[Challenge/Epic] I Dreamed of the Sky

Besides every umbrella challenge based on the underwater adventure? Safety sequal by SecretGlitch and grand challenge by Introversity got some nice umbrella jumps.

Right, I have that area finished, cutscenes and all. That means I have just one more 'level' to do, plus the ending area; I'm feeling very close to finishing.

I need to design tilesets for the last area; I have a few ideas and am thinking of more as I type this message, so we'll see how it goes, how well I get into it and stuff. Still, nearly done. Three cutscenes, one 'challenge area' and one 'story area' before I call for testers, and two months before the end of the year. Also, i have a job now, which is limiting my free time a lot. But if I can keep up a flow of ideas I'll hopefully get this done soon.

I have news and stuff. I'm no longer holding to my commitment to get this done before the end of the year; I'm just not feeling inspired for it right now. I'd rather produce something late that I'm happy with than something on time that I'm not. The fact that it's taken me since I started this thread to make seven screens is probably a hint that I'm not really into this right now.

So I'm not saying I won't have it done soon, but I'm not saying I will any more.


On a lighter note, I have started working on a small level, which I am getting through swiftly. Just a different type of level is coming more easily (slight musical issues at the moment but I'll get over that). So that'll be about soon.
It's pretty small so I don't know if I'll ask for testers or post a preview. And in Egomassive-style I'll be annoying and keep the title something of a secret, though I will say...
D _  N _ _  P _ _ _  U _  T _ _  K _ _!

D _  N _ _  P _ _ _  U _  T _ _  K _ _!

Do Not Push Up Too/Two K__!

Can't think of any 3 letter word with a K...

You're half-right.

...

I'm frightened.

*poke*
lack of updates makes me cry >.>

I saw this ...

and cried a little inside ... so ... 

Ya know what I really HATE? The Level Preview section!
Why?

Cause I have to stay up night after night waiting for these games to come out 


Ha ha! This looks great! I'm gonna have to stay up night after night because I'm excited to try it when it finally comes out.

;-;
I got so excited when I saw I Dreamed of the Sky up there on the level previews
and cried a little when it wasn't Talps
;-;

As previously mentioned, this level is on hiatus until I feel more inspired for it; I don't want to push it when it doesn't want to come and make a poorer product than it should be. Hopefully I'll get back into it early on next year, and as it's nearly done, one more push should hopefully get to the end.
At the moment I'm giving myself a change of plot and scenery, working on a fun, smaller level which now has a preview thread, which should hopefully be done and ready for testing within the next couple of weeks. If I'm supremely fast you might even get it as a Christmas present.

This is officially back in production.
I started working on this level sometime between August or September 2010, which is quite a long time ago now, since when I've released, well, all the levels I made after my previous epic, 'Eurydice'.  The five levels between then and now have taught me a lot and all the time in between them I've been working on this; my skills have steadily improved over that time, as has my reputation here. I'd say the most recent areas of 'I Dreamed of the Sky' meet with my satisfaction, whereas the older areas just aren't up to scratch any more. There are a lot of small changes that need to be made like small graphical fixes and tweaks to challenges, as well as a handful of big ones like large graphical fixes and the total renovation of some screens and areas, so before I get to work on the last area, I want to make those changes.

But they're things that need to be done and every one done is another step closer to the game's completion. And I want an end product that I can be proud of and that you can enjoy without wanting to track me down and make me eat my own ears.

You must have had some traumatic experience involving people eating their own ears
This is great news!

Well, I've dealt with the list of 'Old Things that Have to Change', so now I'm back to making the final area. I've completely forgotten the slightly complex layout I had planned for this area (go up to get the switch... and down to get the... and then left to press the...) and I've also realised my tileset/gradient combo I'd arranged doesn't work at all.
The tileset I made for this level is the one I used for the walls of the first lab in 'Do Not Pick Up The Key' where I used it rather differently to how I intended to use it here, and I'm wondering if it would harm the credibility of this level if I mimicked the style of that area, since it looked great there. But would people be thinking of that cheery music when they saw this? Hmm...

The other consideration is that I might design a rather complex background gradient, something similar to the background of the 'Curious Factory' level of 'Warioland 4'... (Wonder where my GBA is.)