Some trap tooltips are incorrect (e.g. sawblade = fire)

[Wuzzy2]

There are several traps in the game that when you hover them show an incorrect tooltip. For example, if you hover a lava tile in-game, it shows the word "Water" in the tooltip.

Here is a list of all bad trap I found in this game, along with the false tooltip on the left side and the tooltip word I expected on the right side:

• raymanni/gore/bonesaw.F: fire → bone saw
• geoo/construction/sawblade.F: fire → sawblade
• geoo/construction/Laser_*.F: fire → laser
• geoo/abstract/tbeam_*.T: steam → tractor beam
• matt/underworld/Lava.W: water → lava
• raymanni/gore/acid.W: water → acid
• simon/acid.W: water → acid
• raymanni/lab/elev_down.T: steam → elevator
• raymanni/lab/elev_up.T: steam → elevator
• raymanni/lab/launcher_left.T: steam → launcher
• raymanni/lab/launcher_right.T: steam → launcher
• raymanni/lab/goo.W: water → goo
• raymanni/lab/goo_fall.W: water → goo
• amanda/tar.W: water → tar

Game version: 0.10.32

[SimonN]

This is essentially the program-internal type name that leaks into the user interface.

E.g.: Always-active trigger areas that kill all entering lix are called either fire or water. The only difference is what animation (drowning or burning) will play on contact.

The type name gets translated. The tile has no configuration for such a name in 0.10.32, only its type is relevant. The translation file (= the language) translates the type into what you see.

Do you expect tile designers to invent and translate good in-game tile captions into all the languages? Or at least into some languages, at least English. And if it's not translated, you get the English caption. Or do you expect language file authors (= translators) to translate all those extra names for the tiles? That makes it hard to add langugages and tiles independently.

Another way is to make the type name more general. Water, lava, goo, tar, ..., all become: Liquid.

[Wuzzy2]

I only want that the game displays the correct tooltip for every trap. I don't want lava to be called water.
How it is done internally, I don't really care, as long it works. I am also OK with the tooltip not being super specific, it only needs to be true. Many traps are just called "trap" in the game and that's OK. I have one exception: Using the word "liquid" for all liquids is a bit boring, naming the different liquid types would be nice. But that's not SUPER important to me.

I have had some thoughts about how it MAY be done:

(But I am writing in the blue right now, I am not familiar with the codebase.)

Adding a free-form text field for every trap would likely be overkill, I agree.

Instead the game could provide an enum-style list of "extended" trap types which are essentially just associated with English words to be translated. Every trap in the game will be assigned such an extended trap type. The extended trap type doesn't have any other purpose but for user description / tooltip.

The list of extended trap types would be hardcoded and would start with all traps currently in the game: water, lava, fire, tar, goo, acid, laser, steam, elevator, etc. etc. The list could be extended in future if deemed necessary. I would be OK if some categories become a little broader so this list doesn't grow out of hand.

It would also include two generic types to "future-proof" this list. It will come in handy in case a trap is added that doesn't fit with the other predefined extended trap types:

• Liquid
• Trap

The extended trap type may also have an "unspecified" type (not sure if needed). If this is used, the game will pick a reasonable fallback for the tooltip.

I can provide you German translation, if needed.

[SimonN]

Ah, these extended trap types (water, lava, goo, tar) are a good idea. One of them can be really general (liquid). They're a one-time translation task, they'll only be relevant for tooltips, each trap definition can pick 0 or 1 of them, and the tree of trap tiles will be backwards-compatible (old Lix will ignore the new line in the trap definition). It all feels like the right compromise.

The tooltip already says "Water. Always deadly.", and the physical behavior is already clear from "Always deadly." We aren't going to lose any information by saying "Goo. Always deadly."