[Environmental - easy] Falling Water, part 1

Here we go...

This is the medium-sized (108 unique, playable screens, I think) first part of a larger level I'm building. There will be at least two, possibly three more parts. The main focus is on exploration and scenery, and on discovering the shape and history of the world Juni lives in. It's a pretty strange shape and history... (though I'm still somewhat hazy on most of the details of said history).

There's lots of rain, and lots of cats. You can pet the cats. You should (or so they tell me).

Screenshots: ETA, July 17, 2010: Sorry, had to take all the screenshots down as they were hosted on my webspace, which may be compromised at the moment.


(These are not the most interesting areas of the level. I didn't want to spoil too much, for those who haven't been to the preview thread.)

(ETA, August 29, 2009: For a handy compilation of screenshots collected all in one place, check the Falling Water download and preview page at my website. Warning: this contains at least one screenshot from practically every area of the game, so it's a big-time spoiler. However, for those who don't like to download stuff if they aren't absolutely sure they'll like the look of it, this may be useful.) ETA, July 17, 2010: The website is offline, for now.

There is very little music in this part; later parts will have more. The reason for this is that I wanted this part to feel somewhat everyday/mundane, because it's nearly completely set in Juni's home town (although parts of this town will hopefully feel strange and interesting to the player). Music will set in once she gets to areas that are more foreign to her.

The one piece of 'custom' music I've used is "The Valley" by Lucas Paakh aka Kajenx, from his very beautiful (and also very rainy!) game "William and Sly", which you can play here.


Here's the level:

Falling Water part 1, v1.2, now at knyttlevels.com ETA: Fixed an error in the credits; ETA2: Fixed waterfall issues etc. described by googoogjoob.


For completists, here's a list of all the 'secrets'/'eastereggs'/strange things you can find in the level:

Arrgh!

I just noticed that I credited Nifflas for the music (the other two songs apart from the Lucas Paakh one that I used), when actually it's by Nurykabe and d fast. Really sorry about that; will fix the credit sequence right away!

ETA: fixed.

Downloading.

Wow cool. I found all the secrets.

Spoiler: (click to show/hide)

- a secret way to the *Lower* Lower City
- the Labyrinth House

Found the first backwards, the second this time around.

Epic! Plus you've used these fantastic Sinix tilesets! Great usage of shifts in the tower part. This is a great exploration level.
But let me tell you about a bug:

Re: Teper's bug report

Whoops! Thought I'd fixed that! Will fix it when I'm back home (I'm at work right now. *g*)

And yeah, Sinix's tilesets are awesome. I tried all kinds of other forest tilesets with the towers, but none really delivered the look I wanted, until I tried Sinix's. I was surprised, actually, because it's quite different in style from the Hanseatic Town tileset! But they go amazingly well together.

I really liked this level. The overall concept isn't particularly original, I thought (multi-layered city, exploring because of boredom/dissatisfaction, etc.), but the details are.

This level is consistently funny without trying too hard (like basically any DEtM clone). Jens Jensen's casual incompetence, the occasionally-helpful cats, the Society for Not Jumping Off Roofs, etc. are funny without being intrusive, which is good. The level makes me want to play part 2, as well, which also is good. (Though the "end of part 1" sign at the end, with no win tile, was kind of irritating. I know the intent is probably to let the player go back and explore more, but it makes the level feel like a beta.)

[Begin ruthless criticism.]

However: technically, this level has some problems. The water in the sewers and elsewhere is layered inconsistently (that is, for example, you can be standing on a piece of ground, and yet be in front of a layer of waterfall that is going in front of the ground, leading to a PARADOX). This isn't remotely game-breaking, but it happens in a lot of levels, and it always irritates me. (Also: you can stand in the same tile as the fishing Knytt, and yet be in front of him, leading to another PARADOX.)

In the sewer area with the blue castle tileset thing, there are many solid fiddly bits (like the tapering points on the edges of some platforms, and the little piles of broken blocks on the ground) which are irritating. (With the tapering point dealies on one-tile-tall platforms, it's easy to run under the very edge of one, jump and go nowhere, then have to reposition yourself a bit to the side of the edge to get up.)

