Amount of Lives

[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.

[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]

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.

[XxoriginxX]

Thanks for the help. I think I will just keep it at infinate.

[XxoriginxX]

I have another dilema. I can't figure out what my aquamarine ship will look like.

[Zeke]

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

[Fruktfisk]

Zeke, Aquamarine is in fact #7FFFD4 That is just plain Cyan...

[Zeke]

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

[XxoriginxX]

I didn't mean just colour. I need ideas on a great challenge... Something not impossable, but quite difficult.

[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).

[asdasdg]

If you wanted a good idea, try my Boss 31.

[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.

[asdasdg]

that is actually a prety good idea.

[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.

[MD]

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