[Challenge/Epic] I Dreamed of the Sky

...more updates... ...would be nice!

I agree. What progress has been made?

I have a bad habit of only the threads I get e-mail updates about.  This looks really good!  I'm excited to play it...

Been struggling a little with the current area, but I've made myself a map of the area, so the hardest part of the design is sorted. I really like the area designs but I don't want to give too much away. Work is currently slow; it's tough when the player has so many upgrades. But I have everything that's currently unfinished planned out in my head (at least in terms of concept), so it's just a case of making it all.

Got an umbrella challenge to design. Most of my levels either haven't had the umbrella or have only given it right at the end and haven't done much with it, so it'll be fun working with it.


How's that for a progress update?

EDIT: I'm seven screens away from completing the last-but-one level (not including warps, cut-scenes - which do have their scripts fully written - and one tile I need to remake).

Honestly, the edit part gave me more information than the parts above it.
Only new thing is the umbrella part.

Well its very difficult to blag a progress update when your progress doesn't amount to much!

I worked on it today and got a good bit done, hence the edit. I'm finding it a bit hard to stay focussed at the moment, however. I'll get there eventually. Just need to find the motivation to fix that ugly tile...

Do it so you can work on another project.

HOW DID I MISS THIS D:

Do want.

Who hasn't looked at this and went like "I WANTS NOW, TALPS!"?

I confess not a lot has happened since my last post here (unless you count an update to Minecraft). So rather than say what's new, I'll talk a little about the story.

I really like this level because there are three stories being told at once, all related and intertwined.
The obvious one is Juni's story, and her discoveries as she makes her way upwards. She's lived all her life in a dank, poorly powered settlement deep underground, so discovering plant-life, fresh water and bright light all take her by surprise.

The second one is the story of the people in the community she's left behind, and how Juni's actions influence them. Their leaders have always told them (and still tell them) that there is nothing but darkness and death in the caves above, so when they start receiving messages from Juni saying she's alive up there, and climbing constantly higher, what impact does that have on the society? When she starts throwing switches in a long-abandoned power station, sending practically infinite supplies of power down there, accompanied by accounts of her actions... These stories are told via messages sent to Juni by someone who lives in the caves.

The final story is exciting in that it's told backwards. In each area of the level there's a small console that gives a message about the history of the caves Juni is travelling through, why they were built and what happened to the people who lived in them. The first one Juni reads tells of the events that chronologically happened last, closest to her own times. As she travels closer to the surface, the messages tell of events that happened longer ago. Initially these consoles are put directly in the player's path, then later on some of them are out of the way or hidden, giving the player a reward for looking around. One of them tells information vital to the player, but the rest are just for fun, adding another dimension to the level.


So out of interest, are you the kind of person who stops and reads the stories and expositions in games, or do you skip through them and just get on with the challenges? Would you deliberately seek out extra information in a game's story?

Wow, that sounds really good.  I'm the kind of person that plays games almost exclusively for the story, both the read stories of history and dialogue, and the story of the adventure the character is having.  In fact, if the difficulty is too much that it interferes with the story, I sometimes loose interest. 

There are so many games I've not finished because I got to the final battle only to find it so excruciatingly hard I couldn't finish.  Mind you, if it was NOT the end, I probably would fight until I win through, but after the last boss, you pretty much know what will happen.

Anyway, too much info perhaps. 

I have to read every sign and talk to every NPC. Then, after every major event I go back and talk to every NPC again to make sure I don't miss anything. Sometimes, I can really bore myself to death. I also really like to explore, so the hidden parts will be fun to find, but I'm really sick of Knytt Stories with secrets that have zero indication of their presence.

I like your intertwined story Idea. It sounds like an interesting way to advance the plot, explore the history behind the world, and give players reason to question their actions. "What will happen to the village if I empty this pool of toxic waste to open a path for myself?" Things like that could add a lot.

The story for this game reminds me of City of Ember. I think the degree to which I'd seek out extra story information would depend on how similar it actually turned out to be while playing it, I might not be too eager if I felt like there weren't any revelations in store.

I have really liked your levels and I look forward to this one. I will read and seek out consoles for the story. Thank you for your efforts!

I have desperately waited for an update to this.
Anything? >.>

Need inspiration. Know any levels with really good umbrella sequences? Apart from 'An Underwater Adventure'.