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Temporary => Knytt Stories Level Releases => Topic started by: egomassive on February 13, 2016, 03:26:12

Title: Through the Swamp [small/environmental/KS+]
Post by: egomassive on February 13, 2016, 03:26:12
A pit stop between adventures becomes a bit of an adventure itself. Follow Juni as she traverses a swamp in search of refreshment.

A long time ago I made several tilesets for an aspiring level designer. Of these all were released except for the swamp based on Fredrik Andersson's Thin Forest. Through the Swamp was conceived as a nice way of releasing these graphics. And though it certainly is that, Through the Swamp has managed to become a charming level that can stand proudly among my best work.

Download Through the Swamp (http://egomassive.com/nifflas/egomassive-ThroughSwamp.knytt.bin) 15 MB

Download Through the Swamp Mono Edition (http://egomassive.com/nifflas/egomassive-ThroughSwampMono.knytt.bin) 9.4 MB For people with low bandwidth.

It's a short level, so I give you the least interesting screen in the whole thing as enticement. It only gets better from here.
Title: Re: Through the Swamp [small/environmental/KS+]
Post by: Ultigonio on February 13, 2016, 04:00:15
Once again, excellent work.  Your use of OCOs was insanely clever - something I think I might refer to while working on my own levels.  It's good to see some of my text nitpicks made it into the final version, as well.  :P2
Title: Re: Through the Swamp [small/environmental/KS+]
Post by: Fubaka on February 13, 2016, 11:11:23
I am still in awe over your pixelling talents.

Excellent level!
Title: Re: Through the Swamp [small/environmental/KS+]
Post by: Talps on February 13, 2016, 11:12:08
Cue stream-of-consciousness-style-commentary-pouring-out-as-I-played-through-the-level...

Title: Re: Through the Swamp [small/environmental/KS+]
Post by: StraightFlame on February 13, 2016, 12:01:48
The tilesets and COs were amazing and all, but my favourite part was the dialogue. Especially the explanation for why Juni can't swim.

By the way, how exactly is that screen less interesting than this one?
(http://i.imgur.com/Zw3zsYs.png)
Title: Re: Through the Swamp [small/environmental/KS+]
Post by: Vegetal Gibber on February 13, 2016, 16:02:29
Not much left for me to say after the betatesting, except that this is one of the best short levels I've played, with tons and tons of detail. The animated COs are all done superbly, especially the creatures (love the turtle :D ). The dialogue was fun and I really liked the way the ambience sound was handled. A :hiddenstar: goes to you, sir!

Spoiler: @Talps (click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Through the Swamp [small/environmental/KS+]
Post by: egomassive on February 13, 2016, 23:29:35
Glad everyone is enjoying it.
Spoiler: @Talps (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: @StraightFlame (click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Through the Swamp [small/environmental/KS+]
Post by: dessgeega on February 14, 2016, 05:12:34
this is so nice. i like all the big sweeps of landscape in the foreground, it makes the world feel a lot bigger than it is. the dialogue is charming too!
Title: Re: Through the Swamp [small/environmental/KS+]
Post by: sergiocornaga on February 14, 2016, 14:33:05
I echo what everyone's posted already about the obvious strengths of this excellent level. Odd question maybe, but do you have any idea when it might show up on your website?

I do have one suggestion: it would be nice if the game acknowledged finding all the t***ts, since it keeps track of which ones you've seen, yet messages about seeking them out persist. Checking for four flags can be a bit of a pain, I think I'm just being demanding now.

@Talps: "truely" is indeed a typo of sorts, though I'd wager it's intentional since it's an archaic spelling of the word used in the context of a Middle English-style sentence. I truely feel it should stay.
Title: Re: Through the Swamp [small/environmental/KS+]
Post by: yohji on February 14, 2016, 22:52:25
That's it, I'm stealing *everything* for my level!

A very beautiful and very engaging level. The bartender of the Knothole Public House reminded me of some Cave Story characters - which felt good.

Also, I totally forgot how to play KS levels and had to get the hint from the first bartender before I found most of the keys. Eh.

Title: Re: Through the Swamp [small/environmental/KS+]
Post by: egomassive on February 14, 2016, 23:47:45
@Sergio: Thanks for reminding me about the website. When I was finally ready to release the level I thought I'd get to that later. I guess it's later. Edit: Website Updated (http://egomassive.com/2016/02/through-the-swamp/)

@Talps/Sergio: "Truely" is just a typo. If something else crops up I'll fix it.

@Yohji: I'm glad to hear you missed stuff on the first trip. I tried to hide some things. Feel free to use whatever you like. If you use the swamp tilesets, I recommend you turn the background trees into gradients. As they are, these tilesets are hard to use.

@Dessgeega: Thanks, I didn't know you were still around.

