Beta 4 - Dropping items

[brell]

1922342F22354D0 wrote: [quote author=4C5C4B42422E0 link=1310973849/10#10 date=1311156910][quote author=764D5B404D5A220 link=1310973849/5#5 date=1311104005]Isn't limited inventory space part of the game? That's why there are backpacks.

When I think of it I always try to put the shields on places where you can avoid them if you don't want them.

The dropping shield option may sabotage a few of Freddy's mansions, too (at least one). Has anyone heard of Freddy lately by the way?

Hmm.  I don't recall any of Freddy's mansions where shields weew any issue.  Actually, Freddy doesn't like shields.  He is THE key-and-door man 
Which mansion are you referring to?
Freddy and I communicate a little via e-mail and Facebook.  I am not sure if he will ever return to the forums.
Ah, please send him my regards. I hope everything is well for him.

If I remember well, in one of his mansions he started by filling up your inventory with shields, and then put the exit key just there within reach, but you couldn't get it because of the shields  [smiley=evil.gif]

Ah no, wait, maybe he filled the inventory with keys. Was it called 'The seventh key'?
No, it was not shields. Jacks inventory was filled with blue KEYS, so he couldn't get the very needed red key. No shields

[brell]

A reminder:
Jack-stuck (JS): Jack has nowhere to go and cannot commit suicide to escape the JS.
Half-Jack-Stuck (HJS): Jack can commit suicide to escape the JS situation.
Cheap death (cd): Jack cannot escape a death (by falling, a monster, zapper etc.).
Players do NOT like these situations. I usually do not play mansions with those and even bypass builders that deliberately don't head these simple instructions. If someone reports a situation like those above in one of my mansions I always fix it and release a new version of that mansion.

[brell]

5853515D5044535C5C320 wrote: I must say my idea is more elegant after hearing Vern's.

Vern's idea would require extra documentation, would be more bug prone, etc.  It would work and solve the problem, but it might be a case of

more harm than good.

There are no cases (and really shouldn't be) where a player can have 8 keys in their inventory and no doors to open with them.

I agree with Jacob. It seems OK to swap shields automatically for keys (but not vice versa).

[Toybox]

5F4F5851513D0 wrote: I agree with Jacob. It seems OK to swap shields automatically for keys (but not vice versa).

Not too automatically though: what if someone wants to keep the shield and come back for the key later?

But on the principle of keys replacing shields and not vice versa, I would tend to agree.

[VernJensen]

So it turns out that code-wise, it would be too hard to make the shield

drop

and return to its original location if it's automatically replaced by a key. Instead, it'll just get replaced -- disappear.

I'm still going to go ahead and make this change for the next beta version.

[Toybox]

Maybe this option could go with the 'easy' setting (which allows Jack to jump farther as well)? Or should it be available also for experienced players?

[SoItBegins]

I was under the impression that the game's inventory space allowed for puzzles that made use of this, but maybe it was just me. Letting keys replace shields (but not vice versa) does seem like a good idea, though it should probably require some sort of confirmation. Maybe you have to press ENTER to pick up a key when a shield would be replaced? Or would that be too opaque?

[VernJensen]

Well, the other solutions I proposed, pushing numbers 1-6 on the keyboard to drop the item in that slot, OR pushing D to drop a shield (with confirmation dialog), were shot down as too intrusive. I don't mind the current solution. I can't imagine a player walking across a key and then thinking

Oh darn it, I lost that shield!