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Temporary => Knytt Stories Level Releases => Topic started by: ozz on September 06, 2010, 16:25:21

Title: [Challenge - Normal] Realms of the Pharaoh
Post by: ozz on September 06, 2010, 16:25:21

After a few months trawling through the Knytt worlds, I found that I'd run out of levels to play. The solution: whip up something myself!

The result is my first level, called Realms of the Pharaoh. My main aim with the project was to create a level that isn't geared towards hardcore players - it does get tricky at points, but (I hope) it stays at a degree of challenge that's achievable for everyone. It also features 100% original background graphics.

Comments and suggestions most welcome. I hope that you all enjoy it, as much as I've enjoyed playing your levels. Thanks!

Download: http://knyttlevels.com/levels/ozz%20-%20Realms%20of%20the%20Pharaoh%20v1.1.knytt.bin
Slight update: v1.1 makes it possible to return from the underworld, tones down difficulty in a few sections, and fixes a couple of graphical glitches.

Title: Re: [Challenge - Normal] Realms of the Pharaoh
Post by: yohji on September 06, 2010, 20:01:21

This was incredible! Beautiful tilesets, terrific area design, everything was just wonderful. I enjoyed playing this very, very much. Thanks for making it! Just a couple of comments:

Spoiler: (click to show/hide)

That last jump in the tunnel that leads to the afterworld ending... that was so hard. Very unlike the rest of the game; I realize it's probably meant to be a secret ending, but still. Also, that same tunnel, there's a potential wallswim when going from x1019y1008 to x1020y1008 (the platform in the latter screen doesn't have a continuation in the former). And finally, I thought it was very atmospheric to have those black critters and ice blocking the passage to the afterworld ending, but a bit cruel - to someone like me who realized they missed the real world ending and had to replay the entire level to get it. But I'm not sure how to fix that; so I guess leave everything as it is.

Again, really enjoyed playing this, and hope to see more levels by you.

Title: Re: [Challenge - Normal] Realms of the Pharaoh
Post by: lamarblake on September 06, 2010, 21:43:58

One word. Awesome.

Original background graphics fit KS so well.

Great game play. You're right, just tricky enough to make it thoroughly enjoyable even for the most hardcore KS gamers.

This is the kind of level that now comes few and far between.

Hopefully you'll make more!  :)

Title: Re: [Challenge - Normal] Realms of the Pharaoh
Post by: ozz on September 07, 2010, 09:51:44

Thanks! I had a good time putting it together so I'm glad ya'll like it too.

Yohji:

Spoiler: (click to show/hide)

Cheers for the feedback. I was a bit dicey about whether to make the tunnel a tad easier - like you said, my intention was to make it a secret ending, thus slightly more difficult to get to. But if you had trouble with it then that tells me I went a bit too far - I'll redo it slightly, making it possible to go back up the shaft and get the real world ending at least. Will redo that wallswim too.

Title: Re: [Challenge - Normal] Realms of the Pharaoh
Post by: Enavesca on September 07, 2010, 12:23:16

Just awesome. Tricky but not impossible puzzles, marvelous designs  :D...I always searched a perfect egyptian-themed KS level and yours is it  ;)

Title: Re: [Challenge - Normal] Realms of the Pharaoh
Post by: rrc2soft on September 07, 2010, 16:49:16

Short and veeery good. Great tilesets, great level!

Title: Re: [Challenge - Normal] Realms of the Pharaoh
Post by: indemand on September 07, 2010, 23:27:43

Amazing level! And it's your first one too. I enjoyed it a lot. How long dis it take you? I'm planning a level and want to know how about how long it takes so I can plan it.

Title: Re: [Challenge - Normal] Realms of the Pharaoh
Post by: ortoslon on September 08, 2010, 04:02:04

playthrough (afterworld ending) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUDqb3MBeDI

Title: Re: [Challenge - Normal] Realms of the Pharaoh
Post by: ozz on September 08, 2010, 09:28:16

Thanks for the feedback all (and the vid, ortoslon - interesting to see someone else play through!).

indemand: It took about 20 hours (or thereabouts) to make the level, from planning stage to upload stage. The graphics were definitely the most time-consuming part, and I think you could make a level this size with non-custom graphs in a quarter of the time.

