Yeah, I like pretty much everything E14 has to say, and I'm showing that to my guys so they can internalize it. Devour it. Turn it into gameplay. Thank you.
Thanks, it's always a pleasure to help Dejobaan :P
What is the lang term challenge with this game?
Apart from giving ranks, it's always kind of difficult to give long term-challenges for arcade-style games like this one. Maybe a system similar to the newest
Smash Bros. could work, without being too hard to implement? Think of lots of goals to accomplish: They don't need to make sense ("get a score that only uses a single number (7777777)", "flip off five people in one run", "open the parachute after five seconds of free flight", "Get all red colored bonuses", "hit the terrain five times or more without dying"... whatever), but make sure to include some that will be done sooner or later ("manage more than 100 points"). Each of these goals gets its own square in a large grid, and whenever one of those goals is accomplished, the player may see the criteria for the goals around it, so for these, he knows what to do. This way, he should be able to reach "special" goals (that you should color in a different way), and these are "important" goals that unlock new stuff. Plus, it's always kind of neat in SmashBros. to get a bonus for something totally unexpectedly
This doesn't sound TOO complicated to implement, and while sounding difficult, should actually be pretty easy to understand once you see it. I'm pretty sure "Kirby Air Ride" had a similar concept. Maybe it's worth a try?
Of course, challenge-modes and similar stuff might also work :P
Oh, and music-wise... it might be cool to not only change the pitch, but put it up in layers: You start with no music at all, then when you don't have that much speed you hear drums, later on basses gets added, and when you're close to dying, then the electric guitar highlights exactly that?
Or... not :P