Thanks for the response. Gave me lots of opportunity for reflection. After sleeping over it, I feel I can dissect it fully. >_>;
why this couldn't simply be left to the level designer's discretion as it is today.
It is an unfitting feature that has not been pulling its weight.
To go from the game with everywhere-fixed SI to one with
rarely-used variable SI, we incur these costs:
1. Allow the player to change the world in a new way, unlike anything else in the game. We may be used to it because L1 has it, but the difference of variable SI to skill assignments is glaring. If wanted, I can elaborate on the value of simplicity and conciseness in game design.
2. Make two buttons in the game UI, and display the current value. The buttons alone are highly nontrivial, taking left and right clicks. Setting a number freely in a game is UI bloat -- this is what city simulation games offer, or "Myliege, how much grain do thou wish to distribute to thy peasants?"
3. Introduce these buttons to new players. There is a ton of problems hidden here that have been bugging me for years.
- A time limit is self-explanatory, provided you notice it's there. These buttons are not.
- They aren't needed in 98 % of the levels, and don't scream "use me" once they are.
- They stop affecting the world after all lixes are out. Even when they do something, it's not obvious what they do -- people will change the SI by 1 and see no difference. They violate discoverability.
- As a comparison, the time limit doesn't advertize itself at level start either -- this bad visibility has been reported as a bug.
4. Force even experienced players to check another level environment setting -- whether or not the SI is variable -- each time they play a level.
5. Make a second setting in the editor that depends on another editor setting, and must be changed along with it. (UI improvement would be a checkmark in the editor for fixed/variable SI, fixed by default. But this doesn't leverage any other numbered reason or bullet point, and it a rather high amount of work compared to the benefits.)
What benefits do we get?Levels don't need variable spawn interval to be solvable. Even if they were thought to need it, they don't need it, or can be adapted surprisingly easily.
An exception are levels where SI fiddling is absolutely the main idea. And here, I value game design over pulling along every bit of accumulated tradition. If only 5 levels out of 500 would have to be culled, it's already a success.
Nepster has claimed how it helps execution. Yes, if the level designer can speculate on the player using SI, the level designer is less inclined to ease execution otherwise. I would like to see levels that can't be adapted accordingly.
So, the variable SI brings way less than the time limit -- unless unfixable levels are dug up, all we lose are the very few levels designed explicitly around SI changing. Its cost is much higher, and doesn't afford this.
We handle these issues by recommending best practices for level designs.
Time limit: This isn't a method to affect the world as a player, which is the main reason I want to get rid of variable SI.
As discussed, I have claimed this has more benefits in return, at lower cost. Also, I'd compare "all levels have unlimited time" closer to "all levels have SI 32" than "all levels have a fixed SI".
Builder stretching: Allowing builder stretching in the physics is simpler than disallowing it. Disallowing variable SI, or disallowing time limits, removes complexity from code, and from the player's mental model. But disallowing builder stretching would
introduce code that checks for how long a walker has been walking since being a shrugger last, and then disallow builder assignments here.
Alternatively, the shrugger would have to walk to the tip of the brigde before shrugging. I've considered this before, I have shunned it due to looks and tradition.
I'll concede that even the historic evidence suggests the game designers at DMA do not value variable SI as a level solving tool, starting with the fact that they removed it as soon as they got to Lemmings 2
Hmm, L2 and L3 don't have it. They don't make up for crowd control too nicely, but that's an issue with level design and other game features.
Lemmings 3D and Lemmings Revolution weren't designed by the same team anymore.
I assert that the two teams behind L3D and LR fell into the same trap as most developers of Lemmings-like games: Copying features from L1 without reflecting on their merits.
eliminate otherwise fine levels in the original game like "Just a Minute (Part II)" and "Flow Control".
Flow control can be fixed with runners and longer walkways. :-) Just a minute 2, I'd have to take a look.
I'm not trying to cull variable SI from Lemmings 1, but from Lix, where there are better features for the desired effects.
-- Simon
PS. Conundrum can be adapted by
setting the SI to 4 and giving one runner. (Or two runners, as red herring.) The level is short enough that the runner can't build over the lava without stalling the crowd.