[Kde-games-devel] KGoldrunner update

[Ian Wadham]

On Mon, 27 Apr 2009 1:07:45 am Eugene Trounev wrote:
> > KGr has just acquired an animated demo that runs at startup
> > time or whenever you use the Demo action.
>
> Great stuff. I've noticed, and you know it seems I enjoy watching
> Kgoldrunner played more then I enjoy playing it :P
>
Thanks very much, Eugene, and I am glad you are enjoying KGr ... :-)

> A few things I wanted to point your attention to:
> 1) There really has to be an indicator of some sort to show the player
> where is the exit ladder. Some levels are constructed in such a way that
> after you collect all the items nothing changes it seems. Then you have to
> try and deduce which ladder is the right one. Maybe an arrow?
>
Errrm no!  That is sometimes part of the puzzle!   At times there are no
hidden ladders.  Other times, the hidden ladders are a decoy or trap ... ;-)
Most times, though, the ladders that appear are part of the way to success.

A particularly nice (nasty?) example is Curse of the Mummy, level 13,
The Cat.  It looks as if it uses the all-too-common left-to-right progression
to collect the gold and the hidden ladders do indeed appear on the right
and they do appear to reach the top ... except for one little gap ... ;-)

I laughed out loud the first time I played it and got sucked in!  BTW,
Steve Mann, the ingenious guy who invented Count and Curse of the
Mummy, lives and works not far from you, at Waterloo University.

> 2) Somehow it seems like some animation's got broken for my Egyptian theme
> where not all the animation frames are used.
>
Can you be more specific?  The main thing I am aware of is that dug holes
in the Egyptian theme make the figures vanish.  That's a bug, which I will
mop up later.

Another thing is that there is a "safety valve" whereby the animation will
skip frames (and flicker a little) if the action is temporarily not keeping up
with real (wall-clock) time.  This can happen when Qt skips or delays
timer events, which it is apt to do occasionally.

> 3) If I was to start playing the game immediately after demo the level
> would come out blank, as in nothing but a background. The only way around
> it is to disable the demo mode altogether and restart the game.
>
Again, can you be more specific?  It should come up with the level you
were playing last time you played KGoldrunner, with the quick start dialog
box in the foreground.  Works for me ... :-)

> 4) I've noticed you've introduced a stand-still mode for characters, but
> you're currently using a frame from fall animation for that one. how about
> I make a dedicated stand-still frame(s) instead? Just tell me the specs.
>
That is also a bug, to be mopped up later.

All the best, Ian W.