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Topics - Balneor

#1
VVVVVV Levels / Balneor’s single-file level archive
August 02, 2024, 02:07:33 PM
Hello everyone.

As most of you know, I've stopped playing the game. But during those 5 years, I've been storing a ton of levels.
So much so that I recently considered making an archive of all the level files I've gathered since 2018. You see, ever since I came back to VVVVVV that year, I took it upon myself to play (and thus download) as many different levels as I could.
I scrapped the entire forums for levels – a feat only I have done.
These levels can be anything. From full 20x20 levels, to barely finished projects / very much blank 5x5.

And now, I'm ready to release it.
To compare how large this archive is, my five "fun" level packs only make for 300 levels combined. This one has over 700. And it doesn't include any of the levels of these packs.

But before that, here's a long list of much needed clarifications.
As you will soon see, this archive is far from perfect... and I'm not planning on refining it.
I really don't want to linger on it for too long, my goal is to publish the archive and its levels and that's it. Sorry in advance if this archive disappoints you. In reality, this is less about you and more about me really wanting to just cut my physical binds to VVVVVV.

Anyways here we go :



- This archive doesn't include levels with custom files. I'm assuming those are being saved and maintained with a degree of attention far more important than with individual levels files. So, I've decided to leave them to their owners to handle, or subsidiary people.

- For similar reasons, the archive doesn't include (or want to) contest levels. Downloads for them should be very well maintained by the contest organizers.

- It doesn't include anything that was uploaded past the 2023 spring contest, results of which aired in july 2023. This is about when I mostly stopped playing VVVVVV and keeping up with new releases.

- It won't include every versions of every level. This isn't a complete thorough archive of everything. Throughout the years, I opted for having the most updated version of each level. This said, there are some notable exceptions : for the levels who have different versions that are significantly different, I allow them storage. This is rare though, and I can't think of examples to share.

- All level files are meant to be the originals, untouched. I don't know how accurate this is but I'm expecting this to be 95% true.
This said, for the sake of crediting, I *did* take the decision of writing down the maker information within the description section of every level (if it wasn't made by the maker already).
I don't know how accurate this is either. I wanna say 90%. Thing is, I won't come back to correct anything. I don't have the time for that.
Well, to all of this, there are *two huge* exceptions... both the names of the level files were changed to be made clearer and to have upper casing. As sometimes, they would have unintelligible names, completely unrelated to the in-game level title. I obviously don't like it, as it doesn't help with traceability, but that's how my past self maintained them, and now you have to endure it.
And then, you shall notice adjective attached to the file names, in parenthesis. Sometimes they're informative... and sometimes they're rude. They may look plain improper in today's eye, but they are simply a relic of the past.
I thought about removing them, but considering that I'm not gonna correct the file names of the levels, this wouldn't really do anything... so, sorry for anyone that my past self offended. Today is quite different.

- This archive will not include old levels that were once thought to be lost to time, but then suddenly found back. It doesn't have the vocation to expand, at least by myself.

- Similarly, it won't include people's personal levels that they never shared to anyone up to that point. I'll rely on you for that.

- Oh, and you may be wondering about this if you are a severe VVVVVV connoisseur. But I had to remove a couple levels that could be considered extremely controversial and problematic.
If it were just me, I would have let them in, as nothing was illegal, and we would know better than to judge our past selves. But at the request of others, I did remove them. As long as the archive can be a thing, so be it.


You can ask for a level to be removed or an author name to be changed.
Likewise, please reach out to me if something is wrong. I still want to make sure the archive is accessible.

Download link : https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/d5c2u9crlg8x0ivffa3kd/Balneor-s-single-file-level-Archive.zip?rlkey=3xolptf68s9e2bxdxkcsj1tcv&st=awscij2r&dl=0

Level makers, github maintainers, forum hosters, discord owners... and Terry... thank you for everything.
#2
VVVVVV Levels / Balneor's Fun Level Pack
August 10, 2018, 10:29:32 AM
[Note : This compilation will now stop receiving major updates. Please see reply #26, page 2.]

Hey. :viridian: This thread is a result of me having gone through the entirety of Distractionware's level section, and to celebrate that I decided to make my very own compilation of all the funs levels I've encountered since getting back to this game a few months ago. While it is true I'm missing out on a lot of inaccessible, lost-through-time content, this custom pack (of 300+ levels ! ) should be large enough for anyone interested in VVVVVV to try their hands at these, made by the community :

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/md5e9e6528oyzkq/AADB17pjI2NQmv33_wTe9mSVa?dl=0

A few precisions upon browsing the compilation : You'll notice that most file names are extended to have key-words inside parentheses, like this one example : ("Trash", "impossible", ...). Don't pay too much attention to these, as they mostly were written to help me manage my custom collection... and actually, there's no such labels in here:D
...except for the terms that follow :

"Play only once", which usually is written when a level requires a lot of focus, such as mazes. I personally wouldn't want to play these labelled levels more than once, but they're still pretty good nonetheless.
"Bugged crewmate/trinket", which indicate some crewmate or trinkets are not present inside the level due to a bug within it, making completion impossible even though it should not.
"+" (Term that has since been renamed to "plus"), which means it requires additionnal files, most importantly graphics. They're included inside a folder with a name related to it. For music files though, I've added a link to get them, as they have far bigger sizes than anything else in this compilation, and wouldn't be convenient upon downloading (The entire comp with these files added would have made around a 180 MB of size, compared to 22 here).
"Modified", which means that I've taken the initiative of modifying them. It generally concerns gameplay tweaks, glitches fixes, repeating scripts fixes, big-enough changes that I need to mention it (Some levels may also be modified while still not having this term, but in that case the level changes are almost unnoticeable). The in-game level name should be completed with "mod".
"Unfinished", which means that this particular level was a demo at one point, and never got finished. You should generally expect an abrupt ending of progression. Some of them are big and good enough to be included, though.

Most level author's forum names were included in the description of levels if you ever want to look for them (And it will sometimes be named inside parentheses). So it should generally be possible to find back the original custom file or person by doing a quick search in this place, but I don't guarantee it all the time. A few of the levels here were acquired from other people's compilations from the past, but some of them were left unnamed, so I have no idea as to who they may belong, and you'll excuse me for that.

Final words here. While I tried to be somewhat professional with how everything is presented and for the compilation itself, it's obviously far from perfect, and heavily depends on my tastes. There may be big fun/difficulty gaps between the chosen levels, and some of them might just be at the border of frustration, that they may displease some. I will try and arrange that in the future.
But if you're simply looking for a way to lenghten your VVVVVV experience, then this hundred-of-hours-worth-of-play compilation is for you.

[As of now the entire compilation contains 305 levels.]
[30/October/19 : Fixed Dimension IJK from being impossible to beat (pack 2). Modified a terminal in Puzzle Pen (pack 3).]
[7/December/19 : Greatly modified Fragments v0.2 (pack 2).]