[hard / small / challenge] Not Poetic At All

Hi Knytters !

Not Poetic At All is a small level very "arcade" game. I have use material I made for the long Knytt story i am working on Looking For Flynas (you can see info about it here: http://nifflas.lpchip.nl/index.php?topic=6369.0).

Sometimes Not Poetic At All can be hard.

I hope you will enjoy it !

Kira.

You can download it here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/u3oyo4iunifqjf4/Kira%20-%20Not%20Poetic%20At%20All.knytt.bin?dl=0

Uh... stage 5 certainly is... something that happened...

(Seriously, what was that all about?)

Ouch, that music was waaay too loud! (Also, I didn't think anything would make me like heavy metal, especially mixing it with chiptunes - turns out I was right!) But seriously, if the music drowns out the sound of Juni's footsteps, you need to turn it down. Audacity is a great, free, easy-to-use program for modifying music.

Some of the puzzles and challenges in there were pretty cool; I enjoyed the first moment I fell down towards a black spiker and I had just enough time to dodge it. However, there were a few things not so good. Want to suggest a few things:

• I try never to put a save point anywhere dangerous, especially as immediately dangerous as some of your screens - such as the screen with two purple spiders right next to the save point. I think I'd have been happier if I'd not used that save point at all! Nothing compounds the misery of messing up a difficult obstacle at its final stage so much as dying the split second you reload, five times over.
• Screens like your second screenshot and the screen immediately after it combine randomly attacking enemies with split-second timed action, which doesn't work. When an enemy is attacking randomly a player should have time to judge their moment; by forcing the player to leap without looking first, it becomes a situation of the player dies or doesn't - no amount of skill will save you. Find predictable enemies for your split-decision screens and use randomly attacking enemies where the player has time to sit and wait for the right moment.
• While it was excusable for following a theme here, on the whole I recommend using the really nasty enemies like the grey wall-climbing shooter sparingly over all your levels as a whole. They are fun to dodge as they're so aggressive, but if there are too many they can just become irritating. It's awesome to dodge one perfectly and drop into the next screen, but disheartening to find two more when you get there!
• I know you gave lots of warning but it still would have been very frustrating if I'd gotten to the end without getting the key, and found myself stuck, unable to complete the game. I'd strongly recommend never putting the player in a situation where they can't win the game and can't go back to correct the situation. It can totally ruin the fun for the player. Playing a game should be a fun experience, winning a game should give the player a sensation of triumph. Snatching that victory away at the last moment is a really nice way of kicking the player in the teeth.
• Try to give your players time to think before pitting them against... anything. On the whole, nothing much of interest should ever happen at the borders of the screens. Give players time to notice when they're about to run off of the edge of a platform into a pit of death, time to notice a save point before they run by it, time to pick a landing from a difficult jump before they fall past, time to dodge an enemy before it kills them.
• Everything mentioned above is stuff I only learned by getting it horribly wrong first.

I think you were fair with save points, apart from the kill-you-straight-away one. The challenges were mostly not too vicious and you did construct some clever challenges in places. The level looked cool, too. So well done. But I did have to resort to using KS+'s map feature to muddle through level 5.

Thank you Talps for all these useful tips.
I find them very interesting and I'll also use them for my big project "Looking for Flynnas".
Unfortunately at the moment I'm busy and I can not make changes quickly.
Thank you !

Kira

StraightFlame,

I just finished this level. I'd say it's a pretty good "art game". It overwhelms with harshness and cuteness. Nicely done.

After hearing that stage 5 was kawaii, I skipped straight to it in the editor and liked it a lot. And I completed stage 6 after that fairly legitimately, too!

After hearing that stage 5 was kawaii, I skipped straight to it in the editor and liked it a lot. And I completed stage 6 after that fairly legitimately, too!

I played this level to stage 5, and then I skipped it, beacuse I got lost entirely. 
Still a fun level to play, I liked it.

Fun little challenge!

Liked this level and thought the use of save-points was perfect... it felt challenging, but never unfair.

I DON'T like Death Metal and don't understand why anyone would willingly listen to it! HAVING SAID THAT, I think it fits the level PERFECTLY. While I was tempted to turn it down, I kept it at the "correct" loud level because I honestly felt it added something to the level. It reminds me of the reports of abuse in foreign prisons where prisoners are forced to listen to unbearably loud shitty music for hours. It was distracting to the challenges and made it difficult to concentrate, but I think that was the point. It added a different dimension.

For a second I thought I was going to get classical music, and I was relieved and how easy it would be to concentrate listening to that... but I was wrong!

As for the cute level 5, I actually liked it. It might've been "too cute" for some, but for me it was a safe, welcome reprieve from the dangerous rigors of the other levels, with a good puzzle that felt satisfying to solve.

Have a  !

Thank you for your comments. I made some small changes. The level is now a little easier.


You can download it here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/u3oyo4iunifqjf4/Kira%20-%20Not%20Poetic%20At%20All.knytt.bin?dl=0

Kira

Link is dead

Zelda very sad

Does anyone have this level on their drive?

I put up a copy for you: egomassive.com/nifflas/Kira-NotPoeticAtAll.knytt.bin

I don't know if it's the latest version. I just compressed what was in my level folder.

Thanks Ego!
Sorry for the late reply.
I think it's the old version because it's quite hard, and all the screenshots in the OP match.
Not entirely sure though.