Other than these things, there're no significant errors. There's a blank sign in the zoo, but that's really about it.

[End ruthless criticism.]

So: I enjoyed this level (which is certainly above average for a first level), and eagerly anticipate part 2.

This level is consistently funny without trying too hard (like basically any DEtM clone). Jens Jensen's casual incompetence, the occasionally-helpful cats, the Society for Not Jumping Off Roofs, etc. are funny without being intrusive, which is good.

Heh. Thanks. I'm German, and we're not supposed to have a sense of humour, so I appreciate this sort of praise very much! *g*

Sadly, I'm not sure how much opportunity for humour there's going to be in the second part, as that may be considerably less populated and more focused on scenery. But, we'll see.

The level makes me want to play part 2, as well, which also is good. (Though the "end of part 1" sign at the end, with no win tile, was kind of irritating. I know the intent is probably to let the player go back and explore more...

Well, that, and I intend to expand the level there - that screen will lead directly into the second part, later. Sure, I could put a 'win' tile there anyway, I suppose...

The water in the sewers and elsewhere is layered inconsistently (that is, for example, you can be standing on a piece of ground, and yet be in front of a layer of waterfall that is going in front of the ground, leading to a PARADOX).

Really? Huh. I thought I'd been careful with the layering... I'll have to replay the level tonight with an eye to this, and fix this.

(Also: you can stand in the same tile as the fishing Knytt, and yet be in front of him, leading to another PARADOX.)

Whoops. Will fix.

In the sewer area with the blue castle tileset thing, there are many solid fiddly bits (like the tapering points on the edges of some platforms, and the little piles of broken blocks on the ground) which are irritating. (With the tapering point dealies on one-tile-tall platforms, it's easy to run under the very edge of one, jump and go nowhere, then have to reposition yourself a bit to the side of the edge to get up.)

Yeah, I know that whole section is... imperfect at best. I didn't find any better way to make it that would allow me to achieve the same sort of look though, so I decided to leave it like that (with the excuse that it's technically a first level, and I was doing the obligatory experimenting. *g*)

(Re: the tapering ends - I initially put them on another layer, but found that irritating also, as it basically made a part of what seemed like it should be solid ground non-solid.)

Other than these things, there're no significant errors. There's a blank sign in the zoo, but that's really about it.

Oh, yeah, damn. I meant to add a bit of text there today and then decided against it but forgot to take out the sign again. Yet another thing to fix in the next 'bugfix' version...

So: I enjoyed this level (which is certainly above average for a first level), and eagerly anticipate part 2.

Thanks! Wanna beta part 2, btw? You seem very thorough, which makes you the perfect type of beta for a perfectionist (which I am)... It will be a few months before it's ready, though, I think.

Thanks! Wanna beta part 2, btw? You seem very thorough, which makes you the perfect type of beta for a perfectionist (which I am)... It will be a few months before it's ready, though, I think.

I would very much like to beta test part 2.

@ googoogjoob: It's a deal, then!

@ Teper: Okay, this is now officially very odd: the bug you report is one that was reported by one of my beta testers, and I seem to remember correctly that I fixed it, because I can't replicate the problem! I just tried - I left that screen in every direction imaginable, and it worked fine in all directions. o.O

@ everyone: Uploading fixed version now.

Ooh ooh ooh! *downloads*

Nice level, I enjoyed it greatly.

i would really love to try this but... your download link is sending me to a page with lots of text and symbols and no download is coming up ;( could you fix or help? 

Make sure you're not clicking the music for the level link, but the link to the level itself (it's a lot bigger)

yeah i know, im clicking the link that says: http://www.allabouthmpf.com/Hmpf MacSlow - Falling Water part 1.v1.2.knytt.bin
All that comes up is tons of text

try right-clicking and then "save as". Occasionally a browser can be set to directly open a .bin file, which is unhelpful.