Easy mansion feedback requested

[VernJensen]

One of our testers, Rob Segel, has mentioned that the Easy mansions that come with the game tend to vary widely in difficulty.

Having not tried the Easy mansions yet myself, I'd like to have *you* as testers comment if you feel a mansion's difficulty on Easy is too hard. Here are some guidelines, so you can let a mansion designer know if you feel it should be made easier in specific ways:

- Most gaps Jack jumps over should be only 2 tiles wide. At most 3 tiles wide.

- Most falling platforms should be the widest variety.

- Almost never should several successive fast maneuvers be required by Jack in a row (i.e. jump from conveyor belt to falling platform, jump over monster, jump to next falling platform, then jump to safety). Generally it should be one isolated obstacle at a time, rarely in combination if ever.

- Precision jumping should not be required. Easy players have a hard enough time simply jumping over snakes and skull spiders.

- Rarely should obstacles overlap. (i.e. a skull spider that crosses a zapper beam, or one skull spider who cross another skull spider in the same area.)

- Generally there should be a feeling of

safety

followed by

let's get past this single obstacle

(which should take generally a single jump or two, or a few steps), and then Jack is back in relative safety again.

[Wingy]

I've been tending to design my mansions like this, but I ran into a problem with gaps in Jasperlone Easy.

In order to have an elevator shaft that brings Jack to another level, the gap has to be 4 spaces big.

On the mountain with the wind I made triggers appear falling platforms that go away when you re-enter (non-permeant triggers, basically) between the gaps. I could do that everywhere, and I was thinking about it-- However, I figured that since Jasperlone was the last level for easy mode, I thought it would be okay to have everything slightly harder, but not quite normal. Sort of the bridge from easy-normal, but overall the mansion is mostly pretty easy.

So would you want me to put in platforms that appear but disappear when you are coming in via elevator between these 4-space gaps or is it fine?

[VernJensen]

There are some situations where a better solution might be to replace the elevators with slightly less-wide platforms, so the gaps can be only 3 spaces.

I think, for instance, that the top-left platform in room 14899 would be a good candidate for this.

This would requite a bit more work though, as you'd have to:

1) Erase the old platform, but first open it up and memorize all checkboxes, starting direction, speed, etc.
2) Put a new (smaller one) in its place, and put back all the data the same as before.
3) Make the lever affect the new sprite's objectID.
4) Change all gaps to be more narrow, that are in this platform's path.
5) Push Command-G (turn off

align to grid

) and use the hand tool to move the lever over a tiny bit, so it's again in the center of the new platform.

There are other situations, however, where I'd feel

clausterphobic

being on a 3-tile-wide platform. For instance when sandwiched between zapper beams. Check out the platform in 14298 for instance, or 14497. These shouldn't have their sizes changed. (Besides, the one in 14497 has trap doors for the gaps anyway, so there is no danger of Jack falling through those gaps anyway.)

So... use whichever

fix-it

method you feel is best. Maybe all it needs, in those places where you add triggers, is to spawn not a falling platform in the middle of the gap, but rather a 0-speed moving platform (identical in design to the bricks used for the floor) on the side of the gap, so it reduces the gap from 4 tiles to 3 wide, or maybe in some cases 2 tiles wide if the tiles really don't mesh well the other way. And... maybe if the trigger activated as soon as Jack entered the room, it wouldn't be weird. (Versus having it activate close to when he jumps over the gap?)

I've not tried what you're talking about in the windy area, so maybe you've already done what I'm describing.

[VernJensen]

On second thought, I like the second solution better (reduce gap from 4 to 3 tiles by use of adding a brick via trigger), for all situations.

My suggestion to change platform sizes was because I didn't like your solution of using falling platforms (presumably in the middle?) as much -- this would make it nearly impossible to die in the gap, and having a *small* challenge is still ideal. But adding a moving platform that looks just like a normal brick to the *side* of the gap, reducing it from 4 to 3, seems like an elegant solution, assuming your triggers won't add any unforeseen problems. :-)

[RobSeegel]

Vern - my comments may have been a bit hasty, and were based on experiences with Beta2 versions of mansions. Several of the mansions have been refined for Beta3 (or it could be me. Maybe many seem easier now, since I've played each one several times). I just finished Leofani mansion Easy a few minutes ago, and that was the last easy one for this round of testing, until Mount Peril (Easy) is released.

Still, I was glad to see more of your criteria for Easy mansions!