[KS+][Playground/Challenge][Normal][Small] The CGA Temple

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This KS+ level was created using some leftover graphics from The Dithered Temple, as a spin-off of sorts. It's a different kind of level from TDT, though. This one is much easier and mainly exploration-based, with some platforming challenges/puzzles here and there. It doesn't have an ending (hence the Playground tag), but there are a few secrets and bonuses to be found.

The level was made to resemble a very old PC CGA game, complete with 4-color graphics and (fake) beeper SFX and music, so the aesthetics may or may not be your cup of tea   If you want to play the level with more up-to-date graphics and sound, feel free to give the VGA edition a try instead!

Features:

• Many custom sprites, sound effects and music, including a brand new track by LPChip.
• KS+ collectibles (artifacts and coins).
• Support for KS+'s map function.
• A bonus area you can unlock by collecting all 5 cyan artifacts.
• A .knytt.bin file that fits into a single 3.5" HD floppy disk!

Hope you guys enjoy it! Any feedback will be greatly appreciated.

Downloading. I have only played the beta, but can't wait to actually find out about all the changes we discussed.

I do think I found a small bug.

Just phoning in to say I would be in full support of The ASCII Temple.

I do think I found a small bug.

Spoiler: (click to show/hide)

If you press q twice, it shows a progress bar on the bottom which indicates there are 7 glyps.

I believe this is a limitation of KS+.

@LPChip: Hope you liked the end result! As for the issue you mentioned, it's as Sergio said (as far as I know). There doesn't seem to be any way to change the total number of artifacts in KS+, so that screen will always display 7 slots even if not all artifacts were placed in the level. I suppose I could have just added two more artifacts to avoid this, though. Oh well...

Yeah, I did like it. It still took me some effort to get that glyph that I couldn't get in the beta test though, and almost gave up, until at some try the right thing happened that made me reach the place succesfully.

I even...

I guess we need to ask (forgot who made KS+) to make it possible to change that counter so it could be set to 5... Or you could indeed have added 2 more glyphs. I guess you can't give 2 at the start, so the counter already starts at 2 at the beginning of the level?

Nice level, VG.  The challenges were pretty fun.  I enjoyed the moments of self awareness and/or silliness.  I'm not very nostalgic for this bygone era and it's trappings, however.  So the sound and visuals didn't appeal to me much.  The attention to detail on the COs, color palette and music are commendable efforts for sure, though. And anyone who has fond memories of playing games from this era would probably love this.

I got 5/5 artifacts and 8/10 coins.  No idea where the last 2 coins are--so very clever, I guess.    I wonder what I can use my BonkCoins for? 

If in the ASCII Temple, movement of Juni requires knowledge of LOGOS, I'm outta here. 

Fantastic level. I'm even more impressed by the effort put towards authenticity this time around… which is why I was surprised that you chose not to replace the white water objects (those subtle non-CGA lighting effects)! I'm not expecting to see this addressed though, especially since any update presumably necessitates updates to Padding.txt. Also, I hope you were at least able to use that MIDI file of Remplissage Momentané as a starting point! Although I can't find it online now… maybe I should track down my copy and post it here for safekeeping.

I guess we need to ask (forgot who made KS+) to make it possible to change that counter so it could be set to 5... Or you could indeed have added 2 more glyphs. I guess you can't give 2 at the start, so the counter already starts at 2 at the beginning of the level?

I don't think it's a big deal personally, but I guess if egomassive thinks it wouldn't be incredibly hard to implement, custom maximums for glyphs and coins could be cool. Great song contribution, by the way!

Also, I collected all the BonkCoins™. They don't do anything, right?

How much memory do I need to play this? I have 640kb.

Thanks Sergiocornaga. Appreciate the feedback.

Thanks a lot for the feedback, guys!

@LPChip: I considered placing two extra artifacts in random screens for a short while, but I ended discarding the idea for the sake of consistency (since all the other artifacts require the player to solve a puzzle and/or beat some kind of challenge). I might do that if I decide to extend the level with a few extra screens before I upload it at KnyttLevels, though.

Being able to set custom totals for collectibles would be nice, especially for the gold coins. Since my levels are usually Small/Medium sized, I normally use only a small subset of those (unless I use the same approach I took in The Dithered Temple, with treasure rooms that contain many coins at once).

@helvetzia: Yeah, I figured this particular theme would not be everyone's cup of tea. I really wanted to put those discarded graphics and sound to good use, though, so I decided to finish and release the level anyway. Glad you enjoyed the level despite this!


BonkCoins(tm) do not have any use in the level (at least for now). They're there simply so you can find and collect them as a bonus quest. You might be able to use them to cheer some of your favorite streamers, though

@sergiocornaga: Glad you liked the custom content! Since this level is much smaller and simpler than TDT, I was able to spend more time to customizing objects (including the save point, which required a workaround since that one doesn't support OCOs). I put the CO for the white water in low priority, since the light it emits is very hard to see with the color palette here, but I ended forgetting about it  Updating the level is a bit cumbersome, as you have already pointed out, but I might address this anyway if I find at least a couple other issues.

Also, I didn't know there was a MIDI file for the song  I had to reproduce the song purely by ear, which means some (probably many) notes may be off. Thanks for uploading the file, it might come in handy for future levels.

@Purple Ink: The requirements are lower this time, you may have enough with just 384KB. If you run it on a system with even less memory, it might revert to Hercules mode instead of CGA, though  Glad you enjoyed the secret area!

It's interesting how much you can alter the appearance of a level without making any changes to the screens themselves, just by replacing the tileset (and a couple sprites):


Stay tuned for the release of the "VGA graphics pack"!

Oh wow... that screen looks stunning!!!

I feel very nostalgic at the moment. I can remember so well when I had a CGA system and played those games, then got a VGA system and suddenly all these games looked so much better. I get the exact same feeling right now. One of the first games was Prince of Persia.

Switching from a CGA system to a VGA/MCGA one was quite the jump, especially when the games you played supported both modes and you were used to see them in only 4 colors or B&W. The differences in "Prince of Persia" were unbelievable, particularly in the palace levels. That's exactly the experience I was aiming to capture here, so it's great to hear that!

Time for an upgrade!  If 4-color graphics and beeper sound are not your cup of tea (or if you fancy replaying the level just to check out the improved graphics and sound), give the shiny new "VGA Edition" a shot:

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Additionally, the original version has been updated to address a couple SGEs and replace the water with a new custom animation for an even more authentic CGA experience: