Hi there,

As I'm currently working on the code for the main menu I also came to the point save/load system and I have an idea to that point:

In etherpad's menu section there is already the idea of packing levels in packs of 5-10 which the player then can relock and select for playing. We could take this concept in connection with the chapter/location concept many modern RTS games use. In these games the campaign usually is presented on a map where the chapters of the story have to be relocked to succed the campaign. We could use a similar concept, and pack 5-10 levels (if the levels are small ones, if we decide to create huge levels, it could also be one level per block) belonging to one visual style, one certain location, one story chapter or whatever to one icon on the "story map" (which could of course simply be a list like in warcraft3 eg.). The player relocks one pack after the other and his state is saved in his player's profile. This way we won't need a save/load system, a simple resume button which directs to last started level would be enough this way.

What do you think about it?

That's a good idea; I don't think that we'll need to save the current state of the level (just the level number) and we'll start from its beginning whenever the player loads a game.
I'd save the main menu options (video, sound, etc) and the level number. Nevertheless, it's always a good idea to add some free slots; you can never know when you're going to add mouse sensitivity, etc

Dear friends,

We have finally managed to finish the game story document, which serves as a base for the game design document (we're also working on it). The team members have received it yesterday, but I thought that you can give us quality feedback, so please read it and post your comments here. Thank you.

J, J and BUM

The game story and locations seem good to me, there are only a few things which I find a bit irritating. The current layout is like the big bang happens more or less in the 3rd part of the game while the 4th part seems only to be some kind of finishing off the story. There might be a lack of suspense in the last part of the game.

The battle against BUUM happens rather soon, and the final fight is only against his degenerated by far less powerful form again.
For a final battle I would expect to see him tranform to BUUM after being smashed the first time, and he should quickly transform back to his frog form after BUM has been beaten as well.

This intereferes with the swamp storyline, yes, but the swamp does not feel right there anyway. For some evil villain I would expect to see the final battle at some dark and sad place, like a rotten castle which falls apart after his defeat.

A swamp level I expect earlier in the game while on the way to rescue.
this would defeat the purpose of a swamp castle, though...


Well just some input.

Thank you for the feedback, Firo! You've got some valid points there.

Small but important edit: changed BUUM to BUM in one place, now the text should make sense.

I think that this has been overlooked & that we could fix it with simple character expansion.

In one of the story versions BUM & BUUM were two different characters- you first encounter BUM & then you have a final fight with his boss, BUUM.

Maybe we could have SUM(Small Unfriendly Monster) & BUM (Big Unfriendly Monster)

If you look at it, that could potentially solve this problem. SUM would be the kidnapper, player would have his first fight with SUM in mansion, then he would fight with BUM in the castle and, when BUM escapes, the final battle would be at the swamp, with BUUM (BUM high on chemicals). Swamp & swamp castle are very important parts of the story since they give a clue to the main villain origin as a frog & once BUUM turns to BUF you know that everything is over.

Hello,

I hope everyone is well. I've read the story doc and have a few comments on the first three chapters which Ganderoleg asked me to post. I'll sum it up as follows: Little J (LJ) gets captured while playing in the snowy mountains. Big J (BJ) hears his screams and follows the footprints of BUM (or SUM). She reaches the outskirts of the mountains and finds a huge abyss (maybe similar to the one in the latest Star Trek movie when young James T. Kirk drives his stepdads car off the cliff). She sees BUM (or SUM) jump the huge expanse with her brother. Feeling hopeless and unable to pursue, a wizard in the form of a mouse gives BJ a potion. Instead of it being a "switching gravity" potion, I think it should simply slow her descent. If she were to switch gravity, she would simply "fall into the sky" with nothing to stop her from going into space. At the bottom of the abyss on the other side of the cliff wall is an opening leading to the mountain dungeons chapter where she finds her brother. When they reunite, they work their way up through the cliffs passages to reach the mountain fortress.

This is good info - thank you! The big sister will only be able to "fly" upwards for a few seconds; if she can't find something solid to stand on, she will return to the ground. The new version of player's code should be ready in a week (or so).

I must say I like the idea about the Snowy Mountain abyss part: we could see the SUM, with Little J in the bag, jumping down the corners of the abyss in a frog-like manner & Big J standing near the edge, unable to follow.

Then, when mouse gives her the gravity potion, she could use it to jump down the corners of the abyss, making her way by shifting gravity depending on what ledge is above or beneath her & how far is that ledge (if it's less then few seconds of flight). We could also have her being hurt if she finds no ledge & falls back down.

Also it would be a good thing if she reaches the dungeons from the bottom of the abyss & have two J's start dungeon level from the opposite sides. We can have sister at the bottom of the dungeon & brother at the top, in the dungeon tower.