[Environmental - easy] Falling Water, part 1

Thanks! Hmm, that's an issue in all the screens that have the ceiling grass, then.

I'm not sure I can do anything about it, except remove the ceiling grass, which would make me sad... The ceiling grass needs to be on layer 3 because there's three layers of background - layer 0 is the brick wall, and layers 1 and 2 are a transparent grey overlay. Having just one transparent grey layer results in insufficient shadiness.

Or, I suppose, there's the option of manipulating the ceiling grass in such a way as to make sure that there is a 'solid' bit in the place where two tiles connect...? Just a few pixels might do the trick?

Or I could create a background image from the brick tile... this would remove the need to have the brick tiles on layer 0. Hmm...

Hmm, indeed. Or, you could create an extra shading tile and add the grass to that.

Or, you could make the grass a custom object, but that would be unnecessary.

Or I could create a background image from the brick tile... this would remove the need to have the brick tiles on layer 0. Hmm...

That seems like the best solution.

By the way, you are aware you're using 1.2? The latest version is 1.2.1. (to bunnrey)

When I try to download it brings up all these random symbols and stuff. Help.

When I try to download it brings up all these random symbols and stuff. Help.

You're probably trying to open the .knytt.bin file with your browser. Try right click->save as instead of just clicking on the link.

I had to take the level and the Falling Water preview page (as well as my entire website) offline because my webspace got hacked. I'm in the process of rebuilding my website now and will only re-upload the preview page when I've had the time to check all the source code for inserted malicious code. The level is back up now, though, and has been scanned with every antivirus and anti-malware software I have.

This is a lovely level. I hope part 2 is up soon; I want to see more of this creativity, these environments, the character and humor of the world portrayed.


It's close to Nevermore 3, stylistically speaking, truth be told...
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/488613

This is a lovely level. I hope part 2 is up soon; I want to see more of this creativity, these environments, the character and humor of the world portrayed.

I'm working on it fairly constantly (not so much in the past two weeks, but started again yesterday), but it's shaping up to be very large, so it will be a while, I'm afraid. I'm somewhere around 270 screens now (counting FW part 1 + 2, as they're not detached from one another) and with that, have only built most of the *surface* of the world, with plenty of caves, as well as another 'continent' still to come. (The other 'continent' will be part 3, though.)

So many people are enjoying the humour... It makes me feel kind of bad because the second part will probably be much less humorous, with the focus much more on mystery (not in the 'X Files' sense, and not in the Agatha Christie sense, either, but in the 'Myst' sense - finding out what this world is all about).

It's close to Nevermore 3, stylistically speaking, truth be told...
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/488613

I love Nevermore, it's one of my favourite flash games! Not sure I see much similarity between it and Falling Water, but I'm glad FW reminded you of such a quality game. :-)

This level is inspired by Myst? Wow, I HAVE to play the full version once you make it.

Are you sure you can't just add in those little secrets as before while concentrating on the mystery? Just put a little humorous diorama off to the side here and there as you did with the Summer/Winter wardrobes, the cats, and the "society;" I'll go through this "mystery," get engrossed, take a short diversionary walk, and come back to focus doubly hard on whatever you want me to pay attention to.

I'm surprised Nevermore 3 doesn't remind you of your level. I mean, sure, the sewer sections don't exactly reflect Nevermore perfectly, but crossing the rooftops just had the kind of vibe the latter parts of Nevermore did. The world you made just seems like it would fit in there perfectly.


One comment I had thought of earlier but neglected to mention: are you going to make the levels a bit more easy to walk/run/jump through, as in putting fewer obstacles in the path? I wonder if that kind of flow might work better.

@WatcherCCG: Very vaguely inspired only. So, no mechanical puzzles. ;-) No puzzles at all, really. What it shares with Myst is mainly the sense of being in a - mostly quite beautiful - world that has a certain history, that was changed or built by someone for a reason. Parts 2 and 3 are about finding out the history of the creation of the world Juni lives in, essentially. I'm still struggling a bit with how to tell that history, though. It's hard to fit it all into cat dialogue balloons, and the cats are virtually the only thing that talks in most of part 2. *sigh*

Are you sure you can't just add in those little secrets as before while concentrating on the mystery? Just put a little humorous diorama off to the side here and there as you did with the Summer/Winter wardrobes, the cats, and the "society;" I'll go through this "mystery," get engrossed, take a short diversionary walk, and come back to focus doubly hard on whatever you want me to pay attention to.

I dunno. So far, nothing like that has happened. See, the humourous bits in the first part developed very organically; I never set out planning to put in any humour, it just happened. And so far, in part 2, it *hasn't* happened. Of course, I'm only about 170 screens into part 2, so it's possible something funny will happen later on. But I'm wary of trying to shoehorn it in when it doesn't come naturally, you know?

Mostly, I think, the people in the City just struck me as inherently odd in a funny way; the humour seemed natural there. Now that we're out in 'the wild', it just... doesn't.

