Nifflas' Support Forum

Temporary => Knytt Stories Level Releases => Topic started by: Theoharis on October 06, 2009, 02:32:55

Title: [Medium/Misc/Hard] Vasilisa the Beautiful
Post by: Theoharis on October 06, 2009, 02:32:55
Hello, everyone!

Vasilisa the Beautiful is the first knytt story we have ever made, and we are eager to get feedback from you. So, here it is, you can download it here:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=A7MM2GGW (17.05 MB) [Updated link, May 2010: fixed some void screens (thank you, GrayFace), some graphics (thank you, yohji) and made it less sadistic at times :P]

"We" refers to myself and my girlfriend when we created Vasilisa, Susanna, our combined names of whom somehow make up the "Tsuzo" who is the creator of this level. She gets credit for concept and artwork, I get credit for the bad, cheesy jokes and the sadistic challenges...  :P2

A few words about the story... Vasilisa the Beautiful is a traditional Russian fairy-tale. Like most fairy-tales, it hides some deeper truths of life in its seemingly simplistic story. Vasilisa is a story of initiation, of maturation, and especially, of the attainment of womanhood.

With that in mind, we based this story loosely on Vasilisa's quest, as a framework on which to build. Of course it deviates vastly from the fairy-tale, to an extent because the level editor - although a masterly tool - would need 100 times more shifts and flags to help Juni find peas in wheat, as per the original story...

We should warn the hardcore knytters out there that we have used solely the custom default tilesets and music. I know that some people say they don't like to see those anymore, and that's a fair viewpoint. But what we essentially have created is a story, not a random walk in the woods where one finds power-ups and jumps over monsters without a purpose. It's the story that matters most, we think.

Also, since this is our first story, it is clear to us that the first parts we made are lacking very much in relation to the latter, as we learnt how to use the level editor in a more refined way. In any case, you can be the judge  :) Any feedback - on layout, problems, on the story itself etc. - is more than welcome!

We enjoyed very much creating Vasilisa, we hope you will enjoy playing it as much!



[Note: I edited out the 'custom tilesets' mistake in the original post, and I also uploaded the level once more, because I couldn't resist playing it again, only to find a void screen *sigh!* I also did two minor changes.. Sorry to those who have already downloaded it.]
Title: Re: [Medium/Misc/Hard] Vasilisa the Beautiful
Post by: Evil on October 06, 2009, 03:08:28
THIS IS THE MOST EPIC GAME I'VE PLAYED so far in my life

seriously, you should get like 10,0000000$ just for being so epic

and another 1000000000000000000$ for making this epic level >:0


I really loved the plot, and the graphics were beautiful.

I hope to see more of your levels in the future :)
Title: Re: [Medium/Misc/Hard] Vasilisa the Beautiful
Post by: Theoharis on October 06, 2009, 03:14:33
What?! You finished it so fast??? Damn, and I thought

Spoiler: (click to show/hide)

Thanks for your kind words, Evil, I really appreciate it...
Title: Re: [Medium/Misc/Hard] Vasilisa the Beautiful
Post by: Evil on October 06, 2009, 03:19:39
Quote from: Theoharis on October 06, 2009, 03:14:33
What?! You finished it so fast??? Damn, and I thought

Spoiler: (click to show/hide)

Thanks for your kind words, Evil, I really appreciate it...


The labbyrynth was easy :)

I just got a map from the thingy without looking at the individual screens, (that way it would FEEL like you're in  a labyrinth!)

(^lv editor&& playin it from my parents comp since i dont have paypal for virtualmod)
Title: Re: [Medium/Misc/Hard] Vasilisa the Beautiful
Post by: koromi on October 06, 2009, 03:30:35
Quote from: Theoharis on October 06, 2009, 02:32:55
We should warn the hardcore knytters out there that we have used solely the custom tilesets and music.

i think you mean default.
Title: Re: [Medium/Misc/Hard] Vasilisa the Beautiful
Post by: taolin on October 06, 2009, 03:39:08
i can't even get past the first part
it's like impossible or something i don't even know
Title: Re: [Medium/Misc/Hard] Vasilisa the Beautiful
Post by: Theoharis on October 06, 2009, 03:45:50
Quote from: koromi on October 06, 2009, 03:30:35
Quote from: Theoharis on October 06, 2009, 02:32:55
We should warn the hardcore knytters out there that we have used solely the custom tilesets and music.

i think you mean default.

Oops! Yes, indeed! Sorry about that!
Title: Re: [Medium/Misc/Hard] Vasilisa the Beautiful
Post by: lamarblake on October 06, 2009, 05:27:06
I can't get past the first part either. Maze is really confusing. I must say I really dislike playing levels with invisible walls, shifts, killzones or anything that relies on trickery. Besides, I found a wallswim in the invisible maze and got trapped in a tile in the area where the angel says youhou.

