Incidentally, I offered some time ago to do some tutorial towers. I have some now made and need only some basic puzzles to finish the group. If I ever get back to them (I have too many things going on at the moment and don't want to bore people with a list or, worse, get asked questions) then I will post them here along with my notes for general discussion.
Artinum.
@artinum: if you have installed dotnetfx runtime (1.0 or above), you can download and test provisional RToB tower editor here:
www.tower-of-babel.info/temp/Editoren/TobLvlEd/TobLvlEd20041115-1946.rar
So you can test your tutorial towers wit RToB.
Zabonak created also some tutorial towers with greater size than 8x8x4 dimensions.
Meanwhile the newest RToB with some SOUND EFFECTS is here:
www.tower-of-babel.info/temp/TestVersionen/Tob20050104-1909.rar
I implemented a "console" some weeks ago:
Start console -> STRG + TAB
Enter command HELP for some info
(maybe "TOWER 2" for jumping to second tower )
Leave console with -> STRG + TAB
One point to keep in mind when thinking up new objects:
Please remember that some of the proposed objects and improvements will definitely make for a much more unpredictable game. I think you should abe able to pretty accurately predict what a tower is going to do once you start it up; after all, logical thinking is what this game is all about.
If you have strong random elements (I'm not talking about hoppers and stuff) or, worse, elements affecting other elements in non-90-degree-angles, a trial-and-error approach will become necessary.
Still, some of the proposed objects sound like good fun.
I'd especially like to see a moving walker thingy, say something like a watcher on legs, wandering around the tower, turning right when he hits an obstacle, and using lifts when he encounters them.
It would be predictable and still add something new.
A computer-controlled grabber would be a great idea, too.
--
Das Lemsche Gesetz:
Niemand liest etwas; wenn er etwas liest, versteht er es nicht; wenn er es versteht, vergißt er es sofort.
Yep, I can only agree. Both random behaviour and breaking the 90-degree-concept would destroy the original idea of the game. When I suggested flashlights for rotating zappers, I meant that just as an optical effect, the actual zapping still being performed in the usual 90-degree-steps.
Still, a *completely* free-move variation of the game (ego-shooter-like) might be entertaining, too. But that'd be a whole new game, of course, as probably none of the existing towers would make any more sense in that environment.
Hmmm, an enemy grabber. Working in much the same way as a zapper or pusher beam, but interacting with objects in the same way as our Grabber does. You could set up some interesting traps like this, or one way lifts (up lift separating force-up and grabber beam - spider comes down, walks away, grabber beam activates forcer and lift goes back up).
Question - what about klondikes? You could lay traps where enemies will collect the klondikes before you can, but if we go by that route then the collected klondikes should count for our score (I mean, enemy zapper kills still count...)
Artinum.
You could build towers where you have to clear the way for the computer grabber...
Another thing:
How about adding a bit of space to the screen giving the individual tower's details (title, name of author, spiders available, goal etc) which allows the designer to add a bit of a comment?
I'd really like that.
--
Das Lemsche Gesetz:
Niemand liest etwas; wenn er etwas liest, versteht er es nicht; wenn er es versteht, vergißt er es sofort.
Zitat: - Z -
How about adding a bit of space to the screen giving the individual tower's details (title, name of author, spiders available, goal etc) which allows the designer to add a bit of a comment?I was about to make the same suggestion. I have tried to activate a non-existing spider way to often, and this could easily be optimised. There already is a narrow LED-like symbol next to the "spider-buttons" in the remake, and as the button-state is visible even without that symbol, it could be used to indicate if the spider is available or not. Of course, the buttons for non-existing spiders could also be disabled, too.
Hm. Maybe we should dedicate a new thread only to list up suggestions for technical improvements of the remake. That would make is much easier for Mayo to keep track of them. I think I will do this now.
I think we could even use a whole category just for the remake. Shall I?
--
Das Lemsche Gesetz:
Niemand liest etwas; wenn er etwas liest, versteht er es nicht; wenn er es versteht, vergißt er es sofort.
That's good idea
Just reading back a little way, I've realised there's a console mode on the remake. I have no idea how to access it though. What's this STRG key? I imagine there's an English equivalent... Ctrl? Shift? What does STRG mean??
Sometimes I feel like the class Dummkopf. And I can't even schreiben properly...
Artinum.