2015-07-04 - Quarries of Scred - 001

I'm a bit sick at the moment (wooo, post-convention flu/thing), and am not able to really concentrate enough for development. However, I've been throwing around ideas for what I want to add in the next update of Quarries of Scred, and it's always good to get these things down. This is a list I've been adding to and removing from over the last few months based on things people have said to me at cons, steam forums & twitter - as well as a bunch of evil of my own making. I don't really like to take pure suggestions from players - especially if they come from Boulder Dash, etc as I'd much rather have QoS be its own game. Some of them are super easy to implement, others are mostly wishlist type stuff for down the road (and thus, this isn't really a legally binding list, etc). Some of it might get implemented and tossed - such is development.

• Extended Mode - a deeper quarry, perhaps in different configurations rather than the same overmap you've all grown a bit accustomed to.
• Message box to show controls when no other messages present - as I already did with Seas of Scred
• Achievements to not clear unless given an implicit command to do so
• Option to open the manual from within the game
• Reminder on main screen that screenshots can be taken with F12 (steam)
• Gravity inverter required rooms/screens/arrangements
• Landmines
• Earthquakes & Seismic tech - I've been pondering this one since U3, actually
• Extendo-arm tech - Allows player to take gems from adjacent squares without stepping into them
• A gem type that only appears after a stone has fallen X squares
• A gem type that only appears after a stone has X other stones on top of it
• Phase Shift game mode - every 300 moves, every item cycles type (Dirt becomes gems, gems become dirt. Songlasia becomes mushrooms and vice versa, etc)
• Flagging of sprite sheets for specific game modes

As said above - some of these things might turn out to be a bit too much. Extended mode is going to be a significant amount of work, but that's the one I really want to implement the most as I feel it'll reward long term players the most (and long term player satisfaction is my highest priority, really). I'd also like a better way in which to link players of QoS to Seas of Scred in order to perhaps bump sales of the latter.
Oh, and to reiterate - I've tried having the 'stand with a boulder on your head' situation, and I really don't feel its ever going to be a good fit. Whether it's a tech slot or not, I just don't think it works well within the context of QoS