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Unread postby walrusdawg » 01 Dec 2010 19:20

How does the "ghost" enemy not serve the same purpose as an absolute timer?
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Unread postby icycalm » 01 Dec 2010 23:47

I don't remember encountering any ghosts. I guess I didn't play the game long enough to do so? How difficult is it to kill or avoid, etc? The only way it would have the same effect as a timer is if it unavoidably instakills you. Is that what it does? If that's what it does it's almost more stupid than not having a timer.
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Unread postby recoil » 02 Dec 2010 02:25

http://spelunky.wikia.com/wiki/Ghost

The Ghost is the ultimate enemy in Spelunky. It is not killable, and will kill you instantly if it touches you. Fortunately, it is possible to make it through the entire game without ever seeing one.

There are three instances where it is possible for the Ghost to spawn. The first happens when the timer on a level goes over 2 minutes and 30 seconds. At 2 minutes, you're given a warning: "A chill runs up your spine! Let's get out of here!", along with the game's soundtrack progressively decreasing its pitch. At 2 minutes and 30 seconds the Ghost spawns. You have two options at that point: run to the exit and leave.. or die. The Ghost cannot spawn this way on the first level of Area 1, or on the game's final level. It will also not spawn if you have the Hedjet in your inventory.

The second instance in which the Ghost can spawn is on the Restless Dead level. Picking up that level's idol will immediately cause the ghost to spawn.

Finally, destroying your third or higher altar will immediately spawn the Ghost alongside making the level dark.
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Unread postby Bread » 02 Dec 2010 02:39

The ghost is a slow homing-missile that moves through walls. It can be easy or difficult to avoid depending on the shape of the level, and the items you have. If you can move in a large circular path (the jetpack helps) you can avoid it indefinitely.
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Unread postby walrusdawg » 02 Dec 2010 03:51

Yeah, that.

Also two of the screenshots are definitely not from the official version (#16 & #20), #8 doesn't really look right, and #19 has an arrow drawn on it.
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Unread postby icycalm » 02 Dec 2010 13:44

walrusdawg wrote:Yeah, that.


What does this "yeah, that" mean? That you now understand "in what way the ghost enemy does not serve the same purpose as an absolute timer?"

Your attitude is extremely annoying. It's the second time you make a stupid post in this thread, and both times the posts were made with an air of superiority which your stupidity certainly does not entitle you to. This is the reason that I am banning you. Not for the stupidities, which would have certainly been forgivable if your attitude was more humble (and the second stupidity proved to be even beneficial, since it caused us to clarify a point about the game), but for your annoying airs.
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Unread postby icycalm » 02 Dec 2010 17:27

JoshF wrote:Another problem with the randomization is that it makes scoring and timing impossible to accurately compare, basically making them worthless features.


Just came across this review of the latest Pac-Man game on NFG's site:

http://nfgworld.com/mb/post/3203

NFG wrote:It's a scoring game, so for consistency the randomized elements are kept to a minimum: the maze always appears in the same order, the ghosts always in the same spot, and the only unpredictable element is the movement of random ghosts, the old-style ghosts that start appearing towards as your time progresses.


It's a good review. I'd be posting it on the frontpage if we weren't in the middle of the "indie" marathon right now. Will save it for later, along with about a dozen others that are still piling up.
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Unread postby icycalm » 16 Dec 2010 19:19

Two hipsters who sort of kind of get it:

http://forums.selectbutton.net/viewtopi ... 471#860471

analogos wrote:
boojiboy7 wrote:Yeah, and that he seems to think there is a "grind-based continuing system"


He means the tunnel shortcuts that allow you to start at any world you've bought your way to. They're pretty grindy tbh.

Edit: and the reason they're grindy, besides just that they get pretty expensive, is that putting money towards them actively impedes an attempt to do a full start to finish runthrough by way of draining funds better spent toward survival tools. it encourages you to play one world over and over with the primary goal being to get as much money as possible to give to the tunnel guy and then dying and doing it again because there won't be a tunnel guy at the end of the next world until you pay off the previous one anyway. I mean I think it's an interesting concession toward an alternate playstyle, really, but it's definitely a distraction from playing the game in a pure arcade sensibility (which is always dmx's ideal model for any game anyway), and is a bit of an undertaking besides.


Though he still thinks that grinding for continues "is an interesting concession toward an alternate playstyle", lol. A fag's a fag even if it's less faggy than other fags.

Isfet wrote:really quick answer about why i like roguelikes:

because they are RPG: The Arcade Game


And this fag still thinks that dungeon crawlers are RPGs.

But at least, on the whole, they are not as faggy as other fags. They tend towards the male side of the fag spectrum, if you get what I am saying.


