[Easy][Puzzle] Well of White Waters

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Offline Headgrinder

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[Easy][Puzzle] Well of White Waters
« on: March 23, 2010, 12:39:54 »
This is my entry into the March 21st level competition as well as my first level ever.  No custom stuff, just getting my feet wet with what is already there.  I love nifflas original tileset anyway and wanted to see what I could do with it.  Enjoy.

http://knyttlevels.com/levels/Headgrinder%20-%20Well%20of%20White%20Waters%20v1%202.knytt.bin

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Offline lamarblake

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Re: [Easy][Puzzle] Well of White Waters
« Reply #1 on: March 23, 2010, 15:08:45 »
Got this off the level archive list the other day. Glad you posted here so I can comment. Sweet! Very, very pretty level. A+ Appears that you spent most of your time with how the level looks.

Technically seems fine to me too but then I'm not a level creator. Looks and feels like old level style playing. That's fine by me.

Difficulty is easy.

All and all a really exceptional level for a first time! Grats.


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Offline yohji

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Re: [Easy][Puzzle] Well of White Waters
« Reply #2 on: March 23, 2010, 20:50:41 »
Very good job for a first level. I was actually a bit irritated by the visual style, all those colors in a mix... but I enjoyed it.
Spoiler: (click to show/hide)

Also, I was confused by the
Spoiler: (click to show/hide)
But since nobody complained, I guess it's just me  :)

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Offline Artix

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Re: [Easy][Puzzle] Well of White Waters
« Reply #3 on: March 23, 2010, 21:55:00 »
Wallswim if you double jump up from screen x1002y1004.


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Offline Headgrinder

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Re: [Easy][Puzzle] Well of White Waters
« Reply #4 on: March 23, 2010, 22:57:11 »
Thanks for the comments guys.

@lamarblake:  Old level style playing eh?  Do you mean a lot like Nifflas original games?  That was what I was shooting for.  I love the style of his games and I wanted to see more of them.

@yohji:  Didn't like the color mix, eh?  Sorry to hear that... Maybe the green and dark blue was a bit much, but most of it I thought was fun. 

As for the hint and tile issue, I'm a little confused...
Spoiler: (click to show/hide)

And as for a sequel:
Spoiler: (click to show/hide)

@Artix:  Dough!  Hmmm... I'm not sure I'll fix that unless I DO make a sequel.  Or unless more problems crop up.  I like the look of the screens too much at this point and I'm sure to take too much time changing them.  Oh wait, I could probably just put invisible blocks at the top of x1002y1004.  Yeah... but not for now.  Thanks though.

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Offline Hmpf

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Re: [Easy][Puzzle] Well of White Waters
« Reply #5 on: March 23, 2010, 23:12:24 »
I think the colours worked well together; there wasn't any screen where I felt they were combined inappropriately, and a few where I was pleasantly surprised by some colour combination or other. Of course this is one of those famous matters of personal taste, though. :-)

One instance that for some reasons stuck in my mind in particular: the dark blue colour scheme on the lower right(?) of the level, combined with, in the very first screen of that dark blue area, a few red-orangey flowers from the Flower Garden tileset. (Of course, I've always been a big fan of dark blue hues combined with either the warmest, brightest of yellowish greens, and/or reds, yellows and oranges - basically, a very extreme dark/cold vs. warm/bright contrast. I dunno, that combination just does it for me in a big way.)

The whole level felt very garden-like to me; fertile, with lots of flowers and other prettiness.

Two more things I particularly liked: the way you put flowers and grass in the foreground sometimes to create an impression of depth/space (and also, to make the setting seem even more teeming with botanical life) - it's an effect I'm very fond of, and I'm using it a lot in Falling Water, too. :-) And the white, glowing water worked really rather well with the green, fertile surroundings. Also, the glowing water behind the waterfall, in the starting screen, was visually very pleasant.

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Offline the Jack

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Re: [Easy][Puzzle] Well of White Waters
« Reply #6 on: March 24, 2010, 18:46:13 »
Ooh, I've been looking forward to your first level since you joined the LoCP and mentioned you were working on one, and this exceeded my expectations.

A couple of technical issues:

I really enjoyed this level. The flower/gate puzzle is clever in both concept and execution; leaving the default shift visual and sound effects on was a nice way of letting the player know they'd found the right flower. Plus, the locations of the various power-ups, along with the order they have to be acquired in, definitely met Bulbapuck's "you have to think about" description of what qualifies as a puzzle as well. Like most KS players, I've seen all the tilesets you chose used in countless other levels, but the way you combined them nevertheless felt "fresh" in addition to seeming to tie in thematically with other of Juni's adventures. Exploring the scenery was really fun, and the fact that there are areas that can't be accessed immediately really added to the feeling of discovery.

I think lamarblake was referring to the way lots of levels made since the current build of KS (1.21) was released take advantage of custom object support and... hm, what else didn't KS v1 support, actually? (I wasn't around that long ago.) Older, or shall we say "classic," levels necessarily focussed on creating the kind of game experiences Nifflas inspired with his KS levels like The Machine and A Strange Dream. Like Hmpf, I found the glowing effect on the waterfall below the first save point very attractive... so much that I was drawn to jump down to see if there was anything there.   X)

Transition areas, where the different-coloured parts of the level met, didn't seem too busy to me. (The MyskglurgiskGrottglufs tileset always seems to clash within itself to my eye, but I've grown used to it.) Screens with just one colour scheme didn't feel overly busy to me, either; just lush and richly-decorated. As the level subtitle says, it's a well full of life. I'm a sucker for levels full of flowers... and,
Spoiler: speaking of flowers, (click to show/hide)

All the caverns that were visible on different screens, but couldn't be reached, left me longing for a sequel where Juni re-visits the Well of White Waters and gets to explore those, too. Which is a very cool feeling to have upon finishing a level.  8D

Actually, it's eggplant.

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Offline Headgrinder

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Re: [Easy][Puzzle] Well of White Waters
« Reply #7 on: March 25, 2010, 13:06:12 »
Sigh... ok, sounds like there is enough tech issues to warrant a version 1.2.  I'll get on that as soon as I clear some space on my calender... hopefully sometime next week.

I also noticed that in screen x1003y1006 there is a double layer of glowing water i need to fix... although it is kind of a cool effect if I used it differently.

Thanks very much for the comments Jack.  I think the 'preview' effect of seeing areas you know you can't get to yet is one of the best things you can find in a level.  I'm in this for the exploration, and I hope to get better and better at that.  And yes, (jack and hmpf), the waterfall with the glowing white water is a fantastic effect.  The waterfalls in general have a great way of making the colors behind them pop against the rest of the screen.  I intentionally added extra background to some of the screens so that it could take advantage of that effect.

I'm glad my BFA degree in painting/sculpture is good for something.  I'm sure not using it grinding stainless steel for a living.  :crazy: