Scrolling Game Development Kit Forum
SGDK Version 1 => General Discussion => Topic started by: bluemonkmn on 2005-12-17, 03:16:09 PM
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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.
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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.
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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.
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- 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.
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.
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We need more posts like this... Neat!
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I have another clever Idea. this deals with teleporting the player to a location on that same map.
- When wanting to switch the player to a location, select the 'toggle grid' function by right clicking and holding and collapsing the sprite options [this portion is all done in the map editor]. When you have that selected, put a new path at the location you wish to teleport to and then close. Now, outside of the editor, bring up the special function editor that is located with the map. go down to the teleport function and leave it there. Go to the sprites list and go down to the new path you created and look at the coordinates. You will see the x and y coordinates listed beside the path names. look at these coordinates and type them into the function! This makes it very quick and easy when you are trying to teleport around, and makes it precise, too. just delete the path afterward.
Well that's another of my two cents. [would that make it four?]
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well, like 6 because your otherpost had 2 ideas, or maybe it is 4 becasue it was one post...
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Another way to do that would be to just use the mouse. Place it at the tile you want to teleport to, take note of the tile coordinates it gives in the corner. Then, multiply those values by the tile width and height respectively to get the pixel coordinates.
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Yes, durnurd's suggestion was the method I assumed would be most commonly used, which is why there's a calculator button right there to help you do the multiplication. But if you think it's easier to put a path on the map and then look at the sprites dialog, you're certainly free to do it that way :). Maybe it is easier if you want to, for example, collect a whole bunch of teleport points by adding them all to a single path and then look at the whole list.
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Been hacking away at my "fighting" level.
A clever idea I just discovered is using the Alter map special function and an inventory counter to keep track of "environmental damage."
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I realize no one's posted anything on this topic for a while, but I came up with an idea that I thought was pretty clever. Timed escapes can be done with an item (displayed or not) being changed by one each frame, but that limits you to GameDev's method of item display (or none at all). Here's my suggestion, which could probably be applied to other stuff:
Create a set of ten tiles, each displaying a number zero through ten (I went with a digital clock style). Have a layer on your map with the scroll set to zero. Put a few placeholder tiles on the layer in a row. Then, go into the tile animation to have them scroll down from nine to zero. Set frames per second at 60. Have the farthest right place use 1 frame per number. The second uses 10, but only animates zero to five. The third takes 60 frames per tile, which is essentially counting the seconds! You can do likewise for the next place, but GameDev only lets you use 256 frames per tile animation, so you can just put zero twice, one twice, etc.
I figure something like this could be done in reverse for timing minigames or races (though this doesn't actually keep the time so much as display it. You'll need an inventory item to keep track of that).
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I have a clever idea too.
Enemies from different places. (All it requires is just one path for the enemy)
1.You place a path that can be shared by the player and enemy. (Seperate paths can also be used)
2.Create the sprites for the game, but make sure the enemy is not an initial instance. The sprite should auto delete when "1. or is off Display(or map..I forgot)"
3.Go to your map and edit all the requirements (solidity reaction, player sprite, etc.).
4.Next create a special function (global). The function should create a sprite, that has an 'x' offset of 200 (or however you want the distance of the sprite to be) and realative to the player. Also add a limit of 1 enemy appearing.
5.Choose your startup map in the inventory.
6.Play and enjoy.
Optional: To make the game more challenging, the enemy sprite could have no solidity defined.
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i guess i should share a few tips here too
* if you have many maps and you need to test them out quickly, make a level selector map to quickly go to that level. this can be also useful as a reward for finishing the game.
* if you use a frame reducer to slow down the frame rate, it will also affect the map editor, which could be a pain if you have it set to a low number like 30. If you disable it, the map will scroll at the highest speed possible
* If you need to see a large area of the map at one time, or if you want to zoom out while editing, change the screen size to 1024x768 (dont for get to change the Map display settings).
* Nobody likes hard-to-control games! personally ive always hated the Ctrl, Shift, Alt, and Space buttons. when you make a game make sure it is comfortable for you AND your players.
* if your game recommends a joystick, especially a certain kind (like either the "old-style" joystick or a gamepad), try to provide a link for that certain one.
* I have always judged a game by its music. dont forget to put music in your games! i havent like one game that lacks music (well, except maybe some versions of tetris...)
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adding walljumps to your player sprite can add quite a lot of depth to level design, you won't have to worry so much "is it possible for the player to reach this high?"
make a vertical passageway and allow the player to jump off the alternating walls till they hit the top. Make sure the walljumping is easy enough to do, if players find it hard parts of your game will end up practically impossible for them. (also walljumps are just cool)