Re: [Help-liquidwar6] A few levels

[Kasper Hviid]

Hello again

> > Idea: A blender effect, where the warriors are pushed around, and
> > forced towards the center. The effect is greatest at the hurricanes
> > eye. Scriptable.
> I'm not sure I undestand your idea.

I should probably explain my idea again, in a more understandable way.
But when I think about my blender effect, it appear to me that it is
just a subcategory of a more basic idea: Letting each fighters
movement be the result of a newtonian physics algorithm, where the
fighters movement toward the curser are just one force among others.

Here are some other possible forces: Explosions could blow the
fighters away from a specific spot. Gravity could constantly(?) push
the fighters towards the bottom(?). Earth quakes could shake the
entire screen, causing the fighters to be pushed in random direktions,
like when you shake a tray of rice. The fighters could also be made
heavier, so that they took a bit of time accelerating. Some areas of
the level could have greater or smaller resistance. The blender effect
I talked about was a gravity field at the center of the level, which
attracted the fighters, combined with a force which pushed them
clockwise around the level.

That being said, I don't know how hard such physics would be to
implement, nor how much it will slow down the game. But I think it
could add some nice variation to the gameplay, and more important,
make the the game feel more real. Simulation of physics impressed me a
great deal in games like Scorched Earth. Most other games at the time
consisted of sprites moving about in a much more rigid fashion. In
modern FPS, ragdolls physics has has added some degree of physics to
games which otherwise are as rigid as Wolfenstein.

> > As I see it, the limitations of what we can do with the UI is this:
> >   1) The text should be .ttf, and not some predefined bitmaps.
> >   2) It should be resizeable, and should fit any aspect ratio.
> >   3) The menu items should be displayed over the levels.
> > It would be nice with some cool ttf font, but I don't think there is
> > any free one around, which also have foreign chars.
> Yes. My opinion is that being able to be multilingual is worth the
> sacrifice of not using a too fancy font.

Of course. I have looked a bit into font creation. I throught it would
be nice to have a special font for the game. One obstacle is that that
there is quite a few letters to be created, if forein characters are
to be included. Most fonts only have the letters from A to Z, not
letters like ÆØÅÄÖÜÄÖÜß.
I have attached a screenshot from Font Creator 5.0, to illustrate my
woe. Another obstacle is that the special font should make the GUI
look better, not worse.

style.xml gives quite a lot of power to the level designer. He can
chose what HUD to use on the level, and also which GUI to use for the
menu. I like power just as much as any other designer, but how will
this be recieved by the player? It might look more like a bug than a
feature, if the HUD/GUI changes from level to level.

Here is the next batch of levels:
www.kasperhviid.dk/stuff/lw6levels2.rar

Things to come: I'm working on a few labyrints. I also have some
shapes which I think would make some nice maps, but I have a bit of
trouble making them look cool. One of my ideas is a level with a
porthole, where you can look out at the water (bubbles). I would also
like to make some maps inspired by the repetition aspect of fractals.
And some more bright and fun levels, maybe trying some high key or
pastel colors.

30. december is my birthday. I will then become 30 years old,
something I look foreward to with great fear. If I happen to survive
this, I will the following day experience the dawn of a brand new
year. Not just any year, but the year 2008 - the year when, according
to the Liquid War roadmap, I should officially begin adding artwork.
Just for the fun of it, I will set 30. december 2007 as a personal
deadline for the next collection of levels.

 - Kasper