This has been a hot topic of debate on the IRC lately, so I thought I'd put it to the forum for more opinions.
Various IRS games have played with the ability to change the direction of gravity. Lemmings Revolution has antigravity traps that turn lemmings upside down, Clones has traps that flip creatures upsidedown or sideways, and
Turtle Trench lets you flip gravity on individual creatures via a skill. I've compiled some arguments for and against gravity changing in an IRS, please feel free to add to these. This list is in the context of adding gravity changing to Lix, since that's the topic under debate right now.
Pros:+ More variety in puzzles. Think about it - upward diggers, downward builders, downward climbers, crazy flinging (tumblers go in different directions depending on their gravity)... Sideways gravity opens up even more fun possibilities.
+ Novelty. Gravity changing in IRS is rare enough that it's still new and fun, especially with some of the unique effects it would have in Lix. This won't hold in the long run though.
Cons:- Implementation. Every existing skill and object has to be adapted to work with different gravities, and if you want to add anything new to the game, that has to work in multiple gravities as well. That means an overhaul of the existing code, much playtesting, and a commitment to more work in future. This delays release as well, and we don't want to keep the game unreleased forever.
- Complexity. The game can only take so many features before it becomes overwhelming, for new players especially. Just look at Clones
. Gravity changing is an inherently complicated feature, much more so than adding another skill or a 'niche' feature like trampolines. This is especially relevant in multiplayer - new players find it hard enough, with world wrapping and all that, only the real hard core (i.e. Simon and geoo) are likely to enjoy gravity-intensive multiplayer maps.
- It's ultimately unnecessary. The purpose of Lix, at least to begin with, was to make an IRS with multiplayer capability, and better mechanics than the original Lemmings games. I'd say (with congratulations to Simon, geoo and all other contributors
) that the game has pretty much achieved this already.
My own view of the feature at the moment (subject to change wildly, of course
), is that it's somewhat of a guilty pleasure. I really want to try it in Lix, I want to build and play some great puzzles that use it, but at the same time I don't want it to take over the game. I'm worried that if it's added, there will be a proliferation of levels that depend on the mechanic, and much of the game will be played upside-down. At that point it's just not the same game any more.
So there are some considerations with regard to potentially adding the feature to an IRS. I'd be interested to hear from anyone who's played with gravity in Clones or Lemmings Revolution, or indeed Turtle Trench, for a perspective on how good a feature this is in existing IRS's. My own recent experience with Turtle Trench is that limited application of flipping is good fun, and makes for a neat addition to some puzzles, though it's not used extensively enough in that game to get a really good look at it. It's worth noting that flipping is implemented as a skill here, which largely procludes en-masse flipping of creatures, whereas in other games it's done with a trap that flips all creatures that touch it - again, opinions of Clones/Revolution players on the merits of that system are welcome.
Thanks for reading, and tell me what you think about gravity changing and whether we need it!
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