Little Suggestions

dalleck · 2013-07-03 03:51:08

I thought I would make a place to compile all our small suggestions in one place!

Let's kick it off:

When you return to your house and the message says "You earned $X" it should also say how much you were robbed for and also if any family members were killed:

"You made $220.
Kate made $440.

You were robbed for $660 in cash and tools.

Kate was killed."

Last edited by dalleck (2013-07-03 03:53:03)

jasonrohrer · 2013-07-03 07:41:23

Well, the killed part is something you can discover by walking around your house. I really want to preserve that "oh no" moment.

It is weird to see that earnings report and then find all of it gone, for sure.

Raisane · 2013-07-03 08:31:42

yeah, it's like you come home with your paycheck, notice you get robbed and then throw your paycheck out of the window

Ludicrosity · 2013-07-03 13:07:46

Ahh... the "oh no" moment... I've had quite a few of those...

jasonrohrer · 2013-07-03 16:53:18

Well, the whole point of the paychecks, ironically, is NOT to benefit the owner, but to slowly make a house more and more attractive to robbers over time, even when the owner isn't actively playing.

Whatever earnings that are stolen should probably just not be reported to you... because it's kind of confusing. So, you should probably just see a report showing anything you've earned that hasn't been taken yet.

dalleck · 2013-07-04 05:03:08

Yeah just seeing what you actually are getting in your back pocket when you return home is probably much less confusing...

jasonrohrer · 2013-07-04 09:41:22

Okay, this is in place now (your pay report is cleared, or portions of it are cleared, when you are fully or partially robbed).

TheMost · 2013-07-07 19:46:30

I've died several times due to accidentally pressing a key twice. Earlier today, armed with 51 crowbars and a gun in an attempt to kill Black's wife and the line of pitbulls protecting her, I died by accidentally pressing the down key twice (my hands were shaking a bit) when I had used all but two or three of my crowbars. I was torn apart by a pitbull and lost the several thousand dollars I owned, the house that I had spent thousands more to build, and one of my favorite paintings, The Watermelon, which I can now no longer afford.

In a future update, would it be possible to limit a robber's movements so that he could only move once every third of a second or so? This movement limit would allow for relatively quick motion but would prevent robbers from dying due to key presses they never intended to make.

jasonrohrer · 2013-07-07 20:06:24

I wonder if a time limit would really help. Sometimes, it's more like a brain mistake causes this to happen, and probably more than 0.3 seconds passes in that case.

During really tense moments in the game, I usually slow down a bit and make very deliberate keystrokes.

I wonder if there's some other, optional UI device to make "dangerous moves" less prone to this kind of error. Like a little pop-up thing that would let you click directions with the mouse, but have a confirmation checkbox for each press.... where you'd have to press twice per move.

Or maybe a "safety" mode you could turn on when you need it, where you have to press each movement key twice to initiate a move.

Oh... wait, duh! What about mouse-based movement? Where you can mouse over where you want to go, and see a highlight there, and then click it? Maybe miss-clicks would be less likely compared to miss-typing....

I'll figure something out for v13.

dalleck · 2013-07-08 02:02:30

Careful movement mode sounds good!

Also, I am watching a replay using the recorded game feature. Any chance of making this more fully-featured? I am thinking things like adding simple VCR-style controls, maybe even sprucing up the presentation a bit and make it more like watching on VCR, black and white? Also, it would be great to incorporate it into the game somehow from a menu, where you can choose the replay file and play it back. It is a shame it just kinda sits out there in the game directory, lonely and unused.

Also, now thinking of it any thoughts on regular in-game replays being black-and-white and maybe with a kind of security-cam filter? That would be mucho coolo!

Edit: Actually, it looks like my playback failed entirely about 30% through, with an 'unexpected response from server'. Maybe the playback program hasn't been updated for the new behaviours?

Last edited by dalleck (2013-07-08 02:33:54)

Ludicrosity · 2013-07-08 05:37:15

TheMost wrote:

I've died several times due to accidentally pressing a key twice.

I hear you, I can't tell you how many times I've died and lost great houses due to a careless keystroke error on my part.

jasonrohrer wrote:

Sometimes, it's more like a brain mistake causes this to happen

I think this statement is dead on. I don't think a time delay would really save me from myself. I'd still manage to screw up. I am only speaking for myself though, it may be different for others.

Last edited by Ludicrosity (2013-07-08 05:37:54)

jere · 2013-07-08 05:53:03

I died by accidentally pressing the down key twice (my hands were shaking a bit)

I've done this so many times. And my hands always shake when the stakes are high. I'm not sure how I feel about a delay. Part of the reason I am so nervous is that I know I could make that kind of mistake. Maybe that's artificial difficulty though?

jasonrohrer · 2013-07-08 07:29:27

Dalleck: can you send me that failed playback? That shouldn't happen, but still does sometimes (sometimes the events in the file fall out-of-sync with what's going on in the playback).

As far as more features for recordedGame playback... well, I know it's a cool feature, but it's really just for debugging, so that no bug goes uncaught or unreproducible. There are some speed control keys in it (look for enableSpeedControlKeys in the settings folder), and then ^ for slow (2 fps), & for normal, and *, (, and ) for faster and faster. Those speed control keys work during the regular game too, though, so be careful.

Also, the recording stuff is part of my game framework, so it is built into every game that I ship (was in Inside a Star-filled Sky too). Thus, it's very generic. Not really meant for prime-time, so I don't want to sink a bunch of time into polishing it. If there's a bug to catch, it works well enough.

Some kind of "video tape" effect on the security tapes.... I go back and forth about whether that would be good in practice. It sounds really cool, but it might be annoying after the wow-factor fades, because it would make stuff harder to see. Regardless, it's certainly a someday feature!

The Castle Doctrine Forums

#1 2013-07-03 03:51:08

Little Suggestions

#2 2013-07-03 07:41:23

Re: Little Suggestions

#3 2013-07-03 08:31:42

Re: Little Suggestions

#4 2013-07-03 13:07:46

Re: Little Suggestions

#5 2013-07-03 16:53:18

Re: Little Suggestions

#6 2013-07-04 05:03:08

Re: Little Suggestions

#7 2013-07-04 09:41:22

Re: Little Suggestions

#8 2013-07-07 19:46:30

Re: Little Suggestions

#9 2013-07-07 20:06:24

Re: Little Suggestions

#10 2013-07-08 02:02:30

Re: Little Suggestions

#11 2013-07-08 05:37:15

Re: Little Suggestions

#12 2013-07-08 05:53:03

Re: Little Suggestions

#13 2013-07-08 07:29:27

Re: Little Suggestions

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