This Level Plays Itself! [Misc./Small/Easy][KS+]

...Well, only if you want it to.  

"This Level Plays Itself!" is just what it says it is: a level that plays itself.  You have the option to play it yourself if you like (in which case you will be able to hear that version's pseudo-dynamic-music, as well as a slightly differently-tinted version of the level), but it can play itself just fine, too!  "How does it do this?" I hear you asking.  Well, I used the key press objects from Egomassive's Knytt Stories Plus mod!  Actually, I did a couple other things using that mod as well, so if you wanna' play the level, you'll have to get the latest version here!

...And then get the level here!


This was mostly an experimental level, which is why it's really lacking on the custom content front.  Even still, I've learned a lot about what I can do with KS+ just in doing this level.  It's a wonderfully neat mod and the vastly improved UI makes making levels much, much less tedious.  I've got a number of ideas that I could work with brewing in my head, so that'll probably be something I'll be working on.

And hey!  I finished a level (albeit a very, very short one)!  

I'm impressed. I didn't think such fluid movement was possible, even though I made the mod. My "monkey" got stuck between the Toast and the Absurd Spikers. He'd grab the wall, but then slide down and tried again. I had to give him a nudge with the up key. Probably due to a difference in speed between your processor and mine. Anyway, great job!

Amazing! That's all I can really say.

Oh and I guess the lack of ambiance was a little weird. Didn't even notice it until I was playing the level myself. Or maybe it was just too quiet compared to the music?

Oh and I guess the lack of ambiance was a little weird. Didn't even notice it until I was playing the level myself. Or maybe it was just too quiet compared to the music?

Only the self-playing version has ambiance. The manual version excludes to allow for some crazy dynamic music that I found ridiculously impressive. Congrats, Ultigonio! Have a for pulling it off!

Oh, well that was well executed.

Good job with the dynamic piano, that was quite intriguing.

This is pretty weird: level that contains it's own let's play video. I like your music. Can I eventually use in my own level (with credit, of course) ?

I'm impressed. I didn't think such fluid movement was possible, even though I made the mod. My "monkey" got stuck between the Toast and the Absurd Spikers. He'd grab the wall, but then slide down and tried again. I had to give him a nudge with the up key. Probably due to a difference in speed between your processor and mine. Anyway, great job!

Oddly enough, if I let the level play all the way through, it works just fine, but if I start from the Toast screen, it'll get stuck in the loop.  Even though it works, it's not reliable, so I'll upload a fixed version where that simply won't end up happening.  Thanks for the heads-up (and the "great job," too)!  I'm assuming you probably already know this, but for anyone who doesn't, in order to make your character climb with the "Up" Key Press object, it has to be below the character.  Same goes for "Down."  So if I want little Knytt to save as he runs over a save point, the "Down" Key Press object has to be placed directly below the save point.  The only issue with this is that if he's ascending a wall from one screen to the next, he'll have to jump climb, because there won't be an "Up" Key Press object below him once he reaches the next screen, since he'll be at the very bottom of the screen, and he'll slide back down to the screen below as a result (wow, what a run-on sentence).  Similarly, he can't "quickslide" all the way down a wall that leads off-screen - once he hits the very bottom, there won't be a "Down" Key Press object below him, and he'll just slowly slide until he reaches the next screen.  Ah well, such is - I'm guessing that's just the way the game is built.

Oh and I guess the lack of ambiance was a little weird. Didn't even notice it until I was playing the level myself. Or maybe it was just too quiet compared to the music?

As Sergio said, the self-playing version does have ambiance, but the manual one doesn't - in order to achieve the dynamic music effect, I had to place both tracks of the song into both Ambiance slots.  When I use this effect in the future (and I definitely will), I'll probably make it so any ambient sounds are a part of the actual track itself.  It's a little limiting, but hey, that's okay!  Just being able to do dynamic music at all is kind of awesome and makes me super excited.


Thanks for the compliments and all that, guys.  I'm glad you all like it! 

Oh!  And sure, Polana!  I plan to use a revamped version of the song in the far, far distant future for some project or another, but because it won't be for a really (really) long time, I don't think it'd be anything to worry about.

I'm assuming you probably already know this, but for anyone who doesn't, in order to make your character climb with the "Up" Key Press object, it has to be below the character.  Same goes for "Down." ...

What? Really? I don't think it's supposed to be like that, but I made those objects a while ago, so there's no telling what I was thinking back then. I may have to update them and completely break this fine level.

