BattlezM
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Post by BattlezM on Sept 29, 2015 14:40:26 GMT -8
As a note on the 'dangerous checkpoint', one of the design philosophies in Gruntz is that you look ahead through the level. Typically it's to know what toolz you may need for later on areas. In this case it's discovering that a checkpoint switch is most certainly something that will be dangerous...of course you should avoid saving on top of it.
Now if it were the case that the enemy welder was completely covered up behind an eyecandy, that starts to enter the realm of 'unfair and bad' design.
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BattlezM
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Post by BattlezM on Sept 25, 2015 11:17:00 GMT -8
I was able to reliably get past the 2 defender gruntz near the RB by first walking on the upper arrow as the RB approached, this caused the gruntz to let out a round of attacks, but the boxing glove pushed me back out of the way of the RB. From there I was able to freely walk through the RB's path without being attacked again. Of course though, the mistake I made was that I sent a barehand instead of goobers..which meant I couldn't satisfy the checkpoint since I wouldn't be able to get anyone else in. This resulted in a comical fight in which 2 barehands and a goober tried to fight those defenders, whilst being hit first trying to get in. I succeeded, but all 3 of my gruntz were on 5 or less health .
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BattlezM
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Post by BattlezM on Sept 23, 2015 0:28:27 GMT -8
I can confirm for diagonals being taken faster in general by the gruntz engine. Not sure what it might be, something in the state machine that sees the 'object' in question is going to be making a turn via command issued or tile property.
My test was setting up a square ball track with 2 RBs. One RB goes from corner to corner around the perimeter, the other takes a zig-zag along the diagonal. The distances are the same, and yet the diagonal travelling ball hit the pyramid on the corner noticeably faster than the perimeter ball.
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BattlezM
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Post by BattlezM on Sept 20, 2015 15:45:26 GMT -8
Ah yes I see now..hadn't thought to try something like that out Also makes things easier since I can get those other 2 grunts that gave me so much trouble...
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BattlezM
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Post by BattlezM on Sept 20, 2015 13:31:20 GMT -8
Hmm..the W eluded me as well, there wasn't a magic angle to hit the springs with a boomerang.
Initially I broke a ton of puzzles by sending in the shovel grunt, but I realized that with the way the PSs and such around the fort were set up, completing the level wouldn't allow for it.
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BattlezM
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Post by BattlezM on Sept 18, 2015 18:10:50 GMT -8
The level is still in need of testing as far as I know.
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BattlezM
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Post by BattlezM on Sept 13, 2015 17:27:37 GMT -8
The layout looks familiar, but the path you take through the level is quite different...also introduces a few different tools to accomplish things.
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BattlezM
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Post by BattlezM on Aug 30, 2015 21:45:45 GMT -8
Keep in mind the theme of the level (being that you're 'switching out' tools) and that there are lots of conveniently placed thief gruntz...most of the time. Also, if you dig up my original e-mail attachment, you should be able to find a loose walkthrough of the level.
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BattlezM
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Post by BattlezM on Aug 30, 2015 11:41:29 GMT -8
I like the sound of this, and it gives me some more cohesive ideas to work around. I had the thought of doing "V2.0" on older CLs that were released, but redesigning the standard levels is just as good.
I'll probably start with "Come Back With a Friend" and "You Should Never Play Near Electrical Outletz"
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BattlezM
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Post by BattlezM on Aug 30, 2015 11:34:11 GMT -8
Given that I'm doing web design, mobile variants usually involve having to reorganize and compress space horizontally, since the screen space on cell phones is very limited. Layout of webpages ends up cascading vertically downward. Further optimizations can involve having 'less' of the page loaded at a time, saving on the memory front.
Personally, I don't think that the forum gets enough traffic or regular activity to warrant a mobile conversion.
But, that being said, it seems to be the case that ProBoards has covered their bases, and does actually already have a mobile friendly version. I searched for "goo roo gruntz" on my google app and got a mobile friendly version of the forum...complete with a button at the bottom for an option for switching to desktop.
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BattlezM
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Post by BattlezM on Aug 11, 2015 15:31:13 GMT -8
I took a look at the link, it seems nothing was off about it, but now the download works..it just takes much longer than normal to get the file for some reason.
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BattlezM
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Post by BattlezM on Aug 7, 2015 13:01:08 GMT -8
I recall a Golf map that I made, and scrapped, that had EIGHT (required) red teleporterz, and each needed a Grunt with a specific tool to be sent through. What I did was leave each trigger tile with a clue relative to the tool that was required for that area. Otherwise it's annoying to have to reload your game just to figure out which teleporter is the right one. Ah did, the map end up getting scrapped? GolfChallenge I think it was? I actually still had a copy all these years, and didn't recall how I got it. I managed to replay it recently to completion, missing only a single coin. The red warps there were pretty tricky to figure out, there were clues as to which grunts go though, but they didn't seem to correspond to the areas I'd end up in...
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BattlezM
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Post by BattlezM on Aug 6, 2015 0:17:42 GMT -8
But do you have a "PERFECT!" Statz Page image you can provide so that the Announcement can be made complete? The perfect was captured, and sent. It's been uploaded in the announcement, but was not updated from 'not yet' status. That seems to be in order now though.
