Re: [tuxracer-devel] Course precisions

[Jules B. <jm...@he...>]

On Wed, Apr 12, 2000 at 11:09:30PM -0500, Steve Baker wrote:
> Jules Bean wrote:
> 
> > 
> > Points for *long* periods of being airborn - perhaps for each period
> > of being airborn for longer than 0.5 seconds.
> 
> Well don't we have to have 'damage' scored on Tux for hard landings,
> hitting trees and stuff - and perhaps for scooting over rocks at high
> speed? (That's hard on your feathers you know!)  That makes for somewhat
> contradictory requirements...I think a better way to reward long 'air
> time' is using tricks (see my comments below).

Contradictory requirements aren't a bad thing, necessarily. They force
you to try to make the right trade-off, which makes for an interesting 
game.

As a (relevant) aside I don't think we should damage tux *too* much
for hard landings --- I've landed (on skis) whilst moving pretty
fast.  Rocks and trees, definitely.

However, I agree with you about the tricks, definitely.  That'd be cool.

>  
> > 100? points for never using the paddle key
> 
> I don't think you need to do that - if you have to resort to paddling,
> you've already lost so much time that you'll get a bad time score.
> No need for a double penalty.

But, in the current version at least, you can shave seconds of your
time by holding down the paddle key all time.  The idea was to give an 
incentive to doing the race 'pure'.  Maybe the incentive should be
even bigger, given that on some tracks it might be *very* hard to beat 
par without paddling.

>  
> > Other bonuses might have to wait until we have 'special trick' keys.
> 
> Yep!  The (excellent) 1080 snowboard game on Nintendo 64 has that -
> and it's nice because they reward small numbers of points for doing
> basic tricks - but MUCH more points for doing them in combinations in
> quick succession while in the air.  I guess that's incentive for
> getting long 'air time' - you can fit in more tricks in one 'combo'.

That sounds great to me.

> We might also want to consider 'bonuses' on the track:
> 
>  * Goodies you can hit to get a temporary boost of speed.
>  * Things that repair your 'damage'.
>  * Things that score bonus points.
>  * Perhaps things like teleporters that take you to some other
>    place on the track (better *or* worse).

Definitely.  I think Jasmin's already mentioned that in his todo.

> This may be controversial - but I would like to propose that
> we aim for a common 'style' for such things between Tux Racer
> and my Quest for Herring game. (And "Tux-Kart" which may be my
> next effort).  It would help the world of Tux-based games to
> establish a set of common themes like that.

I'd be very much in favour of that kind of consistency.  But care
needs to be taken not to create an unofficial tux 'cartel' ;-)

We could even produce a semi-spoof semi-serious 'tux interface guidelines'!

> 
> > Personally, I'm not too bothered about needing to 'finish' one track
> > before going on to the next, although perhaps this should be at the
> > course designer's option --- so some tracks are grouped into
> > sequences, and some aren't.
> 
> I think it's important to give players a REASON to beat the game.
> We aren't offering cash prizes - but the ability to 'get onto the
> next level' is a powerful force to get people to keep playing until
> they beat the 'par' time.  If all the courses are instantly accessible,
> people will visit each one quickly and have seen all that the game
> has to offer before they've even mastered one level.

You're right.  I'm thinking of writing a net.essay on this very issue
- 'satisfaction' in games.  Why do we go back to games, and what
should a game designed do to make sure we do? Obviously it's actually
much *easier* for competitive multiplayer games, since the incentive
is 'this time I'm going to beat him...'.

Often I keep playing games because I want to see the cool
graphics/effects.  Which is funny since I'm not really into graphics
(my most-played game of all time is the text 'roguelike' angband).
But when I kept coming back to the Loki Heroes of Might and Magic
demo, it was because I wanted to see what a 'monk' looked like in
battle, etc.

In terms of scoring, I find it a tremendous motivator if you get those 
corny little floating numbers which mean "you've just scored 10,000"
points.  The instant gratification is somehow more important than the
score you get at the end of the level.  It's nice to know immediately
how well the trick went. [You can then cancel the points dramatically
if tux lands badly]

> 
> You'd want to make it EASY to 'open up' the first few levels - but
> make things increasingly hard right up to the end.

Mais naturellement...

Jules

-- 
Jules Bean                          |        Any sufficiently advanced 
jules@{debian.org,jellybean.co.uk}  |  technology is indistinguishable
jm...@he...              |               from a perl script