lol, out of all those responses did it help or just make things more confusing??
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lol, out of all those responses did it help or just make things more confusing??
Outside of space constraints in a vehicle or box or something, or an alternative to moving the checkpoint away/demitting it in a single screen survival-type set up, I really prefer the default checkpoint for myself. I don't mind at all if they're plain either, or just colored to blend. I think the awareness of what's at stake at least in a semi-challenging game with checkpoints makes the gameplay more exciting. I don't hold it against anyone for using them... I've even seen giant size ones that seem to fit really well into themes as well. It just always seems odd when I spawn out of nowhere and didn't even know I activated a checkpoint, even though it is immersive.
A good example of when using it seems entirely right: in Dragon Slayer when you're riding the red dragon. If you fell off it, you'd need to respawn but a checkpoint glued to a dragon's head would seem kind of aesthetically wrong.
From my perspective, as long as you have a checkpoint before something that's a challenge, then you don't need it to be visible. If you're after complete immersion then I find the visible checkpoints kind of counteractive as they are a visual reminder that you're playing "a level", as opposed to exploring an environment. Personally, I'd rather stumble onto a difficult section of gameplay without the forewarning of a checkpoint, but I'd certainly want it to be there so I could start that part again. Sometimes checkpoints can ruin the 'surprise', but I am constantly in awe of the way people manage to disguise them. But that's just me.Quote:
Originally Posted by midnight_heist
Good luck with your project.
The responses and the results of the poll are quite interesting.Quote:
Originally Posted by John82wa
It seems hiding checkpoints are a double edged sword... helps in some areas, takes away in others (NinjaMicWZ raised my main concern).
Babydoll summed up my thoughts pretty well on where I stand. (get out of my head btw)
As for my level, currently I have one hidden checkpoint which I feel works well.
If I continue my hidden checkpoint plans, it will break my golden rule of "keep all elements consistent", visually at least.
The checkpoints will still have the same value (infinite), will always have a "safe zone" and I shall pay extra attention to the placement/spacing when building and testing.
Disguising the checkpoints is also pretty fun, so that's another reason for.
(What's the point of creating if you're not having fun right?)
I was always going to hide my checkpoints regardless of the poll results (unless it was overwhelmingly against).
I was just curious as to what other people thought about the subject, and how many people would be ticked off by my design choice.
However the level is not complete (understatement, ha), and if the invisible checkpoints don't feel or play right, I won't hesitate to cut them.
Keep the comments and votes coming, it's some interesting reading. :)
Yeah, I always use Infinate checkpoints. It feels really bad if your playing a really good level and run out of lives halfway through. I don't think I've ever replayed a non-story level after running out of lives.
Back in the day some of the most riveting stuff had finite lives before they brought out the infinite checkpoint. Like the first time I played H.A.T.E. by Voltiare and died in the very last inner circle going for the red switch, but I couldn't wait to give it another shot. It had a perfect progression from a few little jumps to more complex challenges in each area. Even to this day when I show friends that level it always gets really tense if the last life alarm is going off there.
I would have to say Regular. I prefer being able to tell when I have a new supply of lives, and it will be much easier to blend even the regular checkpoints and scoreboards into the environment when LBP2 comes out. I saw in a video that you can tweak any checkpoint and the scoreboard to preset material choices! I'd be intrested in seeing more about that feature...
I've never much cared for the look of checkpoints in lbp, but imho there ought to be some indication that the player has reached a checkpoint. Just about every game that uses checkpoints lets you know when you've reached one and there's reasons for that. It can be incredibly frustrating when you're playing a game and you die and suddenly realize you have to start over from "all the way back there," and it kind of makes a player feel comfortable to know that they won't be going back too far. So if it were me and I wanted to hide the checkpoints to increase immersion, I would find another way to let the player know that they're safe. A torch lighting perhaps... depending on the theme of course.
I can see this leading to all kinds of interesting things in lbp2: since there will presumably be a lot of levels that use player controlled sackbots, checkpoints won't be usable in a lot of cases, so creators will have to make their own. I suppose one could sort of hack in a checkpoint that actually opens for a bot (there's a way to capture opened checkpoints, so one could be emitted overlapping the existing cp at the same time as the bot emits and it would look like the bot came out of the cp), but I would be more interested in more creative checkpoints: a crystal that lights up, a computer console that boots up, a little fairy that waves her wand at you (from Spyro), or whatever.
2 be honest i have no idea. LOLQuote:
Originally Posted by John82wa