Happy Halloween, everyone!  This year, I decided to go as someone who just finished his level.





Two years ago, on this date, I started work on what may be the single most ambitious project I've ever worked on.  Deep Freeze is a huge, difficult, and wholly unique Knytt Stories experience that pushes KS and KS+ to their limits in order to produce a wild variety of challenges and puzzles.  All these puzzles are based around one distinct idea that gets changed up constantly, keeping the focus tight while making every bit of gameplay feel fresh.  I'm hoping that it pushes players just hard enough to be totally engaging, but gives them plenty of time and space to cool down, with the help of a simple, muted aesthetic, and a relaxing soundtrack composed by yours truly.


I've spent hundreds of hours designing, playtesting, and creating assets (custom objects, music, tileset adjustments, the works) for this level, and I've spoken at length in the preview thread about all the thought that's gone into designing it.  At the end of it all, I had two goals: finish something big, and create something that my friends on and away from the forum would enjoy.  I've already completed one of those goals, and for the other, well... here's to that.  Enjoy.

Pump It!Chill Out (abbreviated as "Pump It" or just "PI!CO" 'cause I think that's pretty cute) is a collaborative effort between myself and Sergio Cornaga, created for the Knytt Swapsies event on Glorious Trainwrecks.  The level was started by him, and finished by me.  The concept behind its creation was to have a KS level that sort of played along with the music, which the PUMP IT side of things mostly accomplishes (although it got pretty difficult to control for at the end).  However, when I heard the track Sergio included to be played on the anti-Pump-It side, I got a totally different idea and decided to create a small, self-contained, non-linear series of very easy puzzles (since I more-or-less wanted this side to be the antithesis of its bombastic, harshly linear brother).  

The end result is that PI!CO plays like two entirely different levels, sitting right next to each other, sharing very little beyond their simplistic visual style.  It's a bit strange, but I'm really quite fond of the end result, and I hope you will be, too!



(...If you missed the download link, it's the image above.)

Deep underwater lies an abandoned structure, built to test a bizarre form of navigation.  The only living remnants are the creatures that eventually drove out all other life.  But... a lot of budget went into breeding those golden ones, so you should probably go get them.

Deep Freeze is the evolution of an idea I've been brewing in my head for a long while, a really neat idea that I discovered while experimenting with KS+.  It's a mixture of explorative, semi-linear gameplay with more strict challenge sections. The majority of the puzzles are made possible with this mechanic.  I'd like to keep it a surprise to anyone who would prefer not to be spoiled (because I think it's really cool, and I'm not sure I've seen anyone else do it, not even outside of Knytt Stories!), but if you're curious...


Deep Freeze uses a simplified version of Egomassive's submarine tileset, since I've never been too terribly comfortable managing a high level of detail in levels, and it'll include custom music by yours truly.  I'll probably need a playtester or two as well, so volunteers for that are welcome.

...Well, only if you want it to.  

"This Level Plays Itself!" is just what it says it is: a level that plays itself.  You have the option to play it yourself if you like (in which case you will be able to hear that version's pseudo-dynamic-music, as well as a slightly differently-tinted version of the level), but it can play itself just fine, too!  "How does it do this?" I hear you asking.  Well, I used the key press objects from Egomassive's Knytt Stories Plus mod!  Actually, I did a couple other things using that mod as well, so if you wanna' play the level, you'll have to get the latest version here!

...And then get the level here!


This was mostly an experimental level, which is why it's really lacking on the custom content front.  Even still, I've learned a lot about what I can do with KS+ just in doing this level.  It's a wonderfully neat mod and the vastly improved UI makes making levels much, much less tedious.  I've got a number of ideas that I could work with brewing in my head, so that'll probably be something I'll be working on.

And hey!  I finished a level (albeit a very, very short one)!  

Recently, I've been starting to work on a very long KS level that'll have a kajillion custom tilesets and a bunch of custom music and a ton of custom objects and all that jazz.  However, one day, as I was reading through the forums, I though, "You know, I would like to just create a short level."  I happened to be working on a random piece of music that I was writing for a rainy atmosphere, and I thought, "Hey, I like rainy atmospheres when they're paired with rainy music."  So I decided to make the atmosphere rainy.  Then I thought, "Hey, as long as I'm using certain atmospheres I like, why not make it so it's nighttime and grassy and all that?" Because I love grassy nighttime atmospheres.  So that's what I began to work on.

What it will have....

• 2, maybe 2-and-a-half, custom tilesets.
• A few custom objects here and there.
• 1 custom gradient.
• 11 endings.  Yes, eleven endings. Maybe one or two more, depending on the ideas I get while making this.  You'll have to play through the full level each time for each different ending (which will probably take 15 minutes on average per play-through, but I'm not sure on that).
• One custom song, that changes progressively as you advance through the level.

...And here's a screenshot.

Alright!  So, this is essentially my first Knytt Stories level - I got started on it about 2-3 years ago, and just recently gave up on finishing.  It does have a few interesting bits here and there, but it's not absolutely fantastic--I did enjoy playtesting some parts of it, though, and it can be fairly challenging in some parts.  I still REALLY need the feedback, especially criticism. I DID spend quite a bit of time on this, despite its short length.
DOWNLOAD LINK RIGHT HERE.  (It's 25 MB or so; mostly from the music.)
http://www.mediafire.com/?dj49bib9mc0x5kd
While playing this level, keep in mind that it is technically unfinished, and never will be.  I just need the feedback.
Features:
A little voice-acting from yours truly.
A cute little custom icon.  Okay, it's not cute, but still.
1 Custom gradient (but 3 or so different variations of said gradient)
3 (I think) unfinished custom tilesets.
No stock music (mostly music taken from games).
2 or so custom tunes, not of the best quality, but okay.
A completely unexpected cutoff in the middle of nowhere.  Sorry, I just wanted this thing out of my face so I could get some feedback on my level style.
An unfinished storyline that doesn't make any sense as is.

So, yeah, feedback would be very appreciated.  I'm beginning work on a new, much more well-planned Knytt Story.  Expect screenshots in the preview forum sometime soon.

EDIT:  Something I forgot to mention:  I AM aware that this level is extremely linear.  I tried to vary it in certain parts as much as I could.