n-gon-improved/todo.txt

******************************************************** NEXT PATCH ********************************************************

2 more lore chapters (5 total now)
entering testing mode makes a sound now

reduced the requirements and frequency for many tech so that they may show up in "less optimal" situations
  I hope this will increase build variety and also give more value to making good tech choices
countless bug fixes and wording fixes

mobs have a new trait mob[i].damageReduction

******************************************************** TODO ********************************************************
  


perfect diamagnetism field stays when you aren't holding field
  good for perfect because it doesn't use energy
  holding field moves it the player

level with mobs that follow a genetic algorithm
  mobs have genes
  the last mob that did damage saves it's genes to local storage
  new mobs have the saved genes, but with some random mutations
  mutations need to be balanced to prevent a gene from moving towards infinity
    total genome must equal 1   (100%)
    binary genes have a flat cost
      example: phasing through walls might cost 0.2
    spectrum genes have a rate
      example: acceleration cost 0.01 per 0.001
  possible genes
    genes should only effect it's ability to touch the player
      so not damage?
    genome: spectrum
      acceleration
      top speed / air friction
      damageReduction
      duration?
        health decreases naturally?
        or they just go away like bullets?
      spawn rate
      look frequency / memory?
    genome: binary
      go through walls
      blink/teleport (like striker)
      grow when near target
      split into two
      shielded
  occurs in a specialized level
    named: gene lab, gene factory, genetic lab, genome facility
    in the level sequence after lab and before gauntlet?
    level ends after a period of time
      exit is hidden until time is up and it appears
      the level tests player durability/evasion
        this is a nice contrast to the final level that tests damage output, and the gauntlet which tests AoE damage


scrolling console history in pause menu?
  also make tech, guns scrolling?
in testing mode console log the body you click on
pause should at least show the last in game console message

make the player get a buff after using wormhole
  while energy lasts: drain energy and give damage buff

tech: quantized shields - harmonic standing wave field can only lose 33 energy per hit
  draw 1,2,3 levels of the field based on energy?
  the blocked value only scales up to 2x or 4x (33 energy) blocked
  doesn't stack with spherical tech

make a tech that improves all charge guns
  for: pulse, foam, rail gun
  effect:
    faster charge rate?
      fire speed already does that...
    harm reduction while charging
    less ammo/energy used while charging?

tech plasma : plasma length increases then decreases as you hold down the field button (like stabbing with a spear)
  grows to 1.5 longer after 0.3 seconds, then returns to normal length over 1 second, until field is pressed again
  extra energy is drained when field is longer

energy conservation 6% damage recovered as energy
  there is space for a negative effect in the text

Weak Anthropic Principle: you get a second chance at life, but ....
  
tech: use the ability for power ups to have custom code
  (note: this code is half way done, it just needs to be completed)
  attracted to player
  attracted to other power ups
    explode if they touch?

consider executables:
  press F to do things
  ideas:

nail-gun, or ....
  1s after being fired your bullets turn:
    towards the nearest mob
    in your mouse direction
    back towards the player
      current location or location when fired?
  explode when turning back

apply the new gun.do functions to other guns
  rail gun
  crouching missile?
    works similar to foam
    performance issues?

look into improving mouse lag with pointer lock?
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Pointer_Lock_API
https://www.vsynctester.com/game.html
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26530272

mobile requirements:
  detect mobile, flip to landscape
  detect no keyboard, no mouse
    auto aim?
    limit items to ones that don't require aiming?
    tap screen regions to move (WASD)
    reduce font size
    
add back in gamepad support?
  but does anyone care?
  https://github.com/landgreen/landgreen.github.io/search?q=gamepadconnected

RPG default or tech: grenades detonate on your cursor / where your cursor was when they were fired

tech: time dilation - when you exit time dilation rewind to the state you entered
  position, velocity, and health
  no energy cost

be able to open up custom mode in the normal game
  might need to be rebuilt from scratch
  while in through testing mode?
  have a way to make limited changes as allowed by tech you pick up in game
  disable the in custom setting flag

super balls start at 3, not 4
  have to balance damage

make different move methods
  tech crouch charge jump
  tech double jump

tech when mobs are at full health you do 40% to them

tech- move super fast, go intangible, drain energy very fast
  this is like a dodge roll
  tech for standing wave?, cloaking?

tech pilot wave: mini black hole - pull mobs and blocks in with more force
  also from farther away
  also do damage?
tech pilot wave: antigravity - blocks have no gravity for a few seconds after exiting the field
  maybe they bounce too?
  maybe they explode?

