2.00 A little topic for Icho's thoughts and suggestions about the big 2.00 update

[IchoTolot]

After thinking quite a bit about the upcomming changes and especially about the "core player with level packs included" method I came to the conclusion:

I would prefer this player method, but I would like to suggest it in the following way:

- Level packs will be simply dropped into the main folder
- A button in the menu lets you choose out of the main folder which pack should become the  active one
- It would be nice if after choosing which pack should be active the main logo in the main menu will be also loaded along the rating signs, which will be needed at least.

The dedicted thread to this was already closed and I remembered that this was the overall preferred method, so I made a new topic to post my little afterthoughts about it and why not make this topic about my (and maybe others aswell) overall opinions of 2.00 


Overall the other 2.00 changes sound well...... Better skill icons, customisable hotkeys, higher resolution, no physic changes which screw over your levels    and an editor which includes the graphic set tool, LemMain and the Flexi tool kit (as far as I understood everything. I must admit I did not follow every post in the last time due to my little level creating frenzy)

One more thing which could make more space in the main ingame screen: The little things drawn left and right the minimap. They could be thrown out for possibly 2 additional skills.

[namida]

- Level packs will be simply dropped into the main folder

My current thoughts are very much along these lines, if perhaps not *exactly* this. I'll discuss it in more depth when development is closer to that point.

- A button in the menu lets you choose out of the main folder which pack should become the  active one

From what I could gather from feedback, people would prefer to have the main menu contain all packs with a WinLemm / Lemmini / Cheapo style level selection, rather than having an 'active' pack as such. I'll ask for more input on this, again, once it's closer to implementation.

- It would be nice if after choosing which pack should be active the main logo in the main menu will be also loaded along the rating signs, which will be needed at least.

Depending on how exactly level selection is handled, rating signs might not be a thing anymore. We'll see.

no physic changes which screw over your levels

You might've noticed these got less and less common over time. Generally, physics changes only happen anymore if either (a) there's a new gimmick, in which case the changes only apply to that gimmick, or (b) to fix glitches. While I'm not yet 100% sure if I'll rewrite the actual gameplay code or just modify the existing code to interface with the new menus (and display the higher-resolution graphics), I don't intend to make any physics changes (except fixes to bugs discovered between now and then) between V1.35n-D and V2.00n.

There won't be any physics differences corresponding to the higher resolution, I can promise that. Even when the game displays in a higher resolution, the internal physics will still be based off the same resolution they are now. Going beyond this would present too much risk of breaking levels, or (if two different resolutions were supported for implementing the physics) even having situations where a given level could only be solved under a specific resolution. Basically; NeoLemmix V2.00n will have consistent physics regardless of the user's display settings; unlike (for example) WinLemm.

One more thing which could make more space in the main ingame screen: The little things drawn left and right the minimap. They could be thrown out for possibly 2 additional skills.

Since there doesn't seem to be too much interest in customizing the skill panel as a whole, I'm considering using this area to allow a few (user-selected) buttons that correspond to functions that are currently hotkey-only, eg. restart level, save replay, etc. There's a topic for the skill panel, though not much has been said there so far. No urgent rush though - at the moment, I haven't even begun to code the skill panel, all I've done is made some graphics for it.

Now that I think about it, Pause and Nuke could probably also be among these optional user-choice buttons (albiet both included in the default layout).

[IchoTolot]

Ok sounds also good. The Lemmini way of handling packs is also a very good way of handling the situation. This would also make LemMain a thing of the past and one less tool that needs to be used.

[namida]

Ok sounds also good. The Lemmini way of handling packs is also a very good way of handling the situation. This would also make LemMain a thing of the past and one less tool that needs to be used.

It'd still be possible to have custom graphics for whatever reason (eg. you might want a custom background like Doomsday Lemmings has, or a modified version of the skillbar and/or sprites like the Christmas-themed games have). But using these would be a lot simpler. Support for a custom logo for the pack will be retained.