Here's the inspiration/plagiarism collage I was talking about. It spoils some stuff in this level and other old levels and games from the WaDF/Knytt universe. It doesn't cover everything, but not every borrowed concept was visual or specific. See if you can name all the games!
Spoiler: collage (click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Through the Swamp [small/environmental/KS+]
Post by: SC on February 15, 2016, 02:30:02
Really nice level! (For some reason, I got stuck trying to find the red key so I had to give up and check the level editor even though it was a relatively simple solution in the end, lmao.) I LOVE your use of custom objects. Makes me wish there was built-in proper on-top-of-Juni tiles in KS+. And having the ability to shift dialogues between two characters without having to use multiple screens would be nice too, as well.

But yeah, I was pretty impressed with this one. Keep it up, ego!
Title: Re: Through the Swamp [small/environmental/KS+]
Post by: Ultigonio on February 15, 2016, 03:34:51
Makes me wish there was built-in proper on-top-of-Juni tiles in KS+.
If you're referring to having a layer for tiles which overlap the player's position, KS+ does have that!  You can use the "Overlay" feature to make all layer 2 tiles stay on top of Juni and, well, everything else.
Title: Re: Through the Swamp [small/environmental/KS+]
Post by: SC on February 15, 2016, 05:15:54
Hah, well, it seems I haven't used the editor to its full potential yet, then! :P Still cool, nonetheless.
Title: Re: Through the Swamp [small/environmental/KS+]
Post by: dessgeega on February 15, 2016, 06:00:01
@egomassive not really working with knytt stories any more, but i'm ALWAYS WATCHING
Title: Re: Through the Swamp [small/environmental/KS+]
Post by: egomassive on February 15, 2016, 06:22:38
By the way, Vegetal Gibber made some funny fan art. If you've completed the game the you should check it out for a laugh.
Spoiler: (click to show/hide)

Hah, well, it seems I haven't used the editor to its full potential yet, then! :P Still cool, nonetheless.
In the Misc tab check the Overlay box. Layer 2 moves between layers 6 and 7 for that screen. Be careful though. Nothing on layer 7 will collide with anything on another layer. So, water on layer 7 wont kill. Creatures on layer 7 will ignore collision tiles on layer 3. Stuff like that.
Title: Re: Through the Swamp [small/environmental/KS+]
Post by: ixMarcel on February 15, 2016, 09:52:06
I agree with every compliment said in this thread. Lovely level!
Title: Re: Through the Swamp [small/environmental/KS+]
Post by: pfrangip on February 17, 2016, 04:11:51
Great stuff! No wonder your ego is so massive!

I truely enjoyed everything in the level, and I do believe you hit the nail on the head for "enough exploration and enough immersion."

It did feel very WADF to me without consciously realizing why, so good job on the homages there, too.  :)

Title: Re: Through the Swamp [small/environmental/KS+]
Post by: Purple Ink on March 09, 2016, 03:39:14
This was a fantastic level! Can't say anything that hasn't already been said. Truly a masterpiece.
Title: Re: Through the Swamp [small/environmental/KS+]
Post by: egomassive on April 01, 2016, 02:34:16
I've updated this level. You can use the same old links in the opening post. This is a very minor update with 2 grammar fixes and 2 SGEs that are extremely slight. I've also updated the reference collage to include Raicuparta's eating girl graphic. I'll put that here in a spoiler.
Spoiler: references (click to show/hide)

P.S. Thanks for the kind reviews from people who have commented since the last time I said thanks. :)
Title: Re: Through the Swamp [small/environmental/KS+]
Post by: plural on June 09, 2016, 09:13:11
This level was so crisp, clean, and beautifully put together. egomassive's levels always have that veneer of quality that makes them feel as polished as a game you might pay for. It's always a bit humbling to see them.
Title: Re: Through the Swamp [small/environmental/KS+]
Post by: BanderAnder on February 17, 2017, 16:05:46
Really charming level! Found all endings and toasts!
The cutsecenes are the best of any knytt level so far C)p
Title: Re: Through the Swamp [small/environmental/KS+]
Post by: Hmpf on November 12, 2023, 18:33:36
Ok, time to start commenting on some threads, finally. Apologies for taking so long.

This was one of the first things I played after returning to KS a few months ago, and it's actually a little intimidating - it's that good! I enjoyed it thoroughly, though I had some trouble at first because I had to refamiliarise myself with how to play KS and how to look for clues in a level. There's a sort of grammar to this kind of thing, and I'd mostly forgotten it.

Well. I've found all the keys, and all the toasts, and all the endings, I think. I was a bit unsure if I was supposed to find a way to get to that little guy fishing near the beginning, since there are doorways visible there (I kept looking for secret passages in the caves!), but now that I've checked this thread, I guess I can give up on that quest. :D

Special mention: the custom objects, of course, but even more so: the wonderfully dense tree layering in the background that is *not* a gradient. Awesome.
Title: Re: Through the Swamp [small/environmental/KS+]
Post by: fabiche on December 05, 2023, 14:04:27
Nothing more to add that hasn't been said before, I loved the change of scenery and I loved going through this level.
THANK YOU  ;-)
Title: Re: Through the Swamp [small/environmental/KS+]
Post by: Alen13ASC on February 13, 2024, 19:25:35
(https://i.imgur.com/2eC91WE.png)