Title: Re: [Challenge - Normal] Realms of the Pharaoh
Post by: Morendo on September 08, 2010, 20:46:29

Excellent level. I enjoyed the look and feel of it greatly.

Title: Re: [Challenge - Normal] Realms of the Pharaoh
Post by: egomassive on September 10, 2010, 01:26:38

Nice level. The graphics were great. The layout was complex, but never so much that I got lost. The difficulty was pretty even throughout. I'm mostly impressed that it only took you 20 hours to make it, graphics included!

I did notice a graphic error that becomes a level error. On screen x1008y999 Juni can stand in the air. It's due to some extra pixels on tileset 252 above the statue's knee.

Title: Re: [Challenge - Normal] Realms of the Pharaoh
Post by: Gorfinhofin on September 10, 2010, 03:07:31

Pretty good level. I noticed a small bug too. I don't remember on which screen, but in one spot where there's ice on the wall, you can get behind the ice and be sort of inside the wall, you know? I prescribe a small dose of invisible blocks.

Title: Re: [Challenge - Normal] Realms of the Pharaoh
Post by: egomassive on September 20, 2010, 11:15:19

I looked at your level again. The effect you used with the ghost walls is brilliant. Was it your idea? I'm definitely going to use that with my ghost walls from now on.

Title: Re: [Challenge - Normal] Realms of the Pharaoh
Post by: rivenwanderer on September 21, 2010, 02:33:21

Lovely level!  I should figure out how to get the other ending now...

Title: Re: [Challenge - Normal] Realms of the Pharaoh
Post by: ozz on September 21, 2010, 09:34:30

Thanks for the feedback all. And a tip of the hat to you, egomassive - A Knytt in Time and Shipwrecked were two of the games that inspired me to get cracking on level making. So thanks!

The ghost blocks I had seen before somewhere, but in that case they fully obscured the player. I initially made a kind of transperant pixel net over mine to make them see-though, but that ended up looking a bit clumsy so I just adjusted the transperancy in Photoshop. A bit time consuming but it was the effect I was after, and ya can't argue with results!

Oh, and rivenwanderer - check out the last minute or so of ortoslon's video to see how to get the alternate ending. You can find it at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUDqb3MBeDI

Title: Re: [Challenge - Normal] Realms of the Pharaoh
Post by: Talps on September 21, 2010, 14:31:46

A really brilliant looking level! I especially liked the hall with all the forward-facing statues. I really felt the grandeur of the area.

It was really good; the puzzles were well balanced with nothing standing out as being overly frustrating.

My only gripe would be the cutscenes were all rather lacklustre; they were nothing special. They could really have built up the level and made it brilliant, but they just flopped. What with the quality of the rest of the level, the cutscenes detracted a lot from the otherwise very slick design.

Title: Re: [Challenge - Normal] Realms of the Pharaoh
Post by: egomassive on September 22, 2010, 05:54:20

@Ozz: Now that I think about it, Bligglenuber's Deserted Rustyard used a similar transparency effect on certain passages, but it wasn't coupled with the ghost wall. The way you used it gives the impression that Juni is semi-transparent rather than the wall.

And thanks. Strengthening the KS community was part of the reason I made Shipwrecked. Glad to hear it helped bring about a quality level like Realms of the Pharaoh.

Title: Re: [Challenge - Normal] Realms of the Pharaoh
Post by: SecretGlitch on September 25, 2010, 20:18:22

Wow, these are mighty impressive tiles. Great job!

Title: Re: [Challenge - Normal] Realms of the Pharaoh
Post by: Grookie on September 26, 2010, 21:21:35

It is just awesome!

(envies and doesn't understand, how the first level can be good like this!)

The tilesets are just amazing (I think that it is something with pixel-art), they look like real walls and the Pharaohs and Beast-Gods look like they're alive.

The story is very interesting, that there are two worlds of ancient Egypt, including pyramids, and Juni will join the Pharaoh. (the player have got "feeling of mystic mystery")

Dividing the level in two parts (I mean this world and afterworld, of course) is something special in KS level creation, I think. Now, and the after-future, hmm...

VERY GOOD WORK!!!