Huh!  Hmmm....  At the very least, it would be worth experimenting to see how it would change the objects, but honestly, I think it would be an improvement to "fix" them.  If you choose to do so, I'll update the level accordingly - it'll be a pretty minimal amount of work to adjust the objects to the new spots they'd need to be in, and I think that it would make climbing from one screen to another a lot more reliable.  All in all, I say go for it!

I'd been tinkering with this idea myself, but I think you've done it a lot better than I could. Awesome little level!

I'm no level designer, but I was definitely impressed. Even excluding the "Plays itself piece" l liked a few other things you used... the dynamic laser to ensure the player picks up the double jump... the "hidden" offscreen jump to get the high jump. It was a well-structured little level.

Quote from: Purple Ink on March 15, 2013, 12:59:16

Oh and I guess the lack of ambiance was a little weird. Didn't even notice it until I was playing the level myself. Or maybe it was just too quiet compared to the music?

As Sergio said, the self-playing version does have ambiance, but the manual one doesn't - in order to achieve the dynamic music effect, I had to place both tracks of the song into both Ambiance slots.  When I use this effect in the future (and I definitely will), I'll probably make it so any ambient sounds are a part of the actual track itself.  It's a little limiting, but hey, that's okay!  Just being able to do dynamic music at all is kind of awesome and makes me super excited.

Yes, I realised this when I looked at the level in the editor.

This is a great level for anyone using the KS+ mod. It's a good showcase for some of the capabilities of the mod.

I'd been tinkering with this idea myself, but I think you've done it a lot better than I could. Awesome little level!

There's certainly still more that could be done with it, of course.  One thing that comes to mind is that you could actually make a moving cutscene like in the beginning of Knytt.  Actually, I had the idea to create a third version of this particular level called "This Level Plays Itself! ...Sorta'," in which the character could move around and hit save points on its own, but the player had to jump and climb at the appropriate times.  However, this became an extremely difficult task that would require me to make a lot of changes to the overall level's design because the level itself simply wasn't designed around an on-rails platforming experience - you'd have to give the player lots of warning so they knew how the character was going to move - a pit of spikes/water/etc. JUST as you move onto the next screen (which I didn't QUITE do in this level, but came close to) is unacceptable because the player doesn't see it coming, and unless you want to teach a player some sort of mechanic or you're making one of those "masocore"-type games, that simply isn't okay.  In any case, a sort of on-rails Knytt Stories level would actually be really cool, and while I'd consider making something of that nature, there are a lot of other things I'd like to try with KS+ first.  I'm glad you like my level, but in any case, I'd say, see what you can do with this, too!  

I'm no level designer, but I was definitely impressed. Even excluding the "Plays itself piece" l liked a few other things you used... the dynamic laser to ensure the player picks up the double jump... the "hidden" offscreen jump to get the high jump. It was a well-structured little level.

The laser was done partly because I was thinking to myself, "Hey, I'm using KS+, so why not?" as well as making sure the player got the double jump.  I'm glad you're impressed, though!  I'd like to get myself into making my own games (especially platformers), and so it's always nice to hear that a level I made has been designed proficiently.

This is a great level for anyone using the KS+ mod. It's a good showcase for some of the capabilities of the mod.

Honestly, I was a little surprised that the Key Press objects weren't shown off in the KS+ feature show-off level.  Even still, I only used a very small handful of features. The next level I make will probably either use a lot more of them, or it will feature extensive use of a couple particular features.  I already have quite a few ideas, and I'm really excited to use them, but I'm still thinking of some sort of story (simple, silly, or otherwise) to tie it all together with....

Quote from: Purple Ink on March 16, 2013, 14:54:30

This is a great level for anyone using the KS+ mod. It's a good showcase for some of the capabilities of the mod.

Honestly, I was a little surprised that the Key Press objects weren't shown off in the KS+ feature show-off level.  Even still, I only used a very small handful of features. The next level I make will probably either use a lot more of them, or it will feature extensive use of a couple particular features.  I already have quite a few ideas, and I'm really excited to use them, but I'm still thinking of some sort of story (simple, silly, or otherwise) to tie it all together with....

I couldn't think of a good way to showcase Key Press objects in Features Demonstration. Purple Ink makes a good point. May I host this level on the official KS+ page as an example level? I will be updating the Up and Down objects, and including a new Block User object to prevent players from screwing up choreographed sequences. So, after you update this level to comply, it will make an excellent example of Key Press objects and dynamic ambiance.

May I host this level on the official KS+ page as an example level? I will be updating the Up and Down objects, and including a new Block User object to prevent players from screwing up choreographed sequences. So, after you update this level to comply, it will make an excellent example of Key Press objects and dynamic ambiance.

Sure, that sounds great!  As soon as you get the update out, I'll fix up the level to work properly with it.  I like the idea of a Block User object.