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Clever Ideas

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bluemonkmn:
I figured I should try to put together a list of clever ideas or tips.  In discussing the project Turok World, it occurred to me that some game developers might appreciate some ideas on how you can get big "bang for your buck" -- putting in a little effort and getting a lot out of it.  So I'll start a list and others can reply with ideas of their own.  I haven't tested these ideas, so please correct me if any of these don't work out so well.

* Create directional teleporter tiles.  This could simply be implemented as a tile interaction that activates a special function that teleports the player relative to their current position.  The player will learn that whenever they see this kind of tile, it will teleport them a specific distance in a specific direction (you'll probably want one for left and one for right).  It almost adds a dimension to your level because now you can have a vertical passageway that intersects a horizontal passageway, but you can't get to one from the other.  And all you have to do to create this kind of intersection is put down one or two tiles (two if you want to be able to go in both directions)
* Force the player through the same area multiple times,  If you have a particularly clever part of the map that has some cool effects, put goals on alternate sides of this part of the map so the player has to (gets to) go throughy it multiple times.  Maybe each time the player goes through it something could be slightly different too.  That way you get to re-experience the cleverness of the whole area without having to re-create it so many times.  (Example: a catapult that flings you to different places depending on how much inventory you have.)
* Re-use sprite graphics:  If you have a particular sprite that has a lot of graphics devoted to it, make sure you use it as many places as you can find a good excuse to use it.  Show off all that work.  Go back to other levels and add it wherever it might be fun or useful.  Also, just because you re-use the graphics doesn't mean the sprite has to behave the same way in every case.  Re-use the same graphics in a few different kinds of sprites to get a lot of bang out of all your graphics work.
* Use the "switch to map" function with the "remember old map" feature to jump to other little maps temporarily while the player does variouos little tasks or takes little side trips.  The deeper you go (the more maps you have remembered) the deeper the game feels overall.  Keep in mind, however, that you can only have 5 remembered maps points.
* Use the relative teleport function to make conveyor belts for the player to ride.  If you have a tile that represents a conveyour belt that moves to the left, you can implement this by defining a tile interaction on this tile that teleports the player a couple pixels to the left whenever the player is touching it.  Careful not to allow these tiles to teleport the player into solid ground, though.
* Use the alter map function to make significant changes to an already visited piece of a map.  Rather than always spending time making new areas of the map, just design a new piece to fit into an existing map.  Maybe you can open up a passageway that was blocked before.  Keep in mind, however, that the alter map function cannot introduce / copy special functions to an area of the map -- it will only copy tiles.
* Add sprites or tiles to the map that restrict access to areas the player will be able to access later.  For example, if you put a number of red doors throughout your world, the player will be eager to see what's through there and all you have to do to open them up is grant the player a red key someday.  They'll be really happy when they finally get that key because they already know it will open up cast new sections of the world to them and they'll know where to go to find them. (Anybody remember Supor Mario World and their various colored exclamaion point blocks?)
* Add time bombs to your game.  They're easy to do without script.  You just create a global special function that creates a sprite when you press a button.  The sprite follows a path relative to its starting point.  The path is just a point with a delay.  Then define a function that will activate at the end of the sprite's path that will create an explosion.  You can use time bombs for all kinds of things, including opening up passages that you weren't able to get to before (if dropping a bomb requires inventory).
* Use the DrawMap function in script to allow the player to send out a camera-bot that can explore another area of this map or another map entirely.  DrwaMap can draw the area around the camerabot in some fixed location on the player's map (a large screen display, for example).
* Use the alter map function in combination with a trigger point to make large changes to multiple possible tagets on the map.  For example, create a "Campsite" tile.  Then create an off-screen "tent" area that looks like a campsite with a large tent set up on it, and the tent will contain tiles that can replenish the player's health.  Then you can define a tile interaction that will allow a player to set up a tent on any camp site he comes accross if he owns a tent.

GameDeveloper:
Those are some pretty nice ideas.  I like them!  I thought that I would at least post one or two of mine, since I basicly rely on these little tricks becaue I don't know how to script, and I'd rather not learn too.  I like the challenge of figuring out how to do these without scripting..  So, I'll put a few down.


*   During the course of a game, you being the main character must traverse through, say a Labyrinth.  You keep doing little puzzles throughout and keep getting deeper into it.  A few things happen along the way that you're not sure of.  Later, you get captured, and people outside who are waiting for you to return are left wondering where you are.  They head in and they can now access only the small things you left behind.  As they get through, they notice some different colored doors along the way, and there seems to be no way of getting through, so you just continue.  Later, that new character get's captured too, and the entrance caves in.  Then there is one final person outside who decides to go after everyone, but the entrance is blocked.  He decides to explore and he notices a door in the back,  he can open it only from his magic, and he enters the Labyrinth through the door the other character was wondering about.  Now, he goes through and meets a few of them that were captured.  He rescues them and then the others later on.  They all finally meet up at the end boss for a grand finale boss fight with all of the characters rather then the original one.
*   Another, there are simple sprite that repel the player throughout a specific dungeon, such as vines blocking a path.  You can only go one way, so you must go that way.  Along the path, you find a new weapon that can destroy that sprite and open a new path.  This can be repeated throughout the whole game with new weapons and items.  For the final boss fight, you can create a huge boss with multiple forms that require each of the items you found.  This would be very exciting, seeing as how the player already knows how each works, and thus may use them to beat down the final bad guy.
Those are just a couple, and if it sounds like I restated some of yours Bluemonkmn, then sorry.  These are just scenarios I use in my games.

bluemonkmn:
I forgot to mention one that someone else discovered (in the project called Furrits) and I didn't even know that would work until I saw it:

* Use tile animation to have a tile cycle through solid and empty states.  When the tile looks empty it will also behave empty.  When it looks solid (when it's displaying a tile that is categorized as solid) it will behave solid.

billybob884:

--- Quote from: bluemonkmn on 2005-12-17, 07:40:46 PM ---
* Use the relative teleport function to make conveyor belts for the player to ride.  If you have a tile that represents a conveyour belt that moves to the left, you can implement this by defining a tile interaction on this tile that teleports the player a couple pixels to the left whenever the player is touching it.  Careful not to allow these tiles to teleport the player into solid ground, though.
--- End quote ---

you can also use this type of "sliding" to make iced slopes (like i have in my game), use the floor up and down tiles, and have it transport 1 pixil to either left or right, and 1 pixil down.

Eastfist:
We need more posts like this...  Neat!

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