If we get a new clock, it needs:
1) Referential subtlety (like, the DAA symbol etched into it)
2) Snake timers that block out 29 to 3 and 4 to 8 (etc.) rather than 30 to 4 and 5 to 9. Oh please please please do this. A snake's planned movement for a turn is figured
after the turn changes, not before, which is counterintuitive because it works the opposite way for the player. This means snakes appear to change preference one turn prior to every 5th turn (which is always the most annoying part of charming, to me).
3) Actual vertical and horizontal symbols for the above.
4) Skipper and roach spawn times, and maybe even egg time.
So here's my wild-ass suggestion. I favor an analog clock with multiple hands which count down each event separately. I'll sketch this later (and maybe just go ahead and make it myself), but the idea is, the longest hand has a roach queen symbol on the end of it, and it points to a ring of numbers 0 through 29. The next-longest hand has a skipper on it, and it points to an inner ring of only ten tick marks (every three ticks of the outer ring). The shortest hand has a snake on it which points to the innermost ring which features the same ten tick marks, except that half of the ring is shaded one color and has a horz snake, and the other half is another color and has a vert snake. The snake and skipper hands will always be one turn off so they move together like a V shape.
To make it extra cool (which I won't be able to do by myself), have the inner hands disappear if there are no snakes or skippers, and the outer hand's queen symbol disappear if there are no queens (but the clock still remains a constant feature because there are many other uses for it). Make the half-tick marks appear whenever you are hasted by a speed potion. Maybe even allow a "
custom"
change to the clock, like, a big dot on one of the tick marks to mark when a fuse will blow (set by scripting).
EDIT: That script feature would be particularly useful for efficiency puzzles. There is a series of five floors in my hardest tower in which I would use "
mark a tick"
for each one of them if I could, since they all have arbitrary timers in the form of outside briar influence.
Oh, and one other thing... The optional "
turn counter"
should definitely be a small digital addition to the clock interface! There's no reason to make it an ugly option that floats over the screen like it currently does. It's useful even if you're not an optimizer, and should just be a permanent feature.
As it is now, the only advantage to having the ugly bright yellow numbers which are painful to see over white pits and fog is you can effectively hide secrets from optimizers at (0,0) and (1,0).
____________________________
Trickster
Official Hold ProgressClick here to view the secret text
×Beethro and the Secret Society: Postmastered
Beethro's Teacher: In Progress
Complex Complex: In Progress
Devilishly Dangerous Dungeons of Doom: In Progress
Finding the First Truth: Postmastered
Gunthro and the Epic Blunder: In Progress
Halph Has a Bad Day: Mastered (no door)
Journey to Rooted Hold: Postmastered
King Dugan's Dungeon 2.0: Postmastered
Master Locks: Mastered (no door)
Master Locks Expert: Mastered (no door)
Perfect: In Progress (Perfect 8)
Smitemastery 101: Postmastered
Suit Pursuit: In Progress
Tendry's Tale: Mastered (RPG)
The Choice: Postmastered
The City Beneath: Postmastered
Favorite Unofficial Holds (I need to play more!)
Click here to view the secret text
×A Quiet Place: Mastered (no door)
Advanced Concepts: In Progress
Archipelago: In Progress (Island 12)
Break Out Of Jail: Conquered (86%)
Dr. E. Will's Mega Complex: In Progress
Hold Anonymous: In Progress
Paycheck: Conquered (75%)
The Test of Mind: Mastered (RPG)
Unfriendly Islands: In Progress
Val Unrich: In Progress
war10: Mastered (no door)
war15: Mastered (no door)
war: the truth within: Mastered (no door)
Washed Ashore: Mastered (RPG)
My HoldsClick here to view the secret text
×The Plague Within (RPG) (alpha)
Tinytall Tower (Smitemaster) (beta)
Do Not Disturb Compilation (level contributions) (in review)
Riddle of the Bar (compilation)
[Last edited by Trickster at 07-16-2012 07:48 PM]