More Zany Zane ideas..
A monster that if you get one tile space away from, it picks you/Chip up and throws you/Chip 10 or so tiles away from where you were thrown. You also die if you land on a non-friendly tile (monster, fire w/o boots, etc.)
Instead of instantly dying.. LIFE (Like, 100 life points, and stepping in fire causes you to lose 10 per second, but if you step on normal tiles you still are being burnt for a couple seconds)
Breathe underwater, and you get 2-3 seconds underwater before you lose all life
Checkpoints, die = go back to Checkpoint!
Ability to jump
A main menu??!?!?!? (does ANYONE like this idea?)
A house/base that you can go to as a temp. place to take a break from levels, have coffee, get help from Melinda, or attempt to reach cookies but end up falling and getting flour'd, but this is kinda overrated)
Ability to hit monsters, here are my damage suggestions ---
Tanks cannot be damaged by melee.
Pink balls have 10 health points, 1 lost/hit.
Walkers have 15 health points, 1 lost/hit.
Blobs have 20 health points, 1 lost/hit.
Teeth have 30 health points, 3 lost/hit.
Fireballs cannot be damaged by melee: Chip will lose 10 health points per hit and also lose 5/second for 3 seconds afterwards due to fire damage from the fireball.
Gliders have 24 health points, 1 lost/hit.
New monster.. zombies? This is just an insane idea I thought of XD
Total health points for Tank and Fireball:
Tank: 100, Fireball: 50.
New idea: If you do hit a tank, while it doesn't get damaged, it will aim at you and fire a tank shell, which on impact can lose up to 20 health points. It has a 50% chance of missing and hitting a surrounding tile. Also, if a tile is hit by a tank shell, it turns into a fire tile, which can sometimes be fatal as it can cook the level if that tile was needed.
An X-ray helmet, which allows Chip to see under blocks, boots, and other tiles to see if there are traps, fire, or other hazardous elements.
New tile idea: GLASS! If there is a glass tile that breaks, it will turn into a "black" tile, meaning it is a long pit that if stepped on will cause instant fall damage related death. Watch out!
A very, very rare and special item that can be used to either double or triple the view of Chip's surroundings, so he can see farther and tell if there is a trap on the other end of an ice trail or such. An even rarer version can allow Chip to stand vulnerable to monsters, but allows him to use a camera that can go across the level checking ahead, as the default view only allows a field of four other tiles away from Chip.
Instead of multiple hint tiles always requiring to say the same thing, different hint tiles can say different things. A new possible idea that can relate to this: SIGNS! That can hang on walls! Signs can have more than one byte of text, maybe two. So you can read more! Reading's good for you!
What I think would be really cool for STW... Cutscenes?
As mentioned before, I like the idea of friendly Chip tiles. What about villagers, maybe? Or, come across a village or something, a house shaped out of walls that villagers live in? They look like Chip, but just different colors. And maybe both female and male friendlies? Also, what about friendlies that follow you? Or, puzzles that require 2 players and the villager/friendly/whatever you wanna call it will help you? Maybe for a block puzzle, or it helps you pick up CHIPS! And maybe a machine that allows you to clone 1 other Chip only and it will help you as well? Or, a level like Tom's "MIMIC" except it's not really a race, you and your starting clone always stay symmetrical, unless something is in the way. This sounds fun to me!
(BUT, if a 2 player level exists, and your clone/friendly dies in any way, you don't lose, it either cooks the level or just makes it harder to beat it. Also, if they both survive, both must exit in 2 squares, but if only one is in the square, that's fine too. There should be bonus points for extra Chips in multiple exits, methinks!)
Also, what about levels similar to CC1 #145, where the only way was to use its password by guessing or cracking, but instead of that, pressing an extremely rare button (found once in the entire set) unlocks the 145th level, or a secret 150th level, or something?
IDEA: Powerups & Hazards! Here are my ideas.
Powerups:
x2 Points - Lasts for 30 seconds, doubles all points
Invincibility - Lasts for 15 seconds, invincible to all harmful monsters and tiles
Pathway - Lasts for 30 seconds, shows what to do for 30 seconds after getting it if you're stuck. Not recommended for easy-to-understand levels.
Random Boot - Gives a random boot to the player, whether needed or not.