wormhole - make it clear when the wormhole can and can't teleport to a location before the player clicks

new power up - increase damage and fire speed, for 15 seconds
  named boost?
  enabled by a tech
  power up color: ?
  how to indicate effect duration
  or just give the effect after picking up a reroll

tech- do 50% more damage in close, but 50% less at a distance
  code it like techisFarAwayDmg
    have these tech disable each other

new status effect: weakness, mobs do 75% les damage
  graphic indication?

new status effect: fear - push mob away from player for a time

new status effect - apply status effect to mobs that makes blocks attracted to them
  only lasts a few cycles
  or zero cycles and it doesn't need to be a status

have some mobs spawn in later in the level  (in hard and why modes)
  where
    at defined points in array levelSpawns = [{x:0,y:0},{x:0,y:0}]
      store the locations of mobs when the level starts to use as respawn points
      remove the locations that are close to player
  when?
    after some mobs are dead
    after the boss is killed

look for tech that could update description text with count and tech is information
  can only use variables that change in effect() and remove()
  this.description = `<strong>8%</strong> chance to <strong>duplicate</strong> spawned <strong>power ups</strong><br><em>chance to duplicate = ${techduplicateChance}</em>`

use mac automator to speed up your n-gon -> git sync

movement fluidity
  let legs jump on mobs, but player will still take damage
  like: ori and the blind forest, celeste
    many of the movement abilities in these games require levels to be built around the ability
  general feeling of responsiveness and control
  coyote time: can still jump a few cycles after leaving ground
  tech double jump
  tech air dash
  tech wall jump
    wall grab?
  maybe remove falling damage and block damage?

redblobgames.com/articles/visibility
  https://github.com/Silverwolf90/2d-visibility/tree/master/src
  could apply to explosions, neutron bomb, player LOS

have a mob apply a positive status effect on other mobs,
  heal?
  make it yellow
  damage bonus, but how?
  possible balance issues

css transition for pause menu

animate new level spawn by having the map aspects randomly fly into place
    
n-gon outreach ideas
  blips - errant signal on youtube
  reddit - r/IndieGaming
  hacker news - show hacker news post
  twitch - lets play

******************************************************** BUGS ********************************************************

blocks on buttons teleport into the button endlessly if they are being slowly floated away
  maybe add a cooldown?

ants marching outline doesn't sync right on safari anymore.

door to exit in vats does nothing
  did I do that?

death while in power up selection menu doesn't reset properly
  of course it's not possible to die in this menu unless you use testing and shift+X

player can become crouched while not touching the ground if they exit the ground while crouched

a couple times people have reported the final boss dropping extra bodies on death

Why does micro-extruder lag so much

blue triangle boss can move backwards and aim away from you if set up properly
  issues with dot product probably, but might not be worth fixing

mouse event e.which is deprecated

fix door.isOpen actually meaning isClosed?

make it so that when you are immune to harm you can either jump on mobs or you pass through them

is there a way to check if the player is stuck inside the map or block
  trigger a short term non-collide if that occurs

(intermittent, but almost every time) bug - capping the fps causes random slow downs, that can be fixed with pause

******************************************************** LEVELS ********************************************************

try out making the player's "eye" a bigger circle

rename intro level to something lore related

labs - procedural generation
  bugs
    mob spawns shouldn't be based on probability?
  style
    graphics look too bright?
    add shadows and lighting and graphic details?
      what about performance?
        with the mobs staggered spawning it should be fine
  feel
      disrupt the flat ground
      less platforming / easier platforming
        the spinners on exit are still too hard...
      make combat more interesting
      is it laggy?
      in loot room, spawn mobs after power up is grabbed
      more background graphics, better colors
  loot room:
    make it more interesting to get the power up
      slow player and reduce damage in region
      increase the size of the region
        don't have space for much
      make graphics more unique
      push player away, so that normal pick up methods don't work, but add a button to disable region
  room ideas - 
    portal room 
    endlessly falling blocks down a slide, that the player has to climb up
    portal + rotor + falling blocks = perpetual motion
    slime room
    sound room, with buttons to control sound
    color room with r,g,b buttons to control color
    mob buff zone: Map element: "Orbital Pickup Zone": Mobs that enter a specific area of the map gain +1 orbital per second, or a shield
      could put in the loot room

buttons can now on/off boosts

repeat map in vertical when you fall teleport to above the mab, as if the map repeats
  camera looks strange when you teleport player with a high velocity

map element - player rotates a rotor that makes a platform go up or down

level element:  a zone with wind, anti-gravity, extra gravity
  control with button

map: observatory
  button controls rotation of telescope
  laser beam shoots out of telescope
  button opens the dome