 Having levels with difficult mazes that you can SEE is one thing and levels with near impossilbe jumps I can accept but this is nutz.

Sorry, just how I feel. Too bad though as there seemed to be a very decent storyline going on there.

I'll leave this one for the truly diehard fans but it gets deleted in my collection.
Title: Re: [Medium/Misc/Hard] Vasilisa the Beautiful
Post by: yohji on October 06, 2009, 11:13:58
I was able to get through the Crystal Maze without much difficulty, by just running around aimlessly. However, it was very irritating... and then surprise, there's
Spoiler: (click to show/hide)
And worse, it actually
Spoiler: (click to show/hide)

ARGH! So I kind of quit after reaching Land's Edge, sorry :/ I got stuck there, too. Also, you should fix those background birds there, they're appearing over the foreground a lot.
Title: Re: [Medium/Misc/Hard] Vasilisa the Beautiful
Post by: Dataflashsabot on October 06, 2009, 12:30:08
~17MB is quite large for dial-up. I usually just ignore large levels and move on, but I'm curious- if everything's default, how come the filesize is large? Cutscenes maybe? Just curious :)
Title: Re: [Medium/Misc/Hard] Vasilisa the Beautiful
Post by: Theoharis on October 06, 2009, 15:50:00
Quote from: lamarblake on October 06, 2009, 05:27:06
Besides, I found a wallswim in the invisible maze and got trapped in a tile in the area where the angel says youhou.

Can you send a screenshot of where that is? I'll fix it...

Quote from: yohji on October 06, 2009, 11:13:58
[/spoiler]
And worse, it actually
Spoiler: (click to show/hide)

You're wrong there, Yojhi, you just didn't find it  ;)

Quote from: Dataflashsabot on October 06, 2009, 12:30:08
~17MB is quite large for dial-up. I usually just ignore large levels and move on, but I'm curious- if everything's default, how come the filesize is large? Cutscenes maybe? Just curious :)


Yes, there are quite few cutscenes, and I think this is what makes it large...


About the maze, we have been debating lots whether we should make it an invisible thing that's quite tricky. We decided to leave it this way. But if it discourages people from continuing to play, then perhaps we should modify it... I'll have a pow-wow about it today, and see...
Title: Re: [Medium/Misc/Hard] Vasilisa the Beautiful
Post by: yohji on October 06, 2009, 16:31:30
Quote from: Theoharis on October 06, 2009, 15:50:00
You're wrong there, Yojhi, you just didn't find it  ;)

Yeah, I've figured that out by now, but I'm too scared to go through that area again  :ohnoes:  :)
Title: Re: [Medium/Misc/Hard] Vasilisa the Beautiful
Post by: lamarblake on October 06, 2009, 16:42:48
  Re: [Medium/Misc/Hard] Vasilisa the Beautiful
? Reply #10 on: Today at 08:50:00 AM ?  

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Quote from: lamarblake on Yesterday at 10:27:06 PM
Besides, I found a wallswim in the invisible maze and got trapped in a tile in the area where the angel says youhou.

Can you send a screenshot of where that is? I'll fix it...

Theo....I could but like I said I uninstalled the level. If you rethink the maze I'll redownload and try and find the wallswim.   ;)  nudge,nudge.

Let me add something. It's not the difficulty per se when it comes to things like invisible mazes, it's the time spent. I play Knytt to relax and usually don't have a whole lot of time to give it so getting stuck in an area that is invisible can take too much time without any progress. But then that's me. Dont change this for just one or two people. Wait till you get more feedback.
Title: Re: [Medium/Misc/Hard] Vasilisa the Beautiful
Post by: Theoharis on October 06, 2009, 17:42:07
Nah, you're right, lamarblake... My gf has also been irritated lots from that maze - I guess I should have paid more heed to that.

So, in the original post is yet another updated version (in which the birds outside CandyLand have also been taken care of - thanks, Yojhi). I think with the changes made, the maze gets less of random (=irritating) part and something that now requires some brain usage...

Thanks for the comments, guys!  :^^:
Title: Re: [Medium/Misc/Hard] Vasilisa the Beautiful
Post by: theiza27 on October 07, 2009, 06:35:32
::sigh:: i can't even get to the red key :(

sheesh i didn't even know that jump was possible lolz

EDIT: ok i haven't finished it yet but i have to say that you really should fix that crystal vine thing that goes up towards the maze because its hard to climb and it usually always leads to a wall swim. ok thats it until i finish :)
Title: Re: [Medium/Misc/Hard] Vasilisa the Beautiful
Post by: Theoharis on October 07, 2009, 19:37:04
Quote from: theiza27 on October 07, 2009, 06:35:32
::sigh:: i can't even get to the red key :(

sheesh i didn't even know that jump was possible lolz

EDIT: ok i haven't finished it yet but i have to say that you really should fix that crystal vine thing that goes up towards the maze because its hard to climb and it usually always leads to a wall swim. ok thats it until i finish :)

Well, I know it's hard to climb the rope, but after all this is a hard level... Otherwise, Juni's initiation would be meaningless, now, wouldn't it?

