[SUG] Rising Water

[WillLem]

Most NL 1.43 Gimmicks were not great: we can all agree on that.

One that stood out as being quite good though, and is also present in Lemmings Revolutions, is Rising Water:


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I'd like to have a go at re-implementing this in SLX 2.9, most likely exactly as it was in NL 1.43 but obviously making use of the fact that water is now vertically resizable.

Some questions that need answers before I plow ahead with this:

1a) Should the speed at which the water rises be adjustable, or should it always be the same?

1b) If adjustable, by what parameters/amounts?

1c) If adjustable, should all water objects rise at the same speed, or should each individual object have its own speed?

2) Should there be a height limit, or should it keep going until it reaches the top of the level?

3) Any specific suggestions regarding the general implementation of this feature?

[WillLem]

2) Should there be a height limit, or should it keep going until it reaches the top of the level?

I think in old NL it would rise indefinitely. If you really want to add it to your game engine then having a cap on it could be nice. Maybe even make it fluctuate between two heights over time

I agree that a cap is appropriate. If none is provided, then the top of the level is the natural place for it to stop, maybe with some padding for aesthetics.

Fluctuating between two heights is a great idea, any support for this?

[WillLem]

Whether the water object is at the bottom of the level or surrounded by terrains, something like these glitchy looking water on sides will inevitably happen as the water rises.

Being able to set caps on it is probably the easiest way to avoid having that ugliness appear

Agreed; as long as the level designer sets a height cap, the water can stay within those parameters both for the level's design, and for aesthetic purposes.

For Armani's example on the left, it's less clear what to do about this. For the example on the right, however, a height cap would solve the problem. That is, unless the level designer wants to create indefinitely-rising water and have it go beyond the "tank." In that case, I suppose that's up to them; they sacrifice aesthetics in order to achieve what it is they want to achieve with the rising water.

Besides, it's currently already possible to have levels with floating water objects, or to reveal the side of a water object by destroying the surrounding terrain; the hope is that designers will take this into account, particularly if they want good-looking levels.

Alternatively, use a decorative object to give the water object a well defined boundary. It still is floating from a physics point, but it might at least look okay

Yeah, that's a decent enough idea. Bonus points if it's animated, to show that it's an object and not terrain.

Another idea would be to do this:


(Additional water rotated and placed at the sides)

It might look a bit better.

There may even be a way to achieve this programmatically, maintaining the original trigger area so that level designers don't need to add it manually.

Thoughts?

[Strato Incendus]

I see you used my Lemmicks levels as examples. So I guess it's no surprise I support the reintroduction of rising water!

I assume it wouldn't be a "gimmick" this time, but simply a property that can be specified for water objects, much like their width can be specified already?

Keep in mind the rising-water gimmick also affected fire objects - Lemmicks not-so-subtly hints at this with the level title "The heat is rising...".
Will you extend this functionality to fire objects, too?

For water, there is the obvious puzzle use of using it as lifts for swimmers, which is exactly what the marble level "Need a lift" you showcased here requires. It's also close to the application of water in Lemmings Revolution (though in that game, water only fills up gaps which can be walked across by water lemmings, acting more like a bridge than a genuine lift).