Vanishing Act - Inspired by Level 80 of CC1, any teeth, blobs, or walkers within a 10 tile distance of any direction from Chip suddenly disappear permanently from the level unless the level is restarted, Chip dies, or the level is beaten, etc.
Disappearing Act - All monsters disappear for 30 seconds from the level, no exceptions.
Vaccuum: Chip can use a vaccuum from 2 tiles away to suck up any chips and bring down the chip count, but this does not work through water, this will break the vaccuum, walls do not work either. This also uses up one of four boot spaces, so all 5 cannot be achieved.
Landmine: Gives Chip a landmine/C4-like bomb that can be used to blow up any monsters that step on it within a 3x3 area of the bomb.
Hazards:
Better Sorry Than Safe: All gravel on the current level disappears for 60 seconds.
x2 Monsters: All monsters clone one monster one tile distance from them, doubling the amount of monsters and making the level significantly harder.
Vulnerability: All monsters are invincible for 15 seconds. Combine this with Better Safe Than Sorry, and.. uhh. You're kinda dead.
Being Watched: A spy suddenly appears somewhere close to Chip's current location, and only on nearby floor tiles. If the spy lands in a required location that a boot must be carried through, the level becomes cooked.
Revenge Act: As the monsters' revenge for Chip getting a Vanishing/Disappearing Act powerup, Chip suddenly disappears for 60 seconds. You can still move him, but you can't see him, and the level view also can sometimes dislocate Chip from the center of the field of view: Normally, when not near a barrier of the level, Chip is always in the middle of the screen, 4 tiles away from the edge of the farthest tile Chip can see, but this hazard can violate this rule, making the level harder for the next minute.
Reverse: Left is right, right is left, up is down, down is up, red is green, green is red, blue is yellow, yellow is blue, purple is pink, pink is purple, black is white, and white is black. Everything has reversed for the next not one, but TWO minutes! Not only do you move the opposite way, all colors have been switched around too! All floor tiles are blackish and greyish! Chip's really in for some chop!
Nuke - A random part of the level turns into a huge blob of fire tiles, a square of 9x9, somewhere in the level. This is extremely dangerous as it can either instantly kill Chip or cook the level. So this usually must be avoided unless there is a big chance of hitting a 9x9 square of walls.
Dyson: The monster equivalent of the Vaccuum - if a required chip is eaten up by this Dyson, the level is cooked. Can only be used by teeth, so watch it.
Also, I do like the idea of
PERKS, that cost points. A lot of points. Here are my perk suggestions:
Resurrection: Chip can come back to life by entering a code that can be found in the level somewhere. This can be used again, once per level, and Chip spawns in the same place he died. It costs 100,000 points. The code found will change randomly every time the level is replayed. Every level has a code, and it can be hidden in walls, hints, or anything that is possible. It is between three and five letters, numbers, and symbols long.
Fireballs: Chip can buy a bag of fireballs and special fire gloves for throwing fireballs at monsters. One bag costs 100,000 points and can include between 10 to 15 fireballs.
Swimming Lessons: Chip can finally swim without flippers! This isn't cheap. It costs 1,500,000 points.
Repel: The most valuable perk yet, this perk repels teeth, walkers, and blobs 5 tiles away from Chip when they get close. It costs a huge 3,000,000 points.
Stealthy Chip: This perk can be used once per level, and at any part in the level. When activated, Chip becomes a computer chip until deactivated, causing incoming Teeth to suddenly have no target and go about their business. When deactivated it cannot be used again until the level is replayed. It costs 2,000,000 points.
Monster Magnet: A magnet suddenly appears above the level, and all monsters are attracted to it, and then dumped off at other part(s) of the level. It costs 2,500,000 points.
Whirlwind: This final perk allows Chip to jump up 10 feet and then fall extremely fast at the ground, doing a 'super slam', and all monsters suddenly are blown 10-20 tiles away from Chip. If they hit a wall hard enough, they will end up dying. They also die if landing in water/fire/bomb (except fireballs/gliders for water/fire). It is extremely expensive at 3,500,000.
I also think there should be more ways to get points, and not have a max of 6,000,000 or so per levelset, to get stuff like these perks I thought of. It seems like a good idea to me, but, well, whatever you think's best.
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Those are all the ideas I have for now.
Hope that's a good-sized portion of ideas from me!