About my Knytt Stories megaproject "Non Serviam" or, the value of planning

I haven't been to this forum in a while (probably over a year?) but between one and two years ago I posted information, loads of screenshots, and a minimap (the blue squares from the editor) of my sprawling KS level "Non Seviam".

Anyway, long story short, despite being *almost* almost finished, I've pretty much run out of steam. I am thinking of taking a plan of action which will be one of the following:

(a) releasing it as-is, possibly butchering the best parts for other levels, and letting people just play through it - which is a LOT of game and would certainly generate more enjoyment than it just sitting on my old hard drive.

(b) assembling a small team to help me finish it, though as I haven't been on the KS circuit in a long time I don't know how that would fare, if at all.

or

(c) open sourcing it.

The thing is, it's a huge level, it was possibly the biggest known-of KS world when I reported about it, and has since grown in my attempts to finish it since. It STARTED as my test-level to learn the ropes of the editor, and just grew and grew. As such, despite having a lot of centimental value to me, it also varies wildly in quality (though I think never being particularly crappy) and also difficulty. I'm sure other design flaws resulting from it's unplanned and frenzied growth would show up after any playtesting, though I have done the best I can to ensure that the gameplay does flow and generally make sense. It can also be difficult in places, whilst being environmental in others.

I kinda want to move on and start another KS project, make my own music, tiles and soundscapes, and go for something with planning that I can actually finish. But this problem keeps me away from KS in general and is making me feel a bit disappointed.

So, random people whom I do not know that also play KS... Do you have any suggestions?

If you're wondering what the hell I'm talking about, here's a link to my original thread announcing the project, with plenty of screenshots: http://nifflas.lpchip.nl/index.php?topic=2509.30

As a final note, I have this to say: Don't fear finity. Sometimes, it's your friend. 

Sendy

p.s. My screen designs use a few tilesets made by Sara Sandberg - these were obtained with permission from Nifflas.

Hey Sendy. Would love to see this level some day, finished or not.  
Don't know how well it would work to let someone else work the end out or if someone would want to.
If you are so close to completing it I say you should do it yourself. 3 reasons, because I think you would value your efforts more when the level is complete, all credits on making this level would go to you and you could better appreciate that and the level, in its whole, would be how you want it to be.

The screenshots in the older thread are really impressing! I was waiting a long time for levels like "Gaia" or other stuff from Drakkan. I definitely hope you're going to finish that - many of us, no, even all of us, would be so thankful.

Thanks both for your input... Perhaps I could finish it... But I think it would be wise to either get a playtesting team together ASAP, or do a public release, and have a thread where people report problems (getting lost, bugs, too much difficulty, etc).

So, public release or testing team? That is the question.

* Would anyone with a good reputation on this forum be willing to be a beta tester?

* Would many people be willing to play through the game in it's current state if I did a public release, knowing there's no ending, and possibly problems? (Remember, sure, no ending, but a TON of game to explore!)

One more argument for a release - a lot of great and large levels were first released as small (or comparatively small versions. For example, some of the best areas of Riku Island were only added in the final versions. Gaia went through many, many updates, some of which would include entire new continents. Falling Water, currently under construction, had a beta released before it became a huge work under construction. There are other examples, of course.

Perhaps you could add an ending or two, recruit a couple of people to test the level, and then release an abridged version; maybe one day you'll find time and inspiration to make updates to that. Many of the screenshots are extremely exciting, so I'm sure plenty of people would want to get a feeling of those areas. Also, there's one more reason for a release - hard drives do have a tendency to fail every now and again, and it would be a shame if you lost a lot of your hard work.

Ok here's what I think I'm going to do. I'll give it a week to see if anyone posts in here offering their playtesting services and/or general assistance finishing the level (perhaps an artist for cut scene creation as well?). If I don't get enough people (say, around five or more talented/trusted people), I'm going to patch up the ends of the world (so you can't fall out) and release it as-is. I'll then keep this thread running as a forum for feedback to help me improve the design.

Please do speak up if you think you can help! I'll post some more screenshots after someone else posts here, showing some of my custom objects (I made lots of snails, because I love snails  ) and other things which show the level of detail I've lavished on this thing (cars slowly rolling in the background of the city level, custom lighing that affects Juni and sprites, etc...)

I wanna test.

Ok, cool! One tester is better than none, especially one with a bunch of released levels under their belt.

Please PM me your email and I'll send it out to you some time within the next 7 days.

I'm thinking of making a Youtube trailer to try and generate more interest, as well, but I don't know if my computer will be able to handle it 

Can't offer playtesting services (hey, I'm so busy it takes me weeks to build a handful of screens!), but I'd love to play this level sometime, finished or unfinished.

if you are still looking for someone I can help.