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Shadow
Account closed
Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 355 |
The thoughts behind hidden parts...?
The discussion about the 3-axis sphere rotator in Snapshot and led to me (and apparently a few others aswell) discovering the hidden sphere part in Dawnfall for the first time.
Now this is a pretty damn nice routine (especially considering the mid-90ies timeframe). What's the thought behind hiding it away in a hidden part?
I also recall some Crest demo introducing a new 2x2 mode or something in a hidden part as well (can't remember which demo right now though!)
Show your stuff to the world, don't hide it in hidden parts. Hidden parts should be for crap that isn't good enough to make it into the demo! ;) |
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chatGPZ
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 11108 |
yeah. and now start coding! =) |
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WVL
Registered: Mar 2002
Posts: 886 |
But the feeling of someone finding out that somebody else did the latest greatest routine already a few years ago and not thinking it good enough to feature in the demo itself..
That's just golden ;) |
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Skate
Registered: Jul 2003
Posts: 490 |
@Jailbird: <insert a fuuuuuuu here> ;) |
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JackAsser
Registered: Jun 2002
Posts: 1989 |
@Shadow: It's all about pwn3d. (And for the record, Biltandborste afaik was the first demo that used so called "sprite filling" for filled vectors). :) And now the Glance guys took this 1000-times further and that's what I love!
/A |
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Wile Coyote
Registered: Mar 2004
Posts: 637 |
Ive tended to view hidden parts in 2 ways:
1. A part that is just a bit of fun, fills up some spare disk space, has no place in appearing during the main demo.
2. A part that is very good, fills up some spare disk space, couldnt be incorporated into the main demo due to technical reasons.
I feel that hidden parts are there to be discovered by coders, as when hidden parts are revealed, the key to their discovery tends to be on par with finding a needle in a haystack.
One of my favourite hidden parts can be found in Tower Power / Camelot
It starts with some hires work, followed by a FLI pic from Rob93. This is followed by bobs and a scroller.
How to:
Load main file
Clear screen
At the very top left of the screen type: SECRET
Then type Run as per usual. The hidden part should begin. |
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Nightlord
Registered: Jan 2003
Posts: 131 |
Yes hidden parts are usually fun... And most hidden parts I have seen are not as good as the sphere in Dawnfall so I don't know how much WVL's argument of "not good enough for the demo" applies to that one. Graham would be the person to answer that I guess
I think, in this case it is an advantage and a disadvantage to put a world first into a hidden part. The advantage is people like me, try and research many years later, whether that part exists and miss it and claim a world first, and voi la no it existed before. And that might be a golden feeling for the original author. I don't know, I don't feel any worse or belittled by missing a hidden part in my research and I am confident and comfortable with the quality of my effect anyway :) So if it is "golden", it is good because it is not really at my expense :)
The disadvantage seems to be, you miss additional praise and reactions that you could have gained from that part for the demo. How big a disadvantage it is depends on how much you care about praise, so I guess if you are Graham you really don't need much praise anyway, thus making this a small disadvantage.
So it's fair to say any coder can weigh these advantages and disadvantages for himself/herself and choose to use a WF/WR in a hidden part. :) |
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Zyron
Registered: Jan 2002
Posts: 2381 |
Which leads to the question; who made the worlds first hidden part & has it been found yet? |
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Ninja
Registered: Jan 2002
Posts: 404 |
Adventure comes to my mind... |
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Mace
Registered: May 2002
Posts: 1799 |
Untill recently I was unknown with the existence of hidden parts in demos, but I like the idea very much.
I like the hidden stuff in Pearls for Pigs, for example! Nice surprises there :-)
Game developers put hidden levels in games to revive interest after a while: when people know the game and loose interest, the developers launches a trick to get to some hidden part and people start playing the game again.
With demos this could have the same effect: release a demo and when most ppl have seen it, publish a way to get to the hidden part. People will have a look again and remember you better :-) |
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WVL
Registered: Mar 2002
Posts: 886 |
Thx Mace,
We were planning to add some more stuff (or at least I was), but there was no more time left.. We didnt even have time to properly link the last minute, so I left out the hidden stuff in the end of the demo. |
