Hi Cybershark,
Of course there's a fine line between polishing an old game, brushing away the digital dust and giving it a new lick of paint, and rewriting it in such a way that it's unrecognisable. And each of us draws that line slightly differently. It's useful that StarDot provides a forum for programmers to test the waters and explore various options.
Lots of people have asked for re-definable controls, and this is something I think would help make the game more accessible, because we all have our favourite combinations of keys.
Allowing the player to walk backwards wouldn't (to my mind) ruin the gameplay. It would definitely provide a slight advantage to the player in some circumstances, but this could be re-balanced by tweaking the abilities of the robots. For example, the robots currently follow the wall to their left hand side (sort of like the spirits do in Repton). If you're in front of the robot, it will fire upon you, but if it's facing away, it can't see you. The robot will not pursue you even if it sees you. Perhaps if the robot can see you, it could continue to move toward you even if that takes it away from its wall. Then if it can no longer see you, it returns to its normal patrol mode.
I certainly think it's worth having these discussions, and I put my ideas out there in good faith, hoping that the programmer will find the suggestions helpful (even if they are ultimately rejected).
Of course there's a fine line between polishing an old game, brushing away the digital dust and giving it a new lick of paint, and rewriting it in such a way that it's unrecognisable. And each of us draws that line slightly differently. It's useful that StarDot provides a forum for programmers to test the waters and explore various options.
Lots of people have asked for re-definable controls, and this is something I think would help make the game more accessible, because we all have our favourite combinations of keys.
Allowing the player to walk backwards wouldn't (to my mind) ruin the gameplay. It would definitely provide a slight advantage to the player in some circumstances, but this could be re-balanced by tweaking the abilities of the robots. For example, the robots currently follow the wall to their left hand side (sort of like the spirits do in Repton). If you're in front of the robot, it will fire upon you, but if it's facing away, it can't see you. The robot will not pursue you even if it sees you. Perhaps if the robot can see you, it could continue to move toward you even if that takes it away from its wall. Then if it can no longer see you, it returns to its normal patrol mode.
I certainly think it's worth having these discussions, and I put my ideas out there in good faith, hoping that the programmer will find the suggestions helpful (even if they are ultimately rejected).
Statistics: Posted by aidanthegasman — Sat Oct 19, 2024 11:36 pm