07-28-2010, 10:21 PM
I'll respond in more depth later when I can, but a few quick answers:
How about another Save point before all the zapper rooms?
If I haven't put a save point at the beginning of the section, then it's an oversight. There should be a save point at the end of each section, and additional save points behind some yellow doors. So, yes - absolutely.
16893 On the BBB that appears after Jack gets the keys, it says you need 9 keys for the vault. Jack can only carry 8 - will this be a problem?
No - technically you need 9, but not all at once ;-). You may have noticed a few structures so far that have a blue door, and inside there is a blue and green key. There are five structures like this - one for each section. Unlike the others, the structure in section 5 doesn't have a blue door.
Up to that point, you will have been working through section by section. Then you will need to back and recollect the keys from each of the other structures. Fortunately, by that time retracing some of your steps will be far easier than the first time through. At any time before you get to the vault, you should never have more than one blue key. You may have 4 green + 1 blue or 5 green.
The REAL key management issue will be with blue/green and yellow keys, because there are up to 5 bonus yellow keys you can take into the vault (each section has three yellow keys + 2 yellow doors). This is part of the challenge, and it will force you into deciding to delay getting some yellow keys (not recommended becuse some yellow doors hide save points/treasure to give Jack more lives to deal with difficulty), or to grab one or two green keys at a time, open a door, then go back and get one or two other green keys.
Note that ou don't need ANY yellow keys to finish the game, though I figure most people will want to try and collect as much as possible. At the point where you irreversibly head into the vault, there should be no way to have anything except yellow keys.
Right now I'm wandering around in the blue section trying to solve the gold/silver brick puzzle, and I'm getting frustrated and have to take a break.
Yes... sorry about that. I'd expect that or area 5 to be the most frustrating - it was frustrating to design, and it will probably be quite a while before I want to do something with gold/silver blocks again (especially up in the bonus areas). Area 5 is frustrating because of the dark sections. I hate dark rooms!
If it gets too out of hand, jot down a few notes. I remember when I played the first game there were some sections that took me a while to beat. I might get frustrated and not play for a while. The same is true for some custom mansions. I really don't expect lots of players to be able to go from beginning to end without using save points. I think I might have added too many. If it's easy to finish the game the first time without using a save point, I think either the player is really good/lucky, or I will have failed at making it challenging enough.
Thanks again for suffering through this
Are you seeing a general progression in difficulty?
How about another Save point before all the zapper rooms?
If I haven't put a save point at the beginning of the section, then it's an oversight. There should be a save point at the end of each section, and additional save points behind some yellow doors. So, yes - absolutely.
16893 On the BBB that appears after Jack gets the keys, it says you need 9 keys for the vault. Jack can only carry 8 - will this be a problem?
No - technically you need 9, but not all at once ;-). You may have noticed a few structures so far that have a blue door, and inside there is a blue and green key. There are five structures like this - one for each section. Unlike the others, the structure in section 5 doesn't have a blue door.
Up to that point, you will have been working through section by section. Then you will need to back and recollect the keys from each of the other structures. Fortunately, by that time retracing some of your steps will be far easier than the first time through. At any time before you get to the vault, you should never have more than one blue key. You may have 4 green + 1 blue or 5 green.
The REAL key management issue will be with blue/green and yellow keys, because there are up to 5 bonus yellow keys you can take into the vault (each section has three yellow keys + 2 yellow doors). This is part of the challenge, and it will force you into deciding to delay getting some yellow keys (not recommended becuse some yellow doors hide save points/treasure to give Jack more lives to deal with difficulty), or to grab one or two green keys at a time, open a door, then go back and get one or two other green keys.
Note that ou don't need ANY yellow keys to finish the game, though I figure most people will want to try and collect as much as possible. At the point where you irreversibly head into the vault, there should be no way to have anything except yellow keys.
Right now I'm wandering around in the blue section trying to solve the gold/silver brick puzzle, and I'm getting frustrated and have to take a break.
Yes... sorry about that. I'd expect that or area 5 to be the most frustrating - it was frustrating to design, and it will probably be quite a while before I want to do something with gold/silver blocks again (especially up in the bonus areas). Area 5 is frustrating because of the dark sections. I hate dark rooms!
If it gets too out of hand, jot down a few notes. I remember when I played the first game there were some sections that took me a while to beat. I might get frustrated and not play for a while. The same is true for some custom mansions. I really don't expect lots of players to be able to go from beginning to end without using save points. I think I might have added too many. If it's easy to finish the game the first time without using a save point, I think either the player is really good/lucky, or I will have failed at making it challenging enough.
Thanks again for suffering through this
Are you seeing a general progression in difficulty?