How is the checkpoint/save feature will it be compelling enough?

[Chocos Ramabotti]

Ninja Gaiden is a common comparison, but i'm still unsure after watching footage of that game. Sooooooo many indie games emulate a retro style but most often times their design choices don't differentiate them from typical mainstream titles. One of these desicisons is to placing checkpoints before every hard passage or even allow the players to save the game theirself.

This drains out a lot of tension in my opinion. I like it when the player is forced to face an gauntlet, a set number of obstacles for a longer time after they "eanred" their savepoint. Most retro games back in the days were like this, but what got we now? An entirely new paradigm of plattformers, with challenging obstacles who require a lot of precision but at the same time a checkpoint every screen which takes not longer than 5 seconds.

These games can be fun as well but are they really exciting and challenging? Not for me. Games like Celeste are masterfully crafted but at the same time they try to appeal to an casual audience with to many compromises, but I look exactly to that kind of games who don't care about compromises, where it's the main priority to capture the feeling of the good old retro games like ninja gaiden, where I have to play consistently good for a longer time.

I really don't know if "The Messenger" can be such a game or if it's just another one of this countless "retro-looking" titles who are just typcial modern games without the special difficulty flavour of these old times.

[Gerald]

It's all so good, with each level topping the last, my only real quibble—or Quarble, if you prefer—being with its death penalty system. The Messenger uses a fairly standard checkpoint system, the catch being that death results in you being followed by a little red demon called Quarble, which sucks up your hard-earned gems as you collect them. It's not a particularly steep death penalty, but it is a needling reminder that you made a mistake, as Quarble will taunt you with your death count and other unfortunate statistics while you reload. It's meant to be amusing, but it's mostly irritating, and there doesn't seem to be much point to it save as a mark of shame for speedrunners who screw up. In any case, Quarble doesn't really hurt the overall game, but it could easily be excised without anyone really noticing or caring.

source: https://www.usgamer.net/articles/the-messenger-review-switch

[Carlz0r]

Dang, that reviewer doesn't like Quarble at all lol. He's really not that bad, but the guy that wrote that review seems to take all his little insults and poking-fun very personally. It's meant to be a sassy character who is kind of bored of his job, so he amuses himself by making fun of the player when has to come collect the death penalty. It's not meant to really make you mad.

I'm just glad it doesn't have limited lives and continues like a real oldschool game. I grew up with that, and it was fine back then when we only had 10 games to play on NES.. but it's nice to have a more forgiving system these days, when I have a lot more stuff to do in my life, and a lot more games to get around to playing.

[WildBastion]

The checkpoints are basically perfectly placed.

They are not as stupid as old games using a lives system just to pad game time, (which by the way was done on purpose, and is NOT good game design)

BUT

There is still a large number of groan inducing deaths you will encounter only a screen or two away from the next checkpoint that makes you highly regret your slip up.

The game strikes a nice balance at being fair and frustrating. lol

[Chocos Ramabotti]

WildBastion lähetti viestin:

The checkpoints are basically perfectly placed.

They are not as stupid as old games using a lives system just to pad game time, (which by the way was done on purpose, and is NOT good game design)

I don't think that it is bad game design, as long as the lives aren't for the whole game and more for one level. This could be fitting to this game as well 3-4 lives for every level where you restart on a checkpoint when you die. After wasting up all lives you have to play the level at the beginning. That's a better balance in my opinion so you have to play more constantly good and lives are your ressource where you have to watch out for it could make death more meaningful and it builds up more tension.
Also you can hide additional lives in the levels for a sense of reward.

But yeah the punishment in this game is ok, could be a lot worse, like in celeste where every screen is a checkpoint.

[his1roguenation]

Chocos Ramabotti lähetti viestin:

But yeah the punishment in this game is ok, could be a lot worse, like in celeste where every screen is a checkpoint.

checkleste