Messages

Thanks FIQ, that's really helpful.

You can find my music here. Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/sendy

And I have a full album for sale (or just listening to) here: https://sendy.bandcamp.com/releases

If you like chip music and artists like Squarepusher, Wisp, and u-Ziq, you might enjoy it.

Yeah, One Last Push - sorry about that  I thought the two layers of crumbling platforms on both rows of spikes would give the player enough time to calculate the next enemy dodge, but in reality even I find it quite difficult. And if you're not paying attention when you come into the room, you can land on spikes deliberately put there to test your observation. Not only that, but once you beat the room, you're teleported to the crew member but onto a crumbling platform over spikes! In the hard version of the game the crumbling platform isn't even there, you have to react fast. I guess sometimes I can be a jerk.

Needless to say, if my next level ever gets finished, it's geared more towards "fun and neat things to do" rather than outright trying to kill the player 

Thanks, that does help. It looked like there was a speed variable for enemies, too, which could be tweaked in the text. At the moment script exploits are beyond my knowledge horizon.

I'm finding no shortage of ideas, funnily enough. When I finished my first level I thought that was pretty much it. But there are so many permutations of gimmicks and design choices. One of the levels will feature fairly easy challenges but 5 or 6 of  them between each checkpoint. I've got a fairly easy falling level planned - 20 screens of falling while you dodge the spikes, but no sharp turns or nasty suprises, so it's more reflexes than luck and muscle memory.

And the potential of the dissolving platform as both a switch and a one-shot walkway around spikes is yeilding so much puzzle potential.

Now I think I've worked out how to change the movement speeds of both platforms and enemies (nobody answered my question earlier in the thread so it's just a hypothesis), there should be a lot to play with. Slower moving platforms means more can be asked of the player while they ride them

Screenshots. I need to see some care has been put into the design and it looks good before I go through the trouble of downloading yet another level. I think most others are the same.

When I first played the game I thought I had to "complete" the temple area first, before moving out into the rest of the world. I may have just read the clues wrong but if you're thinking of patching the game, it might be good to make it clear the player must leave the temple. I thought the waterfall shrine things were going to be temple-side. That was really the only snag I ran into.

Invincibility mode dishonours the Gods of Platforming and can contribuite to dimensional instability.

333333 sequel report, I have 4 rooms with a yellow colour theme and the gimmick of having to use dissolving platforms as unlocks - only I've wracked my brain to come up with some fiendish puzzles beyond the obvious "unlock the door then survive the enemys and spikes" of levels like Dust Switch.

Graphicswise I'm going for a very layered look - with colour themed episodes like in 333333, but with a LOT more Direct Mode. In fact, everything is covered in Direct Mode, to add hints of secondary and tertiary colour schemes in the backgrounds, to provide continuity (so a screenshot map would look almost completely continuous), and to just make novel objects and more varied terrain.

I'm determined to squeeze every last puzzle and fun thing to do I can out of this game engine while keeping the difficulty around VVVVVV level, maybe a smidgen harder.

Again if someone can disclose the script I need to change enemy speed, I'd be much obliged, but there's no hurry, this game is going to take probably at least 6 months to make.

Screen some postshots then!

Could someone tell me how to change the enemy speeds via scripting? I've read a lot of information on the subject of script exploits, but didn't really understand it or see anything to do with enemy movement speed.

I was designing a puzzle screen. Everything was going fine. Had some moving platforms. Put a platform bounding box down. Then I put some platforms outside the box, thinking they would move freely. They didn't, they whizzed into the box uncontrollably. From that point on, the room was corrupt, and every time I hit a crumbling platform and respawned, invisible walls would appear in the room.

Using the VVVVVV tool to copy the room to a different coordinate seemed to fix it. YMMMV. I was getting this result on both the Make and Play and the Steam versions. If I were forced to guess, I'd say the moving platform somehow corrupted something in the room data that you can't normally edit.

Oh yeah, and the Predestined Fate remix. Do we have a rockin' out smiley? We don't? Too bad. I guess this will do 

Ok, well I can honestly say, that was freaking awesome. One of the best userlevels I've played. Great storyline expanding on the dimensional lore of the game. I 100%ed it on my first go, even though that meant some backtracking. It was that compelling.

Now to play the prequel, I guess.

