hairston@henry.ECE.CMU.EDU (David Hairston) (02/05/91)
[shite@unf7.UUCP (Stephen Hite) writes:] [] I have some suggestions for changes to Diamonds that might make it more [] fun for inept game players like myself to enjoy it more: [] [] 1. Don't make me start a level over if I don't complete it with one [] fuzzy ball. I don't feel like I'm accomplishing anything when [] I get so severely penalized. there's a related problem, IMO, in that you can get (initially) higher scores by just hanging out on level 1 or 2. i'd prefer that you not lose your progress when you die on a given level and that the scoring gets progressively higher with advanced levels. [] 2. I don't like that idea that if I don't get all of light blue balls [] first before touching another paintbrush that I'm dead. doesn't bother me. seems like part of the strategy ... [] 3. You know, you could use those '+' signs to represent something. Why [] don't you have some '-' signs also and then you could figure out some [] way for them to cancel each other out so you don't get blown away just [] for touching a single '+'. Make it a "lifesaver" technique. In this [] way, it's still dangerous but carries some meaning also. again this doesn't really bother me. you simply can't touch some rects. [] 4. You need more icons that represent different attributes. I could see [] my interest level waning if the only different kind of icon to get [] is a key. For example, speed icons, gravity icons, "penetration [] icons" that are good for acting as a "wildcard" color for one hit... that's interesting ... currently things do get somewhat more interesting as you go to higher levels (but my highest score game is not the one where i went to level 9 but the one where i "practiced" on level 2!). [] 5. This game needs more of a personality. Crystal Quest, Dark Castle [] and Solarian ][ have *great* personalities to them. You lost me [] after the opening "oh, yeahhhh..."...I was disappointed when that's [] all you had. Heck, you could even associate cute / cool sounds and [] sound modes when icons in (4) are hit. Solarian II has great personality. Crystal Quest is too busy for my tastes. Diamonds has its own easy-going personality which i like but some of the things you suggested in 4 could be okay, also. [] I don't have 6.0.7 installed but I'm sure that won't change my mind [] about (5). This game has great possibilities. The programmer(s) of [] this game are very talented...you just need a personality, though. its hard to account for personality ... i've only played Diamonds with 6.0.7 and the sound stuff is okay. the apple-balls backdrop sometimes gets in the way, i want to try a solid background to see if that helps/hurts. My one big complaint is that i've had the game freeze-up twice. At first i thought it was a bad interaction with Finder Sounds cdev but the second time Finder Sounds was disabled. If it happens again i'll be waiting with debugger ready! [] You could make much of what I've suggested configurable items. Right now, [] I feel Diamonds is a cool looking shareware game. However, it could be [] up there with Solarian ][ in enjoyment level with the right mods. the only reason i don't enjoy Diamonds right up there with Solarian is the freeze-ups mentioned above. they're different type games, to be enjoyed differently, IMO. -dave- hairston@henry.ece.cmu.edu
kanderso@liege.ics.uci.edu (Ken Anderson) (02/05/91)
My only thing to add to the Diamonds discussion are the following two comments.... 1. I like the game, the sounds and grahphics are great. 2. I don't enjoy the fact that if I die, I have to do the entire level over. I have quit the game several times because of frustration at having to attempt to do the level over, because of one stupid mistake!!! Ken Anderson -- Ken Anderson | "I'd much rather live in perfection, U.C. Irvine | than deal with reality." -- Kenbod
sburke@jarthur.Claremont.EDU (Scott Burke) (02/05/91)
HI.
A couple more comments on Diamonds:
1. Overall, it's just too EASY. I don't think this is the fault of the game
itself; rather that the distributed levels were too simple. Witness
Leprechaun.
2. I agree with previous posters that more icons are needed, such as Speed
bricks, Gravity bricks, Split bricks (would this work? -- multiple balls)
Rainbow bricks (cycle the colors of the existing color bricks), and
maybe even an Axis brick (which changes from UP/DOWN to LEFT/RIGHT
movement of the ball).
3. VARY THE MUSIC! At least give us different themes for each level.
4. Fix the unstandard Practive Level Select interface; make the buttons
UP and DOWN work on the arrows, and make the return key select start.
Don't violate standard Mac interface just because it looks cool; the
current behavior is annoying. Actually, the looks are ok.
5. I LIKE the 'Ha ha, start over' aspect of the game. DON'T change that.
Scott.
