Achievements

[alanwoolley]

I've been quite closely following Google I/O this year, and they've announced Google Play game services which allows for things like achievements and high-score leaderboards etc. I plan to at least play with the idea of integrating achievements into my Android port at some point, but I was thinking that perhaps this is an idea that maybe deserves discussion in a larger context.

Do you think that having achievements in CorsixTH would be worthwhile? I'm envisioning the obvious things like an achievement for completing each level on each difficulty, but also some more peculiar things like complete a level without killing anyone (if that's even possible), complete a level with over $1,000,000 or obtain every trophy to encourage people to play more and develop more interesting strategies. It wouldn't replace the trophy system in CorsixTH at all, but augment it somewhat.

Obviously I don't think achievements would have any global significance as it'd be too easy to manipulate and open source game to cheat your way to the top, so I'm just thinking locally at this point.

Just thought I'd throw the idea out there since it wouldn't be a hard thing to implement.

[MarkL]

I like the idea, but as you say there would need to be a way to stop cheating, whether this is using the cheats or changing the code to your advantage.  With cheats, that can already be displayed so that others know, but it is very easy to alter a level file for example and give yourself ten million starting cash. Or change the code so deaths don't get counted. (although it would show in the graph I suppose)
Otherwise there would be no point in having a leader board as it would become who can cheat the most to get the best score/bank balance etc!

[BenVenn]

I love the idea of achievements, I agree with you Alan in the sense that Global achievements would be a bit too easy to manipulate and people who play the game legitimately would get a bit peeved if someone were to cheat their way to the top.

But locally, I think it would be a great idea. To maybe share your scores with people in your Google+ circles, would that be an option? That way, you can compete with your friends. And if anyone cheats or abuses it, you can simply click to remove them from your Google+ Leaderboards. I think it would be a good start to the connectivity aspect of Theme Hospital that the old Multiplayer feature in the original game really disappointed me with. (If it's possible at all, that is).

Either way, that's my idea.

Ben

[Lego3]

I totally agree with what you all say. Achievements are more fun for your own gathering instincts and possibly to compare with friends, so I don't believe it's a problem that you could cheat to get those. Some of them could be hidden?

[BenVenn]

I totally agree with what you all say. Achievements are more fun for your own gathering instincts and possibly to compare with friends, so I don't believe it's a problem that you could cheat to get those. Some of them could be hidden?

Exactly, a choose to hide a certain friend's achievements if you wanted to.

[Noah]

This would be fun.. even more when we can start building our own campaigns and adding in achievements like "Sell the most drinks for 5 years straight"