O
OZ
OZZ
OZZZ
BZZZZ

-- Simon

W
WRA
WRAPPER
WRAPWRAP

XRAP

-- Simon

Hi,

this has been annoying Icho a lot. I don't remember if it's brought to discussion before.

On saving a replay, Lemmix saves 2 files. One is the binary replay format. One is a human-readable representation of the data in the binary format, but the human-readable one is unusable by Lemmix. I assume the human-readable file is leftover debugging. This is annoying because one of the two files is nothing but clutter.

The obvious solutions are 1) stop outputting the debugging file, or 2) stop outputting the binary file and have the game read the human-readable version.

You'd expect me to make a huge push for 2) now, but I don't feel as strongly about this as with human-readable graphics sets. The reason is that replays don't foster a culture around editing them with commonly-available tools. Occasionally, their contents are important to know for the game developer, because they're often sent in as bug reports.

I feel 1) is good enough for now, sounds like a one-line change.

-- Simon

Copying the defaults is good, even if it's not 100 % what I'd use.

I'm hesitant to tamper with default settings in Lix. Some things are only default because they've been default for a while.

I'd switch Select-only-walker and select-previously-unassigned. Reason: Lix's select-only-walker is mapped to RMB in addition to the settable hotkey. Pad-Minus is the rubbish key where unneeded things are bound to. Select-only-walker is more important than select-previously-unassigned.

-- Simon

Didn't watch the video, but tried the game a little. The tutorial misses some key mechanics:

• The map wraps horizontally.
• You can walljump. Tap jump, hold towards a wall, tap jump.

I like the character's jump anim. Lovely how believable you can animate such a simple shape. It violates slightly the guideline that your char should jump immediately when you press the button, but not by much time.

-- Simon

Hi,

some loose rambling.

Basic tenet in open source: People are interested in how other people solve problems. You share source code obviously, but you also love to talk about what it does, and are honest about its shortcomings. You can show proudness of your project, provided you're not hiding the problems.

I'm sure the IRC regulars have grown used to "Lix does it like this, the reasons for it are A, B, C, and the source is ugly." The ugly parts ("// 9 indentation levels is way too much") come to mind much more frequently than the nice parts. Good parts don't come to mind all the time; they're simple and to-the-point.

You value public bug reports, and you value source patches even higher. Likewise, users are happy to make bug reports. (Treat users as co-developers.)

Level design shares some qualities with such development, but is different.

People don't play a pack several times. Given the abundance of great and intriguing levels today, people play your pack once if you're lucky, and zero times if you're not. Useful software is run again and again, individual levels are not.

As a pack developer, you want your users to play thoroughly tested levels. There are several approaches. You can make a closed beta. You can release on Lemmini first, where you have fewer users. Or, what I'd do -- release normally, be honest that it's not playtested, and have good faith that people won't play all at once.

I believe I'm unconventional: I cherry-pick single levels. I wait until other people praise certain levels, or, as with Icho's pack, entire level packs. Only then I invest a serious amount of time. As a result, my level diet consists of heavily playtested levels. Maybe others are like me; probably many are to a lesser extent.

Even if you choose "release publicly, and hope that some will wait anyway", you probably don't want unspoilered solutions in public posts. Most authors like feedback in a spoiler tag, or as a replay file. This way, the solutions are public, but you have to explicitly want to see them. This is exactly what spoiler tags are designed for: They don't put the solution out of reach, but only out of accidental reach.

I don't care if people post unspoilered solutions publicly for my little handful of levels. With time limits and hidden traps, I'm happy that most contemporary level designers share my views. But I won't shape discussion culture for level designers. If many like the spoiler-tagging and don't want solutions bantered in logged IRC, then following suit is the way to go.

Bonus rambling, apropos diet: The guinea pig diet consists of eating lots and lots of cucumber. A guinea pig would do the same, and they are extremely cute and obviously extremely smart, because they eat cucumber, which is tasty. Aim for at least half a cucumber per day, maybe even one per day. And cut way back on sugar drinks. Magic will happen!



<SimonN> I have bought 2 cucumbers earlier today, 1 is already eaten. Love love love
<geoo> me too :D :D :D

-- Simon

Hints: Hnn no. The game is reasonably early, and there are patterns to explore. People may have grown bored of the game, but don't seem to be out of ideas.

RAE
AE
RE
RARERARE
AAATT
ATEAR
ARARE

-- Simon