Die, Character, Die

[lo_res_man]

By the way, I don't recall that you could die in Grim Fandango. Sure there were some situations were you think you could die any second but after awhile you get out of the trouble and gets in saftey.

I didn't say you could die, (did I imply that? lousey boney fingers!)
I meant that there is a few places were I wish you could die. Now the custom officers part is a GREAT example of pressure with out dying, it feels like you JUST made it. but when you battle dom' it ( I think) would make that part more exciting, if you could die  somehow. thats just my opinion.

[Trumgottist]

Add an undo option after death and you'll have elliminated the tedious replays and the "Ouch, I haven't saved in the last two hours. Stupid game." problems.

[Helm]

Character death is essential.

[Tom S. Fox]

I just remember a case, when the possibilities to die were balanced very strangely:
In The Secret of Monkey Island is exactly one occasion you are able to die.
I was very confused, when I found out.

[ManicMatt]

There was? When was that? Do tell!

[Tom S. Fox]

Hehe, I was afraid, everybody would already know! 
Well, try to stay under water for more than ten minutes.
(Y'know, after Shinetop pushed you in.)

[ManicMatt]

Oh! 'Cos Guybrush always says he can breath underwater for ten minutes! How did the game end if you waited? (And who waited 10 minutes unintentionally?)

I recall waiting ages in MI2 to see if GuyBrush and Wally fell in the acid.

[Mats Berglinn]

Oh! 'Cos Guybrush always says he can breath underwater for ten minutes! How did the game end if you waited? (And who waited 10 minutes unintentionally?)

I recall waiting ages in MI2 to see if GuyBrush and Wally fell in the acid.

I believe that Guybrush and Wally does after about ten minutes. Also in the same game when you were underwater looking for the figurehead of the Mad Monkey (or what it was named again, it's been some time since I played MI2) you would also die if you stayed there longer than 10 minutes. I'm not sure if Guybrush could die in MI4 when walking at the bottom of the lake but I recall that I once waited to see if Guybrush did but lost my patience and got on with the gaming instead.

[Baron]

I too have seen this thread before before.....

It's what gave me the idea in my latest game (The Winter Rose) to do exactly what Trumgottist suggested: have an "undo" function so that dying didn't really cost you.  I believe that dying is essential in any adventurous adventure game.  After all, "conquest without risk is triumph without glory".  I need the potential of death to make a dangerous situation seem real.

But that is not to say that death should be punitive.  You really should feel free to try wacky stuff in an adventure game without being set back half-an-hour for dying.  So the ideal compramise, in my opinion, was to have lots of dying opportunities but also a "retry" function that would put you back just before you got into the "point of no return" where you would either surely die or be a walking dead.

I guess that's enough plugging of my game....  I do wish more programmers would incorporate similar functions into their games however!

BaRoN

[Tom S. Fox]

Also in the same game when you were underwater looking for the figurehead of the Mad Monkey (or what it was named again, it's been some time since I played MI2) you would also die if you stayed there longer than 10 minutes.

No, you wouldn't die.
First, his face changes color, then he drops the figurehead and swims back to the surface.
I don't want to spoil, what happens, if you do it in MI1, but I can tell you: The game is definitively lost!
Better try it, it's better if you see it for yourself.