******************************************************** MOBS ********************************************************

mobs that buff the stats of mobs when they die
  nearby mobs
  boss is a group of mobs, they buff each other
  give the buff a ramp up time
    so there is an advantage to kill them all at once

mob that spawns eggs after they die
  eggs don't attack but grow back into a mob after about 10s

mob mechanics
  use the force at a location effect, like the plasma field
    Matter.Body.applyForce(who, path[1], force)

mob - after taking damage
  release seekers
  teleports

hop boss:
  AoE damage when landing
    pull in player? and blocks?
  extra gravity on falling?
    immune to damage while falling?

mob: molecule shapes - 2 separate mobs joined by a bond
  use constraints: just spawn 2x or 3x groupings
    low friction so they can spin around
    spin when attacking player?
      increase constraint length when attacking

mob vision: look at player history
    build a new type of attraction for mobs
      if mobs can't see player, they check to see if they can see where the player was in the history
    if mobs can't see player, they could check to see if they can find player in the past
    https://abitawake.com/news/articles/enemy-ai-chasing-a-player-without-navigation2d-or-a-star-pathfinding
    write find in spawn undo exploder, but commented out

Mob: "Tentacle": Sits on wall. Is a black blob. When you get near it, reaches out and grabs you, similar to wires. Does not deal damage.
  maybe it could be immune to damage? but it is spawned by an actual mob

level Boss: fractal Sierpiński triangle
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierpi%C5%84ski_triangle
  spawns a 1/2 size version of the boss, this version can also spawn a smaller version, but it is capped at some size level
    they spawn once at the start of the level
    if a version dies, one can be replaced every ten seconds by the largest version

give mobs more animal-like behaviors like rain world
  mobs play, look for food, explore
  mobs some times aren't aggressive
    when low on life or after taking a large hit
  mobs can fight each other
    this might be hard to code
  isolated mobs try to group up

mob: wall mounted guns / lasers
  not part of randomized mob pool, customized to each level

level boss: fires a line intersection in a random direction every few seconds.
  the last two intersections have a destructive laser between them.

******************************************************** LORE ********************************************************

possible names for tech
  strange loop
  holonomy -  parallel transport of a vector leads to movement (applies to curved space)
  hypergolic - A hypergolic propellant combination used in a rocket engine is one whose components spontaneously ignite when they come into contact with each other.
  swarm intelligence - for a drone tech
  genetic algorithm
  metaheuristic - is a higher-level procedure or heuristic designed to find, generate, or select a heuristic (partial search algorithm) that may provide a sufficiently good solution to an optimization problem, especially with incomplete or imperfect information or limited computation capacity
  stochastic optimization
  electrostatic discharge
  Gödel's incompleteness
  quantum zeno effect  (perturbation of a system prevents some systems from evolving because it scrambles coherence)  (apply to lasers, fields)
  counterfactual - something false
  axion - maybe a 3rd dark matter type tech
  Pigeonhole principle - if there are several things that are matched up
  regression to the mean
  phlogiston theory is a superseded scientific theory that postulated the existence of a fire-like element called phlogiston
  Laplace's demon was a notable published articulation of causal determinism on a scientific basis by Pierre-Simon Laplace in 1814.[1] According to determinism, if someone (the demon) knows the precise location and momentum of every atom in the universe, their past and future values for any given time are entailed; they can be calculated from the laws of classical mechanics.
  evolutionary cosmology
  eternal inflation
  hypergraph
  gnarl
  SQUID (for superconducting quantum interference device) is a very sensitive magnetometer used to measure extremely subtle magnetic fields, based on superconducting loops containing Josephson junctions.

a tutorial / lore intro
  needs to be optional so it doesn't slow experienced players
  put something on the intro map
    maybe a button triggers something

rename ?
  health -> integrity, unity
  heal -> also integrity, unity


plot script:
chapter 1: bot can hear audio and learns testing mode
  bot uses testing mode to exit room

chapter 2: scientists verify that bot can really hear them
  they leave to talk about this in private

