Spelunky - Unlimited

[marsgreekgod]

I need to add evil death to the later levels of this game.

[hyperme]

Since you guys want suggestions, how about this:

Instead of shopkeepers spawning at extis, Mercenaries/Bounty Hunters appear.  They have better weapons and health the higheer your crime level is, and carry no gold. Examples:  With 1 'wantedness' one guy with a Machete appears.  At 20, a group of guys with guns, bombs and throwing arms show up.

[marsgreekgod]

Since you guys want suggestions, how about this:

Instead of shopkeepers spawning at extis, Mercenaries/Bounty Hunters appear.  They have better weapons and health the higheer your crime level is, and carry no gold. Examples:  With 1 'wantedness' one guy with a Machete appears.  At 20, a group of guys with guns, bombs and throwing arms show up.

Not sure what throwing arms are, but I like this idea, at least with some balance and what not.

[Audioworm]

By "arms" he means "weapons," I think. So throwing arms = throwing weapons.

[marsgreekgod]

By "arms" he means "weapons," I think. So throwing arms = throwing weapons.

I see. Thats what I thought but it didn't quite make sense.

[DungeonPheonix]

I've forgotten how versatile the cape and gloves combo can be.

A couple things I've noticed: level areas, such as ice or temple, have a tendency to "bunch up" as in there's a pretty good chance the next level will be from the same area as the one you're in. It's still pretty random, but there have quite a few times where I'll be on an ice "streak."

Shops eventually stop appearing outside of the Black Market on every tenth level.

Pieces of the environment necessary to reach the City of Gold also stop appearing after a while, though the locked chest and key for the Udjat Eye may still appear if you don't have it. I haven't kept track, but this seems to happen after passing the number of levels in vanilla Spelunky.

I've encountered all of the level variations, like Restless Dead, Prayers to Kali, and such, except for Rushing Water. I've encountered Wet Fur an order of magnitude more often than the rest. Dark levels can occur but are thankfully rare.

[Audioworm]

This mod freakin' rules, but a black market every 10 levels makes it a little hard to make it to the first black market - I only got their once. Maybe every 5 levels?

[Sudonimus]

I had a shotgun and toggled to C4. I switched on the C4, but my shotgun was gone.

Either way I destroyed the spike trap I meant to and dumped the cultist into the lava pit, but I was still upset.

[DungeonPheonix]

Black Market every five levels would make things too easy without introducing new threats to the levels. Even every ten levels it's a mite easy if the first one gives a good loadout.

Keep in mind it might just be bad luck keeping you down; getting hit by a slew of ice and temple levels early can be taxing on your resources, but it also gives you a chance to get a scepter which makes cleaning out the Market a breeze.

On another note, the way item prices scale makes it more "economic" to be a marauding thief after passing the 50+ mark. Having the shopkeepers after you also means you'll get a shotgun every level so long as you can take it from them.

[Swanson]

Really appreciate the suggestions guys. I've been working hard on it this weekend and I'm happy with what's happened so far.

Some of the bugs seen so far I was aware of and have fixed in the next version.

Sorry about your shotgun Sudonimus. That was really one of my top priorities on this last release. I've worked it out... It might through you guys for a loop though. the mechanic on how to achieve what I've done is a little awkward.

Doolin and I have discussed the spacing of the Black Market before and we thought that maybe down the road we would either have different modes (i.e. easier, harder) in which the spacing is different. I've also thought of spacing it out farther each time you visit, for example, the first one would appear at the 5th level, then the 15th level, then maybe 30th level, etc. The boss levels would also be a part of the ease of the game as well.
the original probabilities of the bosses are as such:
probDarkLevel = 12;
probSnakePit = 8;   
probCemetary = 10;
probLake = 10;     
probYetiLair = 6;   
probAlien = 10;     
probSacPit = 8;     
I could make them dependent on the current level to increase their probability the farther you go. I noticed you had my lucky ring on in your pic there, DungeonPheonix. I set it up so that if you don't have the lucky ring you won't get more than 2 dark levels per every 10 levels and you will only get 1 if you have the lucky ring.

that leads me to a new item! Doolin and I both noticed that our intrepid explorer has a mining hat, but the light seems to be on the fritz! so, I've added a lightbulb for our spelunker. It acts just like the Hedjet in that sense, but until I get the City of Gold completely worked out, it may be impossible to get the Hedjet. In trying to keep the other characters in mind, Doolin and I may add new sprites for the damsel and the tunnel man so that they wear a hat and don't just carry around a light bulb!

I've looked into the City of Gold problem and I haven't pin pointed exactly why some things aren't spawning. It's certainly on the to-do list.

Shops have been fixed. I think it was actually set up that no shops would appear after 10 or something in the original game code.

regarding the streaks of level types, that really is random. I could try to implement some code that tries to balance it out though.

I've also worked on the HUD a little. I've removed the extra icons we added to the side and worked them into the original line up - hopefully without bunching them up to much.

I'll try to send Doolin the latest version so he can upload it to his original post.

[grieck]

Another bug, that I so idiotically forgot to report until now.

Not only does switching to C4 destroy your handheld's, but on my last 2 playthroughs whenever I'd exit a level whatever was in my hand vanished upon next level's loading. Not to mention the fact that those 2 plays were ended not by death, but by the game closing itself (it gave the same error it does if you use the ENTER debug quite a few times...which happens even if you pick up all the items first) but for no apparent reason, unlike the obvious reason for the 'ENTER' closing I mentioned.

Perhaps just becuase I'm using the debugged version? (regardless of if I actually hit the key?)

[hyperme]

What I meant by 'throwing arms' was the ability to grab and throw the Spelunker, like Yetis.
Also, it would be nice if there was a higher varity of boss monsters and level feelings, with the stronger bosses only appearing deeper down.

And Skeleton Jaws for Restless Dead + Rushing Water.

[Doolin]

Updated!

Next on the list...

New enemies
'Perks'

[Doolin]

We've got an idea on how to award perks.

Basing them just on level doesn't reward players that take risks and makes it difficult to determine when a player should get a perk.

We're going to try the idea of xp or kill counter to allow players that take the risks of killing more monsters to gain more perks.

We'd love some suggestions for perks!

[Audioworm]

Since you asked...
Toughness: Being thrown by a Yeti does no damage.
Negotiator: Get discounts on goods in shops.
Stealth: You can get closer to enemies without alerting them.
Acrobat: You jump higher.
Athlete: You run faster.