Another minigame idea

Unique! Not too exciting without enemy collisions, but it has potential.

Thanks. Yes, I think it's pretty unique.

Regarding the collisions (or wrong color), I am not sure how to penalize the player. There are a few options:
1. game over
2. timer decreased (game over when zero, this is fixed anyway)
3. restart round, but with less time
4. end this round without any points and go to next round
5. ...?

1., 3. and 4. could be good for enemy collision, 1., 2. or 3. for wrong color.

By using option 1, the game would probably loose a lot of dynamic, because the player has to be extremely careful. So maybe 3. for enemy collision and 2. for wrong color could be good compromise.

What do think?

Thomas Jentzsch, on Mon Sep 25, 2006 9:52 AM, said:

First thing that comes to mind: could use same method as Kaboom!: lose a life and go down one level. Of course, then you have to add "lives," which you may not want to do. Maybe move down one level and have a time penalty?

I don't think advancing a round without successfully completing it is good game logic, so I'd rule out #4.

vdub_bobby, on Mon Sep 25, 2006 7:19 PM, said:

Yes, adding lives would probably cost too much space.

Quote

Agreed.

Thomas Jentzsch, on Mon Sep 25, 2006 11:52 AM, said:

Hallo Thomas
also Senso mit Actionelementen find ich gut.Das könnte was werden.
Gruss Walter

Very unique! The friction control feels really good.

Whenever I test out a new homebrew, I get a few crazy (perhaps half-baked) ideas:

Each wrong color hit could make the player restart the sequence, but the timer keeps counting down. Each correct color adds a notch to the player's top speed. The player loses only when the timer runs out before a sequence is completed.

It might be really twitchy to throw in a few various power-ups to collect and/or obstacles to avoid - all while trying to concentrate on beating out the right sequence. Power-up ideas: A tazer to temporarily stun and freeze the enemy or a decoy to bait an enemy boss while the player works on a sequence. Power-down ideas: A potion or alcoholic beverage that slows the player down or makes him drunk for a time (ie reverse controls), a caffeine pill that max's out the player's speed and makes controls difficult, or a mushroom that swaps around the wall colors. >

You could take it a step further and implement a different enemy boss with different AI and attacks for each stage. Examples: A boss that tries to bump the player into the wrong wall (ie Reactor), a gravity boss that vacuums the player towards itself, or an enemy that tries to "puppy-guard" the wall of the next color in a sequence.

Hmmm, if you want to make it really crazy, let the player control the character with a driving controller.

Many thanks for the compliments and suggestions.

I haven't decided yet if hitting the wrong color will restart the sequence or only decrease the timer. Restarting will probably result into game over too often.

The power up ideas are good, but probably require too much space. Though I might check reversing controls or swapping the colors when hitting the enemy.

Nice to see that Toto has a new hobby. I guess crashing helicopters got dull.


(edit: dull for him, not us.)