Well, if the subject isn't clear, I meant levels which you can't play from the menu. Like bonus levels, etc. You can get in those levels by CEs - which is also a part of the new idea - using a CE Action ([Warp to level] [=] [1]).
Also, the levels shouldn't be visible on the main screen, only in the editor.
BTW: The new CE Action could also be used for other things, like "[Warp to level [+] [5] when collected" for a level skip CE.
'Locked' levels
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Rockford4ever
- Posts: 152
- Joined: Tue Jan 03, 2006 7:41 pm
- Location: Belgium
'Locked' levels
Current project:
Nope.
Nope.
Interesting idea (which was also proposed in the past in different variations) -- some questions about your specific idea:
> the levels shouldn't be visible on the main screen, only in the editor.
Would it be enough to just exclude them by the "levelinfo.conf" file? So you have, for example, level 001 to 080 defined there, and there exist some additional level files 081.level to 100.level, which are the "locked", "hidden" or "secret" levels.
The main question: How does this work in the game? Like a sub-routine? (Jump into the special level and jump back to the normal level when the special level was finished.) What happens if you win/lose the special level? (For example: Win special level: Normal level continues. Lose special level: Also lose normal level.)
As this is all quite tricky (game engine wise), it should be specified in more detail, as there are many ways to do this which may make sense.
> the levels shouldn't be visible on the main screen, only in the editor.
Would it be enough to just exclude them by the "levelinfo.conf" file? So you have, for example, level 001 to 080 defined there, and there exist some additional level files 081.level to 100.level, which are the "locked", "hidden" or "secret" levels.
The main question: How does this work in the game? Like a sub-routine? (Jump into the special level and jump back to the normal level when the special level was finished.) What happens if you win/lose the special level? (For example: Win special level: Normal level continues. Lose special level: Also lose normal level.)
As this is all quite tricky (game engine wise), it should be specified in more detail, as there are many ways to do this which may make sense.
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Rockford4ever
- Posts: 152
- Joined: Tue Jan 03, 2006 7:41 pm
- Location: Belgium
Well, Finish secret - Go back to Normal, Lose secret - Lose Normal sounds right. Maybe you might add an option for this in the INFO tab.
The levelinfo idea also sounds OK!
Anyway, I won't be disappointed if 1) It's not in the next version, or 2) It's to hard to inmplement. I know I wasn't that specific in the previous post...
The levelinfo idea also sounds OK!
Anyway, I won't be disappointed if 1) It's not in the next version, or 2) It's to hard to inmplement. I know I wasn't that specific in the previous post...
Current project:
Nope.
Nope.
Implementing it like "Finish secret - Go back to Normal, Lose secret - Lose Normal" sounds difficult. I think that when warping to another level, the current level should be considered finished (and saved to highscore and so on).
So when warping to a specific level, that level should start directly after the highscore is shown for the current level.
So when warping to a specific level, that level should start directly after the highscore is shown for the current level.
> Implementing it like "Finish secret - Go back to Normal, Lose secret -
> Lose Normal" sounds difficult.
Indeed, this would be difficult to implement.
> I think that when warping to another level, the current level should be
> considered finished (and saved to highscore and so on).
> So when warping to a specific level, that level should start directly after
> the highscore is shown for the current level.
This solution would of course be much easier to implement. But then, it's (at least IMHO) not what people might expect from a "hidden/secret level" feature -- usually, this works more like a hidden place or object that, when visited or collected, causes the player to "warp" to the secret level, do something there and then return to the "normal" level (in some cases -- like pure bonus score levels -- even after completely failing there).
If it's only two levels that are played after another, it's not only less interesting, but also raises the question if the hidden level is *needed* to finish the first level (which would degrade it to just two connected levels). (The hidden level could be entered after only solving 10% of the first level, so it may be not desired to end this level as "solved" when entering the hidden level.)
So I think it would only be worth adding such a feature in the "traditional" way (whatever this may be). :-)
A possible technical solution would be to automatically create a (special, temporary) tape from the first level when entering the secret level, playing the secret level "as usual" (with or without highscore entry), and then returning to the first level just like one would do when pressing "F2" to reload a tape from a level halfway played. Of course, the main problem (or inconvenience) of this solution is the time needed to load/replay the tape.
So maybe this idea would be easier to implement when real "instant level snapshots" are available (tape files that do not record and replay the player input, but that additionally save the complete, whole game state of the game engine -- this is a non trivial thing and probably won't be available very soon)...
> Lose Normal" sounds difficult.
Indeed, this would be difficult to implement.
> I think that when warping to another level, the current level should be
> considered finished (and saved to highscore and so on).
> So when warping to a specific level, that level should start directly after
> the highscore is shown for the current level.
This solution would of course be much easier to implement. But then, it's (at least IMHO) not what people might expect from a "hidden/secret level" feature -- usually, this works more like a hidden place or object that, when visited or collected, causes the player to "warp" to the secret level, do something there and then return to the "normal" level (in some cases -- like pure bonus score levels -- even after completely failing there).
If it's only two levels that are played after another, it's not only less interesting, but also raises the question if the hidden level is *needed* to finish the first level (which would degrade it to just two connected levels). (The hidden level could be entered after only solving 10% of the first level, so it may be not desired to end this level as "solved" when entering the hidden level.)
So I think it would only be worth adding such a feature in the "traditional" way (whatever this may be). :-)
A possible technical solution would be to automatically create a (special, temporary) tape from the first level when entering the secret level, playing the secret level "as usual" (with or without highscore entry), and then returning to the first level just like one would do when pressing "F2" to reload a tape from a level halfway played. Of course, the main problem (or inconvenience) of this solution is the time needed to load/replay the tape.
So maybe this idea would be easier to implement when real "instant level snapshots" are available (tape files that do not record and replay the player input, but that additionally save the complete, whole game state of the game engine -- this is a non trivial thing and probably won't be available very soon)...
