02-25-2007, 06:10 PM
Wow. MM fans are certainly a diverse bunch! :o
Forgive me if what I have to say sounds offensive, because I don't mean it to be, but I feel like there's only one way to say it and that's the offensive way. Here goes.
What are you all worried about? In all the years of fan mods to video games, I have never heard of people actually complaining that a mod (short for modification) modified the base game. Midnight Mansion is not some temple whose purity must be defended. It's a game that people play and enjoy customizing.
Now that's off my chest (
), I can address your conclusions with civility.
1) I agree this is too painful as it stands now. In fact, I feel strongly enough about it that I wrote a utility to take care of the switching for me, every time I play. I've been waiting to share it until I can find the time to design an appropriate icon, but if people want it now and are willing to put up with a space-themed (*gasp* ;D) icon (because it's an adaptation of a utility I wrote for a space-themed game), then I'll post it now.
2) I really consider
A) Guilty as charged.
B) I disagree. If you've ever opened Dominator with the default graphics (which I did once just for kicks), you'll see that the replaced sprites don't map one-to-one to the ones that would be used if the graphics weren't customized. This is asking people, who have already put a huge amount of time into original artwork, to also double their effort on mansion building, since they would have to re-place each and every tile.
C) I have no opinion (really!). Do as you will.
As a final note, the administrators are always talking about not attempting to limit the creativity of designers, but that (unless my reading comprehension sucks
) is exactly what seems to be going on here. Not every mansion is for everyone; for example, House of Wonders is both way over my head skill-wise and not my cup of tea design-wise, but do you hear me complaining about its existence? I recognize that it's just not for me, and don't seek to limit the enjoyment others may glean from it.
Forgive me if what I have to say sounds offensive, because I don't mean it to be, but I feel like there's only one way to say it and that's the offensive way. Here goes.
What are you all worried about? In all the years of fan mods to video games, I have never heard of people actually complaining that a mod (short for modification) modified the base game. Midnight Mansion is not some temple whose purity must be defended. It's a game that people play and enjoy customizing.
Now that's off my chest (
), I can address your conclusions with civility.1) I agree this is too painful as it stands now. In fact, I feel strongly enough about it that I wrote a utility to take care of the switching for me, every time I play. I've been waiting to share it until I can find the time to design an appropriate icon, but if people want it now and are willing to put up with a space-themed (*gasp* ;D) icon (because it's an adaptation of a utility I wrote for a space-themed game), then I'll post it now.
2) I really consider
total conversionslike Dominator as new games. We were all new to MM once, and had to familiarize ourselves with the mechanics. I see no problem with doing the same for a new game that happens to use the MM game engine. If you can let go of the notion that a game engine was built for just one game, a lot of possibilities open up to you as a player and designer.
A) Guilty as charged.
B) I disagree. If you've ever opened Dominator with the default graphics (which I did once just for kicks), you'll see that the replaced sprites don't map one-to-one to the ones that would be used if the graphics weren't customized. This is asking people, who have already put a huge amount of time into original artwork, to also double their effort on mansion building, since they would have to re-place each and every tile.
C) I have no opinion (really!). Do as you will.
As a final note, the administrators are always talking about not attempting to limit the creativity of designers, but that (unless my reading comprehension sucks
) is exactly what seems to be going on here. Not every mansion is for everyone; for example, House of Wonders is both way over my head skill-wise and not my cup of tea design-wise, but do you hear me complaining about its existence? I recognize that it's just not for me, and don't seek to limit the enjoyment others may glean from it.