There's Green Village, as well as another, unnamed village, of course. Maybe something humourous will occur to me there. But Green Village and the other village are less inherently funny than the City. The City is a very odd place, you see... the people there don't really believe very much in the world beyond the City, and due to being stuck in the City for generations, they've developed some odd, idiosyncratic behaviours etc. The villages on the other side of the world are a lot, hm, saner, I guess. And thus less amusing. I think. But I haven't written any character dialogue for the villages yet, so maybe that will change. We'll see.

The cats, of which there's going to be plenty, have a certain potential for humour, of course. But their main function is being purveyors of information, and due to the limitations of speech balloon size I'll have to focus on information for most of the cat dialogue.

I'm surprised Nevermore 3 doesn't remind you of your level. I mean, sure, the sewer sections don't exactly reflect Nevermore perfectly, but crossing the rooftops just had the kind of vibe the latter parts of Nevermore did. The world you made just seems like it would fit in there perfectly.

I think partly it's because I *know* the rest of my world, whereas you don't, yet. ;-) Nevermore is very different from Falling Water, to me, because Nevermore feels very natural. Whereas Falling Water is... well, *not* natural. Let's leave it at that, for now. ;-)

One comment I had thought of earlier but neglected to mention: are you going to make the levels a bit more easy to walk/run/jump through, as in putting fewer obstacles in the path? I wonder if that kind of flow might work better.

In fact, parts 2 and 3 will be entirely environmental. (I think. Sometimes I miss the ability to put in some nice-looking-but-slightly-dangerous critters... *g*)

Wow, this was even better than I thought it would be.

I completely agree with the comparison to the Nevermore series (which I also love)... true, it doesn't look like Nevermore, and it doesn't sound like Nevermore, and it doesn't even quite feel like Nevermore (between the play mechanics, the different dialogue style & different storyline/goals); it definitely doesn't smell like Nevermore, with all those rat-filled sewers; so I guess that leaves... it tastes like Nevermore! Yes, that's it exactly: it leaves a complex, lingering, pleasant yet thought-provoking aftertaste.

Knytt Stories -- and your LiveJournal level recommendations -- drew me in in the first place with the promise of exploration-focussed platform-adventure gameplay. This level delivered on so much of that promise.

You've done wonders with setting mood via creative use of tilesets. If you haven't quite mastered the art of avoiding the use of no-jump/no-climb/invisible-wall architecture -- as opposed to the 'natural formation' method -- to block off areas, you've surely attained at least 'journeyman' status. (Incidentally, I actually really liked the way that bluish castle-y section worked, especially with some towers being solid-walled & others having roof-platforms only; it was visually interesting and a pleasant but not unreasonable challenge.) The overall feel of the level was consistently maintained -- with the exceptions of the few pointedly different screens such as inside the
Early in the level, I found the chimney/step jumps a bit frustrating, because it's so easy to fall down more than one step due to how exactly the jumps need to be timed. Don't get me wrong, I really liked the idea of a 'trick jump' that I did find myself wishing that particular bit of challenge was less-used (not eliminated entirely) though, especially Also, the rats, while not actually dangerous, were delightfully creepy thanks to the combination of their default movement and, again, your inspired level design.

I'm looking immensely forward to part 2!

P.S. I did in fact find all of the secrets / Easter eggs without help or even peeking at the list of what to look for. Which, again, with the way I play (checking every nook and cranny) speaks to good level design.

P.P.S. For part 2, there are other ways to handle the exposition besides dialogue balloons (from cats, Knytts or other beings); you could put in something like a

Parts 2 and 3 are about finding out the history of the creation of the world Juni lives in, essentially. I'm still struggling a bit with how to tell that history, though. It's hard to fit it all into cat dialogue balloons, and the cats are virtually the only thing that talks in most of part 2. *sigh*

Hey, the Jack. Awesome (awesmoe!) feedback there, thanks! Kind of lacking time here (gotta bake cookies for a birthday tomorrow), but I wanted to comment on the issue of cat dialogue, at least: (I don't think that needs to be put in spoiler tags, btw)

The fact that all or most of the exposition will go into cat speech balloons is due to a conscious decision having to do with the story behind the world. So, I know that technically there are other ways - for a while I thought Kalle might have left notes all over the place in his youth, when he went exploring like Juni now does - but I've settled on the cats-as-main-purveyors-of-information idea because it just makes sense, in context.

Oh, and also: I agree about the jumping challenge being annoying, and the problems with invisible walls etc. There will be none (or very little) of either of that in the latter parts. (I think there's exactly one unclimbable wall in part 2 or 3, so far.)

Right, gotta run now and bake. 

I would love to play this level but the link on the first post is broken!
Could you update the link so myself and others can play?

Thanks.

EDIT~ I just read through the whole post and now understand what's going on 
Good luck getting your website fixed. And maybe you could upload the Knytt.bin files to a free file sharing service so people can still download them?
I just found Remembering the City and want to play that as well