[challenge/hard/medium]The Dying Core

I'm thinking this should be split off into a separate thread.

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.

Eeeeeh...  Admittedly, I had been doing almost EXACTLY the same thing myself, to a degree.  I really had to push myself to get back to it, so it's a good thing you messaged me when you did, since that probably helped give me an extra push.
I was just going through the thread to see what had been said thus far, and I felt like I should mention that.

So, is this any closer to getting completed?

Yes. Ultigonio has finished the music. I have one cutscene left to make. I spent two weeks doing RL stuff which brought Knytting to a halt. I intend to work on it a bit today.

Update. I have one cutscene left till completion. I know I said that before and I'm not sure why because I had 2 left. Anyway, I ended up remaking the first cutscene because I can't leave well enough alone. I was inspired by some student levels to make this more of a dialogue free game. There's still dialogue, but it's greatly reduced. I certainly think less is more in this case. However, I have been adding things too, hidden rooms and a new ambiance track.

I don't think it's any secret that I haven't had much enthusiasm for making this level since the beginning. It's spent far too long in non-development. But, I've had an inexplicable interest in working on it lately. Hopefully, this wave will carry me through the final, and hardest, cutscene. I'm finally starting to feel the same pride I have in my other levels for this one. As an early present to those who have been waiting for me to finish this, I have attached a preview from the opening cutscene. Thank you for your patience.

Yes! It's great to hear this is getting close! The screen looks good. Hope you get there this time!

Wow, I'm liking it!  That is about 100x the effort I put in to cut scenes.  Did you just assemble that by distorting flat images, or did you actually use a 3d rendering?

The scene above is all Gimp. I looked into a vector drawing tool, but I quickly lost the patience to learn the software. Plus, using Gimp for everything keeps the graphics consistent. I drew everything flat, then distorted it. It could have been better. You can see how some of the bolts on the floor are stretched more than others, and the domed glass looks flat. I'm learning Blender for another project, so in the future my 3D images may be 3D rendered. This, however, will stay as it is in the interest of releasing this level soon.

Bump.

What's going on, Mr Ego?
I'm still desperately curious to find out what this level is all about...

I'm still struggling with the last cutscene, or at least I was. I haven't worked on this for over a month. I've been distracted by my KS mod and RL. Also, I'm a little discouraged by my first attempts at creating the final scene. It's just not turning out the way I want it to. I'm certainly learning a lesson with this level: In the future I will either make simple cutscenes or recruit an artist. Anyway, I apologize for the wait. I know I've said this before but, I think I may have to churn something out and release the level whether I'm happy with it or not.

I've been wanting to get back into level designing. Namely, I want to map out TToK. However, I think I really need to finish The Dying Core first.

Yeah, I know the feeling when you really want to start a new project, but won't let yourself until you've finished another that you're feeling uninspired about.

Recruiting an artist is maybe something I should consider from time to time as well. I'm always thinking I want to buff up my cutscenes but I know I don't have much skill. I can barely manage tilesets. 

It's good to hear you are close to finishing; hope you can find the inspiration to bridge the last hurdle. (My metaphors: I am mixing them!)

Best of luck with finishing up The Dying Core.  It's been a while since I've even touched Pouring....  I've managed to conquer some areas of school, so I might actually get back to it really soon, which would be nice....

I have made some progress since last I posted about this. Getting good results finally. Thanks for the encouragement.

Don't quit now, you are almost there...

Ooooh, can't wait for this! =D LOOKS SO EPIC!!