Design Document: Play With Fire

(Page 4/5)
PreviousNext
Article Start

5.       Audio

5.1.        Table of Sound Effects

6.       Templates

6.1.        Overview

This section provides advice to field designers for Fireball. Note that field designers are encouraged to go beyond the templates described here. The templates define how one should start thinking about the fields, but the actual fields can be built any way the field designer chooses.

6.2.        Stages

In order to ensure the player has time to learn how the game works without recourse to an explicit tutorial, there is a strict order to the stages of the game. The following table provides a summary:

6.3.        Fuses

An important concept in Fireball field design is that of fuses. A fuse is a set of objects which are designed to be automatically ignited by the player, thus causing remote effects. Fuses can be used to:

·          Create easy Chains

·          Set fire to distant points in the landscape

·          Give the player a time limit – i.e. a fuse may set fire to a bridge, which the player must then cross before it burns out.

A fuse which begins with Leaf blocks will always be lit by the player. (The field may begin with the player on such a fuse). Other types of fuses may require the player to become hotter before they can be lit.

6.4.        Fields

6.4.1       Field Types

The following are the broad different types of field:

·          Burn It Down: fields in which the goal is high above the player, supported by a framework of objects which can be burned down. The player’s goal, therefore, is to burn down the framework in order to reach the goal.

This style of field is likely to be Easy, with a few of Mid difficulty.

·          Sprint: fields in which the goal is at the end of an “assault course”. The player naturally gets hotter as progressing, and so damages the terrain that will get them to the goal.

This style of field is likely to be Hard, except when there are no fuses, when it might become Easy.

·          Hunt: fields in which the goal is hidden by some means, and the player must find it.

This style of field is likely to be Easy, as the player will eventually succeed.

·          Maze: fields in which the goal can be seen, but a maze of some kind blocks progress.

This style of field is likely to be Easy, unless fuses are used to create time limitations in which case it could become Hard.

6.4.2       Field Filenames

The following filename format is used for fields:

XXXXXXXXXX.XX.XXXX.fsf

The first ten characters are an informal description of the level.

The next two characters represent the Stage (see below).

The next four characters represent the difficulty, either:

·          Easy

·          Mid

·          Hard

·          Hell

So an example field filename might be:

Smallhouse.LW.easy.fsf

This allows anyone building field lists to know that the field designer intends this particular field to be easy to complete.

6.5.        Field List Template

Each field list can follow the following broad pattern in terms of the difficulty of levels included. As ever, however, field designers are encouraged to extemporise!

In the early game:

·          Field 1 = Easy and very simplistic

·          Field 2 = Easy

·          Field 3 = Mid with a trick that makes it Easy

·          Field 4 = Easy

·          Field 5 = Mid

·          Field 6 = Easy and rewarding

This pattern is designed to contain a range of different difficulties, arranged so that the feel of the field list is that of a ‘journey’.

In the later game:

·          Field 1 = Mid

·          Field 2 = Easy

·          Field 3 = Hard with a trick that makes it Easy

·          Field 4 = Mid

·          Field 5 = Hard

·          Field 6 = Easy and rewarding

Try not to make the last field of a field list be Hard, unless it has a trick that makes it Easy.

Fields in the Challenge path may be harder than this pattern suggests, while fields in the Fun path should all be Easy.

(Page 4/5)
PreviousNext
Article Start

join | contact us | advertise | write | my profile
news | features | companies | jobs | resumes | education | product guide | projects | store



Copyright © 2006 CMP Media LLC

privacy policy | terms of service