Knytt Stories Level: The Alternate Reality Machine (working-title)

A while ago on Discord, someone came with the idea to create a level that is a remake/remix of the existing level "The Machine" by Nifflas.

The idea is to recreate the level, but make it appear like the level exists in an alternate reality. I really do like the idea so I started working on remixing all music.

What this level is about, as StraightFlame posted so nicely
Basically, we're recreating The Machine, with tilesets and music being roughly the same (maybe edited a little bit) but the actual level design being completely different. SC compared it to Doom The Way Id Did when he came up with the idea.

I designed my area to be similar to its The Machine counterpart, both in terms of the area's general layout and the design of individual screens, while making sure to make it different enough from the original to be worth playing. I don't know if Sergio and ncrecc are also taking that approach, though.


More will follow. If you want to join the project, please look below for which areas are free. You can press the edit link to edit the page to claim an area. Please edit it back to unclaimed if you decide you do not want to work on it anymore for whatever reason. A reply in the topic would also be nice.

Can you explain the concept a bit more? How is this alternative reality version to be different from the original in terms of level design?

Basically, we're recreating The Machine, with tilesets and music being roughly the same (maybe edited a little bit) but the actual level design being completely different. SC compared it to Doom The Way Id Did when he came up with the idea.

I designed my area to be similar to its The Machine counterpart, both in terms of the area's general layout and the design of individual screens, while making sure to make it different enough from the original to be worth playing. I don't know if Sergio and ncrecc are also taking that approach, though.

I might be up for getting involved in this.

I take it areas need to be roughly the same size/shape as the original?

I don't think we've made a decision on that yet. The thing is, not every area in The Machine is the same size. I got one of the largest areas (around 35 screens?), and because of that i could make something nice while keeping the size and shape of my area roughy the same, but if the area you pick is only a dozen screens or less, it's understandable if you want to make it bigger or a different shape.

To my knowledge, the only thing we agreed upon was that the entrances of the areas would be in the same location, so we can stitch it up later using warps, and then you have the freedom to make your version larger or smaller without any issue.

It does goes to say that if the area in the original is either very small or very large, the difference in size in the new version should not be too far off. So a tiny area in the original should not be huge in the altered version and visa versa.

That said, if you add a secret area that is not in the original, you do not have to adhere to this restriction at all.

Statusupdate: I've edited the forum post and included everything from the clickup page. As far as I'm concerned, the clickup page can be ignored, and everything is happening here.

I might be up for getting involved in this.

I take it areas need to be roughly the same size/shape as the original?

Talps, can you confirm you are still interested, and what would you like to do? tileset? level editing? and which one do you wish to claim?

I need to play the level again before committing, but I think I'd be up for doing an area.

This project intrigues me, but I don't understand what you want on a visual level. So, I did a small update to the infamous tileset6. I made it look more like what I think Nifflas was trying to convey. (See Image.) Am I on the right track here or have I strayed too far from Nifflas' style?

This project intrigues me, but I don't understand what you want on a visual level. So, I did a small update to the infamous tileset6. I made it look more like what I think Nifflas was trying to convey. (See Image.) Am I on the right track here or have I strayed too far from Nifflas' style?

This seems great! Hopefully ncrecc will be happy to use it. This project is kind of untrodden ground*, so I think it's up to us to decide what it means, and I approve of your interpretation.

_{* and also, kind of, the exact opposite of that too, haha}

Looks good.

I'd be happy to contribute by remaking the Snow area. Playing through that part of "The Machine" is one of the most memorable KS experiences for me (it was back when I first played the game and loved it so much I stayed up long into the night until I practically fell asleep on the keyboard while listening to the Snow area theme).

Well, having just played through, I was thinking I could do the Black and Dus- awwwwwwwwwww...
I was gonna make it a techno lava mountain and everything...

Lotsa open space and both jumps really early... this really does not suit my style... But I'll grab the Ghost Zone methinks.

Questions:

• Are we using KS+?
• What is our aim for difficulty/are we creating variable difficulties?
• What is the difference between Christmas Land and Ice Land?

Also your list seems to be missing Henna's home and the Machine Cave. And the blue spiky ninjary cave. And the passage to the wrong machine.


On a final note, it feels really weird to not be putting everything in spoiler tags...

I'd be happy to contribute by remaking the Snow area. Playing through that part of "The Machine" is one of the most memorable KS experiences for me (it was back when I first played the game and loved it so much I stayed up long into the night until I practically fell asleep on the keyboard while listening to the Snow area theme).

Which area is the snow area, is this iceland or christmas land or another not listed area?

Well, having just played through, I was thinking I could do the Black and Dus- awwwwwwwwwww...
I was gonna make it a techno lava mountain and everything...

Lotsa open space and both jumps really early... this really does not suit my style... But I'll grab the Ghost Zone methinks.

Great. I'll put you on the list.

Questions:

• Are we using KS+?
• What is our aim for difficulty/are we creating variable difficulties?
• What is the difference between Christmas Land and Ice Land?

Also your list seems to be missing Henna's home and the Machine Cave. And the blue spiky ninjary cave. And the passage to the wrong machine.


On a final note, it feels really weird to not be putting everything in spoiler tags...

- Is there a reason to go for KS+? As in, are we going to specifically use features KS+ offers?
- We could do both difficulties, then again, we can also just settle for Hard only, which I think is perfectly acceptable.
- I don't know what the difference is between Christmas Land and Iceland.  During the early discussions on Discord someone gave this list of areas and I just used that.

I was thinking to give each area a number based on what tileset is used in there, given that each area has a distinct look, and thus the different tileset number. We could then also set the music to the same number and refer to that number instead of a name that may or may not mean the same to everyone.

What are your thoughts?

Also, to ncrecc and Sergio Cornaga: Can both of you confirm that you still want to do your area? If by the end of november there is no reaction to this question, I'll remove you from the list to keep the pace up. No need to actually show me work, just curious if you are still interested in this.