Hi Donald & All
Apologies for the delayed response but yes, I'm still a player, altho' less so than before as I have much less time for LT than I used to.
I have also been inundated with requests for me to release some more levels (my regards to the both of you ;-) so I will endeavour to prepare another set of 25 for the Jan Update (this will mark my 500th level).
I would like to recognise Ed Baumann, and also Donald, who manage to release levels almost every month so that us poor starved LTers have something to do. And, of course, Donald again for keeping this whole show on the road, month after month, year after year. Ooh, and Harvey for continuing to maintain the LTUpdate program and the other tools/utilities that he has created.
What can be done to arrest what appears to be a steady decline in LT activity? - I don't know. I've made reference to our very quiet forum before and I suspect that a lot of people (particularly younger) find this a bit weird and drift off to gaming forums with more social interaction. We're certainly not short of new members as several people join this forum every week. How many of those stay around as players (and for how long) is anybody's guess as I'm sure lots of them don't submit LPBs. Even less submit levels.
We are (almost?) unique in that the solutions are never published (I consider this is a good thing). However, I'm would think that those people who desire almost instant gratification find it frustrating that after being stuck on a level for 5 mins, they can't just come here and read a walkthru.
I think that perhaps one thing that we can do to encourage people to stick around, and perhaps eventually submit some levels, is to reward them for playing. How do we do that in LT? - they get to see their initials listed for the GHS, even if it's only for a month or two. However, it is very hard for new players to achieve this because we have some very good senior players who dominate the GHS tables.
I would like to propose that those of us who have been around for a while (I think we all know who we are) not submit solutions for new levels in the Beginner sets. (I have not done so for a long time but will occasionally submit an improvement). What do other people think of this? C'mon, don't be shy, even if you disagree - we need to start thinking seriously about what we can do to save our lovely game.
On a lighter and more seasonal note, I would like to wish everybody a happy and safe <insert your favourite solstice festival here>.
See you all in the new year
Mark (Secret Squïrrel / Sqïr)
--- In [email protected], "donald_drouin" <donald_drouin@...> wrote:
>
> Are you still a LaserTank player?
>
> I receive less new levels from the levels creators,
> less solutions for the new (and old) levels.
> less high score from the GHS hunters
> less messages about LaserTank matter.
>
> I know LaserTank is an old game but maybe some of you have solutions in order to revive LaserTank
>
> Thanks to all for your help and interest.
>
> Donald Drouin
> LaserTank manager
>