[KS+/Challenge/Exploration] Advena

This level is designed for egomassive's Knytt Stories+ mod. You need the mod to play it! Download here

Advena: Explore a new world

Juni is travelling home from an adventure when a storm hits. She finds herself washed ashore in a strange new land. Will she choose to leave or will she explore to find what secrets this new land holds?

Explore to find 171 collectibles!
- Find 100 coins in a secret area
- Find 50 golden creatures scattered throughout the world
- Find 3 different sets of Juni Trophies (21 total): Gold for finding secret locations, blue for finding hidden roses, and red for completing hidden challenges.

Download the level here

Been waiting for this one! Downloading now! 

The exploration value is extremely high for this one. I appreciated your use of my content as well. 

Should report a few technical oversights, however:

Void Access: x1018y1008

At x1004y1006, there seems to be a secret passage that goes nowhere.

Some of the songs cut off pretty abruptly. Not sure if that was intentional or not, but it always jars me when that happens.

In the challenge sections, it kind of irks me that there are so many 'give up' points placed in awkward positions. They should be off the main path.

I'm not quite finished with this level yet, but it's been very entertaining so far. I've just collected the yellow key. Will use it next time.

The exploration value is extremely high for this one. I appreciated your use of my content as well.  

Should report a few technical oversights, however:

Void Access: x1018y1008

Can't believe I missed this one. It's fixed now. Anyone that wants the void fixed can use the download link for a corrected version.

At x1004y1006, there seems to be a secret passage that goes nowhere.

Ah yes. This was from a secret area that got scrapped. I left it in as a kind of red haring. There's a couple other places like this as well.

Some of the songs cut off pretty abruptly. Not sure if that was intentional or not, but it always jars me when that happens.

Yes. This is something I couldn't avoid with some of the song choices. They are meant to be repeated but I didn't want to only repeat some songs and decided to not loop them.

In the challenge sections, it kind of irks me that there are so many 'give up' points placed in awkward positions. They should be off the main path.

I put them by the save points so if someone gets to it and can't progress any further they can easily give up. Will consider better placement next time.

I'm not quite finished with this level yet, but it's been very entertaining so far. I've just collected the yellow key. Will use it next time.

Glad you're enjoying it!

Yes. This is something I couldn't avoid with some of the song choices. They are meant to be repeated but I didn't want to only repeat some songs and decided to not loop them.

If you'd like, I could make them start and end properly for you. I have all the songs already (given I downloaded your level) so I could send a pack of them to you. It really wouldn't be that hard for me.

I'm usually terrible with large levels (and I say that with both bold and italics!), as I tend to lose interest in them fairly quickly (with very few exceptions). However, since Advena is purely exploration-based, I have been able to play it in short bursts without worrying about forgetting what I was doing or where I need to go. I can just launch the game, play for a few minutes and maybe discover a new area and find some more secrets while enjoying the relaxing atmosphere. Needless to say, I'm still far from finishing the level, but I've enjoyed what I've seen (specially the cave areas).

I do agree with Fubaka that some of the songs sound weird when they stop abruptly instead of looping. If you don't want to play them continuously, perhaps adding a smooth fade out at the end would do the trick.

Kudos for your work and congratulations for finally releasing your level!

I'd classify this level into the Maze category... and a very cleverly designed one, at that! I haven't found any of the secrets yet (or gold creatures... or roses...), but my KS skills are very rusty, so that's to be expected. Eretria is probably my favorite area - the tileset, the creatures, and the music just come together so beautifully in it, and remind me of some old DOS games I used to play as a kid. Happy memories. Also many of the caves were extremely well done, a great sense of immersion, vast underground areas. I might have to steal some of these tilesets and solutions for my large level. Also the overall aesthetic aspect was very impressive - choosing tilesets that have some details, but not too much. This made for a very unique visual feeling to almost the whole level. Quite a feat!

Some of the challenging portions of the level felt very jarring to me, such as the fire-spitting torches in the Aquatic Temple, or the wasps in the Afterglow Valley. The former are completely unexpected and kill you right when you're in exploration/wonder mode. That feels bad. The wasps are positioned so that you can get stung right when you enter the screens, let's say if you're jumping from one to another... also very strange to see in such a relaxed area (which I wish was a bit longer). But I think the one thing that somewhat soured the experience for me was the lack of knytts or other creatures you could talk to! I guess this was your intention - to create an unspoiled world devoid of knytt presence - but all that time, I was expecting at least some more signs, writing on the walls, some bit of dialogue maybe from Juni herself, describing what she sees or feels... After a while, the level started feeling uncomfortably empty for me, and I longed to find a screen with at least someone to talk to. Like a couple of hermits, at least, or something to that effect. It was frustrating.

