She awakens to the plea of a machine. It's dying. Take a key. Turn on a sub-machine. Repeat. Sounds simple enough.
Originally created for a level competition on these forums, this level resurrects the four keys for four challenges of increasing difficulty recipe. Only now, it's seasoned with seamlessly integrated custom objects and original graphics. Served with a side of original music by our own Ultigonio.
Download The Dying Core (http://egomassive.com/temp/egomassive-TheDyingCore1.1.knytt.bin) 7.8 MB
Credits:
Level and Graphics: egomassive
Music: Ultigonio
Modeling: egomassive's sister
Testing: Talps, SergioCornaga, GrayFace, Chath
Knytt Stories: Nifflas
Inspirations:
Graphics: Nifflas - An Underwater Adventure
Graphics: Markham Caroll - Ancient Technology tileset
Gameplay: Fredulom - Chamber of Trials
Settings and Dialogue: A mesh of too many experiences to pinpoint specific influences.
Elemental Themes: Various philosophies predating atomic theory (and jrpgs)
All tilesets and gradients included can be used for Knytt Stories levels in any way. Ask Ultigonio for music usage permission, I'm cool with whatever he says. The cutscene images may not be used for any purposes other than those outlined by "fair use" laws; and No, you can't have my sister's Facebook address.
Edit: 8Jan2012: Version 1.1 released. Adjusted music volume, corrected spelling and some minor design changes.
If there's one thing I particularly enjoyed about this level when you first released it, it was the level design. Very well put together, I felt. It was nice to see everything as a whole, finally--the custom objects and scenes and all of that. As Talps, one only kinda' has somewhat more of an idea of what was going on than before--but I guess I kind of got spoiled already because I had to make the ending tracks.
You know... I kind of wish I could experience it all for the first time again. I really did enjoy that level design, it was unique and interesting and not terribly convoluted, either. I'm a fan of good platforming, and the difficulty curve is also well-done, which is nice. I'm sure the last sub-machine would have been way more irritating had I not been through the darn place several times already.
Also, I'm really glad I signed up to do the music for this project. I tend to gather up experience as I go, so making these huge, 4-6-minute-long tracks was definitely a new experience; they still remain some of my longest pieces (and some of them my favorites) that I've made, and this is the first specific project I've ever composed for that has been fully realized! Seeing the final product and playing through it helped me see what I did right and wrong--balancing is one of my issues. In any case, your level was great inspiration for me. My only regret...
...is that I made the track for the purple sub-machine far too short! I sort of knew this, but I kept getting stuck on how to extend it, and I would always get ideas for that when I was nowhere near my computer. It's the only level I simply cannot complete before the music ends, though it is by far the hardest, so that's certainly a part of it.
Anyway! Enough rambling from me. Excellent level, excellent work! And thank you for the opportunity, Egomassive. You know I'd gladly take up another one.
Very nice! I was surprised to see so much of the text go, I'd be interested to hear more about the student KS projects that inspired this change.
Great work on the soundtrack too, Ultigonio.
I'm guessing "metaphore" is a typo, unless it's a pun/allusion I didn't understand.
I didn't play the early version when it was available and I'm really glad I didn't now as it was so fresh and exciting. Thankyou very much for creating this, it was an absolute joy; and a thankyou to Ultigiono for the music aswell, it's a perfect fit.
The only specific detail I just have to mention is that I was really impressed with the way you dealt with the retracting spikes. I've always quite liked the idea of them over static spikes but they tend to just be a roundabout way of slowing down the player, your solution offers the best of both worlds.
Edit: Oh! Seems like I missed some things on my way through.
I was surprised to find there were secrets hidden in the level that I hadn't spotted on my first playthrough, as I normally do. That'll teach me to post before getting right to the end! The way they're introduced at the end of the purple area is inspired, along with the numbering of the facts. A good excuse to go straight back and play through it again, aswell :^^:
@ sergiocornaga: Doh. I forgot to spell check again. I was debating personification and toastification, but metaphor seems like the best word to me.
@ Widget: I usually don't like hidden spikes myself. They tend to make for trial-and-error game play. In my efforts to use only robotic type enemies I was pretty much forced into inventing a better way to use them. Since the demo was released I've seen the same usage in the Dark Sea 2 demo. I don't know if one inspired the other or not, but I'm hoping to see fairer use of spikes everywhere from now on.