Some people erase the player sprite from screenshot maps. Me, I think it looks kinda cool, like he's running about all over the place.

Although in Lover's Leap, it looks like  is contemplating suicide by jumping into the sea of glitch. Perhaps he's realised the futility of his existence. He was created for our fun, he'll never retire, just always solving puzzles and hitting spikes, until we get bored of playing with him. 

[Sudden Epiphanies]

I had a few questions about some non-trivial room names, so I'll explain them here, just in case anyone's interested. I'm not going to do them all, as most are just obvious puns or structural observations. Just to clarify, I haven't been asked about every single name listed here, just a few of them, but I figured I'd share my room naming thought process because I found the room names in vvvvvv very interesting and enigmatic.

Sudden Epiphanies You have to respond quickly entering this room from the bottom!

Tool Assisted Run A way of playing a game where tools and scripts are exploited to push the game engine to it's limits. In this case, the conveyor belts are the "tools", and you're literally running!

You Must Remember This Remember that those spikes are at the end of those chutes! Also a line from a song.

Simply Staggering! They conveyors are in a staggered pattern. Also, the room can be quite disorienting, or staggering.

Opposing Forces Reference to Half Life: Opposing Force. Also, the conveyors are moving in opposite directions.

Never Let the Beams Cross! Ghostbusters! Though the original quote uses the word "streams", in vvvvvv we have beams. Also a reference to the fact that if you do have crossing beams in vvvvvv levels, weird things can happen, such as being able to clip through them. I believe this was in the level creation guide.

Dust Switch Dust Switch is a track by Squarepusher. You have to touch the platforms that crumble to dust, and it acts like a switch, opening the way through the room.

Off The Wall An album that needs no introduction. You have to bounce off of the wall a couple of times to get through.

Come Off It... Popular English phrase expressing disbelief or incredulity. You have to "come off" of the platforms in just the right way to get through.

Tapper An old arcade game, ported to, among others, the Commodore 64. No real connection, other than you have to tap your way forwards to get through the level without hitting the spikes on the left.

Who're You Calling a Divot? Referencing the teleporter divot seen on the right of the screen. "Div" or "divvy" was a popular jibe in the late 80's.

Applied Flipmatics Referring to the fact that there's a science to this obstacle. If you sit and plan your moves, executing the crossing from right to left isn't as hard as simply jabbing at the left and flip buttons willy-nilly.

Reflexive Prison Well, it looks like prison bars, and if you try to survive on reflexes alone, you may fail a lot. Instead, try making jumping motions on the beams to jump over the lower enemy as it approaches. Very easy when you know how (i.e. intellect over reflexes).

One... Last... Push... The last obstacle, and it's pretty punishing, and not one of the most fun designs. One let's player rage-quit around about here, though he was playing with hardly any sleep. Not a wise move. I don't think it helps that the words "Easy Mode" are part of the level title on the selection screen, with no context regarding the hard mode given 

We're No Strangers To Love You know the rules, and so do I (do I.....). Introducing the relationship themed level.

Purple Passage It's a purple passage, literally. I believed at the time of writing that a "purple passage" was a steamy or romantic scene in a novel. Turns out I was wrong. A "purple passage" is a series of paragraphs so overly ornate or flowery that they break the tone and suspension of belief of the reader. I'm sure there's a way of connecting that to a double meaning, but I'll leave that to a "many worlds" me in another dimension to fret over.

Familiarity Breeds Contempt Relationship advice, and a reference to the similarity to the screen previous.

Control Freak I was once accused of being one of those by an ex. I'm a lot mellower now. The room forces you to move in a very exacting way. It was even harder in Hard Mode. Like, crazy hard. It was glorious.

Love Triangles? The enemies in this room form the oscilloscope trace of triangle waves, commonly referred to by chiptune musicians a simply "triangles" (notice the bottom wave has a lot of aliasing!). I do happen to love triangles and I've thankfully never been in a love triangle.

Borderline It's a Madonna song (yeah, from Squarepusher to Madonna, what can I say, I'm eclectic!). Referring to the way you have to warp across the screen borders, which feels highly unnatural and may make you "feel like you're gonna lose your mind. 'Cause you keep on pushing Viridian over the boooorderliiiine!". Sorry, that was terrible.

