Download Links:https://knyttlevels.com/levels/MeltyFrankie%20-%20My%20Island%20Swallowed%20Me.knytt.binhttps://knyttlevels.com/levels/MeltyFrankie%20-%20MISM%20Streamer%20Edition.knytt.binContent Warnings for Level:
Strong Language, Partial Nudity (Like the kind you'd see in an old painting), Mention/Discussion of Suicide.
Hello everyone! I'm MeltyFrankie/ThatTooie/ThatTwoGuy - many of yall probably already know me from the Discord, but this is my first time posting to the forum, so I figured I ought to at least give a cursory introduction here. With that being said, allow me to now introduce my level.
My Island Swallowed Me started life as something that was supposed to just be a quick little design exercise. Something where I'd use the Knytt Stories engine to make a brief level that exhibited the classic platforming design structure - "Introduce a gimmick, build on a gimmick. Repeat until level is over." But then, as I continued to work on it, a funny thing happened where I realized that I cared about this little level a lot more than was warranted for an "exercise." I kept discovering unique uses for the small palette of level objects I was allowing myself to use. I decided I wanted to make my own tiles. I decided to make "graffiti" for certain parts of the level so there would be some really striking moments. On and on this went, until after more than a year of work, the level is finally done. I absolutely don't regret the time spent, but goodness me what a long time for a "little design exercise!"
To speak about the level itself -
My Island Swallowed Me is a large-ish level that aims to combine, perhaps even juxtapose, traditional platforming level design with an atmosphere that is moody and strange. This level is then book ended by a few cutscenes that straddle the line between being grounded in the world of the fiction and being pure poetic abstraction. It also has a little bit of exploration to it, and a little pinch of so-called "Metroidvania" design for good measure.
Inspirations include the likes of the
Mega Man series,
Rain World, and
Shovel Knight, to name just a few.
Also, if you're curious - the Streamer Edition is identical to the normal version, save that the nipples in the parts with partial nudity have been censored. They're really nothing gratuitous in the first place, but I'm sure that Youtube/Twitch would disagree with me, hence the Streamer Edition exists.