Author Topic: Box and Ball Playertype  (Read 1151 times)

What to make
Just 2 playertypes.  One a box, and one a ball. Pretty much no textures (maybe side brick textures for box).  Obviously you should be able to color them.  I'd say an ideal size for them would be about Standard Player's size, maybe a bit smaller.  If possible, sphere playertype should be able to roll.  Idk if that's possible at all, but it would make it useful. (if rolling isn't possible then it should probably just not be made, as it'd be exactly the same as the box, just with different shape.)

Why
Now that I've explained what to make, I'll explain why.  Because I'm sure a lot of you are thinking "That would be a bunch of useless trash..."

Puzzles... Yes!  Puzzles.  Thats all they are really good for, puzzles.  Obviously playing as a box or ball would be really handicapped, but for puzzles, they are the most useful thing in the world!.  The reason I say playertype instead of vehicle is because of this:  Vehicles suck for puzzles.  The events for vehicles don't work/ are very quirky, stable vehicles (like Weighted Companion Cube, for example) often fall through bricks and do other stupid glitchy things.  Vehicles are glitchy messes, they always seem unable to stand still and chatter around, they fall through bricks and terrain, they have poor collision when you stand on them, and just a bunch of other stuff that makes them impossible to work with for puzzles.

Bots, on the other hand... Have perfect collision when you stand on them, never fall through bricks or terrain, always stay in their place and are VERY easy to event!  Bots have whole packs of events just for them (Amade's bot events) and respond perfectly.  They are still useable with the Gravity Gun and all that.  They are PERFECT for puzzles and challenges!  While you can always use a standard bot, this looks quite silly.  It also doesn't ever click in a players mind that "This bot means something interactive that I should pick up and stand on".  Most people don't think of bots that way.  When they see a player-like bot they usually want it to help them or just assume its for scenery.  But in general, unless you teach them, they aren't going to use it as a prop and stand on it or anything from natural instinct.

Not only that, but they can be easily modified in-game with events!  ex: SetPlayerScale to make the 2 shapes bigger or smaller.  and I'm pretty sure someone made a advanced version of that event so you can set wider and taller parameters too, this way you can make rectangles!

I know for a fact that this is the easiest 2 things in the world to model and script... they are literally the 2 most common geometric shapes ever... Any basic scripter / modeler could make these two things.


TL;DR:  Someone make a Cube and a Ball/sphere playertype.  They are ideal for many puzzles and work better with events/in general than vehicles do.



it's too bad we can't change the actual collision box of playertypes.
i think.

-_-
this post really speaks to me.

the ball wont be rolling if thats what your thinking, plays don't have physics like that so it would basically just be the box again without being box shaped

the ball wont be rolling if thats what your thinking, plays don't have physics like that so it would basically just be the box again without being box shaped
Animations.
Always remember there are animations.

Companion Cube
Ball
You obviously didn't read the OP.  Those are both vehicles... Did you not read me talk about how awful vehicles are for puzzles?  I want playertypes to be used with bots

Learn to read

-_-
Problem?
« Last Edit: April 16, 2011, 06:38:26 PM by Jay the Cartoonist »

Animations.
Always remember there are animations.

animations =/= physics

animations =/= physics
rolling animations is better than nothing, really :P