good, If you get some bad luck you might need to do ~10 levels before finding the first level, but I think that is ok...
:roll:
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