[quakis]

I've been curious for a long time about extending the potential uses of the difficulty level selection outside a simple enemy count change and to have it apply various changes into the level itself. Certain challenges could be made easier or harder by modifying the environment itself. Replay value could be added by how different a scenario can play out. There's even the possibility having three maps built into one. The changes can be minor or have a massive impact. It's simply down to a mapper's own creativity as to what happens, should they decide to incorporate this mechanic into their levels.

Entirely based entirely around which difficulty has been chosen.

I've included an example map attached to this post showing off some basic tests/ideas I had in mind. The contraption on map start does the magic. Turn around and explore the four rooms, checking both Let's Rock and Come Get Some difficulties to see the differences.

I would note however that I haven't been the most up-to-date on all releases over the years and may be a little out of touch, so am uncertain if this hasn't already been discovered and utilised before. It was too fascinating of a concept to pass up experimenting with and wanted to share the results. I'd love to know of any releases that have or will apply this mechanic. Secondly, there may be further improvements to fine tune the setup depicted here.

The general mechanic works as follows:

• On map start while playing on Let's Rock or lower; a shrink-ray shooter will activate a target sprite before a door blocks it's path
  
• This target sprite activates various environmental/gameplay contraptions to make the level easier
  
• On map start while playing on Come Get Some or higher; an enemy blocks this shrink-ray projectile and a door closes before the second shot can be fired off.
  
• This target will never be activated on CGS (or whichever difficult the enemy has been set to)
  
• The enemy can later be teleported somewhere during gameplay via a switch/touchplate so all enemies can be killed.

Few examples what can change in a level based on difficulty, also included in the attached map below:

• How much cover during a fight is available
  
• Whether or not a room has tripwire traps
  
• Specific location of a key card
  
• Alternative paths through a level

Notes:

• Several shooter > target setups can be created to perform different tasks based on difficulties ranging from Piece of Cake up to Damn Im Good if desired. I kept things simple for demonstration purposes.
  
• To setup properly, always think backwards. The target sprite will activate things for the difficulties lower than what the enemy is set to. For example from the attached map: cover from enemy fire is added to POC/LR difficulties.

Attached File(s)

•  _dflv_alternatives.zip (7.41K)
  Number of downloads: 249

[Mister Sinister]

Off the top of my head I think Submachine uses a mechanic like that.
Pretty cool to see people looking into this type of stuff, it can do wonders for the game if properly applied. Some time ago I had an idea for an episode based around a similar concept, though I never got around making it.

[High Treason]

Used a similar mechanism in Dimension Shift to remove clues from a map screen thing.

Starting to question the viability of using eggs instead of liztroops and just 'kicking them to death' rapidly with some additional shooters once the mechanism has done its job. The liztroops simply got seenine'd in the existing mechanism.


In any case, nice example map. Now I can just link this if anyone asks how to do it. Might have a go at the egg idea, though, so will post that here if it works.

[Aleks]

Yeah, I used similar mechanics in Submachine, mostly for difficulty settings based respawns (also there's nukebutton instead of boss on Piece of Cake). I've been also incorporating that into Back in Business for a re-release, also added possibility to switch certain enemies for others on PoC (e.g. a tank on PoC and Battlelord on higher skills).

I've used a mechanic with tripmine shooter that would blow an enemy if it's present and activate a target with explosion - it's pretty clean and not too resource hungry. I've also put a small tutorial within the "secret" bonus content unlockable in Submachine (maybe it's about a time to make it public without finding the secret?).

[quakis]

Mister Sinister, on 26 June 2021 - 07:49 AM, said:

Off the top of my head I think Submachine uses a mechanic like that.

High Treason, on 26 June 2021 - 08:58 AM, said:

Used a similar mechanism in Dimension Shift to remove clues from a map screen thing.

Neat! Two maps I haven't gotten around to yet, but nice to hear the expermentation at play. Had a hunch High Treason might have already done something similar at some point, since it's who I picked up the general shrinker-shooter mechanics in the first place.

Just thought the whole concept was too good to not showcase for those who may not be aware of it, I'm primarily inspired by how difficulty settings work in the Thief games. Higher difficulties adds more objectives, and even accessible areas. In the OG game, "Down in the Bonehoard" really shows this off since those extra objectives are tied to those areas. I also remember a fan mission, "The Inverted Manse" changed starting location too - could be a neat thing to figure out for Duke as well.

[jimbob]

i really like this idea sounds easy enough to implement

[Paul B]

quakis, on 26 June 2021 - 09:38 AM, said:

Neat! Two maps I haven't gotten around to yet, but nice to hear the expermentation at play. Had a hunch High Treason might have already done something similar at some point, since it's who I picked up the general shrinker-shooter mechanics in the first place.

Just thought the whole concept was too good to not showcase for those who may not be aware of it, I'm primarily inspired by how difficulty settings work in the Thief games. Higher difficulties adds more objectives, and even accessible areas. In the OG game, "Down in the Bonehoard" really shows this off since those extra objectives are tied to those areas. I also remember a fan mission, "The Inverted Manse" changed starting location too - could be a neat thing to figure out for Duke as well.

Most of my maps have been using this technique since 2011 when I first made RCPD. Using it to set traps for the player if certain things in the map weren’t happening in the proper order. Such as in Atomic Arena, Duke Hard - Showcase, & more recently The Division.map.

What triggered this way of thinking for me stemmed from E1L2 from the original game. With RCPD it was how can the game difficulty be adjusted to make it more difficult as more Co-op players join the game. Then realizing it’s possible to also reward or penalize the single player for certain actions in the map such as attempting to complete the map too quickly would trigger more enemy traps to slow progression Or the map would adjust difficulty depending on the players actions which might alarm more enemies such as the breaking of glass. Now the rest is history.

Ive always used the technique subtly except in Showcase.map. The idea of arming a map with additional difficulty has always appealed to me. But then providing the player the option through the map to disarm traps without knowing it providing more level replay value and less of a static gameplay experience.