calamarain
Level: Smitemaster

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An obstacle that would lead to some fascinating timing puzzles, and swordless puzzles.

Very very simple idea. Stationary object, cannot be destroyed except by explosion... with n swords attached to it. Every turn it rotates once, clockwise or counterclockwise depending on how it was started.

It's rather customisable. You can have one sword on it, for an obstacle. Two swords, one on either end, to make it dangerous. Four swords on it to make it virtually unpassable. Have it on a corridor, making it one way only. Have it as a thing to kill monsters, when you yourself are swordless. You could even have tokens that reverse the direction of all rotating blades.

This could be done manually using a guard NPC, but it lacks elegance, and could use a slightly different graphic.

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Neathro
Level: Delver

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Put a transparent NPC on briar for a start?

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This is not a signature, it is a
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words. Teaspoon.

Dex Stewart
Level: Smiter
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calamarain wrote:
It's rather customisable. You can have one sword on it, for an obstacle. Two swords, one on either end, to make it dangerous. Four swords on it to make it virtually unpassable. Have it on a corridor, making it one way only. Have it as a thing to kill monsters, when you yourself are swordless. You could even have tokens that reverse the direction of all rotating blades.

Hint: A rotating thingie with 4 swords is completely impassable.

(At least if they're arranged symmetrically that is AND you don't have a speed potion.)

Doom
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...what do briars have to do with this?

Changing character graphics isn't actually that hard to do. This is a pretty easy object to script manually, even with toggling/reversing support (although multiple swords and bomb-vulnerability wouldn't work).

I'm not sure if it'd be interesting enough to be a whole new element: At the moment the uses seem somewhat limited, making scripting seem sufficient to me.

calamarain
Level: Smitemaster

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Doom wrote:
...what do briars have to do with this?

Changing character graphics isn't actually that hard to do. This is a pretty easy object to script manually, even with toggling/reversing support (although multiple swords and bomb-vulnerability wouldn't work).

I'm not sure if it'd be interesting enough to be a whole new element: At the moment the uses seem somewhat limited, making scripting seem sufficient to me.

You may be right. Scripting it isn't too hard. With a new graphic made up for it (perhaps just a recoloured orb), it could be made easily. The only tricky part... can custom tiled creatures have swords?

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Ezlo
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More than one sword? Because I think a spinner with two blades would be neat.

Syntax
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Ezlo wrote:
Because I think a spinner with two blades would be neat.

Prince of Persia style... I like it

Kwakstur
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Four blades (arranged symmetrically) is passable. Well, unless it's surrounded with Ortho Squares.

But even if you can't move diagonally, there's still a way to get by, as long as the blades can be stopped by something uncuttable.

Perhaps you can try to lure Wubbas into them. Or Rock Golems. Neither one can be killed by swords (and, by coincidence, they follow the same, sometimes difficult to control movement scheme, unfortunately giving no easier enemy to use).

This will also create some other interesting ideas in the thought of unjamming it; destroying a crumbly wall that is holding it up, or using a yellow wall to make it start/stop moving.


But you can't script it if it has more than one sword. You can't put two NPCs (one for each sword) in the same square.

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Also known as ExpHP everywhere else.

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[Last edited by Kwakstur at 05-26-2007 02:53 AM]

NiroZ
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Kwakstur wrote:
Four blades (arranged symmetrically) is passable. Well, unless it's surrounded with Ortho Squares.

Proof?

 |
-o-
 |B

\ /
 oB
/ \

Now if Beethro isn't using a speed potion, how does he survive?

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[Last edited by NiroZ at 05-30-2007 03:10 PM]

Kwakstur
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O.|.O
.-O-B
O.|.O

O.|BO
.-O-.
O.|.O

Oh, whoops, I forgot that the thing turns when Beethro moves into it. So,

O\.XO  X=dead Beethro
..O..
O/.\O

So Beethro can't move diagonally into it without getting killed. Or horizontally, for that matter.

Wait, so how did Beethro get into those locations in your diagrams?

Oh, so, in fact, he can't survive one even with a speed potion.
Scratch that. He can't survive one even with a speed potion if there's ortho squares.
Oh, look at that! A speed potion makes my last post valid.

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NiroZ
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It all depends on the move order. My post showed a point where Beethro had moved, but the rotating swords had not.

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[Last edited by NiroZ at 05-30-2007 03:08 PM]

Insane
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File: Deadly Spinners of Death.hold (2.7 KB)
Downloaded 47 times.
License: Public Domain

Kwakstur wrote:
But you can't script it if it has more than one sword. You can't put two NPCs (one for each sword) in the same square.

True, you can't put more than one NPC on the same square, but is this really impossible to script?

-Insane

calamarain
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Insane wrote:

Kwakstur wrote:
But you can't script it if it has more than one sword. You can't put two NPCs (one for each sword) in the same square.

True, you can't put more than one NPC on the same square, but is this really impossible to script?

-Insane

Probably not, but you couldn't do it as a single object. If you want more than one blade, you'd have to do it as several objects, which kill Beethro on touch, and move in a predetermined pattern.

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Insane
Level: Master Delver

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I just used several custom-graphic guards that had a visible sword (flipped around) and an invisible body.
This is very, very, very un-elegant, since holding your sword where the guard's body would be completely blocks the guard from appearing and utterly breaks the rhythm of the swords.
this problem could be solved by simple having the otherwise stationary center-post appear, although only one sword could be fixed that way.

It's very trivial to script, as it involves defining a new loopable appearance pattern for every single sword, but it's definitely possible. If anyone's willing to further look into the scripting of this, my hold is anyone-edit.
Also, speed potions completely mess up the two- and three-sword spinners, while not affecting the four sword spinner at all.

-Insane