New Mechanic?

[testtubegames]

I'm thinking of adding in a very different mechanic to the game, and thought I would float it by you all before trying it.

I've gotten some feedback that it'd be nice if the game required more physics-thought as you played through it. The idea being that trial-and-error platforming can get you through the levels generally.

One thought I had was giving players some tiles that they can add into the levels themselves. So, perhaps, as it stands, a given level is impossible. But a player can drag and add a positive charge anywhere (that is allowed) in the level... and they need to do it in such a way to make the level win-able.

I left this mechanic out originally, since it seemed to interrupt the fast-paced flow of the game. But as I think more about it, this could really open up a lot of ways to get the player to use physics concepts to win levels. What do you think?

[A Random Player]

This seems like it'd be a nice addition. I would expect this to be only in the later levels though, and the sudden change in style might feel weird.
It's similar to PhET's Electric Field Hockey though, is that where you got the idea?

[robly18]

The idea isn't bad, but seems like it could be exploited or something. How about "on rails" magnets that would activate and move when you pressed a button? This would fix the problem of lack of dynamicy(not sure if that's even a word) while still avoiding exploits. I can already see people using that to float infinitely.

[testtubegames]

Thanks for your thoughts so far. I'm still weighing the cost-benefit of adding this in (...fairly late in the development of the game, at that).

This seems like it'd be a nice addition. I would expect this to be only in the later levels though, and the sudden change in style might feel weird.
It's similar to PhET's Electric Field Hockey though, is that where you got the idea?

PhET may well have been a partial inspiration for this -- but mainly I was just thinking of a way to make the game more interactive with the physics itself. More physics puzzles, namely. The switches were a basic way to add some interaction ("hey, should that charge there be on or off?"), but by letting the players move objects, it'd raise it to a new level.

The idea isn't bad, but seems like it could be exploited or something. How about "on rails" magnets that would activate and move when you pressed a button? This would fix the problem of lack of dynamicy(not sure if that's even a word) while still avoiding exploits. I can already see people using that to float infinitely.

I was thinking of limiting a player's interaction to prevent that very thing. My rough plan would be to only let the player move objects at the start of a level. After that, everything is set in place (so they can't just continually float above a charge). You could return to the start of the level (or die) to get a chance to change things again -- but they'd otherwise stay wherever you'd placed them. And I'd probably limit the mechanic so that tiles can only be moved within a certain range, to prevent this from being to easily exploitable.

Putting some objects on rails to be activated by a switch would be another possibility. My only concern is that if it gets too time-consuming to edit/set up a level every time you die, it would make the game very frustrating.

[robly18]

Alright, that sounds a bit better. I think maybe you could have the position of things be saved if they restarted the level, and have a button to reset it in case they messed up?

[A Random Player]

Maybe instead of switch activated rail-charges, they could just be dragged along a rail?

[robly18]

I don't think that would be very good. I mean, the player already has to use two hands for magnetism and walking. I don't know about you but I personally don't have a third hand for the mouse.

[A Random Player]

I don't think that would be very good. I mean, the player already has to use two hands for magnetism and walking. I don't know about you but I personally don't have a third hand for the mouse.

Well, they don't necessarily have to be moved during the game, and could be locked in after starting the level, like Andy said earlier.

[testtubegames]

Thanks for your both for your thoughts on the mechanic -- they kind of mirror what I was thinking. In the interest of keeping the game a bit more consistent, I'm going to skip this mechanic... but add in a couple (simpler) new tweaks to the game that will hopefully increase the puzzle-factor quite a bit.

At the moment, I'm playing around with making levels where the bullets are charged. Shocktopus can use his charge to deflect them somewhat, which will lead to its own unique challenges. Move the bullets out of your path, or deflect them to hit some target. And you'll be able to toggle a gun's charge by touching it with Shocktopus. I'm still testing out making those levels, but I'm hoping it'll be a nice addition. You'll have to think about the physics in a slightly different way to get the mindless bullets where they need to go.