Continue question after Game Over issue

Game Play & Game Design
#1

Hi,
I’m writing an Arcade game in Java and needs help with a small design issue.

When a player has lost all his/her life the player is given an option if he/she is willing to buy one more life for a credit.

The problem comes when there are more than one players and the questions are…

  1. When one of the players loses the last life. Should he/she get the continue-question directly after losing the life OR after the other players has lost their last life too?

  2. If the player gets the question directly after loosing his/her last life. Should it be that players turn again or should it be the next players turn?

#2

If we were to go by arcade standards:

  1. Immediately after he dies.
  2. If it’s a turn based game, then he should wait for the end of the other player’s turn. No reason to punish the second player because the first one died.

shmoove

#3

Are we talking about a cooperative or competitive game?

Coop:
Option 1

Competitive:
Option 3 - eliminate the player from the game entirely

'Course I should also say that I’m all for new game mechanics and ways of designing games. So option 2, or some other off-the-wall suggestion could be right for your game - depends a lot on what sort of game you’re making.

Could you explain more about your game, or do you have a website up about it?