[Challenge/Playground/Scenic][Normal][Medium][KS+] The Night Building

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Offline Hmpf

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One night Juni gets up to get a glass of water, and finds that instead of her apartment, outside her bedroom door is – The Night Building.

The Night Building is vast. It is a dream/nightmare of the Brutalist-Gothic sublime. It is architecture made of architecture; architecture grown rampant. It confounds ideas of “inside” and “outside”. Its architecture becomes landscape. Its landscape is architecture. Were its mountainous walls and cavernous halls built or grown? Who can tell? The Night Building’s windows and doors are endless but you will never find another soul in it.

***

This will be an exploration level with meticulously designed screens, but this time I’m trying to do it with an overarching concept, a strong sense of visual cohesion, and hopefully even a little bit of “gameplay” beyond the pure exploration.

The level size will probably be around 200-300 screens, although of course it’s hard to tell, this early. I have concepts for around 30 different areas at the moment, but not all of them may make it in; and more/others may be added. Also, area size will vary.

This level wears its influences on its sleeve. Tsutomo Nihei’s Blame! is in there (more strongly in some parts than others); Limasse5’s exploration platformer NaissanceE, itself a tribute to Blame!, is in there, too (again, more strongly in some parts than others). In lesser known influences there is certainly a fair bit of “La Structure”, from the short-lived (but maybe some day to be continued? I live in hope...) French comic Ascensions by Bouss – this latter most notably in the way the Night Building, unlike Nihei’s megastructure, is teeming with vegetation (at least in some areas).

Most of all, though, this level comes from my dreams. Throughout my life, every once in a while I’ve been dreaming of strange, disorienting, vast architecture. They’re eerie dreams, eerie places, though not exactly frightening. I enjoy them. They feel Important. This level is the first thing I’ve ever managed to put them into.

(I'd like to add two gifs to the preview pictures, but they're too big so I'm going to have to make them separate posts.)

ETA: Or can I add them like this....
ETA2: No, I can't. Ok, until I figure out how to actually make them appear in this post or another, here's links to them on Google Drive:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1re4F8TCHKQaAi4uP6vlTpeIoy7-dnMns/view?usp=drive_link

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-t_vr5_ZqonINv0_RgLgYMTrv12BwbSI/view?usp=drive_link





« Last Edit: December 11, 2023, 15:26:00 by Hmpf »

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Offline Purple Ink

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Re: [Challenge/Playground/Scenic][Normal][Medium][KS+] The Night Building
« Reply #1 on: December 12, 2023, 02:49:12 »
Sounds cool. Really like that second screenshot. :)

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Offline Talps

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Re: [Challenge/Playground/Scenic][Normal][Medium][KS+] The Night Building
« Reply #2 on: December 12, 2023, 23:36:27 »
Agree, that sounds a really intriguing concept.

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Offline Hmpf

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Re: [Challenge/Playground/Scenic][Normal][Medium][KS+] The Night Building
« Reply #3 on: December 13, 2023, 23:32:53 »
Thanks! I'm really looking forward to building this one!

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Offline Polana

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Re: [Challenge/Playground/Scenic][Normal][Medium][KS+] The Night Building
« Reply #4 on: December 23, 2023, 12:57:41 »
It looks really interesting and I can't wait to play it.

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Offline Fubaka

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Re: [Challenge/Playground/Scenic][Normal][Medium][KS+] The Night Building
« Reply #5 on: December 24, 2023, 18:21:59 »
I'm always up for a good atmospheric level. Let me know if at any point you need a beta tester for it.
Things to remember when writing figures of speech and sound:
The power of poetry comes from the ability to defy logic. Defy logic often.

Use a metaphor and tell us that your lover is the sky. Tell us that your lover is the sky. When you do that, we won't believe you. We won't believe you because saying so makes no sense, but we'll see a meaning. We'll see a meaning.

The other thing is the ability to be remembered. Love anything.

Love anything