Nifflas' Support Forum

Temporary => Knytt Stories Level Releases => Topic started by: David C on August 30, 2015, 21:22:24

Title: [Challenge/Environmental][Easy/Medium] Juni's Life
Post by: David C on August 30, 2015, 21:22:24

Another little level, i had less of a clear feeling about this one, but i still liked it.
Original version: http://knyttlevels.com/levels/david%20-%20Juni%27s%20Life.knytt.bin
version 2: http://knyttlevels.com/levels/david%20-%20Juni%27s%20Life%20v2.knytt.bin

Music taken from brainwaltzera's soundcloud page: https://soundcloud.com/brainwaltzera/8-vertical-spacebar-ruff-aft_live_fastmix

Title: Re: [Challenge/Environmental][Easy/Medium] Juni's Life
Post by: pfrangip on August 31, 2015, 00:24:25

Another interesting little dadaist adventure from david.    >)

I must say, this is a marked improvement over your last one. Its got some structure, some challenges, the various comments were interesting and/or funny, and I liked the music. I enjoyed this.  C)

Spoiler: technical difficulties (click to show/hide)

Unfortunately, there were a few "technical difficulties" I encountered. None were enough to inhibit my enjoyment of the level... you might consider turning some of the voids into secret areas for us more curious explorers.  :)

• Wallswim between x998y1002,x999y1002
• Wallswim between x999y1000,x999y999
• Void reachable at x996y1001 from x996,y1002
• Two voids reachable from the hut at x995y1005. Did you mean to make the right and left walls solid?
• Void reachable at x1002y999 from below, by jumping over the WIN blocks and scaling the wall.
• The player begins with the high jump, but I noticed there's a high jump at x1001,y1001.
• Putting the save next to the climb powerup (under the spikes) means a careless player could enter an irrecoverable cycle of death that they can't escape from without exiting to the menu and restarting the level entirely. Probably okay for a small level like this, just pointing it out.

Title: Re: [Challenge/Environmental][Easy/Medium] Juni's Life
Post by: David C on August 31, 2015, 04:42:31

ah, i didn't mean for the player to start out with the high jump. i think i fixed all the stuff and added in a bit more. I might've missed something, but i don't think i'll make more changes. Here is the redone version : http://knyttlevels.com/levels/david%20-%20Juni%27s%20Life%20v2.knytt.bin Also, i forgot to put the source to the music, it definitely isn't mine, and i don't want to get in the habit of not crediting people whose things i've used. i'll put it at the top.

Title: Re: [Challenge/Environmental][Easy/Medium] Juni's Life
Post by: Fubaka on August 31, 2015, 06:04:35

Quote from: David C on August 31, 2015, 04:42:31

ah, i didn't mean for the player to start out with the high jump. i think i fixed all the stuff and added in a bit more. I might've missed something, but i don't think i'll make more changes. Here is the redone version : http://knyttlevels.com/levels/david%20-%20Juni%27s%20Life%20v2.knytt.bin Also, i forgot to put the source to the music, it definitely isn't mine, and i don't want to get in the habit of not crediting people whose things i've used. i'll put it at the top.

I downloaded and played the fixed version you posted here. Unfortunately, there are a good many more technical flubs I found. To help you out on future level design, I'll post them here for you.

Spoiler: List of flubs (click to show/hide)

• On the very first screen, the text that the girl says to you moves as you do. This is not a major flub, but it is a sign of amateurism. Allow me to demonstrate how to make that not happen using visual cues from the editor:
  
  (http://orig14.deviantart.net/8f77/f/2015/242/b/a/sign_example_by_blahson256-d97tp82.jpg)
• In general, you should avoid making areas in your level where you are forced to commit suicide if you fall into them. This is not a hard rule, and I can forgive you if you break it, but you should at least make it clear that if you end up in such a place, the level tells you one way or the other that you have to suicide.
• In the house interior area, at x995y1001, neither of the walls are actually walls. It is possible to jump out of the screen and end up in Voids and/or wallswims on either side.
• At x999y1001, where you get the Climb powerup, there is a save point in the midst of some retracting spikes. This is one of my Knytt Stories cardinal sins. Should a player accidentally or intentionally save there, then die, they will have to keep dying over and over until they restart the level, or just get tired and quit. In general, it is not a good idea to place a save point in a place that is inescapable, even if it's obvious.
• The music you used does not appear to have been extracted properly. It breaks at certain intervals. Try to control the quality of your music imports, and if you can't do that, ask one of us and we can help you. (I have music editing software that could do the trick)
• There are a number of screens where climbing the walls leads to wallswims. (one at x998y1001, another at x999y1000) Make sure you always catch places where you forgot to make the walls transition properly.
• In general, the walls and background objects do not mesh well between screens. Some designers do this deliberately to create a glitchy feeling, but unless that is your goal, try to make things consistent. Ego's KS+ Editor can help you in this regard.
• The bouncer at x1002y999 glitches through the ceiling and creates an awful noise. I suspect you left it like that on purpose, but it still was a bit grating. Not to mention the fact that climbing higher leads to a Void.
• At x996y1001, the cliff is actually possible to jump up with the powerups you gave the player. It's hard to do, but still possible. Making it impossible is just a matter of making the cliff edge one block longer.

That is my report. I hope you will find it useful.

Otherwise, I think your level is interesting. I liked the dialogue, and I think you could have a bright future in this if you keep at it.

Title: Re: [Challenge/Environmental][Easy/Medium] Juni's Life
Post by: Vegetal Gibber on August 31, 2015, 15:03:33

That was short but entertaining. I liked the dialogue and the "cheesy" (literally) look of the scenario :P

In addition to everything that pfrangip and Fubaka said, I'd like to offer a few tips about descriptive tags for your future levels:

• Leaving the tags blank in the World.ini file makes it cumbersome to find your level in the list of when you have a big amount of levels installed, because you can't use filters to narrow the search.
• The categories you put in the thread title don't describe this level well enough in my opinion. An Environmental level has, by definition, a heavy focus on ambience and visuals. While it doesn't look bad, I think your level doesn't feature the usual detailed backgrounds and structure a typical Environmental level does. Just "Challenge" would be much more accurate.
• Also, I think the specified size should be Small instead of Medium, as the game can be completed in just a few minutes.

Title: Re: [Challenge/Environmental][Easy/Medium] Juni's Life
Post by: David C on August 31, 2015, 16:02:13

yeah, i meant small to medium difficulty, i got confused with these tags. i'd definitely make sure not to have possible traps in future levels, because that happened to me with a part of azure serenity where i think i was supposed to have an umbrella, but i could get there anyway. Tags would be nice to include as well. I wasn't aware of the sign area feature, thanks for the tip, and thanks for all the tips in general