pjasicek
commented
7 years ago Thanks for this post !
In general, I agree with you 100%. At first, it should be as close a replica as the original game. Then, after replicating game mechanics, there should be a room for optional mods.
There are also some pitfalls - some game mechanics are not that trivial to implement / replicate, since the original engine design did not take them into account (good example is that Claw should wave his hands in front of him on the platform's edge instead of slowly sliding from the platform - even though this seems like a trivial mechanic, it is not with the current physics component which is glued together).
There are also some logics (e.h. rats operating cannons in level 2 in original game or currently dumb bosses) which are much easier for me to prototype as placeholders and focus on the bigger picture - delivering more levels. They can always be replaced later.
If some people will want to work on the project alongside with me, then its really great ! But it would in essence require me to focus a couple of weeks / months of refactoring to make key places of code more understandable (I invested quite a lot of time into refactoring already though but certain places are still a mess) and make some sort of wiki tutorial of how the engine is structured and how to possibly add new features.
I have decided to post this after reading https://github.com/pjasicek/CaptainClaw/issues/66 Where you question whether the catnip should give the speed boost by default. But this is the whole point of the catnip! :P The music changes, your heart beats faster, and you rush to get all this previously inaccessible treasure and kill all the enemies standing in your way (because you become more powerful as well). It's a very pleasant experience, and things like "Claw moving faster by default" should be optional, and not the other way round, at least in my humble opinion.
I truly believe it should be possible to recreate Claw mechanics 100%, and I think it's a good ultimate goal for this project. The community will help you work out even the tiniest elements of the original game's logic -- you can be sure of that. I'm not against implementing really weird stuff, like for instance, an eye laser :) (if it would work well and be optional), but I think recreation projects are appreciated the most if they focus on implementing the game as faithfully as it is only possible and adding subtle improvements and features that even the original developers wouldn't be against in theory.
Check out the examples of such philosophy:
OpenXcom -- user comment: "...openxcom makes the original look like a beta version of itself"
A remaster with no old code: Crash Bandicoot was rebuilt nearly from scratch
HoMM III: Horn of the Abyss -- (un)official expansion, "HotA is a global add-on for Heroes of might and magic III that extends (and fixes if needed) classical gameplay elements and adds some of its own. On a more conceptual level – HotA is an attempt to continue legendary series RoE-AB-SoD as close to the original as it could have been done by NWC team, if only they had more desire, resources or even understanding of their own game. We try to keep classical h3 spirit in every tiny detail from code nuances to overall gameplay. Be welcome to check if we’ve succeeded"
Of course, you're the boss here and the final word belongs to you...
Keep up good work!