Shadows I don't really know what this has to do with relationships, but there's a smiley face, but a sinister ambience. Does that not create some kind of story in your mind? Oh, look over there! A shiny thing!

Can We Talk?.. Often a harbinger of disagreements in relationships, and...

The Breakup ... what do you know? Broken hearts everywhere. To get out of a bad relationship, often you have to break the destructive pattern of behaviour. Or LITERALLY break up a destructive pattern of broken hearts. The metaphor is so deep here, be careful not to drown. 

Piggy In The Middle Having broken up with someone, hanging around with friends who are in a relationship can make you feel like a third wheel.

I'll Take the High Road Good relationship advice. But don't rise too high, because, spikes.

Pillar to Post Some people will rebound from lover to lover when things have gone awry, leaving them feeling like they have to time their jumps and make a tricky transfer to the top system of moving platforms before the floor crumbles away.

Lover's Leap The ancient ritual of throwing yourself off a cliff to prove you love someone. Makes perfect sense!

Just Kinda Enjoy the Ride Quote from Raocow, a let's player famous for random quotes. "Gonna die, every day. But that's not true and, just kinda enjoy the ride. Where'm I gonna go now? Falling through the spikes! OH NO I'M FALLING THROUGH THE GROUND!". Seemed appropriate. Though you will never fall through the spikes in this game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5XGVFOGbvk

Phase Issues In music synthesis and production phase is the relationship in time between two waves at the same frequency, which can either cancel out or reinforce. Sound waves also completely pass through eachother, just as these moving platforms pass through the level elements. They just PHASE on through.

Welcome to the House of Fun I wanted a room like a funhouse, you know, with those wonky moving floorboards. This is quite a fun room because on the wonky stairs, you can just hold one direction and the platforms do all the work (provided your timing doesn't suck).

Baby Steps A method of taking small steps to achieve a big goal. Always reminds me of the film "What About Bob?" with Bill Murray. He says "baby steps" a lot in that film.

Who Can Resist the Power of Shine Advertising slogan for hair colour. Can't remember the brand or when it aired. Don't really care. I hate adverts, they've gotten so desperate it's almost funny.

Janky Walk-in Trepanning Machine Definitely my favourite room name. Trepanning is the procedure of having a hole drilled into your head to release pressure, blood, or really bad ideas.

Portentiometer A fictional machine for measuring how portentious something is. That I just made up. Thought it sounded cool, and the whole room felt like some kind of measuring device.

Toroidal Labyrinth This one's quite interesting. A torus is a shape that, if you were travelling on the surface of it, you could endlessly wrap around horizontally and vertically. All of these rooms in vvvvvv with total wrapping are essentially 2D toroidal spaces folded in a higher dimension (3D space, or hyperspace to our 2D protagonists, because, you know, it's all a matter of perspective).

"Apex" Twin Reference to Aphex Twin, who did that Syro thing last year. "Apex" because it's literally the apex of the next obstacle.

Your Move, Creep Robocop reference. And you do have do move in this screen. And you really are a creep. No, not YOU... YOU... You know who I'm talking to... 

You Always Hurt the One You Love Common saying, meaning pretty much what the words in the sentence it makes up suggest. Funny because there's a heart being repeatedly slammed into a pair of spikes, and that is the reason you have to take the long, painful way around.

Hang Tough So in the 90's there was a gameshow called The Gladiators and one of the games was called "Hang Tough", which involved hanging over a pit, probably while beating your opponent with something like a giant cotton bud. My memory's a little vague. Anyway, you have to hang there and wait for the platform to mosey on over to save you, and then do a whole bunch of other stuff which has nothing to do with the level name.

Forsaken Two reasons here. First, the timing of the first two moving platforms is arranged so you can't just transfer on the first pass, you have to wait and jostle about to avoid a good ribbing by the side spikes. Secondly, because the computer terminal won't help you directly, leaving you to perform a tricky move on your own.

The Final Barrier Literally the last screen, and named from the last level of Manic Miner by Matthew Smith, one of the first proper platform games ever devised with jumping, levels, obstacles, moving enemies and screen names. A fitting tribute as it's legacy lives on through games like vvvvvv, and you should definitely check the game out if you haven't. It's still absolutely brilliant, if a bit difficult for newcomers.

You Are A Super Player!!! Message spelled out in coins in Super Mario World on the SNES when you beat the Special World.