05-03-2012, 01:24 PM
302B385F0 wrote:
I too use buried levers in some of my mansions (Luris for instance) and think they're a lot better looking than unburied
OK - to each their own, I guess. I need to go back and look at the posts for MM HD testing to see why it was changed. I can see that burying it was an easy way to get rid of the base. I liked that it was smaller, but I think it looks a little strange sticking out behind the 3D block. I was working at modifying the graphic last night, and I think the change looks at least as good, if not better. It feels strange defending the change because I didn't feel strongly about it one way or another - still don't. I'd probably feel differently if I'd made several mansions where it was buried.
There's no harm in asking Vern about it - nothing ventured, nothing gained - right? Maybe he will change it back. Just because I think it's unlikely doesn't mean it's impossible. It may take a while for him to respond though. The last email I got from him mentioned he was a little behind on his email. He's normally pretty busy, but he's dealing with some personal issue.
He has said on occasion that if a behavior wasn't shown working a certain way in a tutorial or help, then it shouldn't be relied on and a player shouldn't be expected to know how to do it. My personal feeling about the buried lever is that the reason people do it is tied to aesthetics - nothing more. If a designer what's to change the look of something then there is a way of making that happen. I'll make the modifications to the levers available if you'd like to use them. It should give you the look you want, while preserving the behavior Vern wants (whatever the reason). Seems like a reasonable way forward to me.
On the other hand I don't see the silver/gold-jumps not working, just played pompomrouge and had to do just that to make it through
Huh. I'm not sure, I *thought* this was disabled as well. Maybe not in custom mansions. I don't know. I recall it being an issue during testing.
Another thing though which doesn't work (I mentioned this when playing resort for retired gold hunters I think) is the appearing/disappearing platforms not being synced when Jack jumps from one room to another. The platforms are always off when Jack enters a room, making some rooms unplayable since he falls to his death
Yeah. I knew about this one. Here's what Vern said about it initially:
The reasoning is that designers can, for future mansions, rely on specific timing of the platforms, knowing that when the player enters a room, the platforms will always be starting at the same value. So they can put skeleton fish, spiders, or other obstacles in the room along with the disappearing floors, knowing that the timing will always be the same each time the player enters the room.
Since this would be a good improvement for the game, I'm wondering how many custom mansions would be messed up if the game is left as-is, and would it be hard to fix them?
In the end, he ended up compromising. The thick ghost platforms (as Brell calls them), or lightsaber platforms (as Vern calls them) were left unchanged I think. The thin ghost platforms (as Brell calls them) or retractable platforms (as I call them) were modified so that when Jack enters a room they are are always invisible to start with.