Hi Clement,

Yeah, I know. The trophy/rewards system has pretty much replaced the
scoring system in games, and provides a newer incentive to pick up
random items that otherwise appear to do nothing. As a consequence I
think getting these random items should be difficult or challenging to
get. Which comes back to why I'd like to update the game to a 3d FPS
style game.

If you have a special item that unlocks a level, gives you a special
trophy, or anything like that I think the gamer should need to work
for it. in a side-scroller its hard to hide items or put them where
its difficult to access without adding in special traps or other means
of preventing access to that item. With a 3d format the level design
can in of itself be a challenge.

For example, in a lot of the newer Tomb raider games you have to go
through some pretty complex steps to get special artifacts as they are
placed in areas not easily accessible. You might have to throw a
grappling hook to get up to a certain ledge, take a running jump to a
higher ledge, turn x degrees, and hop onto a higher ledge. Then, and
only then, reach in to a notch in the wall and pull out an artifact.

We can easily add challenges like that in a 3d game, but in a 2d only
game  we can do it but not quite as effectively, because 3d just adds
additional challenges like having to center the ledge before jumping.
With 2d you are either facing left or right which takes part of the
challenge away right there.

Which reminds me of a specific case in point. In Angel of Darkness
there is this area filled with lava from wall to wall. Lara Croft has
to get over the lava to retrieve a crystal sitting on a ledge. The way
to do it is by plotting out a path by hopping from stepping stone to
stepping stone until you get the crystal. What makes matters even
trickier is the stepping stones sink so the path to get back will be
completely different from the way in. This provides a major puzzle to
solve and makes you work for that crystal instead of just picking it
up off the floor somewhere.

A puzzle like that would never work in a side-scroller because you can
only move left or right. All you'd have to do is jump far enough to
land on the next stepping stone. It might be challenging, but not as
tricky as having to line them up and jump far enough to land on it and
figure out the easiest path through the stepping stones too.

Cheers!


On 12/30/11, Clement Chou <[email protected]> wrote:
> Seems like more games are adapting that idea, which I like. That's what I
> love about games for the ps3 and xbox360 is the trophy and achievement
> systems. I don't get 100% of them all the time, but it's always nice to get
> one after a good hour or two of hard playing. lol. Now I'm looking forward
> to this even more!

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