I wasn't sure if the Toast were appropriate for the feel of this level, but I wanted some kind of reward waiting for adept explorers. Everyone seems to be enjoying them, so I'm glad I did it. Toast were originally added to A Knytt in Time to solve a problem I was having with the level design. I later resolved that issue in a better way, but I liked the Toast so much that I decided to make them my calling card. You can expect bad bread jokes to appear in every level I ever make.
I remember them from A Knytt in Time and was really pleased to see them again. I understand why you might not have been sure about them initially but I consider hidden areas like that to be separate from (or "outside of") the level in a way. Easter eggs often are in large RPGs aswell so it's something I'm used to and can enjoy like an intermission, without it's breaking the immersion for the rest of the game, or level ;)
Like Widget, I really liked the way you introduced secrets to the player by making the teast 4 obvious.
The text is gone for good.
Voids (going up or right): (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/44735333/ks/egomassive%20-%20The%20Dying%20Core%202%201.png)
not just the way you told the story, but also how you interpreted the environmental theme shared by so many levels since The Machine. Wonderful idea, really.
My only gripe is that I thought the music was mixed a bit too loud, and I had to turn it down, and then off after a while - since many of the challenges require a lot of attempts... Not sure if this type of chip sound - rough, unpolished - was entirely suitable here, but I guess I'm in the minority, since I can't see anyone else compaining C)p
Re: egomassive: Hey, as long you're happy with your level I can mix'n'match my end to play it as I most enjoy it. Currently I'm seriously considering just keeping all three versions permanently installed anyway; I own and play multiple versions of the 8- and 16-bit Final Fantasy games and this level's definitely better than some of those.
Edit: Hope it doesn't sound too critical but axing the text did wonders for this level. It was fascinating to see the "before" version (and there was nothing inherently bad about the text itself) but it only really interferes with the clarity of design. Definitely settled on 1.1 with the 1.0 music.
I did not know there was a fifth hidden room, though. That's definitely a bit of a head-scratcher..
Got there in the end, how retro! Haven't seen a music room for years ^^
I see the void has now been acknowledged with some additional spikes. Speaking of spikes, I'm glad that the areas where spikes can be found are outlined.
The best thing about this level for me were the challenges, in that they were not unfair or random in the least. I hate difficult screens that are only difficult because you have to wait for some amount of randomness to finally go the way you want. (Especially those damn electro-sparkle-head things that send out the long-lasting slow sparkles that fill the area.)
(I might've actually said this was a bit easier than I expected, which is neither bad nor good.)
Only found toasts 3 and 4. Found the Machine and Planet endings, and the sound room on my own. Not sure if there are more endings?
The story DEFINITELY works and is a great thing about this level. Its minimal and not in-your-face but there for those who want to mentally explore it. It also fits very well with the level style.
It blew me away when I freed the Other Juni and she climbed off! It was almost a game-breaking, immersion-cementing shock since I had never seen something like that before. The last time I felt like this was in the original 1989 Prince of Persia when you jump through a mirror and your shadow takes on a life of its own. I also got stuck in the same place that the Other Juni did and had to kill myself in the laser.
My guess on the story is that the Machine is Evil, has imprisoned the Knytts, and has either taken over the world or is in the process of doing so. The Other Juni was somehow freed and began systematically deactivating the Machine. She got accidentally herself stuck in the laser room. At this point, the Player Juni was freed by the machine, on purpose, and gently prodded by it to reactivate everything. The Player Juni unwittingly freed the Other Juni during this task, who proceeded to shut down the Machine just ahead of the Player.
The Player can either choose to keep the Machine deactivated and save the planet and Knytt-kind, or choose to keep the Evil Machine On, ensuring its domination of the world.
There is at least one big hole in this theory: Why are Player Juni and Other Juni clearly clones of either? Didn't explain that, did I!
Edit: Whoa, I just decided to watch ortolson's playthrough of the level, and I found myself in awe for nearly the entire video. There's something strange and dumbfounding about seeing somebody else play something that you had a part in creating (though my job was not nearly as big as Ego's). Good job, by the way (again, I know I'm over a year late)!