Rocks'n'Diamonds

This idea was suggested a long time ago on the old forum, I think.
But now it's getting more actual, because Holger wants to build it in. I mailed with him again about it and we decided to write about it on this forum. For eventual help and suggestions.

It's the levelset indication: an indication that shows whether a particular levelset has been finished. This will give the player a kind of reward for playing: the levelset gets a mark when completely finished.

However, there is a problem. Changing the colour of the levelset title or changing the circle in front of the levelset into a check mark or a cross for example, will break the appearance of some custom artwork sets. After all, a new 'finished' graphic is not defined yet in those sets and therefore, they will use the 'default' graphic instead which will look very bad sometimes.
That means modifying those sets. I would like to do that, but isn't there a better solution? Or could one of the great artists (Alan Bond, Jürgen Bonhagen, Andreas Buschbeck...) draw a graphic for this (as drawing seems to be a piece of cake for them...)?

Another thought came up in my mind: replacing the circle by an 'F' ('Finished') or an 'S' ('Solved'). This will keep the appearance of the levelsets.

But you don't only need the status played/solved/etc., but also other things like single-player/team-mode. Then: should this be displayed for each row, only in an 'info' area when the cursor is on it, or also on the title screen (next to the level preview, for example)?

Well, any ideas, suggestions...???

Well, using some kind of default (but in a way already specified) graphics for old levelsets is indeed a good idea. I was thinking: Maybe use a closed exit for unfinished levelsets, and an open exit for completed levelsets? Then the question is: Which graphic to use for partially-completed levelsets? The opening-exit animation maybe (if such is defined in all old levelsets)?
I think this is a good solution for this problem, or maybe the start of the solution... using a "F" or "S" could also work, but I think open or closed exit would be better.

How the single-player/team-mode should be indicated is a good question, since it can differ from level to level. Maybe use the graphic of the second player somewhere for levels with 2 players, graphic of 3rd player for 3 players, etc.? I don't know where to paint that graphic though, at least not where it could make sense (so that newbies understand it and not think "what's that guy doing there?")

I think the partially finished levelsets don't need a graphic anymore... at least, it's not very important I think (though I suggested it myself once...). I think the most important thing is just the finished graphic.

Don't you think an exit graphic is also a little bit confusing to newbies? Doesn't it look a bit queer, just an exit graphic in the main menu? I think I prefer an 'F' (or an 'S') instead. But even better - in my opinion - would be a sign like a check mark, which is recognizable for everyone.

Maybe I know a solution for the multiplayer levels... just use such a circle graphic with a letter on it (indicating the number of players). Once it has been finished, this can be replaced by the check mark graphic (which doesn't have any letters on it, but that's irrelevant, because the levelset has been finished already...).

Holger, what is your opinion about this? An indication would be very nice, wouldn't it?

Since I'm lazy, I'll only write this much:

Holger, 26.03.2004.

:-)

maybe two small-font numbers - number of levels and bellow solved levels?
but reading can slow down list loading - emc...

thanks for bringing this under attention again.

Holger, did you already have some plan in mind? It would be cool to have this feature. But don't hurry, the development of RnD already takes so much time...

> Holger, did you already have some plan in mind?

No plan that I could instantly implement, but I still have this high on my agenda (or TODO list), as I think it really has some importance -- especially when combined with displaying other things like number of players or guaranteed solvability at the same time!

> It would be cool to have this feature.

Definitely true!

> But don't hurry, the development of RnD already takes so much time...

That's true... Too many new ideas, too less time. :-(

But I think I have a little more time than last year before christmas at the moment, so 3.2.4 might have some new things to play with... :-)