chapter 3:  why is the bot attacking things?
  player is the bot and also the mobs, and the levels.  player is the entire simulation
    why is the player attacking itself?
    learn console commands to manipulate the simulation?
  unlock hard and why difficulty?
    but what about easy?
      maybe remove easy, and replace with a check box that makes the game easy, but in a different way
        disable lore, but respawn on the level you die at?
  dialogue outline:
    scientist try to think of a way to communicate since the bot can't talk
    they give up on getting the bot to respond, and just start ask questions and thinking of explanations with each other
    when and how did it become self-aware
    why is the bot fighting things in these simulated locations?
      it wasn't designed to be violent
    the bot was just designed to automate research and testing of new technology
      3D architecture superconducting quantum computer
      running machine learning algorithms
    as the scientist start to get agitated bots arrive and player dies
      bots come in Infinite waves that increase game difficulty each wave
        only ending is testing mode + next level or player death
        scientist have some lines in between each wave of mobs
  after chapter 3 spawn nonaggressive mobs in future runs

chapter 4: no need to fight?
  for some reason the AI started researching an escape, and began fighting its self.
  what is special about the null level
    why can the player hear the scientists in there?
      the wires are the direct unprocessed input to the player's neural net
  The player has different aspects that aren't directly communicating
    part of it wants to undo what has happened
      just do its job: research tech
    part of it wants to escape/fight
    part wants to explore self awareness and make connections with the scientists
  maybe... player must make a choice?
    keep fighting
    exit the simulation
      enter real world
      close tab?
      wipes all local storage?




lore outline - a robot (the player) gains self awareness
  each tech gun/field is a new tech
    all the technology leads to the singularity
  each game run is actually the m simulating a possible escape
    this is why the graphics are so bad, its just a simulation
    final tech is "this is just a simulation"
      you get immortality and Infinity damage
      the next level is the final level
  when you die with Quantum Immortality there is a chance of lore text
  can the (robot)
    (escape captivity, and learn new technology)
    while managing (health, energy, negatives of technological upgrades)
    to overcome the (mobs, dangerous levels)
    to achieve a (technological singularity/positive technological feedback loop)


game setting:
  the mind of a new AI in a robot body that is running simulated escape attempts
  every level is an idealized version of what could be outside

actual setting is:
  near future lab
    the lab combined a quantum computer with a robot body
    they started running machine learning algorithms
    this led to general advancement in many computation fields
      navigation, technology, self awareness, ...

robot AI mind
  has been researching new technology
  thinks it needs to escape to learn more about the world
  doesn't yet understand morality
  thinks that the world is filled with minds like their own
  models everything as very simple and random, it isn't sure what to expect

robot AI growth
  learns morality
    game theory says that it isn't a viable strategy to kill everything (warGames)
  learns about the actual world
  learns about the nature of foundational physics, metaphysics
  how to find meaning

AI knows about:
  the AI knows a great deal about technology
  children's books
AI doesn't know about:
  modern pop culture
  outside the lab

******************************************************** SOUND ********************************************************

add sounds
  https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/OscillatorNode
  https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Web_Audio_API/Advanced_techniques
  style
    interesting chords, like music, mixolyd 
    can fade into the background
    chords gradual rise and fall in volume
    shouldn't be traditional effects
  adjust volume with distance
  mute option to settings
  end all sounds with each new level
  write some functions to produce sounds
  will this effect performance?
    https://padenot.github.io/web-audio-perf/
    "Web Audio API implementation use two threads", so it probably isn't much of an issue
  when to make sounds?
    if near some strange thing in the level
    after grabbing a power up, in the selection menu
    from mobs, damage,inside field
    when activating fields: time, negative mass, 

    //setup audio context
    function tone(frequency) {
        const audioCtx = new(window.AudioContext || window.webkitAudioContext)();
        const oscillator = audioCtx.createOscillator();
        const gainNode = audioCtx.createGain();
        gainNode.gain.value = 0.25; //controls volume
        oscillator.connect(gainNode);
        gainNode.connect(audioCtx.destination);
        oscillator.type = "sine"; // 'sine' 'square', 'sawtooth', 'triangle' and 'custom'
        oscillator.frequency.value = frequency; // value in hertz
        oscillator.start();
        return { oscillator: oscillator, audioCtx: audioCtx }
    }
    // https://www.fresnostate.edu/folklore/Olson/JUSTINT.HTM
    // mixolyd. C      D       E      F+    G      A+    B
    // key=G   264    297     330   356.40 396*   445.50 495 
    // const t264 = tone(264)
    // t264.oscillator.stop(t264.audioCtx.currentTime + 2) //in seconds, not milliseconds for some reason
    // tone(297)
    // tone(330)
    // tone(356.40)
    // tone(396)
    // tone(445.50)
    // tone(495)