Nifflas' Support Forum
Temporary => Knytt Stories Level Releases => Topic started by: Hmpf on November 11, 2023, 19:16:38
-
AKA, What I Did on My Summer Holiday. (Well, minus the boat. I don't have a boat.)
Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost "Bundesland" of Germany, a flat to moderately hilly, agrarian landscape sitting between the North Sea and the Baltic sea, has always been my favourite part of the country, and this year I spent a very rainy summer vacation there. Despite the rain (which is kind of par for the course) this fully reignited my love for the area and since I had rediscovered KS only weeks before, it inspired me to make a KS level about it. Here it is.
It's a very linear environmental; you can make the return trip in two different kinds of weather, though.
You can pet some cats. You can visit your friends. You can have cake. That's it.
It's very green and pretty rainy.
It has possibly the longest credits sequence in the history of short environmentals.
Archive link: https://knyttlevels.com/levels/Hmpf%20MacSlow%20-%20Between%20the%20Seas%20-%20v1.2.knytt.bin (Final version!!! I hope! Thoroughly tested after the latest bug fix, so I'm pretty sure that one didn't introduce new errors - unlike the previous one, whoops.)
Enjoy!
ETA: Replaced the screenshot at the request of the Campaign for Accuracy in Advertising. ;-) The old one had too friendly weather, anyway - though, don't holiday postcards and brochures always show these unnaturally bright blue skies, and then when you actually get there it's all grey and rainy? :D But anyway; here's one with one of the real skies from the level (and no missing tree corner). All the skies in this level are taken from my holiday photos, which are basically a collection of dramatic skies like that.
Re: KS+: There is only one thing in this, so far, that is making it a KS+ level: a recoloured water object that overrides Liquids bank object #19. The level is technically playable in vanilla KS, but the water will appear static.
-
Nice!
I haven't played the level yet, and I don't want to pass off as indelicate, but:
I remember fixing that tileset in the screenshot for you.
It's still the wrong one, for some reason?
-
Nice!
I haven't played the level yet, and I don't want to pass off as indelicate, but:
I remember fixing that tileset in the screenshot for you.
It's still the wrong one, for some reason?
No, it's an old screenshot. :D
-
Thank you for saying that.
Could you update the screenshot with the current version of those screens?
I'd appreciate it
-
(Previous post removed because I figured out how to do it.)
-
SGE: The tree's leaves are missing the bottom right corner.
Edit: Wait, I already reported this, actually.
I thought you fixed that two months ago
-
SGE: The tree's leaves are missing the bottom right corner.
Edit: Wait, I already reported this, actually.
I thought you fixed that two months ago
I did. It's an old screenshot I edited the floating line out of just now. But it's still the old screenshot.
-
Oh...
I see, that makes sense.
So we actually don't know what the level looks like, I guess :P2
But it's OK, as I'm the "cartographer" here, apparently.
I'll stitch a screenshot when I have time
-
Oh...
I see, that makes sense.
So we actually don't know what the level looks like, I guess :P2
But it's OK, as I'm the "cartographer" here, apparently.
I'll stitch a screenshot when I have time
Dude. It still looks like that, except with, yes, a slightly different shade of blue to the sky, and the missing corner fixed. I'm pretty sure 99% of viewers will be able to get a sufficiently accurate impression of the level from that screenshot. And i'm kinda busy today plus sick, so I couldn't be bothered to retake the screenshots and stitch them together. (It's ok, I'm not angry or anything. Just saying, it really does look 99% like that screenshot, still.)
(ETA: sorry if I sounded crotchety - I'm really not doing very well today.)
-
Yes, that's why I offered my help.
I assumed there was a reason if you couldn't take a new screenshot.
I'm sorry if you feel sick. :(
Get well soon
-
Yes, that's why I offered my help.
I assumed there was a reason if you couldn't take a new screenshot.
I'm sorry if you feel sick. :(
Get well soon
Nah, thanks, I replaced it with a grey-sky picture, which is more accurate to the level's main parts anyway (though there is some blue sky, too). And thanks for the well wishes. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be better. Today was pretty much a total loss, really.
-
Wow, it looks cool :D
I'm sorry to hear that, I also hope you feel better.
Edit: Also, I'm sorry about this whole conversation.
I just genuinely thought the bugs I reported were still there when I looked at the misleading screenshot.
I'm sure you can understand :)
Just make sure that won't happen again ;)
-
Wow, it looks cool :D
I'm sorry to hear that, I also hope you feel better.
