CP: Engine Improvements

[KevG]

A few suggestions for changes I'd like to see; at least one of these might not actually be doable.

1. Some way of telling whether or not I've rated a level without actually playing it through. Sometime I forget to rate a level; more importantly, when the winter pack comes out I'll want to play around and get a feel for the new costumes before rating levels. Seem to me the easiest way of doing this is using a different colored checkmark for unrated levels.

2. Display my current high score for a level. It makes a difference in deciding whether or not to replay a level if I'm a few hundred or a few thousand points off of the top score.

3. A preview mode. Not sure how or even if this could be implemented, but it would be nice to see what a level looks like without playing it. Either a mini-screen shot or a allow players to enter the level and see what it looks like. As it stands now, when looking for a particular level, every time you enter and exit one it counts towards the over-all win/loss total.

4. Some way of sorting levels by high-score ranking. With hundreds of levels, finding out which ones you could improve your score on is a difficult challenge. Even better than sorting by rankings would be sorting by how far below the top score you were pointwise.

[Julian]

All good ideas!

An addition to #1: You could also have 2 boxes: 1 rated, one completed. That would make it less confusing.

[varkarrus]

Make it possible to make levels bigger than the screen. And have scrolling. And you can choose your background.

[TyTBone]

Make it possible to make levels bigger than the screen. And have scrolling. And you can choose your background.

Definitely. I'm under the assumption that all these new parts will all be able to be used together (rather than keeping the expansion parts separate somehow), and if so more room for more interesting puzzles is really needed. (or, as I suggested before, screens/rooms connected through special doorways.)

[Coolguy]

The Christmas stuff is just in a new tab, so it should combine with the Halloween stuff.

I think changing the background is possible and there may be another possible background in the Christmas pack (especially since it doesn't seem right for Santa to be hopping on ice blocks and grabbing candy canes INSIDE A DUNGEON), but I don't see how likely expanding and scrolling the screen is. There's already plenty of room to make long levels in this game. Plus I don't think Jamul can alter the game with that fundamental of a change without messing up most of the existing levels! :p

[TyTBone]

I don't see how likely expanding and scrolling the screen is ... Plus I don't think Jamul can alter the game with that fundamental of a change without messing up most of the existing levels! :p

That's why I'd suggest being able to link screens together, in a sense.

There's already plenty of room to make long levels in this game.

I don't think I'd agree with that; I'd like to see and be able to make whole adventures for levels, not just a single screen...

[Coolguy]

But remember that when you die in this game, you have to completely start over! Making ultra-long levels would be a very bad idea... Plus checkpoints are impossible because of the score system. If you have a level that requires multiple screens, why not just make multiple levels?

[TyTBone]

But remember that when you die in this game, you have to completely start over! Making ultra-long levels would be a very bad idea... Plus checkpoints are impossible because of the score system. If you have a level that requires multiple screens, why not just make multiple levels?

Good point, but it would depend on the level of difficulty if making ultra-long levels was a bad idea...

[varkarrus]

Well... Why not make Checkpoints: You touch them, it saves that checkpoint, and if you die, you return there.

There should also be some kind of brick return button that recreates all boxes, crates, bricks, explosives, enemies, etc... tagged with something. That way, you can reset puzzles.

[BryanSNK]

I believe there is a button for that called........."restart"

[varkarrus]

Yeah. But that restarts the entire level. Not good.

[Coolguy]

What you're insisting on DOES restart the entire level. :p

[TyTBone]

I still think some form of more space for levels is quite a good idea, as long as it's kept under control. I just revisited the creator and, compared to many other creators, it feels too "enclosed"...

[Redbone]

3. A preview mode. Not sure how or even if this could be implemented, but it would be nice to see what a level looks like without playing it. Either a mini-screen shot or a allow players to enter the level and see what it looks like. As it stands now, when looking for a particular level, every time you enter and exit one it counts towards the over-all win/loss total.
Agreed, and it should also show the amount of time you have. I constantly have to restart because I don't see the time, and that counts against your win/loss total.
Make it like Stockboy, where you enter the level, its a little dark, you see the title of the stage, the time, and add some "Play" and "Quit" buttons there, with the Quit button not affecting wins and loses.