Thoughts on a Quicksave Reminder

[shroomzy5000]

Hey Doomworld!

 

I couldn't find much forum discussion on this topic but is there a general opinion towards or against quicksave and how its used?

 

I have an idea I'm tossing around...

 

As being new to classic doom but have been gaming well over 2 decades at this point, I unfortunately have become "used" to the autosave in games.

When starting to get into classic doom, some of my biggest buzz kill moments were when I was finally getting to the later episodes and playing the maps, uncovering new secrets, and then died to a trap and have to restart level to get back to where I was.  My friend comes over to help map build and play doom a lot and hes great at reminding me to quicksave.  I actually love this because for me this just helps with more time having fun and less time like "uuuuugggghhhh here we go again."

 

So I had the idea of popping up a hudmessage for like 1-2 seconds before the door to a big encounter would open.

Having like a small little cheeky text suggestion like "im not saying this might be a good time to F6 but..."

 

In my opinion I think this would help newer players more familiar with the modern style of games which automatically save almost all progress, experience just less frustration in the overall experience of playing a new wad as well.  While also keeping in-tact that ability to just ironman the whole level, but I'm not sure if this is something a veteran experienced player would find as annoying or cringy?

 

I'm also not entirely forgetting that most modern source ports have autosave integrated, but I often find myself not liking the autosave feature, or at least how the one for GZDoom works.  Having to manually save the game brings back memories to like, those days playing halo and running around until the game checkpoints.  something about it not just saving for you keeps the old school feel more intact, while at the same time I definitely wouldn't mind a reminder before a room thats about to beat me up and steal my lunch money...

 

But being new, I don't want this to appear condescending or even insulting to a veteran Doomer thats being circle strafing for the last 30 years.

 

 

Edited November 30, 2023 by shroomzy5000
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[DoomGappy]

I love when I die in a map because I forgot to save. That's when I know the map is good.

[plums]

I don't think there's anything wrong with a quicksave reminder idea, but I also doubt too many people will care about it enough to want to implement it. I could be wrong.

 

The way you propose it that it reminds you of saves before important events is something that would also be done on a map-by-map basis. So even if you could get some people on board, you're very unlikely to ever find it in the majority of maps.

 

You might be interested in checking out the dsda-doom source port, which allows you to rewind your game up to a point. It doesn't handle GZDoom-only maps so depending on your interests you might find it insufficient for normal play or mapping, but it's otherwise very full-featured. Some people also find the idea of unlimited rewind both too lenient and too tempting to use when you die, so it's not a feature for everyone.

[Halfblind]

Personally, I've gotten to the point, especially in non-slaughter maps, where I don't quick save when playing through an entire level. This gives me a challenge that I wouldn't otherwise have. If I do die, however, on my second run through I would then give myself a quick save in the room right before I died. That way I don't get frustrated when dyeing all the time. ZDoom and its child ports offer autosaves as line specials, but I don't see them implemented. Thats a great thing about older games, they offered the ability to save anywhere not just at checkpoints.

[LoatharMDPhD]

ask yourself What kind of experience are you trying to give the player?

[shroomzy5000]

OH I'm definitely not trying start a community trend or anything of that nature.  I primarily want to design good gameplay experiences that speak to as many people as possible regardless of experience.  Due to the nature of Dooms community and players that have been playing for 30 years to players that have been playing for 30 days, I find this to be a difficult bridge to gap in level design.  But i mainly just want to be sure im not doing anything that the larger community more or less sees as distasteful? Or not in the spirit of classic doom? I could be thinking too hard about it

 

[Stabbey]

You can telegraph dangerous fights with in-game indicators, such as a larger-than normal pile of dead bodies, a lot of health and ammo (a "free" soul sphere or such is an especially potent indicator), ominous architecture, the existence of a visible keycard.

 

Finally, some map formats have lines which can trigger an automatic autosave, although that doesn't work if the player is using a non GZDoom source port.

[Amaruψ]

Not quite a fan of hand-holding in video games, so I definitely wouldn't vibe with a feature that consistently reminds you that you probably should save your game. I'd sound quite a bit old by saying this, but honestly... if I want to shape your skills and let your own instincts develop, one really shouldn't have to be "reminded" to do it, they should just have practiced through a handful of maps just enough to have a mere instinct, a.k.a a gut feeling that you should probably save. 

 

But, some people do prefer hand-holding, so I'm not going to shun the idea completely.

[boris]

Having a map autosave when crossing a line always feels a bit immersion breaking, because the game just freezes for a fraction of a second. But telling a player through a HudMessage to save also doesn't seem great.

 

I think the best compromise is to trigger an autosave by picking up an item. For example Verdant Citadel uses this technique. Although I'd put those items not right in the path like Verdant Citadel does (but still clearly visible, so that they can't be overlooked), that way it'd make it harder to pick up accidentally, in case the player doesn't want to save.

[Bridgeburner56]

Having an interactable element to trigger saving is a good way to do this. Beyond Sunset has terminals that save and everyone you see one it's like "oh, I'll go save now". It's the player's choice to do it so you don't get the surprising lag, and it's woven into the game aesthetic in a natural fashion.