By the way, I haven't forgotten about the questions/objections; it's just that I am so burned out on the damn game after writing all those words that I don't currently feel like bringing it all in my mind again. It will happen though, probably at some point within the next two-three weeks or so.
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Unread postby icycalm » 13 Jan 2011 15:09

http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?t ... #msg486646

Derek wrote:As I said above, the creator of Rogue himself feels that randomized dungeons are the most important characteristic of roguelikes. Even if his authorial intent does not factor into what genre the games fall into, what's the argument for why permadeath would take a higher priority over randomized levels in terms of defining the subgenre.


I've already given it, moron. The fact that no roguelike yet has done away with the permadeath feature, but many roguelikes have started DIMINISHING the randomization feature -- without thereby diminishing their status as roguelikes. It's right there in the first paragraph, fag.
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Unread postby icycalm » 13 Jan 2011 15:53

http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?t ... #msg486856

Breadcultist wrote:That's why I think there's some value in randomly generated action game levels (contra Icy's Spelunky review).


Fixed version:

Breadcultist wrote:That's why I think there's some value in randomly generated action game levels (contra MY UTTERLY IMAGINARY VERSION OF Icy's Spelunky review).
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Unread postby Bread » 15 Jan 2011 18:49

Ah, you didn't say that at all. Sorry for the misattribution. I want to re-frame points from my previous post.

Since great levels are built by skilled human designers, you say that "randomized stage layouts are, in general, a bad idea". Roguelikes use them as a substitute for the infeasible task of designing thousands of levels, in order to avoid putting the player in the same dungeons hundreds of times.

You don't state why this repetition is to be avoided. I say because it'd become boring, especially for a turn-based game where figuring out what to do is the entire challenge. Repeating the execution is just donkey-work and memorisation. This contracts with action games, where simply knowing the right steps may not be even be half the challenge. The challenge is in the execution. Repeating a stage you've already completed can make you refine your skills.

So if repetition is a problem, adding variety is a means of fixing that. Another way is adding a save system. Randomly generated levels are a non-ideal, but economical means of adding practically infinite variety, removing familiarity and predictability.

Unfamiliarity itself, whatever the implementation, adds a layer of difficulty. The alternative is another way: a designer can assume that the experienced player becomes familiar with the stages, and design challenges that force him to learn and apply that knowledge.

The above two paragraphs are generally true for all genres. Random level generators have costs and benefits that affect different genres unequally.

My error motivated my earlier question in this thread about the value of randomization in action genres. Now I'm inclined to think the right place to look would be in history, not theory. Are there any great arcade action games with randomly generated levels?
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Unread postby icycalm » 15 Jan 2011 21:41

Breadcultist wrote:Repeating the execution is just donkey-work and memorisation.


Typical subhuman gamer notion: everything they are incapable of doing is not-fun (i.e., in their vocabulary, work), and whoever enjoys it is a masochist.

Banned for suggesting that all great athletes are donkeys. The only donkey here is you, moron.
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Unread postby icycalm » 15 Jan 2011 22:49

Not one of these ponderous jackasses has ever so much as suspected that the game's system and its stages might be so amazingly well-designed, that one would WANT to re-experience THE SAME EXACT playthrough, again and again and again, because of how awesomely it makes one feel. A game like Espgaluda or The Super Shinobi, for example, can be played on a daily basis for ENTIRE MONTHS, IF NOT YEARS, without the player having the slightest desire for a change whatsoever in any of its parameters.

All of this of course sounds UTTERLY FANTASTICAL to the ears of people who have grown up with bloated 12-hour collectathons, and who, even on the rare occasions when they DO come into contact with a real game, allow THE GAME TO PLAY THEM, instead of the other way around.
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Unread postby dinopoke » 27 Feb 2013 09:06

http://www.destructoid.com/spelunky-dlc ... 6256.phtml

246256-s1.jpg
246256-s1.jpg (53.81 KiB) Viewed 18188 times


It got buried with yesterday's PlayStation 4 news onslaught, but Spelunky on Xbox Live Arcade has gotten downloadable content. There are two add-ons, each priced at $2 (160 Microsoft Points).

The first pack adds eight playable characters: the Eskimo, the Robot, the Viking, the Round Girl, the Round Boy, the Cyclops, the Ninja, and the Golden Monk. The other add-on includes 24 deathmatch arenas should you still have the urge to play the competitive multiplayer.
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Unread postby dinopoke » 19 Apr 2013 05:41

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/03/ ... is-summer/

Derek Yu wrote:Oh man, this is exciting! It’s with great pleasure that I can announce the upcoming arrival of Spelunky on PS3 and PS Vita. I know that we’re not the first indie title to be announced this year for these platforms, but the Spelunky team is happy to be part of this wave of indie goodness.
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Unread postby alastair » 06 Jun 2013 01:08

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