sburke@jarthur.claremont.edutesst4@unix.cis.pitt.edu (Tobish E Smith) (02/05/91)
I've had Diamonds freeze up, too, in the same way that Dave described a few letters back - i.e. everything stops, but the "Nobody" music keeps on playing. I'm obviously using 6.0.7, and I'm on a straight Mac II with 8 Meg of RAM. Assuming that it was one of my twentysome inits causing the problem, I tried playing from a plain vanilla 6.0.7 startup floppy. Boom. It's strange. I've played (and crashed) with/without all my inits, with and without multifinder. It freezes infrequently enough that I still play, and I know how to rescue it before it dies completely now. While playing, the ball noises (such as when hitting a wall, etc.) will die out a few minutes before the game freezes. If you simply quit when the ball noises crap the bed, you can save yourself a reboot. Tob
leo@duttnph.tudelft.nl (Leo Breebaart) (02/05/91)
I have also spend an evening or two trying out the 'Diamonds' game, and if Stephen Hite only just beat me to posting a list of suggestions and improvements. shite@unf7.UUCP (Stephen Hite) writes: > 1. Don't make me start a level over if I don't complete it with one > fuzzy ball. I don't feel like I'm accomplishing anything when > I get so severely penalized. Yes, this is the biggest problem with the game. It is ridiculous to demand of the player that he has to start all over if he does not clear each level in just one pass. > 2. I don't like that idea that if I don't get all of light blue balls > first before touching another paintbrush that I'm dead. No, here I disagree: the matching ball/brick color combination is one of the cutest ideas in the game, and the requirement to hit all the blue ones first adds a reasonable difficulty to the game. > 3. You know, you could use those '+' signs to represent something. Why > don't you have some '-' signs also and then you could figure out some > way for them to cancel each other out so you don't get blown away just > for touching a single '+'. Make it a "lifesaver" technique. In this > way, it's still dangerous but carries some meaning also. Not particularly necessary in my opinion. Besides, they are not '+' signs, but death-crosses (I think)! > 4. You need more icons that represent different attributes. I could see > my interest level waning if the only different kind of icon to get > is a key. For example, speed icons, gravity icons, "penetration > icons" that are good for acting as a "wildcard" color for one hit, etc. Total agreement. There is of course the arrow brick which interchanges the left-right arrow keys if you hit it, and that is one mean muther! But in the same vain *lots* of interesting things could be added, possibly in connection with special attribute bricks: having the ball go left-right instead of up-down, speed-up/slow-down, death-brick protection, multiple balls (don't ask!), hit-everything balls, extra-life bricks, etc. You have to watch out for the danger of kitchen-sinking the game into an unplayable mess of different balls, bricks and colors, but it certainly needs *some* added spice. Some small other things I noticed: 1) You can't enter a training level number from the keyboard, and you can't use the up/down arrow keys either: you *have* to click the on-screen arrows instead. 2) If you set the music off, it doesn't *stay* off, but keeps re-appearing every new game within a session; this is extremely irritating. 3) Talking about the music: the simultaneous sound effects are terrific, but five seconds of an old disco song infinitely looped is not my idea of soothing background music: after the first two games you never ever ever want to hear that stupid music again (which is why 2) is so annoying!). Suggestion: have the disco-loop played during the showing of the high-scores, or during the opening screen, and just use some good sounds for the actual playing. 4) Having the background picture change with the level would also be a nice way to enhance the game. I am aware that adding music and pictures would increase the size of the game dramatically, but I personally would not mind: I have space enough on my hard disk, and downloading costs me nothing... Having said all this, does anybody know if the author is on the net, or are we just talking to ourselves? Peace, -- Leo Breebaart (leo @ duttnph.tudelft.nl)
kempkec@mist.CS.ORST.EDU (Christopher Kempke) (02/05/91)
One more _big_ thing: In addition to the (A)bort game key, give us a way to abort a single ball (i.e. lose a life and start over on a particulat level.). There are places where if you bump a paintbrush before removing all the blue blocks, you CANNOT DIE! There's no way to get through the "now permenant" light blue blocks to a Cross block. I'll also agree that not having a light blue paintbrush detracts from the game (for me). I'm having the lockup problem as well; in fact that's why I ditched it. I'll be looking for a new version! --Chris
cmr45797@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Charles Mark Remes) (02/06/91)
Where might I be able to get a working copy of Diamonds? I've grabbed it off of sumex a few times, but both parts are corrupted. Always the same errors too. I'd like to try this game out, but I haven't been having much luck. Could someone maybe *mail* it to me? -- _____________________________________________________________________ * Chuck Remes * "When Duty whispers 'You must,' * * cmr45797@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu * Youth replies, 'I can.'" * * Fighting IIlini! * ... Sean Connery * * Uh, Go Bears! * in Hithcock's "Marnie" * _____________________________________________________________________
barnett@grymoire.crd.ge.com (Bruce Barnett) (02/09/91)
In article <345@unf7.UUCP> shite@unf7.UUCP (Stephen Hite) writes: > 1. Don't make me start a level over if I don't complete it with one > fuzzy ball. This is the point of the game. You can always practive a level until you can go through it in one pass. Once you can go up three levels with one ball, it only makes sense to start at the beginning og the last level you are on. Besides - some levels cannot be solved if some of the bricks are missing. If you started when you left off, you would not be able to complete the level. > 2. I don't like that idea that if I don't get all of light blue balls > first before touching another paintbrush that I'm dead. That's the point of the game. If you can't master the light blue bricks, you won't be able to solve the tougher patterns. Diamond is great because of the strategy you need to solve each pattern. It's like Pheta, but real time. I think there should be music options also. Maybe a different tune for each level. The only problem I found was the difficulty of the levels seemed varied. Level 10 is easy, but level nine is real tough. I think I have it figured out, now. Well, when I send in my shareware fee this weekend, I'll tell the author about the game. Maybe he can add special types of bricks so we can create our own screens. I'm sure he would appreciate feedback from others along with the $20. -- Bruce G. Barnett barnett@crd.ge.com uunet!crdgw1!barnett
schorsch@oxy.edu (Brent William Schorsch) (02/17/91)
what is this game diamonds? how can I get it? do i need a color mac? -Brent (schorsch@oxy.edu)