Topic

Commentary: Two misfeatures

This isn't so much ideas as observations of misdesigned ones.

First of all, the big'un triple jump.  This is ill-conceived.  It looks good on the upgrade card, but I actually wish I hadn't taken it — because its complete unpredictability makes it literally worse than useless.  You can't plan to use it, because you can't trigger it on command.  And when it does trigger, because it triggers at random, nineteen times out of twenty it'll screw up what you were actually aiming for.  About the most you can hope for on average is that it'll be harmless when it triggers.  Either make it consistent in some way, so that you can plan it and it's actually useful, or get rid of it.  Right now, it's not an upgrade, it's a random handicap.

And second ... in the name of all that's holy and Giantish, can we PLEASE have separate keys for "climb" and "activate"?  I am heartily sick of accidentally activating signposts when I didn't want to leave the street — either because I fumbled, or because by the time Flash got around to processing the keystroke, I was lined up with a signpost instead of the ladder I'd been aiming for.  I must have lost a dozen Qurazy Quoins that way by now.  I'm not going to rant here, but I have some nasty words for whoever thought it was a good idea to overload those two functions onto the same key.  It's sort of like having a coffeemaker that, if the cat happens to be in the room at the time, shaves the cat instead of making coffee.

Posted 94 days ago by Alaric Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

  • Alaric--I've had something similar happen with the climb/activate overlap. From now on, I'm going to term it 'shaving the cat'. "Dammit! I've shaved the cat three times today. So frustrating!"
    Posted 94 days ago by Voluptua Sneezelips Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I feel the same about the triple-jump.  I thought I was upgrading all my triple-jumps by a little, not some of them by a lot. It makes the triple-jumps hard to use.
    Posted 93 days ago by Lucille Ball Subscriber! | Permalink
  • ...And overnight, it's fixed!  "Up/W also activates" is now a preference option that's off by default.  I banzai-run coined out twice in a row (finished the first run with 90sec to spare) without cat-shaving once.

    THANK YOU TINY SPECK!!!
    Posted 93 days ago by Alaric Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Yep, didn't ever have a chance to comment here before Eric did it (but this post was the final straw :)

    As for triple jump: the last upgrade just increases the magnitude of the jump by about 8% but doesn't change it in any other way (the magnitude is also impacted by your timing and your lateral movement speed).
    Posted 93 days ago by stoot barfield Subscriber! | Permalink