The Tree of Knowledge [challenge/normal/large]

Loved it, ego! Very well designed - good game play. Add some more story and splash/cut screens. I like a long game with a quest for Juni to get the rest of the keys - maybe on different planets - locales as well as each additional gemstone (power-up). I had fun playing it. You can always tell when you're in the hands of an experience map/game designer who has actually thought out the gameplay in advance.

Thanks Seattalite. Glad you enjoyed it.

I've had a bit of a breakthrough. In a level called The Tree of Knowledge you'd expect to find an epic tree or two. Well the design of this feature has been a major designer's block for me. I've finally found an approach I'm very happy with.  It's too much of a spoiler to show such a key piece of scenery, but it matches the updated forest trees I've shown before.

Today is a good day Great to here you're working on this; I was thinking of posting here a few days ago but felt I couldn't really fault you for silence and procrastinating what with my own record.


Hmm... 'Dragon Myth' and 'The Tree of Knowledge'...

Race? (Kidding.)

I've had a bit of a breakthrough.

 

Today is a good day

Today is a good day for pie! (Today is always a good day for pie.) And also for Knytt Stories!

Screenshot time! This city park was so hard to make! I think there's room for improvement, but not sure how. Advice, criticisms, and praise are all welcome.

Nice, I was hoping for a screenshot when I saw this thread had updated! As for improvements, maybe you could add a fountain... maybe with a couple of statues... maybe one is gold... heh.

Yeah, some more features in the park would be good, I think. Paths, water, maybe some trees... Try varying shades of natural colours.

But it looks great!

I'm agog at those architectural details! Gorgeous.

A fountain and/or statue would be good, yeah. Or a carousel if you feel ambitious.   

There's stuff in the park! (Jack you can see the fountain Sergio is referring to on page 8 of this thread. Looking back on that picture I actually like those stand-in trees.) My concern was if it looked right. There's something about the screen of trees that feels off to me, but I don't know what. Some closer trees may help. I'll try it.

Maybe the fact it's trees in the background and bushes in the foreground? But it could just be a different part of the park, different design and landscaping.

The only other thing that occurred to me is that it's unusual to see bare soil in a park, but with the way you've designed it an alternative wouldn't really be feasible, and it stopped bothering me once I'd resolved that.

I like the fountain from page 8 but it could be more... dynamic. If the stone god was sleeping (think images of Homer sleeping in 'The Simpsons', made to look really lazy and gross, dropping things from his hands right off of the shrine, drool down his face, even - nay, especially - dressed only in underwear) and the gold god was seriously obese (more than a fat belly, but fat arms, fat legs, fat face, fat neck) and actively depicted stuffing his face with food (gross, messy overeating) it would make the themes more obvious and give it much more impact, funnier and weirder and cooler. Hyperbole is a great communicator, and very entertaining.

But it would probably a lot harder to draw, if nothing else.


I was also thinking that rubbish left lying around the fountain would emphasise its themes as well (eat like a glutton and discard without effort) but then, could there be rubbish scattered throughout the whole park? This could even be an offering to the gods!

If the gods looked gross, it would be a hard religion to sell. My previous descriptions of the gods has evolved somewhat. To put it briefly, they're like two faces of capitalism for common knyttfolk, rest and wealth. They represent a balance between working for personal wealth and relaxing. The problem is there's a gigantic city at the heart of the game world, and a civilization that doesn't do work couldn't have built it.

Until recent times obesity was considered a sign of status and wealth and was envied. Gluttony and slovenliness would be a somewhat alluring contrast to real-world values of temperance and self-discipline. And hyperbole works in comedy.

But ah well, just ideas. And if you're changing your plans, too, that's cool. I like the ideas you're putting together. It'll be great to finally play this!

Cool !!! Egomassive new story, that's a good news !

I've been knocking the dust off this project this week. I've added 6 new screens and 2 COs so far. I even added a feature to the KSLE+ so I could scroll 100 screens at a time (hold Shift+Control and use arrow keys.) I also added a feature to KS+ specifically for this level.

Talps was saying how the Hologram is just too powerful against many enemies and hard to make puzzles for. In this level I have a lot planned after the hologram is collected, maybe a third of the level. The hologram must be tamed. So, I added a mode that only allows the hologram to be launched on special spots. These spots are invisible squares that rely on level designers to indicate the presence of.

The best news is that I've been excited to work on this! I finally made some COs that have been holding me back. Everyday I feel eager to make more progress. There are no new tilesets this time so I have nothing new to show you, but here's something old most of you haven't seen:

Great to hear you're working on this! I'm still really hoping to see this, 'Dragon Myth' and 'The Empty Planet' finished. Your graphics for TTOK (what was it, 'Tractors, something Or Kindling'?) are lovely and show how well you've developed over time.

I like your hologram solution; may make for some interesting puzzles (my answer was to have it 'break' and stop working as soon as I could justifiably do so ).

I hope the drive lasts and you keep finding the fun in designing. I've gotten bogged down rewriting old cutscenes; obsessing over the little details, eh. Time for you to catch up (not that I'm racing or anything ).