Open Source is Go

[Lotus Wolf]

I'm with you there.

[qubodup]

I hope people will provide instructions on how to create custom, completely original content.

Nobody here is gonna teach you programming. This you have to do on your own if you want to create your own content.

I'm talking about stuff like http://wiki.wolfire.com/index.php/Map_Editing , which I discovered after posting.

[Udi]

A saving/loading mechanism could be implemented to help beginners not to grow desperate. The official campaign has well balanced scenarios, after some tactical guidance it's not that hard to complete it. But some mods are really difficult and saving/loading would make life much more easier. Or at least a restart level button in the menu. Or spikes which are deadly to fall into. Lugaru Temple tries to expand the gameplay with the fatal falls, but since the game lacks these features it is more frustrating than challenging.

The saving/loading could also result in larger scenarios. The engine can handle pretty large terrains, probably more enemies too. I think if the player would be required to cover more ground on foot than on the minimap, then it could help diving more into the world of Lugaru.

Btw, heard about the GPL content replacement project. What's the status of the Lugaru name, story and characters? I guess a completely GPL game has to distinguish itself at least in its name, but what about the ninja rabbit characters? How close could that be to Lugaru? Or even to Overgrowth? Is it ok to add more characters, races which may be inspired by the Overgrowth guest art?

[Noz]

A saving/loading mechanism could be implemented to help beginners not to grow desperate.

It's called puttin' it on easy mode. Or do you mean checkpoints?

[WallyWorld]

Checkpoints wouldn't be terrible on some maps. I honestly stopped playing the Ancestral mod after the level where you drop down a deep hole underground and have to jump from object to object, while only able to stand on certain parts of half of them or fall to your death and start all over from the start...

[Udi]

It's called puttin' it on easy mode.

I honestly stopped playing the Ancestral mod after the level where you drop down a deep hole underground and have to jump from object to object [...]

I've meant the same as WallyWorld, easy mode won't help with falling down. Falling down is a great expansion of the gameplay, but it's annoying when you have to wait the 1 second until your hero touches the ground and then start all over (maybe fight some enemies again and again) just to face the challenge where you died. Since the game is open source now, new gameplay elements could arise which would be new for everyone. But if you have to repeat all the old gameplay elements (fighting) until you reach the new and interesting one, then try again if you fail makes a really boring "trial-and-error" gameplay. But if you could save at critical parts you could enjoy the new challenges more.

Checkpoints could somewhat solve the problem, but again it's not a flexible system, maybe it won't fit everyone. The experienced players may only want to reach checkpoints when trick jumping is required, the begginers may want to save after every wolf kill, and there are probably some hardcore players who want the old style "perfect level or never" gameplay. Open sourcing means wider audience, and wider audience needs flexible solutions. There's a nice article about the punishing trial-and-error gameplay vs. story telling on the Frictional Games blog. The same could apply to Lugaru, if some people miss the ending of the stories just because it's too hard (no matter it's because of wolves or because of the void), that should be improved.

[Eztuzt]

I think you guys should try and improve character/terrain interaction. From the videos I've seen of Overgrowth (I haven't preordered yet) it seems much better than in Lugaru. If you guys could make it that much smoother jump quests, like the underground one on the ancestral tales mod, would be a lot easier and less frustrating. I commonly see my little avatar glide over the rocks and fall to his ragdollish death.

I'm no programmer and I know essentially zilch of any type of coding language, but from what I understand of source codes that should all be possible.