It's the same thing with the red key: you thought it was impossible, but hey! see? everything is possible  :^^:

About the wall-swim there, it's actually a bit conscious... It makes Juni look as if she's climbing the rope, that's why we left it  :P2
Title: Re: [Medium/Misc/Hard] Vasilisa the Beautiful
Post by: Bored2death on October 08, 2009, 01:02:56
Could you upload JUST the map.bin from your world folder, so we don't have to redownload 17 MB?
Title: Re: [Medium/Misc/Hard] Vasilisa the Beautiful
Post by: Theoharis on October 08, 2009, 01:24:44
Sure! I didn't know I could do that  :)

Here goes: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=62IDEIU8
Title: Re: [Medium/Misc/Hard] Vasilisa the Beautiful
Post by: Bored2death on October 08, 2009, 01:27:45
Thanks!!!
Title: Re: [Medium/Misc/Hard] Vasilisa the Beautiful
Post by: ErSorro on October 08, 2009, 01:56:39
WoW!!
What a nice story we have here!!
It took me about 4 hours to finish the level, and I must say that I wanted it to be two times longer. I can see you spent so many time doing this because it's nearly perfect.
Some parts are really Very Hard, not Hard.
Congratulations for this fantastic job, really!
Title: Re: [Medium/Misc/Hard] Vasilisa the Beautiful
Post by: Theoharis on October 08, 2009, 02:02:42
Thanks, ErSorro, it really gives me pleasure to see that people enjoy the story! It was a wonderful journey making it, and it is awesome to see that it still continues...

You know, I've been thinking of quite a few additions that could have been made. Things that truly make up stories of initiation, such as ethical dilemmas etc. Perhaps in the future, at some point, I might sit down to realise them. But I think I'd need first to learn about using custom objects!  ;)
Title: Re: [Medium/Misc/Hard] Vasilisa the Beautiful
Post by: theiza27 on October 11, 2009, 06:03:37
i tend to play levels in bits and pieces so i forget things and lose my rhythm... but i got through the
Spoiler: (click to show/hide)
Title: Re: [Medium/Misc/Hard] Vasilisa the Beautiful
Post by: Theoharis on October 11, 2009, 06:06:51
Quote from: theiza27 on October 11, 2009, 06:03:37
i tend to play levels in bits and pieces so i forget things and lose my rhythm... but i got through the
Spoiler: (click to show/hide)

Remember
Spoiler: (click to show/hide)
Title: Re: [Medium/Misc/Hard] Vasilisa the Beautiful
Post by: theiza27 on October 11, 2009, 08:33:05
Quote

Remember
Spoiler: (click to show/hide)


sorry if i'm being slow... but wut do u mean by
Spoiler: (click to show/hide)
  O_o
Title: Re: [Medium/Misc/Hard] Vasilisa the Beautiful
Post by: Purple Pineapple on October 11, 2009, 09:09:52
Grrrr. This level really makes me hate fire shooting fires.
Title: Re: [Medium/Misc/Hard] Vasilisa the Beautiful
Post by: Theoharis on October 11, 2009, 17:52:05
Quote from: theiza27 on October 11, 2009, 08:33:05
Quote

Remember
Spoiler: (click to show/hide)


sorry if i'm being slow... but wut do u mean by
Spoiler: (click to show/hide)
  O_o

I mean that you need to
Spoiler: (click to show/hide)

Hope that helps!
Title: Re: [Medium/Misc/Hard] Vasilisa the Beautiful
Post by: theiza27 on October 11, 2009, 19:05:52
yes! it did! thank u :)
Title: Re: [Medium/Misc/Hard] Vasilisa the Beautiful
Post by: Evil on October 15, 2009, 12:48:23
Quote from: Bored2death on October 08, 2009, 01:02:56
Could you upload JUST the map.bin from your world folder, so we don't have to redownload 17 MB?

cheapos
Title: Re: [Medium/Misc/Hard] Vasilisa the Beautiful
Post by: T2000 on April 23, 2010, 00:12:40
Can someone re-upload this level? Original mediafire link is broken...
Title: Re: [Medium/Misc/Hard] Vasilisa the Beautiful
Post by: trilby93 on April 24, 2010, 21:54:23
Quote from: T2000 on April 23, 2010, 00:12:40
Can someone re-upload this level? Original mediafire link is broken...