Edit: Also, I'm sorry about this whole conversation.
I just genuinely thought the bugs I reported were still there when I looked at the misleading screenshot.
I'm sure you can understand :)
Just make sure that won't happen again ;)
It's ok, I'm also a person who cares too much about small details. :-)
-
really enjoyed this. Short and sweet - a fun little experience.
If I had any criticisms, I'd say there was often a lack of water ambience in screens with water/rain which I found jarring. And I got a little confused when I left the friends' house (after spending the night). I hadn't realised I'd reached the island already, so I was a bit dismayed to find I couldn't go further left, thinking I'd cut off part of the level by sleeping.
But on the whole, I really enjoyed this. Cute and fun, and it made me think it'd be really nice to visit that corner of the world. :) Even if that farm kitty broke my heart. ;_;
-
really enjoyed this. Short and sweet - a fun little experience.
If I had any criticisms, I'd say there was often a lack of water ambience in screens with water/rain which I found jarring.
Most of the water is stuff like drainage ditches, swamps or small ponds, or leftover sea water from the receded tide - you don't tend to hear those. The little stream/waterfall in the forest does have ambiance. But you're right about the rain, I meant to do something about that and forgot. I even had a conversation in the Discord about it and someone offered me their recorded rain sound! I need to search for that, and check if it fits what I had in mind, and otherwise check freesound.org. The thing is simply, none of the "rain" sounds in KS sounds entirely like rain to my ear, so I didn't use those - but I did mean to add a custom rain sound! But then I was so focused on cows and sheep and the sea that I forgot, lol.
But you know what, now I think I should maybe ramp up the rain a little bit, too, in the last two screens or so before the forest - so it'll feel more like sheltering from the rain in the forest. Use the waterfall object as rain there, maybe... Hmmm.
nd I got a little confused when I left the friends' house (after spending the night). I hadn't realised I'd reached the island already, so I was a bit dismayed to find I couldn't go further left, thinking I'd cut off part of the level by sleeping.
I don't know if you went all the way to the left before going into the house, I noticed Kilicool64 didn't, in her youtube video, so there's definitely a source of confusion there and maybe I should, when I add more rain (sounds), also add a warp that makes it so you only get the suggestion to enter the house when you re-enter that screen from the left, after having been to the other coast of the island. I mean, there's nothing huge to miss there, just more sheep and a bit of Wadden Sea, but still. You can actually also leave the house again before you sleep, but I couldn't signal that because I'd run out of signs. But there's a shift on the door there.
And also, yes! The concept of the Wadden Sea is a confusing one! You can actually walk on the seafloor when the tide is low! :D
https://www.waddensea-worldheritage.org/
But on the whole, I really enjoyed this. Cute and fun, and it made me think it'd be really nice to visit that corner of the world. :) Even if that farm kitty broke my heart. ;_;
Feral farm kitties, man. :-(
-
I noticed Kilicool64 didn't, in his(?) youtube video
I'm a she.
-
I noticed Kilicool64 didn't, in his(?) youtube video
I'm a she.
Apologies from one frequently-mistaken-for-male Knytter to another! Will fix immediately! -- Update: fixed. Should have originallly gone with "they", really, since I didn't know!
-
Apologies from one frequently-mistaken-for-male Knytter to another!
You can click someone's username to get more information.
Some of us don't reveal things like gender and age, but many of us do :)
-
I liked the touch of adding your own photos for the backgrounds, it looks really peaceful! (especially as there were no wild Danes roaming the island :P2)
Flawless voice acting by Tinky
Two very minor things: There was a floating purple shift above a sheep ~2 screens to the right of the friend's house which didn't seem to trigger anything. Also there were void screens to the left + right when I left the friend's house without sleeping (going back inside and sleeping fixed this).
-
I liked the touch of adding your own photos for the backgrounds, it looks really peaceful! (especially as there were no wild Danes roaming the island :P2)
Flawless voice acting by Tinky
Two very minor things: There was a floating purple shift above a sheep ~2 screens to the right of the friend's house which didn't seem to trigger anything. Also there were void screens to the left + right when I left the friend's house without sleeping (going back inside and sleeping fixed this).
Oh crap! Yeah, I shifted some of the shift screens around last night and was kinda tired. Musta done a crappy job of it. Will fix ASAP (but probably not today, arrgh, busy week. Or maybe yes tonight, because I can't let sth like that sit. But, later tonight. Arrgh.)
