Amount of Lives

Design concepts in general, talk about your favorites, show levels you've made, give feedback.
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XxoriginxX
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Amount of Lives

Post by XxoriginxX »

I don't know how many lives i should have in my new level, http://zetaflow.skylogic.ca/game/play/10603 . Please help me out.
"A wise man can see more from the bottom of a well then a fool can from a mountain top."-Unknown
Mouzi
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Re: Amount of Lives

Post by Mouzi »

In my opinion there is no meaning for a life-limit anymore since there is the best lives thing. Giving unlimited lives gives a chance for beginners too and advanced players can try to beat it in as few deaths as they can. Of course if you want to have a low success rate it's not possible with unlimited lives.
Anyway this is just what I think.
Sasadad
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Re: Amount of Lives

Post by Sasadad »

I agree with Mouzi that you should leave this level with unlimited lives so that people can get their own scores. The only levels nowadays that would need a limited number of lives would be levels that are supposed to be a challenge to beat. If this is what you wanted, I would recommend 2-3 lives.
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XxoriginxX
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Re: Amount of Lives

Post by XxoriginxX »

Thanks for the help. I think I will just keep it at infinate.
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XxoriginxX
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Re: Amount of Lives

Post by XxoriginxX »

I have another dilema. I can't figure out what my aquamarine ship will look like.
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Zeke
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Re: Amount of Lives

Post by Zeke »

And exactly how can we help you resolve your dilemma other than recommending color #00FFFF

"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one." - Albert Einstein
Fruktfisk
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Re: Amount of Lives

Post by Fruktfisk »

Zeke, Aquamarine is in fact #7FFFD4 :P That is just plain Cyan...
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Re: Amount of Lives

Post by Zeke »

You are absolutely right Fruktfisk! I have been landlocked too long. :mrgreen:

"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one." - Albert Einstein
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XxoriginxX
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Re: Amount of Lives

Post by XxoriginxX »

I didn't mean just colour. I need ideas on a great challenge... Something not impossable, but quite difficult.
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Zeke
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Re: Amount of Lives

Post by Zeke »

I suppose the best reply that I could give to that question is to suggest that you play a lot of the highest rated levels, and ask yourself what it was about them that people liked so much. Most of them got good rating because they did something special and/or different from the norm. Rely on your own instincts. If it interest you, then it might also interest others. Your levels have been rated well so far, so you must be doing something right!

Of course, rating don't always reflect the best of the best. Many of the older levels probably didn't get better ratings because they were considered too difficult with the amount of lives given. There is a topic here that I posted last year, which has links to some of mine and Swartzer's favorites. Some of them were really difficult but none of them were impossible. I think many of them would have gotten higher ratings today, than they did back then, if they were designed with infinite lives. As Mouzi pointed out, with the new system in place, there is no really good reason not to give infinite lives to any level.

Some of my favorite levels these days, are the ones that use triggers effectively to change the gameplay and make the levels last longer. Effective use of movement and color also adds more interest (IMHO).

"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one." - Albert Einstein
asdasdg
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Re: Amount of Lives

Post by asdasdg »

If you wanted a good idea, try my Boss 31.
Last edited by asdasdg on Thu Oct 01, 2009 6:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Mouzi
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Re: Amount of Lives

Post by Mouzi »

Maybe the whole "amount of lives" limit should be changed to some kind of par system. What I mean is that, instead of setting amount of lives, you set a goal amount of allowed deaths. If a player dies more than par then the goal is not achieved (maybe even set so that if the goal is not achieved it's not counted as "win" and therefore not added to the success rate percentage).

This would allow anyone to play through the level without caring about losing lives if they really just want to see the level and then maybe later try to achieve the goal and ultimately compete for the "best lives" high score. This would have several advantages, for example unlimited lives wouldn't affect the success rate and there would still be some kind of goal (other than making it to the top of "best lives") even if there are unlimited lives.

Isn't that how most games do it anyway.
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Re: Amount of Lives

Post by asdasdg »

that is actually a prety good idea.
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Re: Amount of Lives

Post by Zeke »

There are things that I like about Mouzi's idea too. I was waiting for MD to weigh in on this because ultimately it comes down to how feasible it is for him to impliment.

"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one." - Albert Einstein
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Re: Amount of Lives

Post by MD »

Zeke wrote:There are things that I like about Mouzi's idea too. I was waiting for MD to weigh in on this because ultimately it comes down to how feasible it is for him to impliment.
Sorry I'm quite busy these days.

I do like the idea, I'd probably want to give users a choice: goal or limit.

~MD
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