View Issue Details
| ID | Project | Category | Date Submitted | Last Update | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0007880 | Valley 1 | Suggestion - Balancing Issues | May 17, 2012 10:08 am | May 17, 2012 2:39 pm | |
| Reporter | Bluddy | Assigned To | |||
| Status | considering | Resolution | open | ||
| Product Version | 1.021 | ||||
| Summary | 0007880: JtP now too easy ;) | ||||
| Description | Chris, I think the adjustment to JtP was too extreme. Now it's way too easy, and the changes aren't what I had in mind when I complained about it (sorry). Outside JtP missions (which are the hardest kind) now generate about a monster per screen, completely dissipating the tension -- this mission is all about the tension of being surrounded by monsters who can kill you with one hit and having to get them first. Plus, if outside missions are this easy, I can't imagine how easy the inside ones are. The main problems with the old JtP were: - Valleys in the outside generation were still common, making jumping off a ledge a matter of pure luck. - The AI of the enemies, which currently sees you through land and obstacles, would cause them to congregate either directly below you where you were about to land, or directly above you where they would land on top of you. - JtP missions were possibly too long with the 500+ meter requirement. I recommend going back to the old JtP design, which was much more intense and enjoyable, and doing one/some of the following: 1. Making the land generation smoother. I don't recommend this because it IS fun to have to jump off a ledge and it being somewhat risky, plus the varied environment is enjoyable. 2. Fixing the enemy AI so they don't see you when they shouldn't see you ie. when there's land between you and them, and when they do see you, they only know the last location they saw you at. I think this is important anyway but it would also solve many of the current problems. 3. Possibly giving you a way to scroll slightly up and down when you hold the up or down button. This is common in platformers, and would be useful in the rest of the game as well. 4. Within the mission, giving you lines to the enemies closest to you that last only a second or two when you stop moving for a while. This is like you listening to the enemies and figuring out where they are when you're completely still. 5. Making the mission spawn exactly the same way every time, with enemy placement as well, and reducing the time between mission iterations. Every time you die, you could explode in a massive explosion (for the spectacle of it) and immediately respawn at the start of the mission ie. no need to enter the mission again. The mission would be exactly the same as last time, so you can learn it as you go. This option is by far my favorite (though fixing the AI is important too) because it lets you make the mission as hardcore as you want -- by iterating over it, you're learning the patterns of movement you need to beat it. | ||||
| Tags | No tags attached. | ||||
| Internal Weight | Feature Suggestion | ||||
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While I agree that they are too easy now, I disagree with pretty much everything else there. ;) |
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2. I'm not sure about. We can see enemies through walls, why shouldn't they? Unless we get some sort of in universe explanation, like being a glyph bearer comes with x-ray vision or something. If that happens, yea, this would be a sensible change. 3. OMG yes! We can already look left and right by keyboard, but it seems jarring we can't look up and down by keyboard 5. Seems like a nice cool idea. |
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For 3 I do like that idea, I do have to say. |
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Though, Bluddy -- wouldn't that cause your keyboard-directed aiming to get really difficult to use? |
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Not really. The way platforming games usually do it, you have to hold down for several seconds -- maybe as long as 3 - before the view slowly moves down a little bit so long as you hold down the button, and then it stops a certain distance away, usually when your character reaches the top of the screen but it could be a little further. If you stop holding down at any point, the view quickly scrolls back up to show your normal view. Same thing for up. So it doesn't really compete with the regular controls. After all, this scheme was invented by some platforming game a long time ago that had the exact same controls I'm using. |
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Maybe it would be possible to change the look ahead key to allow you to look in all 4 directions by moving the mouse/arrow keyd when held down? |
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That would also work. What is preferred here? |
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Holding down + another button vs just holding down for a couple of seconds is almost equivalent. Actually the look ahead button is probably easier other than requiring another button. So I'm good with using the look ahead key. |
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Part one of probably three in terms of changes from this thread: * The basic version of the Journey To Perfection missions are now a bit too easy -- which is great! They are meant to be something that can start easy and then get harder as you go. So, with that in mind: ** After you win 3 JTP missions: Invincible Monster Spawners *** Until this mechanic unlocks, there are no monster spawners at all, but after you unlock this game mechanic there are instead invincible monster spawners that keep you on your toes. ** After you win 10 JTP missions: 1.5x Monsters From Spawners *** Monster spawners in these missions now have 1.5x as much "budget," so they spawn more and/or larger enemies. ** After you win 20 JTP missions: 2x Monsters From Spawners *** Monster spawners in these missions now have 1.5x as much "budget," so they spawn more and/or larger enemies. ** This keeps the missions combat-focused in a really intense fashion, while at the same time letting there be a ramp-up period so that players can get used to the idea of the missions in general before getting faced with their full brutality. |
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OK that's a great idea. We just need to make sure it doesn't get TOO intense once the mission is at full power. As an aside, playing this mission just reinforced in my mind how I'd love to have a random JtP magic modifier that could occur per chunk. The reason for this is that it completely inverts the strengths of monsters. Dwarf skelebots are a huge threat because just being near them means they could hit you at any moment, whereas big monsters are weak because they're easy to hit. So I'd love to have a chunk modifier that causes all monsters to hit for a set very large amount of damage, while your spells all kill monsters with one hit. The chunk modifier could be a spell caused by some kind of evil machine, which you could either destroy or leave at your discretion. You'd just walk into a chunk and suddenly it would have this weird property. |
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I like the JtP chasms. I've found many ways to deal with them, and choosing between them adds variety. (I can build a staircase of platforms over the canyon; drop a stack of crates so I can descend slowly; drop a rhino into the chasm to hopefully clear it; hope my double-jump will get me across or save me from danger below.) |
| Date Modified | Username | Field | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 17, 2012 10:08 am | Bluddy | New Issue | |
| May 17, 2012 10:11 am | Chris_McElligottPark | Note Added: 0024393 | |
| May 17, 2012 10:15 am | TechSY730 | Note Added: 0024395 | |
| May 17, 2012 10:18 am | Chris_McElligottPark | Note Added: 0024396 | |
| May 17, 2012 10:18 am | Chris_McElligottPark | Note Added: 0024397 | |
| May 17, 2012 10:56 am | Bluddy | Note Added: 0024400 | |
| May 17, 2012 11:06 am | EtherealOne | Note Added: 0024403 | |
| May 17, 2012 11:09 am | Chris_McElligottPark | Note Added: 0024406 | |
| May 17, 2012 11:16 am | Bluddy | Note Added: 0024407 | |
| May 17, 2012 11:58 am | Chris_McElligottPark | Note Added: 0024409 | |
| May 17, 2012 12:04 pm | Bluddy | Note Added: 0024411 | |
| May 17, 2012 12:04 pm | tigersfan | Internal Weight | => Feature Suggestion |
| May 17, 2012 12:04 pm | tigersfan | Status | new => considering |
| May 17, 2012 2:39 pm | jruderman | Note Added: 0024413 |
