So I made this level at the same time I was supposed to be working on ARM.
Because we all know that working on an April Fool's version of a collab because you have zero energy to work on the actual version is totally not weird. :P Thankfully, this level took just around one week to complete - the level folder was created March 26th, 6:25 PM, and the level itself was released April 1st, 12:45 AM.
Some disorganized comments:
- The whole thing was originally inspired by a brief test I'd done for a Disorder-esque area using noninteger shifting in KS+, plus a mockup of x1000y1004 in the current Disorder screen tint. I thought "oh man, I should make a sweet tech demo of this", then realized April Fool's was right around the corner...
- This was codenamed "Papyrus" after the very similar Papyrus Challenge in Knytt Underground, where you start as Mi without her ability to transform into Rob, and must make your way to a particular spot on the map starting from Mi's house. The challenge is softlockable (much like this, but more harshly), and the solution actually requires going through the Disorder. Hence.
- This is the 2nd appearance of everyone's favorite triclops ghost. (Hexclops?) The thumbs-up she makes in the normal ending has become part of my desktop wallpaper, though the flippant pose she makes in Scene5 of the "welcome to a secret!" cutscene is probably my favorite drawing of her by far.
- Did I mention the "welcome to a secret" cutscene, Details? It provides a pretty elaborate explanation of how this level does its noninteger coordinates gimmick and what that achieves. I should probably summarize it in text form on Nifforum at some point.
- If you traverse to the end of the Underwater Lab immediately after getting climb, then go all the way back without pressing Ctrl+R, you get a little tone-setting easter egg. I have no clue how many people have actually seen this.
- Mothman, the Disorder song, is 20 minutes long, and best listened to alone in the dark.
- This level very well could be unmodified from the original except the power/key placements and the Disorder signposts. Steeping up the ledge at x999y1000 isn't to prevent an exploit, but to prevent a really boring wandering moment early into the level - if you went right after getting high jump, you'd just get stuck briefly and have to go back for climb anyway.
- Corner-jumps!! Gosh! The crystal to the west of the Desert requires a cornerjump to reach, the regular ending requires a cornerjump at an obscure spot (the entrance to the Dysprosium from the Flower Garden), and the secret ending requires a slightly less obscure but equally painful cornerjump in the Spooky Forest (to nab the Eye)... and then, of course, you have to navigate all the way back to the Disorder signpost after getting it. I'm torn between "people can probably figure out how to do it" and "this probably caused people to get completely stuck with no way to progress." Oh well.
- The version of this level uploaded on April 1st is the definitive version. It's a miracle no bugs popped up after release, and I don't plan to push any sort of update.
- There were originally more crystals planned, for better or... probably better. x1012y997 would've had one in the very corner, and x1028y1002 would've had one just barely in reach.
- I actually avoided Don's stream of this level for a while because I thought it would be omega-panned.
- Someone on Don's stream said that the long chain of confirmation prompts in the secret ending was more annoying than cute. I'm prepared to sound like a snooty dick and say that was one subconsciously intended interpretation, based on real-world issues, though at the time I thought I was just making a "haha funny long dialogue" with trans overtones.
- The pattern on the wall in the secret ending is the trans flag. Not that you can tell with the screen tint!
- At one point, I was going to put lamps at the spots where you can exit from the Disorder in the overworld, inspired by the temples in KU that you exit the Disorder from having lamps around them. Not sure why I dropped this idea. The lamp COs still exist in the level, they're just never used.
- The Disorder exit symbols were inspired by similar symbols that would appear on exit temples in the real Disorder in KU. In fact, you even know that they're exit symbols because they say "exit" right on them! :whoa: (Through a pretty obscuring filter, but still.) See if you can spot how the word "exit" is distorted in each of these:
- The areas in the Disorder don't actually use their original tilesets ad verbum. Most use variant tilesets, like Flower Garden - Red Edition, or simply different tiles in the same tileset that serve a similar purpose, like the green pipes in Not Quite Dr. Cliche's Underwater Lab. Adds some interesting variety.
- The Disorder exit back to the Desert area was added pretty late in development, to make it feel a little bit more open-world and less like a straightforward puzzle.
- Music credits are in the song metadata, but seriously, check out Stellwagen Symphonette for more stuff like the overworld music. Most of the songs actually used here are formally unreleased songs from their licensing page, but the rest of their discography is worth a listen as well. Start on Moments From Now.
- Apparently Afrika Bambaataa has done really bad shit.
Oh, and ARM Underwater Lab coming 2023! I mean soon! ;)