Title: Re: [Challenge - Normal] Realms of the Pharaoh
Post by: ozz on September 27, 2010, 11:07:12

Talps: Thanks. I'm with you on the cutscenes comment - they were a last minute addition. I had originally planned to hand draw the opening and ending scenes, but in the end decided that I wanted to keep the cutscenes in the graphical style of the level. I would have preferred to actually incorporate them into the level - ie, you get to play through the endings - but that seemed like a bit too much of an effort at the time! In my next level I'm experimenting with this 'no cut scene' idea though.

green.cookie: Thanks very much. Funnily enough, my original idea for the level was to add a third 'realm' - the 'before-life' (to contrast the after-life), where you'd get to wander through the pyramid when it was inhabited thousands of years ago. But I couldn't think of a way to make this section interesting or add to the level! So I kept it to two realms.

And once again, thanks everyone for your comments. Keep em coming!

Title: Re: [Challenge - Normal] Realms of the Pharaoh
Post by: TheYeIIowDucK on September 27, 2010, 16:13:43

Just a quick question:
May i use your tileset a base to mine? I'm not saying i will use yours, i just need a good brick texture to start with.

Title: Re: [Challenge - Normal] Realms of the Pharaoh
Post by: ozz on September 30, 2010, 17:33:01

Sure thing, use away.

Title: Re: [Challenge - Normal] Realms of the Pharaoh
Post by: PONTO on November 17, 2010, 23:34:20

Just beaten this level and I enjoyed it a lot. It's really nice to find such well-polished levels. At first I got the "easy" end but for the style of the cutscene I figured there would have to be another one, and I kept on searching even though I did not have the detector. I ended up getting to the other end, though, even without the green light cues.

Again, nicely done. One of my favourites.

Title: Re: [Challenge - Normal] Realms of the Pharaoh
Post by: Marach on March 11, 2011, 21:19:36

Amazing level, liked every second of it.
There's a wallswim x1019y1005 -> x1019y1004 and you can climb behind the ice on x1009y996.

Title: Re: [Challenge - Normal] Realms of the Pharaoh
Post by: Jerom on July 24, 2011, 22:14:12

Excellent level, from the beginning to the end!
Great graphics (the statues of the crocodile-god Sebek are very well done).

(there is another playthrough http://youtu.be/5XhTp5Xj_a4)

Title: Re: [Challenge - Normal] Realms of the Pharaoh
Post by: the Jack on August 03, 2014, 02:15:03

===     S U P E R   N E C R O   P O S T     ===

I know ozz (the level's designer) hasn't been around in years, and probably everyone else who is still around already played this level years ago. But I just found it, and just finished playing it, and wow, it is awesome. I thought for awhile it would be too hard for me, but only the more difficult ending was beyond my abilities. Satisfying, creative, visually stunning, mostly fair in its challenges... well, if nothing else, I suspect this level is worth a replay, if I am the only one who didn't play it back when it was released.

Seems like a shame ozz didn't stick around / come back, too, if this was a first-level example of what he(?) could do!

Title: Re: [Challenge - Normal] Realms of the Pharaoh
Post by: Talps on August 04, 2014, 14:29:11

Thanks for inspiring me to play this again :P. Great level. Though I did find a massive wallswim this time round.

Title: Re: [Challenge - Normal] Realms of the Pharaoh
Post by: pfrangip on September 05, 2014, 02:22:14

I like Necro posts like this because they show me more levels to play. (someone who didn't start playing KS until at least 2011 or so).

I've gone through every "Favorite levels?" "Best Level Ever?" thread and I still don't come across half of the gems like this still out there.

My four-year-later review is that this level is gorgeous, and I love the atmosphere. The fact that the baddies and the music are included only in the Afterlife was a nice touch... makes it seem more surreal, and makes the "real" world seem more "real."

Title: Re: [Challenge - Normal] Realms of the Pharaoh
Post by: sergiocornaga on September 05, 2014, 06:06:23

This level did show up one of ortoslon's lists (http://www.tigsource.com/tag/knyttstories/), which are worth a read if you've never encountered them.

Title: Re: [Challenge - Normal] Realms of the Pharaoh
Post by: Kira on March 29, 2015, 21:34:22

One of the best !