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BattlezM
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Post by BattlezM on Jul 8, 2015 8:01:12 GMT -8
well, it seems like the best approach would be to find the order to go to the switches to, then keep him trapped even after he breaks the toy, then move onto the next switch.
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BattlezM
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Post by BattlezM on Jul 6, 2015 15:28:19 GMT -8
My Springz is staying close to the Crumbling Bridge, and the Gauntletz - at the beginning. My Springz Grunt cannot pick up the Shovel, other way he can't go across the Bridge on the west from the Crumbling one. I need to move Gauntletz across the Holez, but how to do it, if I can,t get the Shovel? BattlezM, try to solve my problem by another way. Let someone make the walkthrough, or describe me how can you solve this puzzle in which I am for now. Also, I note that it's unable to move the Shield Gruntz to their Switchez. Ah yes sorry, I had taken a look at your post, and attempted a 'view map' option, but the link was broken at the time. I must've forgotten afterward. Anyway though, why would springs not be able to pick up the shovel? Do you really need the springs at all? You will have to entice the shield grunt onto those BHSs, lest he traps you on the BHSs himself. Keep in mind that a grunt on a mobile toy will be also remain trapped while they break it, giving you ample time to move to other BHS and advance a grunt along. Given the toob, it would appear you don't have to worry about the return trip. EDIT: Also I fixed the link for the 'preview map', it wasn't an error in the path, rather there was an extra href (so it read href="href=... which creates a broken link)
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BattlezM
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Post by BattlezM on Jul 5, 2015 14:34:48 GMT -8
I managed to complete the level to a perfect! I actually found the boomerang grunt the most frustrating part of the level, though I solved the puzzle faster when I push the pink gruntz onto switches first. Otherwise everyone just kept getting murdered... I bumbled my way through the BP 'maze', lowering as many BPs as I could see possible, then just made a few observations for where I could get through while hitting more switches...I was left over with about 6 or so BOTS unpressed. An interesting level overall, though do keep the BOTSs and BPs closer to each other next time.
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BattlezM
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Post by BattlezM on Jun 28, 2015 15:25:22 GMT -8
Did you look over my idea in my first post above?
I wouldn't say it'd take months to redesign, but it certainly won't be a days job.
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BattlezM
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Post by BattlezM on Jun 28, 2015 14:56:47 GMT -8
I'm not sure what happens for you with the shields, but the main problem with them is that they're smart chasers. Since wing gruntz are considered stronger than a shield, by the time wings warps in to the area, he will be completely ignored. The invincibility power-up is completely irrelevant, it's only useful to go reach the red warp trigger in the corner of the spikes. Even without the power-up, you can save health with the remaining wing power to make it there and back anyway.
Now, even in the event that you made them dumb chasers so that they actually attack wings, they're usually recovering stamina, so you'll barely get hit. I made this change and got hit...3 times. This was just with simple walking forward no matter what. The only challenge would be the boots grunt at the end since you're now under attack by the shields at the very end, I don't think that would be possible at all, actually.
I'd just move a horizontal plane further south and make it a puzzle to get a bomb drop on those last 6 shields you get a safe spot to stand on to kill the boots grunt with.
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BattlezM
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Post by BattlezM on Jun 27, 2015 12:30:48 GMT -8
Well, I have at least a idea that could be good while keeping in theme with the level (that being planes dropping 'presents' on gruntz).
Honestly, all those object droppers were the only thing that made the level hard. Remove most of them, and you won't have much left, just some simple "go hit the button" puzzles. Perhaps you're referring to the mega cross of object droppers at the secret, and I'd concur with that.
Here's a fun "did you know": Object droppers deliver their presents on a 7 tile interval. So...this means if you have a grunt on tile 1 trigger the dropper, then a grunt on tile 4 would be safe from having a present dropped on him. This would allow you to hold down a switch safely for a long time, for instance to let a grunt perform a task or such. This makes the task of dealing with lots of droppers more manageable, though I would definitely describe this feature in the description. Also mark out the 'danger' zones with alternate clear tiles.
So you could have a small width level, say at 40 tiles wide, and have 2-3 object droppers scrolling horizontally on a single line. A grunt is put in to distract and protect another grunt that must stay on a switch. A 3rd grunt the performs something the 2nd grunt lets him do, such as navigate through lowered pyramids. Now you've got an interesting puzzle that mixes paying attention to multiple grunts, without having them be super far apart. You can also cascade this idea vertically though the level, making it taller and taller. One section involves pyramids, another involves bridges, perhaps another involves killing enemies and then swapping grunts out to suck up the goo, etc.
I'd say something like 3-4 sub puzzles of this sort would be enough to fill out a 40x60 level.
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BattlezM
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Post by BattlezM on Jun 26, 2015 10:37:49 GMT -8
I don't have the level, but the way I'd solve something that 'impossible' looking would be to make a paint image of the area, then do color coded mark up (even using copies of the area i fit gets cluttered) to figure out exactly what each BOTS does. From there it'd be a matter of puzzling out which pieces need to do go in what order.
But still, Gruntz isn't the sort of game with puzzles that are done on paper and pen, especially not if getting to that point requires tons of trial and error to start with.
In the event that PowerfulMind changes the puzzle, I'd recommend figuring out a system to 'hint' in which order to press the switches in, but that'll prove a size increase on the level, as I don't think it'd be possible with such a small area.
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