-
Fixed version will go up tomorrow - I'm too tired to test it thoroughly now.
-
You've made a very beautiful and peaceful level, using tilesets in novel ways that others cannot conceive of! Welcome back to the level making club!
-
Fixed version is up!
https://knyttlevels.com/levels/Hmpf%20MacSlow%20-%20Between%20the%20Seas%20-%20v1.2.knytt.bin
(Also added to initial post.)
@Lucinda: thanks!! Can't wait to play Calexico but I'm having a bit of A Week here so it'll probably have to be on the weekend, sigh.
-
This was a fantastic level! Amazing work with the tilesets. I think having no music but instead relying on ambience was a stroke of genius. Really good job.
-
Thank you! Especially glad that you didn't think the lack of music a defect. I did that quite deliberately here because I figured it was about being out in nature and such, so it felt right to just rely on the ambiances, but I was worried...
-
Thank you for this magnificent level which transported me and which demonstrates a very beautiful artistic sensitivity
You can even play leapfrog to fall asleep ;-)
to my opinion, speed is unecessary, doing the level while walking is perfect.
Thank you also for saving me a slice of cake because I'm greedy :-)
PS : if you are interrested I noticed a small bug : when you climb the lighthouse hill while holding the key to walk, there is a screen transition bug, but nothing too serious ;-)
-
Thank you for this magnificent level which transported me and which demonstrates a very beautiful artistic sensitivity
You can even play leapfrog to fall asleep ;-)
to my opinion, speed is unecessary, doing the level while walking is perfect.
Thank you also for saving me a slice of cake because I'm greedy :-)
PS : if you are interrested I noticed a small bug : when you climb the lighthouse hill while holding the key to walk, there is a screen transition bug, but nothing too serious ;-)
Hello! Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed the level (and the cake)!
And yeah, that screen transition issue is known but so far it hasn't been possible to solve it, even by editing the tileset. I would have to angle the slope more steeply, probably, to get around that one. But dikes are more gently sloped on the landward side, so I don't really want to make it steeper there.
-
Not really a prob for me, your level is fantastic ;-) merci !
-
Should add: Polana edited that tileset to try to fix that issue, and I'm not sure I put that in the credits, will have to add that if I didn't...
-
This is one of the best enviromental levels I've played so far and makes me want to drop everything and either go to the coast of the Baltic sea (my favourite vacation destination, haven't been to North sea yet) or at least make my own level that will be tied to one place like this one. I love everything about this level, the cats, the landscape, the changing weather, even the cake in the fridge is great (seriously, try it for real when you have chance, it's so yummy).
-
This is one of the best enviromental levels I've played so far
Oh wow, that is high praise.
and makes me want to drop everything and either go to the coast of the Baltic sea (my favourite vacation destination, haven't been to North sea yet) or at least make my own level that will be tied to one place like this one.
Please do make a level about a real place! Looking at Calexico and Alcazar, it really is yielding quite interesting results! And I say that as someone who usually prefers the fantastic!
It was also a really interesting challenge, trying to find ways to portray a real place.
I love everything about this level, the cats, the landscape, the changing weather, even the cake in the fridge is great (seriously, try it for real when you have chance, it's so yummy).
In case people are wondering: Polana hunted down a recipe for that kind of cake and baked it. She didn't actually move into the Knytt dimension to raid the fridge.
Northern German / Hmpf Cake Facts:
I don't actually like Friesentorte much, because it includes plum jam/plum preserve, which I really don't enjoy. I was going to use another type of Northern German cake, the IMO very accurately named "Himmelstorte" = "Heaven Cake" - but I couldn't find Creative Commons licenced pictures of that one so easily, so in the end I went with a cake that has its own Wikipedia page...
I was going to link recipes here but it's a little tricky to find English ones that also look somewhat authentic; will have to do some research...
-
I used this recipe (https://www.einfachbacken.de/rezepte/friesentorte-einfache-sahnetorte-mit-pflaumenmus), which was not too hard to follow even though it's in German (although I spent one semester in Austria so I can understand something). My cake was much messier and I have no idea how authentic it was because I never had the real thing.
-
I just replayed it...definitely one of the most beautiful environmental levels I ever played
thank you for this enchanted parenthesis ;-)
-
Thank you, fabiche.
Heads-up to everyone: I just discovered I forgot to set the level type to KS+ when I compressed this. Will fix when I do an update in the medium-term future (I mean to add a couple of objects, too). Until then, please be aware that this is a KS+ level. I'll add that to the original post here too.