02-07-2007, 09:36 PM
OK. From one of the chief sinners in Mansion design:
#1. On the whole I agree with the cheap death sin BUT often times I just run out of room or I need those extra 2 or 3 tiles. In that case I've tried to put a
#2. Guilty. Matt loves to make rooms chock full of stuff so I often find myself yanking on the reins. Sometimes I just say what the heck. But I am guilty of single room or small group of rooms puzzles. My problem is consistency. I've gotten 2 different comments from MM players;
A. I like to be able to stop and figure a room out rather than just running thru it.
B. Vern's comment, you should be able to run all the way thru without stopping.
I've tried to combine the 2. When you take the time to look at a room or play it a couple of times it may become apparent that if you walk to point A. duck for a count of 2 and run like the dickens to the ladder and up and out you never die. Very tough to design but pretty spiffy when you can get it right.
#3. With the exception of our first mansion or two I think Matt and I have very un-rectangular mansions
#4 Yes. But very cool if you get the timing right so the platforms use each other instead of needing the blocks. Not a master of this yet but we are trying.
#5. See #2
#6. I agree
Other points.
#7. Backtracking is OK to a certain degree. For myself I often find myself when faced with multiple paths out of a room taking the shortest one. I enjoy the feeling of
#8. If you do like to have massive backtrack paths at least have a shortcut back to the furthest point where you needed to start backtracking. We had something like that in the Mall where after transversing a
#9. I'll probably get flak on this one but sometimes the unexpected can be fun. Unexpected as in you see no way to continue except to take a path that looks like it's certain death but when you do the floor falls away and you're in a room underneath. I'm trying to implement that in Dominator to see what sort of feedback I get. I like to think of it as
#10. I KNOW I'll get flak on this one and want to state up front this is a personal preference and residual conditioned response from having a 7 year old. I really don't like big mansions. For me the limit is around 250 rooms. Yes I understand that some folks like the challenge of lots of rooms but I prefer to enjoy 2 hour adventures that don't have me wondering what I should or shouldn't have done. I guess it's the sort of pseudo
For Vern: Are you planning on a time frame i.e. mansion will be done by ????. no custom graphics, must contain certain elements, etc.
later all
joeb
#1. On the whole I agree with the cheap death sin BUT often times I just run out of room or I need those extra 2 or 3 tiles. In that case I've tried to put a
stopperin the way. A brick that needs to be jumped over or a door that opens because the first brick into the room is a switch for that door.
#2. Guilty. Matt loves to make rooms chock full of stuff so I often find myself yanking on the reins. Sometimes I just say what the heck. But I am guilty of single room or small group of rooms puzzles. My problem is consistency. I've gotten 2 different comments from MM players;
A. I like to be able to stop and figure a room out rather than just running thru it.
B. Vern's comment, you should be able to run all the way thru without stopping.
I've tried to combine the 2. When you take the time to look at a room or play it a couple of times it may become apparent that if you walk to point A. duck for a count of 2 and run like the dickens to the ladder and up and out you never die. Very tough to design but pretty spiffy when you can get it right.
#3. With the exception of our first mansion or two I think Matt and I have very un-rectangular mansions
#4 Yes. But very cool if you get the timing right so the platforms use each other instead of needing the blocks. Not a master of this yet but we are trying.
#5. See #2
#6. I agree
Other points.
#7. Backtracking is OK to a certain degree. For myself I often find myself when faced with multiple paths out of a room taking the shortest one. I enjoy the feeling of
AHA, I have a green door so there's got to be a green key. Now which path did I need to take to find itGoes to the exploration point Vern brought up. But don't make me have to go thru 5 other rooms each with 4 different ways out . That sort of design is confusing to me. Which is why I guess most of our M&J mansions are of the straightforward type.
#8. If you do like to have massive backtrack paths at least have a shortcut back to the furthest point where you needed to start backtracking. We had something like that in the Mall where after transversing a
departmentyou could slide down a pole and start on another department 2 rooms away.
#9. I'll probably get flak on this one but sometimes the unexpected can be fun. Unexpected as in you see no way to continue except to take a path that looks like it's certain death but when you do the floor falls away and you're in a room underneath. I'm trying to implement that in Dominator to see what sort of feedback I get. I like to think of it as
leap of faith.
#10. I KNOW I'll get flak on this one and want to state up front this is a personal preference and residual conditioned response from having a 7 year old. I really don't like big mansions. For me the limit is around 250 rooms. Yes I understand that some folks like the challenge of lots of rooms but I prefer to enjoy 2 hour adventures that don't have me wondering what I should or shouldn't have done. I guess it's the sort of pseudo
instant gratificationthing where I really need to complete the task and get the rush of
YEAH, I beat it. Then I can go back and work on getting a higher score, take less time, etc.
For Vern: Are you planning on a time frame i.e. mansion will be done by ????. no custom graphics, must contain certain elements, etc.
later all
joeb