[challenge/hard/medium]The Dying Core

^: I didn't know about the void. Probably due to using Lookie's level editor mod --must always remember to reload the level after editing the World.ini externally. As to the difficulty, it's supposed to get harder as you progress. I think it will be somewhere between normal and hard when finished. It's better to just say hard, than to torture players expecting a middle-to-easy normal.

I should have finished this by now, but my KS time has been dominated by tinkering with the KS source. Don't worry my MMF2 demo runs out in 2 weeks.

Edit October 17, 2010: My MMF2 demo ran out, and I'm back on this. Big news, Ultigonio has volunteered to do the sound track. He's already made a lot of progress. Thanks Ultigonio. The gameplay part is nearly finished, I'm on the last key section. Cutscenes have yet to be started. I have decided to aim for a more polished look than I've done in the past. We'll see how it goes.

More polished? 

All your previous levels have been amazingly well-finished so I'm curious to see what you'll be trying to push the boat even further 

It's great that you do put so much care into your level making. As always I look forward to the final product.

(I got weak and played the demo. Twice.)

Really looking forward to this. 

I just finished your "Shipwrecked" game. It has a great storyline and, as Widget said, it was really polished.

looking good. Might play it (which is something, im not playing KS as much any more )

Thanks for the compliments. By "more polished" I was only referring to the cutscene images. In A Knytt in Time, I'd never attempted cartoon style figure drawing before and the quality varied. With Shipwrecked I experimented with markers and simple shading to make them fast and sloppy. For The Dying Core, I intend to draw them fully with pencil and paper. I'll add color digitally. There are only three short scenes planned.

Edit November 10 2010: Ultigonio has completed 2 of 5 tracks for the level. I've been dragging my feet on making the cutscenes, but the gameplay is complete. This means I'm ready for beta testers! If you're interested let me know here and I'll PM you. Anyone can apply. I warn you that the last section is certainly hard, so you may not want to do it if normal difficulty is your limit.

Edit November 17 2010: In the last week I added animated doors. It's a small change, but it makes a big difference. I have no beta testers yet, so I'm going to try asking with my signature. I wont be posting screens from the final areas, but here's the info screen as teaser.

I'll test your game. Test it good! And maybe bumping this topic will draw in a few more!

Actually, SergioCornaga makes the third tester. Talps and Chath (a new guy) are the others. Thanks for volunteering. I will still welcome new testers.

I can't predict an accurate release date at the moment. Ultigonio is still working on music (I hope), and I'm still working on cutscenes. However, DJ Gopher is anxious to get the tilesets I promised him for his level, so I will finish them before finishing this. Guesstimated release date = 1 month from now.

I'd also like to test it.

The screens are so! Freaking! Lovely! You always do great stuff.

Thanks oskop, and welcome to the forum.

I have enough beta testers now. The rest of you will have to wait for the full release.

I'm really looking forward to this. The preview is good, but suffers from the lack of music, a void which will be filled by Ultigonio's soundtrack.

You estimated it would be completed about this time, thus I am curious about how it has progressed. Could you provide a revised time frame now?

Ultigonio had finished more than half of the music tracks before Christmas. I haven't heard from him since. They sound pretty nice though.

I have drawn one frame of one cutscene. I know it doesn't sound like much, but I've nailed down a method which gives good results quickly. These will definitely be my best cutscenes yet.

I was using the fact that Ultigonio hadn't finished his part as an excuse to avoid completing my tasks. The truth is I like to raise the bar for myself, but it's so high now that I was intimidated by it. Fear not, with the first frame done I now know I can overcome it.

On a side note: now that Nifflas has revealed a little more of his idea of what Knytt look like. I intend to make my cutscenes more cartoonish in my big Knytt Stories project.

Ego, you amaze me with your systematizing of pixel art.  I suppose that the best way to do it, but I've always just shot from the hip so to speak.  Your way is much more clean and consistent