Nifflas' Support Forum
Level Editing Support => Knytt Stories Level Previews => Topic started by: Yonowaaru on June 18, 2010, 20:48:45
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Well, this is my newest project.
Many of you will probably not have heard of me, my last project was Mount Ignis, which was never finished, but you can download the last version I made on Knyttlevels.
So, about this project.
If you've played Mount Ignis, you'll know what my style for creating KS levels looks like.
This level is no exception. It features all kinds of overlapping tiles, as you'll see in the screenshot below.
Tilesets used right now are:
- "Nowhere" by Richard "Arcturus" Dunn
- "Spooky forest" by the Almighty one himself, Nifflas ;)
-"Poisonous Forest", also by Him.
-"ORTOFAKTOR by Simon Jonsson
-"Technology of the ancients" by Markham Carroll
-"Furniture madness" by Paula
-"Ruined church" by BlackM.1
-"Underwater Ruins" by Zenth (or is it 2enth?)
The story so far is simple.
Juni has always lived in this dusky town, in her house, never leaving, looking outside the window and seeing the town,always plagued by fog. One day, she decided to explore outside, to see what lied beyond her own home.
Any comments so far?
Btw, screen count: 35.
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Looks cool. That screenshot actually manages to make that very well-known tileset feel fresh.
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cool screen.
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Thanks! I'm working on this right now, thought I'd show another screen for the few people left here. (There were a lot more, but it's quieted a bit and still is)
So, the screen. It's a screen of the sewers under the town, which use the same tileset still. Dunno what else to say, really.
Any criticism? Comments? Anything?
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It's a bit busy..
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I guess so? Though, that's my way of making levels, I guess.
Is it really too crowded, or is it doable?
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I like these screenshots and the idea. Some of the trees in the first one look a bit off (e.g. there's a tree that looks as if it is growing out of a bridge, which isn't possible)... it's also a bit odd that those waterfalls are flooding the building beneath. (Or can we enter the building and see how much water there is? That would be awesome!) Anyway, it would be nice to see a large town that looks like this, a maze of passages and stuff.
By the way, I haven't played Mount Ignis, sorry, so maybe my criticisms are misplaced. I myself always used tilesets in all kinds of ways, so eh. Also, I don't think the second screen is too crowded.
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Re: visual crowdedness. IMO, this is not a problem for a level that, after all, is supposed to depict a city. Cities do have a tendency to feel visually crowded, after all - the older, the more so. To me, this adds to the sense of a place that's been built over a long space of time, with no big, overarching plan or design. And so far, the screenshots don't look as if you can't tell what's solid and what's background.
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The tree thing was changed, when I saw it, I realized it didnīt make sense.
The waterfalls are falling into drains which you can kinda see behind where they hit the ground. You will be able to enter houses, just havenīt really made screens for that purpose, I guess.
The main look of this world is indeed basically like a whole lot of stuff thatīs built on top of each other. Good to see people donīt think itīs too cluttered.
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Hmm, can you doublepost here after 24 hours? If not, sorry, I'm used to that through other forums :shifty:
Well yeah, another screen.
Main question here is if it clashes too much.
Thanks in advance ;)
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You may want to take screenshots of these in the level editor's preview mode. That way you can get rid of the editing square.
Looks good nonetheless. :D That new screen doesn't really seem to be clashing too badly, although the blue block and lower red sections look slightly out of place to me.
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Yeah, the screens near that are somewhat of a lab kinda thing, I guess I wanted to show that there's a new area near. Also, I'm just lazy in taking them straight from the editor >), I'll perhaps do it another way...
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Second screen the critters can walk out in the air.
Third screen the red tiles doesn't fit in at all.
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Well, I already thought so on clashing. Oh well, time to find myself a better tileset :D
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I don't care for the pillars showing from behind the crumbling walls. The pillars' higher level of detail suggest they're closer than the wall, especially with the black outlines.
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You mean you don't like it? (Care =/= like, don't you know)
I guess that's true. Though, it's a game, normal sense doesn't really always exist.
I already worked all those things, I'm not gonna change it, sorry.
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I guess that's true. Though, it's a game, normal sense doesn't really always exist.
That feels more like a cop-out than a real argument. It doesn't look like the pillars are behind the wall, because the wall looks like it's further away in the background. It doesn't matter that it's a game, because it still looks weird.
I already worked all those things, I'm not gonna change it, sorry.
Oh come on.
It takes about 20 seconds to change that. Even if you had made as many as 50 screens with broken pillars, it would still only have taken you around 15 minutes to fix it all.
With 19 screens, you are only looking at 6 minutes of work.
I think you should try to make your level look as good as possible. Don't get scared by 6 minutes of simple tile work.
That said, I like how you used the ground tiles. Keep it up.
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Strangely in the 2nd screen pic, the pillars behind the wall don't bother me, but there is too much wall in front of the pillars in the 3rd screen pic. You might also simply consider either having a modified tileset that has a more realistic brick wall, or a less realistic pillar. Either way, I actually do like the effect in the 2nd screen pic. It WOULD suggest an interesting depth of space if it wasn't for the clash of details.
And I have to agree that "it's a game" is a really bad argument. If that where true we would all still be playing pong.
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It's a figure of speech. "I don't care for," means, "I don't like," but it signifies a smaller level of dislike than simply saying, "I don't like." It's my fault for using figures of speech on an international forum.
As for the pillars, it's not a major problem. I only noticed because I was looking at it critically. My first impression was, "This looks good!" I think Arcturus made the pillars wrong. They shouldn't have that black outline indicating contact layer. Maybe that's what he intended as a tileset designer, but from a level designer's perspective it makes them hard to use well. The way you're using them shows that they are in arguably in the background, which is a good thing. If you like it then you should leave it.
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I like the pillars and the bricks. It looks weird, but cool. I honestly do think the red blocks in the third screenshot look terrible though. I really like the design of the city especially in the first screenshot - it looks like it started out as a small town and as more people moved in over decades and decades, they just kept building on top of other buildings until it became this unorganized jumble of bricks. Maybe towards the center of the city you could have older-looking structures, and as you move outward the buildings become more and more modern, to play on that idea.
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Yeah, bit weird to get such a lot of reaction while I'm not really working on this.
It's vacation though, so I'll have time to work on it, I guess. The red thing will be replaced, I'll see what I'm gonna change it to later. Thanks for all the comments, btw :)
Uh, yeah, on this PC (my own PC has broken down itself) the mouse does not like KS or KS editor, so it'll take a while before I'll work on it again....
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By the way
I like you crowded style... its different ;)
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Thanks!
My PC is up and running again, expect some screenshots later today/tomorrow.
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Working right now on the insides of some houses, but tomorrow we're leaving for vacation! So, as a parting gift, I give you this screenshot of the next area, Amber Grove.
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Whooo That's nice :)
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I love it so far, the first few screenshots made it feel kinda mysterious if you know what i mean, and amber grove looks great, maybe put some stars?
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Second screen the critters can walk out in the air.
Third screen the red tiles doesn't fit in at all.
it depends. if there is a red section underneath i could see it fitting in well.
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Hey I like you :)
Finish your level :)
That would be very ok :)
Thank you :)
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I really like Amber Grove!
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Thanks for all the nice comments!
I do intend to finish this, though I haven't really worked on this because I've just returned from a holiday in Normandy :shifty:
Stars would work, I guess?
The BG used isn't final, it could be lighter or I could add stars.
I'll see later, bit tired now.
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Well, time for some testing!
It's not much though, only like 35 screens right now, but I don't really like giving out screenshots too much and I kinda like having opinions on screens I haven't posted.
Though, most are pretty generic.
Oh well. Place a comment if you'd like to test.
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I think that would be fun. I haven't really had the chance to test a level yet. Give me a pm with the link if you would be so kind.
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I love how you made it look so.. crowded yet beautiful.. Not crowded, just.. Full :D
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K, 42 screens right now, though not a whole lot of Amber Grove, mostly the top of the Dusk Town. I made a little music track (I don't wanna call it that, it's just a few notes that together sound ominous. It's my first track, beta-testers will get to hear it first, so if you wanna listen, become a tester :D.
Headgrinder isn't finished yet, so any more betatesters?
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K then, headgrinder's finished his testings, he found a few wallswims which are now fixed.
Also, I need someone's opinion on the next screen.
I think the background is a bit too cluttered, but what do you guys think?
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I don't personally. In fact, it is good to see your going in another direction.
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I wouldn't mind being a tester. I would like to try it at least once... might as well be this level.
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Not too cluttered per se, IMO, but it looks a bit as if the background doesn't belong to quite the same world as the foreground. Don't know if that's the effect you were going for.
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I understand..
I was gonna change it a little anyhow, so now I have an idea of what to change.
Now working on the Underwater Labyrinth area, which is located under amber grove.
Some time ago, fission tests were done here, but for some reason, it was abandoned.
I'm not gonna give any screens, just because ;)
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So, new area: Golden Sanctum, using Oft's Desert Temple tileset.
Thought I'd give out a screen just to show how it's coming along.
Btw, screen count: 74
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everybody that are regulars of Niffchat (http://niffchat.greywool.com/) know that i'm beta-testing this level.
btw, yonowaaru, there is a modify post button, so you didnt have to double-post.
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Yeah, but that doesn't shove up the thread does it?
Oh well. Also, any criticism?
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the screen looks cool, can you gimme a link so i can see if there are any bugs?
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BETA ALERT!
Yeah, just thought I'd give out a beta because I'm not working on this a lot.
Have fun:
http://www.mediafire.com/?2n7gx2623sv5vhd (http://www.mediafire.com/?2n7gx2623sv5vhd)
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AND download.
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Hi.. Uh, you probably won't remember me :P, I just kinda left a few months ago.
Though now I'm back, and working on it again. I'm now working on the Aurean Tower, which means (if you know Latin) Tower of Gold, though Aurean sounds a bit more fancy :P. The beta is still pretty recent (I've only made about 3, 4 more screens since I started working again) So, if you wanna play the beta and tell me what you think, that'd be great!
(For the record, there's actually a beta on the page before this)
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I'd like to beta-test!
Yeah, "Aurum" is better word than "Gold" or "Zlato" in Czech!