DieHard Wolfers

[Lozer_42]

An idea came to mind last night while I was driving home from a friends house. (an odd place I get an idea) when though thought of "what if you could go back and forth between levels?"

This idea came to me from the old Dungeons & Dragons computer game Eye Of The Beholder.

One of the thoughts behind this is that the key you need to open the locked door on level 2 is located on level 4. In a sense, the way i imaging this being implemented would be similar to how the teleporter already works. Only it teleports you to a location on another level.

This realistically would use a lot of memory since EVERY level would have to be loaded and running to be able to do this. Though this could also mean that making a sound on level 1 could alarm guard on level 2, 3, 4, or an other one.

A simple idea, but difficult to implement properly.

And also, realistically one would have to code the game to use many, many, MANY keys if they want to have a locked door on each level.

Just an idea. There more that branch off of this but they would require a complete re-write of the raycast engine. (seeing the floors above and below you)

Just an idea.

[doomjedi]

What you mean is called (level) "hub-system" - like in Hexen.

This was planned for "Sonder 2" BTW - before it was cancelled.

[Chris]

It's not impossible. Blake Stone lets you go back and forth through levels too (previous level enemy/object placement are stored in your saved games so they won't get lost - I remember my saved game getting bigger as I got higher in the game).

I also like the idea of "going down" to get to different parts of previous levels (say, have a part that's behind columns, that you have to go up one elevator, then back down another to reach). That would be pretty cool.

[Lozer_42]

Chris wrote:

I also like the idea of "going down" to get to different parts of previous levels (say, have a part that's behind columns, that you have to go up one elevator, then back down another to reach). That would be pretty cool.

Yeah, stuff like that was one of the main things that I think a feature like this should allow. Like, using an elevator/ladder/stair object wouldn't change your x/y location, just the level you are on.

[Tricob]

There actually is a mod out there that does this already. Wasn't it called something like "Extra"?

And if the information is of any value, Blake Stone "remembers" what's on each level by writing all the maps to a temporary external file. It took me a long time to figure out what the deal was with the temporary file! All the maps are written with each saved game, and each map is compressed before the saved game is written to. That's why saving a game takes so darn long to do.

[insurrectionman]

Sounds simple when you would think of it as:

1. Copy the load/save game code
2. Use that for the Temp map files
3. Each time you switch a map, you save that temp file
4. Load the map you are going to
5. ???
6. Profit

I wish I still had time to work on my mods, and that they would have use for this, but unfortunately not.

[Lozer_42]

I really wish I knew more C and C++ than I do. Then I might actually be able to try and assemble some code to try something like this. Unfortunately I don't have the time to sit down at a computer through the night and figure it out. So all I left with doing it thinking through how things would work logically...


Really. with this idea, I think one of the most important things to work out would be saving the game properly.

The possibility of having guards also move between the levels would also be something that would be interesting to implement. Though that could make elevators a little more tricky to use, verses stair/ladder objects. (can walk normally on/through the ladder but need to hit "use" to climb)

Having a mountain of ideas but not having the knowledge/skills to do something with them can be very frustrating.