Nifflas' Support Forum
Level Editing Support => Knytt Stories Level Previews => Topic started by: Hmpf on December 11, 2023, 15:07:23
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One night Juni gets up to get a glass of water, and finds that instead of her apartment, outside her bedroom door is – The Night Building.
The Night Building is vast. It is a dream/nightmare of the Brutalist-Gothic sublime. It is architecture made of architecture; architecture grown rampant. It confounds ideas of “inside” and “outside”. Its architecture becomes landscape. Its landscape is architecture. Were its mountainous walls and cavernous halls built or grown? Who can tell? The Night Building’s windows and doors are endless but you will never find another soul in it.
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This will be an exploration level with meticulously designed screens, but this time I’m trying to do it with an overarching concept, a strong sense of visual cohesion, and hopefully even a little bit of “gameplay” beyond the pure exploration.
The level size will probably be around 200-300 screens, although of course it’s hard to tell, this early. I have concepts for around 30 different areas at the moment, but not all of them may make it in; and more/others may be added. Also, area size will vary.
This level wears its influences on its sleeve. Tsutomo (http://"https://opuszine.us/reviews/blame-volume-1-tsutomu-nihei-2016-vertical-comics) Nihei’s (https://lystlesse.wordpress.com/2016/10/30/the-cyberpunk-cities-of-tsutomu-niheis-blame/) Blame! (https://medium.com/@drawn_stories/blame-1997-manga-review-79215ce64dc0) is in there (more strongly in some parts than others); Limasse5’s exploration platformer NaissanceE (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDSi1-lACNk), itself a tribute to Blame!, is in there, too (again, more strongly in some parts than others). In lesser known influences there is certainly a fair bit of “La Structure” (http://bouss.over-blog.com/tag/univers%20de%20la%20structure/), from the short-lived (but maybe some day to be continued? I live in hope...) French comic Ascensions by Bouss – this latter most notably in the way the Night Building, unlike Nihei’s megastructure, is teeming with vegetation (at least in some areas).
Most of all, though, this level comes from my dreams. Throughout my life, every once in a while I’ve been dreaming of strange, disorienting, vast architecture. They’re eerie dreams, eerie places, though not exactly frightening. I enjoy them. They feel Important. This level is the first thing I’ve ever managed to put them into.
(I'd like to add two gifs to the preview pictures, but they're too big so I'm going to have to make them separate posts.)
ETA: Or can I add them like this....
ETA2: No, I can't. Ok, until I figure out how to actually make them appear in this post or another, here's links to them on Google Drive:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1re4F8TCHKQaAi4uP6vlTpeIoy7-dnMns/view?usp=drive_link
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-t_vr5_ZqonINv0_RgLgYMTrv12BwbSI/view?usp=drive_link
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Sounds cool. Really like that second screenshot. :)
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Agree, that sounds a really intriguing concept.
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Thanks! I'm really looking forward to building this one!
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It looks really interesting and I can't wait to play it.
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I'm always up for a good atmospheric level. Let me know if at any point you need a beta tester for it.