Same here. :(
Title: Re: [Medium/Misc/Hard] Vasilisa the Beautiful
Post by: Purple Pineapple on April 25, 2010, 01:06:38
This is strange. I posted in the thread, so I must have downloaded it. If I downloaded it I almost definitely put it in my "KS bin files" folder, but I can't find it there. Ah well.
Title: Re: [Medium/Misc/Hard] Vasilisa the Beautiful
Post by: Theoharis on May 10, 2010, 20:47:40
Here it is, guys...

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=HETIK15Y

Any comments are more than welcome :)

Enjoy~
Title: Re: [Medium/Misc/Hard] Vasilisa the Beautiful
Post by: T2000 on May 10, 2010, 21:44:57
thanks for reply.
i download it right now!
Title: Re: [Medium/Misc/Hard] Vasilisa the Beautiful
Post by: Theoharis on May 10, 2010, 22:20:17
You're welcome :)
Title: Re: [Medium/Misc/Hard] Vasilisa the Beautiful
Post by: trilby93 on May 11, 2010, 00:29:33
THANK YOU!

A million smiley faces to you.
Title: Re: [Medium/Misc/Hard] Vasilisa the Beautiful
Post by: GrayFace on May 19, 2010, 10:24:26
I don't see a point in making a level where you have to use the editor. First, to find out that there is a maze, second, to find the way through the maze, third, to find what to do with candy factory. That's how far I've got.
Title: Re: [Medium/Misc/Hard] Vasilisa the Beautiful
Post by: Theoharis on May 19, 2010, 13:36:07
Thank your for the feedback, GrayFace.

Yes, I agree: the first maze has been irritating for many people. But I believe it got better because there is now a pretty straightforward hint to do it easily, I think... Just follow what the sprite says.

The CandyLand has a trick, indeed, and I know it's easy to be fooled and have to go all over it again. But, I thought it's not too hard to reach the end again, and then perhaps the fact that

Spoiler: (click to show/hide)

might make you think about it again...

I don't think there's any more "glitches" like this that would require you to use the level editor again. But if you continue to play and you do come across something, let me know.
Title: Re: [Medium/Misc/Hard] Vasilisa the Beautiful
Post by: grimwit on May 19, 2010, 16:25:40
Um...Yeah, I'm stuck from the very beginning.  Maybe I need better Juni-Skillz, but I can't even get the red key.
Title: Re: [Medium/Misc/Hard] Vasilisa the Beautiful
Post by: Theoharis on May 19, 2010, 17:35:35
Yes, that needs some skills... At some points, the level is actually not simply hard, but very hard, as people have pointed out.

Well, more fulfillment when you finally reach that red key! :)
Title: Re: [Medium/Misc/Hard] Vasilisa the Beautiful
Post by: GrayFace on May 20, 2010, 15:01:13
Quote from: Theoharis on May 19, 2010, 13:36:07
Yes, I agree: the first maze has been irritating for many people. But I believe it got better because there is now a pretty straightforward hint to do it easily, I think... Just follow what the sprite says.
Well, since the whole place with the maze is built of crystal, the hint didn't help me.
Spoiler: (click to show/hide)

And thank you for the level, the rest of it went nice!
Title: Re: [Medium/Misc/Hard] Vasilisa the Beautiful
Post by: Theoharis on May 20, 2010, 15:38:54
Thanks, GrayFace!

I've fixed the void screens. Also

Spoiler: (click to show/hide)

I've uploaded the new version, the link is on the first page.

Thanks again!


(Edited out the link and put it on the first post, and also my question on whether it's customary to put links again. Thanks for the help, GrayFace)
Title: Re: [Medium/Misc/Hard] Vasilisa the Beautiful
Post by: egomassive on May 21, 2010, 00:46:17
It is customary to post links to new versions of your level, but you should always update the link in your original post. You should also make a note in the first post stating when and why you edited it. In fact, it's better if that's the only link in the topic. I almost downloaded an old version when a newer version was available.

I'm downloading now. Thanks.
Title: Re: [Medium/Misc/Hard] Vasilisa the Beautiful
Post by: ElMirador on May 21, 2010, 03:29:59
Stuck at CandyLand too.
seems I havn't got something clear...

okay let's try again.
Title: Re: [Medium/Misc/Hard] Vasilisa the Beautiful
Post by: Deformed Knee on May 21, 2010, 19:34:54
 :/ I didn't really like this level too much - no custom music, and en plus, i got stuck inside a tiny square in the labyrinth due to wallswim and if you die you have to go back to start...
Title: Re: [Medium/Misc/Hard] Vasilisa the Beautiful
Post by: Theoharis on May 21, 2010, 19:42:52
Can you give me a screenshot of that, Knee? Thanks.