(Bad ?) Idea : full cheat mode !

[maalak]

Hi Dave (and everybody here),

Following the release of the last version of seventh sense, for which I than you very much for your great work, I have made some advertising for your software here and there. But, as all were delightd by the quaity of this software, I heard some regrets from some people and then I thougt, "why not ?".
That's not really the way I mean to play seventh sense, but I must admit that they were not completely wrong, remembering how I played many of my gamebooks (mostly the Fighting Fantasy ones) back in the time.
So, there is the idea :

Using a "real" book, we have the possibility to read through it, assuming it's cheating of course, in the way to look of the possible choices in order to always chosing what seems the best option, mainly by keeping the digits on the pages (thus requiring sometimes a whole hand ).
So, in order to please everyone, even cheaters, would it be possible to add a feature allowing to go through the books by looking through them like a classic non-game book, a "go to" button, a feature to go to a determined paragraph in the proposed choices but keeping the possibility to go back, and of course tabs that would be used to simulate digits, working as some kind of save states. And of course, a "get lost, I'll win anyway" button for a direct win in combat against monsters and adding a "fill up HP to the max" button always usable.
We could also think about a feature to take any skill or equipment, but I think it would be a pain to code (that would mean at least a listing of all existing equipment to chose in), so maybe allowing to use any choice button, even the normally grayed ones, whatever we have or not the required equipment or skill, would be enough.

Overall, I think you get the idea, it's a kind of "god mode" that maybe is not really fair but very close to what could be done Ith a real book for a cheater.

Of course, using this option would disqualify for any award (except maybe a new "cheater award" ;D).

I don't think this idea needs to be a high priority one (far less thant releasing book 9 and next ), but maybe it would be fun to add in the future in order to satisfy everyone, from cheaters to hardcore gamers.

[mckinstry]

I think a part of why Seventh Sense was originally conceived was to remove the temptation of cheating, so I don't know if your idea will catch on

[Dave]

Jun 20, 2011 23:36:09 GMT mckinstry said:

I think a part of why Seventh Sense was originally conceived was to remove the temptation of cheating, so I don't know if your idea will catch on

QFT - The whole point was because I can't help but play that way when I read the paper books. I want a tool that *doesn't* allow cheating! It was a big concession for me just to include the "Save anywhere" Gameplay rule (it didn't exist in my first private beta release of the program. You could only save by quitting. Enough people complained that I relented.)

On a contrary note to the above sentiment: In conjunction with kamikaze, I've been considering the possibility of unlockable cheats as a reward for accomplishing certain tasks (like the awards system). They are currently a very low priority, though, and something I probably won't include until at least book 12 is done. It won't be quite so extensive as what you are suggesting, though. (no "god-mode", per se)

[huanchoo]

Jun 21, 2011 1:28:15 GMT Dave said:

Jun 20, 2011 23:36:09 GMT mckinstry said:

I think a part of why Seventh Sense was originally conceived was to remove the temptation of cheating, so I don't know if your idea will catch on

QFT - The whole point was because I can't help but play that way when I read the paper books. I want a tool that *doesn't* allow cheating! It was a big concession for me just to include the "Save anywhere" Gameplay rule (it didn't exist in my first private beta release of the program. You could only save by quitting. Enough people complained that I relented.)

On a contrary note to the above sentiment: In conjunction with kamikaze, I've been considering the possibility of unlockable cheats as a reward for accomplishing certain tasks (like the awards system). They are currently a very low priority, though, and something I probably won't include until at least book 12 is done. It won't be quite so extensive as what you are suggesting, though. (no "god-mode", per se)

Too true!! All the time last time I flicked through the sections when I get stuck at a particularly tough riddle or something like that. So what's the fun in a gamebook without that risk of failing? I'm glad that there are so many softwares now that allow playing of these books digitally & playing the way it is meant to be.

[maalak]

Oh, that's not a problem for me as I also want to play "fair" to these Lone Wold books

It was overall mainly an idea in order to give as many possibilities as possible like reality. As we already have the possibility of starting with 19/29, use a save state or even influence the number table, it seemed to be the logical evolution.

But in the whole, you're right. By including all these features, Seventh Sense would mainly become a "gamebook simulator" and thus lost some of its "soul". Of course, everything could be activated/deactivated, but maybe only temptation of cheating would be too strong for people.

Maybe it could still be useful for beta-testing though, but anyway, thank you for your attention.

[Dave]

Well, for testing purposes, I *do* have a god-like debug mode (takes a recompiled executable), where I can give LW any items, money, and disciplines on the fly, and jump around from any section to any section, earn all awards instantly, etc. etc. It's just for testing that each section is working correctly, of course, not actually playing.

[John Bryntze]

I really see the idea with this cheat mode but would not want it implemented.
Like stated above, once nice things with Seventh Sense is that you cannot cheat and you know others cannot... the best cheat Joe Dever already created himself.. the Sommerswerd ;-)