That said, the level is still massively enjoyable, huge, and beautiful. I'm very much looking forward to finding all those collectibles you mention... I hope I can abstain from using the editor... 

I've updated the level to address a few things:
- Looped the music that would stop abruptly
- Fixed some SGEs
- Fixed some misplaced text
- Corrected some errors in the credits area

 Follow the download link for the newest, best version of Advena.

Kudos for your work and congratulations for finally releasing your level!

Thanks! Glad you're liking the level.

I'd classify this level into the Maze category... and a very cleverly designed one, at that!

I never thought of it like that but I guess I can see what you mean.

Some of the challenging portions of the level felt very jarring to me, such as the fire-spitting torches in the Aquatic Temple, or the wasps in the Afterglow Valley. The former are completely unexpected and kill you right when you're in exploration/wonder mode. That feels bad. The wasps are positioned so that you can get stung right when you enter the screens, let's say if you're jumping from one to another... also very strange to see in such a relaxed area (which I wish was a bit longer). But I think the one thing that somewhat soured the experience for me was the lack of knytts or other creatures you could talk to! I guess this was your intention - to create an unspoiled world devoid of knytt presence - but all that time, I was expecting at least some more signs, writing on the walls, some bit of dialogue maybe from Juni herself, describing what she sees or feels... After a while, the level started feeling uncomfortably empty for me, and I longed to find a screen with at least someone to talk to. Like a couple of hermits, at least, or something to that effect. It was frustrating.

Thanks for the feedback. I tried to avoid the wasps being able to kill you easily but I guess that's the price for placing a random projectile enemy. And the emptiness was intentional. It's supposed to be a previously undiscovered land. I'm sorry it feels too empty for you. I never thought about having Juni express her thoughts though. I'll definitely keep that in mind for next time!

That said, the level is still massively enjoyable, huge, and beautiful. I'm very much looking forward to finding all those collectibles you mention... I hope I can abstain from using the editor...  

I'm glad you like it!

I'm enjoying this so far. Only 10 golden creatures in, to use a arbitrarily chosen unit of progress, but I figured I should post something now. With a level as huge as this, there's a palpable risk of never finishing and never giving feedback. I have one minor issue to report:

x1012y1009 - SGE: three pixels of errant sky visible behind a rounded corner tile.

So this is probably the most pleasant way of getting lost and confused, I hope I'll get to the end someday... You designed some of the most interesting secret areas I ever seen in a KS level so that keeps me trying.

And God bless egomassive for Force map on  .

And the emptiness was intentional. It's supposed to be a previously undiscovered land. I'm sorry it feels too empty for you. I never thought about having Juni express her thoughts though. I'll definitely keep that in mind for next time!

Yeah, I guessed that it was intentional. Maybe the opening scene, with Juni thinking aloud, kind of set me up for more of this kind of thing, I don't know.

My formal review is complete.

Take a gander: http://nifflas.lpchip.nl/index.php?topic=6604.msg71502#msg71502

Responsibly playing this game, even I drew a map, but has stalled. Presently collected: 100 coins, 42 golden creatures, 15 Juni Trophies and 3 keys (i need a purple key!). Need help  


A good game, it was interesting to explore such a large area. A special thank you for the music.

I've uploaded the level to address some things!
- Added the map feature (don't expect it to help too much with secrets!)
- Many SGEs fixed
- Sequence breaks fixed
- Some areas improved visually
- Some secret areas now easier to find
- Fixed some sound errors

Please download the newest version for the best experience.

Responsibly playing this game, even I drew a map, but has stalled. Presently collected: 100 coins, 42 golden creatures, 15 Juni Trophies and 3 keys (i need a purple key!). Need help  

The purple key is the ultimate secret in this level. It's a secret within a secret within a secret!

Spoiler: (click to show/hide)

There are voids and wallswim, probably does not make sense to list them. One amusing incident: in Eretria can be in the water with crabs jump with an umbrella to the right and into the void and into the Masteria.

From Taiator of the need to make the transition back into the Greenfield Valley.

I've fixed the ones you've mentioned. Also, if you've found some voids or wallswims I encourage you to explore them a bit and see if there's more to it than meets the eye.

A good game, it was interesting to explore such a large area. A special thank you for the music.

I'm glad you like the level!

At the very beginning of the game Junie jumps out of the sand. This is a joke or secret?

The Cherry Heights has an interesting secret location, move across the ceiling to another screen, but there is a void (