Re: [tuxracer-devel] Course precisions

[Jasmin P. <jf...@mu...>]

On Thu, 13 Apr 2000, Steve Baker wrote:

> However we might decide that you need to paddle like mad just before
> touchdown or something...to add more skill to those long leaps. Hence,
> a beginner who can't get that timing right might have to take a jump
> more slowly in order not to fly quite so high and hence risk damage.

A (fairly) easy way to add skill to landings would be to allow the
player to have some control over Tux's orientation in mid air.  The best
landings would be those where he lands "flat", while really bad
landings could (say) result in a crash where he goes spinning out
of control.  Damage could be reduced in good landings and increased in bad
ones, too.

> BTW:  Now Tux slides on his ample belly, he could dig his toes into
> the snow to slow down....

Good idea...

> >  Rocks and trees, definitely.
> 
> When I said rocks, I didn't mean large boulders - I meant the existing
> patches of rock-texture.  Sliding over that would be pretty uncomfortable!

Yup!  I haven't added that to the health system yet, but I plan to.

> > 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.
> 
> Paddling should slow you down if you do it beyond a certain speed...
> a useful way to slow down - and a definite incentive not to do it when
> you don't need to.

Yes, paddling does slow you down above a certain speed.

> > 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.
> 
> Certainly that's the number one motive for my 9yr old son...getting on
> to the next level takes on 100% importance - and having to collect 'things'
> to do that is the only reason to collect stuff at all.

Yup, I think much of the motivation of going to the next level has to do
with the novelty that comes with each new level -- getting to see new
monsters, power-ups, terrain, obstacles, etc. is a very powerful
motivating factor.

Jasmin

-- 
Jasmin Patry               Master's Student, Dept. of Computer Science
jf...@cg...         http://www.cgl.uwaterloo.ca/~jfpatry/