Hi Jeremy, Right. In that way we are thinking quite a lot alike. We each see things that could be improved, new types of games to add to the community, and all of it is to the good.
I also like your idea of someone writing an article in the Audyssey Magazine covering various development aspects like game ideas, features, control features, level layouts, etc that have been successful and that worked out well for the game players at large. I myself am experimenting with such issues right now in Mysteries of the Ancients as some of the features I've added were not really tried in an audio only format before. One of those is an analog jump system. Which isn't really hard to add, but has been largely avoided until now. Of course, analog jumping has been present in every mainstream game from Montezuma's Revenge, to Donkey Kong, to Super Mario Brothers, right up to the present. The problem with that is though that since you have to time or gauge the length of a jump that sometimes requires a bit of site to see weather or not you need to do a short hop, a short jump, or a very big jump to overcome the trap ahead. One way I have dealt with this issue is by changing the pitch of the pits so you can hear if the pit is large or small. A large chasm will have a deeper wind sound than a smaller one. If a player comes upon a deep windy sounding pit sound he or she might consider giving Angela a run-up before jumping. If the chasm wind sound sounds higher he or she can try and perform a standing jump. It is actually pretty accessible, and I've found analog jumping can be just as accessible in an audio only format as in a video format. The only catch I think I've ran into in regards to analog jumping is the players themselves. Many of them are use to a fixed jump, IE a fixed length to jump, and often let up on the jump keys too quick or too late ending up in the fire, lava, spikes, etc. I think though that this issue can be solved with time and practice as its a slightly more advanced type of jump than they are use to and they need time and practice to get use to it. Cheers! On 7/31/11, Jeremy Kaldobsky <jer...@kaldobsky.com> wrote: > Thank you Thomas. It seems like we are on the same page here. Of course we > are concentrating on different things, the common thread is that we are > seeing the importance of pushing forward. You are hoping to push higher > standards of development, I am trying to push for some different ideas that > I haven't seen here, while I'm sure others are pushing for new interface > ideas for existing game types. In the future we need all of these things, > and more! We can't expect anyone to work on everything, but as long as we > can get people pushing forward in their own unique way, it opens the door > for the advancements to be combined. It is inevitable that future > developers will use game ideas someone had to pioneer, develop them to a > quality standard someone had to push to happen, and use far greater controls > which someone took the time to envision. A person pushing advancements down > any path, will eventually work its way into everything else. > > I wouldn't be qualified to handle this, but if anyone else feels up to it, I > know what kind of articles I would be very interested in reading. Pick some > style of game that is popular now, I'll use side scroller as an example. > Write about the earlier games that used the style, pointing out how each > improved the style and raised the bar for the next game. I would love to > read about game ideas, control features, level layouts, and so forth that > clearly worked well and then showed up in later games. Detailing how > changes solved past problems, and bringing attention to what problems still > seem to exist today, will help encourage people to theorize their own > solutions to the problems. Just off of the top of my head, how pits or > raised platforms are handled seems to be something of a current issue. > People have tried different approaches in games, and I'm sure there Has! to > have been a steady stream of advancement in this area. I'm sure the > sidescroller > developers have ideas for how to further improve them down the road also. > This kind of stuff is very interesting to me, because it would shed light on > a puzzle which has been passed from developer to developer. I might learn > that my idea has been tried by someone, and I could read about how well or > poorly it was received by the players. Hopefully it would breed discussion, > and speed up the rate of new advancements. > > I'm just tossing ideas out there. It is always annoying when someone > suggests that a job be done, but doesn't volunteer to do it himself, lol! > For that, I apologize everyone! :) --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
