The Dink Network

There are save-bots or save functions in nearly every level of Dink's stories. What criteria justifies making saves possible for a game? Or to put it another way...

There is an action-adventure game that has over 300 worlds to solve with more being added constantly to the original game by any gamer that cares to make a world. On each of these individual worlds there are anywhere from 8 levels (the very smallest levels and not many worlds like that) to 20+ levels (the largest grouping and verrry many of these type levels).

Many of you probably know this game or games like it.

The worlds have a mix of easy, medium, and hard problems to solve and monsters to kill. You can't plan a strategy because sometimes the author of a world will let the player sweat and struggle and get almost to the end of a level and then roadblock you because of something you didn't do earlier. Some are just insane.

To get a perfect score, the player must make 100%. That includes finding visible and hidden items, secret levels, etc. High score includes the above requirements and how many monsters can the player kill and how fast can he complete the level.

Each world can take an hour to 3 hours to finish. Average time might be, umm, say an hour and 45 minutes. Just a rough guess.

The maker of this game designed it without any saves available and thinks that saves would defeat the fun and purpose of the game.

Long and short, that is why I ask your opinion.

To Save! Seriously, it just isn't any fun to play a game for over an hour (or even half an hour for that matter) and not be able to save. When you die, you have to start all over again. The first time that might not be too big a problem, but after some takes, it gets VERY repetive and annoying. So yeah, saving is a must for longer games, especially harder ones.

Always save, even in a smaller dmod. In the larger dmods I have saved in several spots as I usually have forgotten to do something, or need to take a break because I am stuck, and have no desire to restart the game (again). The first thing I look for in any dmod is the save bot, sometimes just to know where it is, and other time, to save the game so I can resume playing later.

I should restate something that wasn't clear. The worlds as a whole take quite a while but the levels do not. Levels, on average, run anywhere from 8 to 12 minutes long (rough guess again) and once you complete a level, you don't have to replay it unless you're shooting for higher scores. You then go on to the next level. Your game always starts up at the point you quit unless you quit in the middle of a level. In that case when you come back to your game you must start the level over and go on. Again, you cannot save within a level. So there are automatic saves after each completed level.

Quite often the player has to replay a level at a minimum of 2 tries per level just to learn the ins and outs and get through it. It's the almost impossible-to-win-through levels that cost a lot of time and a lot of tense tries that irks me. But then that's why I ask for your opinions.

Ah, dmod-wise, you're talking Eternal Suicide style? Well, that's ok really, better, even, what's the point of placing savebots in areas that are that short, it would ruin the challenge. Definitly no save.

Christiaan said..

it just isn't any fun to play a game for over an hour (or even half an hour for that matter) and not be able to save. When you die, you have to start all over again.

Yes that is where the frustration can come in.
Quite a few levels can last 20 min. or more and just as you think you might make it, you die. You start over...you die...repeat....deja vue....etc....again.

By then your frustration level is out the roof. You've spent well over an hour on one level! Time spent on the level is determined by the time spent before you died each time.


And then you have short little levels you skim through in 2 min. or less.

So it's kinda a catch-22 thing.

I think each gamer that includes his created world to the original worlds should have a hardness limit and a 'time of completion' on each level. Plus a couple other things such as limited number of secret areas and blah blah.

But then the owner of the original world would be checking the added games every minute instead of tending to his business. It would be as if Seth had to stay on top of every dmod that was added.

So ARGGG. Some of those levels are killers. Guess it's to live with. I can't think of any alternatives. It's really a super game so the show goes on.

What game is this?

I like to consider myself an advid gamer. (I have been playing video games since I was 3.) Playing games without saving is actually something I challange myself with sometimes. The only problem I would have with it would be...

A. If I have to go.
B. The power goes out.
C. Sometimes Dink shuts off automatically on my Pc.

So other than that, no saves is fun an challanging. You could even make really hard addon's and have it to where it saves the game progress and in a seperate file it save highscores so players can upload that file and compare the high scores. Just have the top 50 or something and any other submissions can be deleted so it doesn't take up the sites space.

Hmm... what about a save and quit bot that saves progress and quits game and cancels when you get back in?

Like a rougelike? But those are prone to saveskumming, a practice heavily not condoned, but heavily practiced anyway.

Redink1's right...what game is this?

Seriously save's should be done through a game help menu anywhere or often at the beginning and end of area's.

Sincerely,
The Vault Dweller