Messages

Thanks for reporting this bug, TheWindFish. I'll fix it in the new version, which will come out some time after Terry releases the next patch. For now, if you just edit the offending gravity line out in the level editor, you'll be able to continue your game (PM me if you have any problems!)

CUAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I'm finding that a lot funnier than I think I should do 

They're not floating, they're perfectly balanced one atop the other. If you touch them, you instantly die from shame for disturbing such a delicate equilibrium.

Also, this level seems to need more backing... It exists for a reason (To make levels look less flat and boring)

Could we have some sheenscrots plox?

Fun level, though the conveyor floor of Arghageddon was a bit too twitchfiddletastic to really feel I was in control, but I managed to beat it by spamming attempts at it 

I liked the difficulty, but the complex room with crossing beams seemed a bit weak. I didn't even need to enter from the left to get the trinket, which I'm assuming was the desired solution. I'd consider redesigning this room if you make another version.

There were also a couple of tiling errors which could have fairly easily been avoided, and you didn't utilize backing at all, which is a shame. Other than that and some things being obscured by the room names, the presentation was good, and good presentation is always appreciated!

I also missed the Stringy Cheese trinket because it literally looks impossible, but I guess it uses some kind of glitch or peculiarity of the movement engine of VVVVVV to brush past the spike?

It's still 404-ing for me 

Looked at the Grandma engine. It's brilliant, but it seems to require good knowledge of GMC scripting to add things (and boy does it need adding to!). I'd rather stick to using the visual programming aspect of Game Maker because I find it easier.

I can certainly see the appeal of having a huge map and moving the camera. Room transitions and overall map continuity would be a lot easier to fathom that way. There's a command which freezes all entities a certain distance from the viewfield, which can help with big scrolling levels, but I generally prefer rooms which reset to their default state every time you enter them.

I'm using Game Maker 8 lite, btw... So far I've managed to make the beginnings of a Hero Core clone, or rather two, one with a large map that scrolls, and one with screen transitions, but has the bug where you have to repress your direction upon flicking screen. It's these little details that I end up getting stuck on and fed up with... I think I'd really rather be in a team and just stick to map/visual/graphic design and music, but I've no idea where I could find someone who meshes with my ideas and would want to work with a complete lunatic stranger 

Thanks both for your input!

Linky no worky for me (404 for error each time)... Please attatch the level zipped to your forum post.

Screenshots look nice though! 

VVVVVV: The Lost Levvvvvvels?

EDIT: Post waaaan oooooon dreeeeeeead!   

Ooh, Grandma Engine sounds good... FWIW, when I tried to make flickscreens from scratch, I sorta pulled it off after a day or so of tweaking, but I had the problem where if you were holding down left when you crossed the screen, you'd need to press left again to get the player character moving again. For some reason I couldn't see a way to solve that issue, and it was totally breaking immersion for me.

I'm honestly quite suprised something for making generic platform games hasn't cropped up over the recent years, given that platformers are sort of enjoying a rennaiscan.... a comeback. I bought something called Platform Studio about 5 years ago, which was OK, but it just felt very lacking in soul, and the jump action was horribly stiff and couldn't really be tweaked to life.

I'm still of the belief that the perfect 2D platformer hasn't been made, and that the genre has a lot of exciting places to go, especially given the ease with which modern computers can juggle 2D environments, physics, etc...

Take some pride in the physical appearance of your level is my advice. And be careful - if you don't get a B grade or higher for your next revision, PJ will give you a detention   

Is that a checkpoint OVER SPIKES I see?! Seriously, WTH?!

I was watching someone playing another user's level on youtube an hour or so ago, and after making a series of really unfair 2-block-safety fiddlejumps, he got to a part where the corridor wasn't quite wide enough for  to fit through. End of the line... Pure comedy.. I know mistakes slip thru the net, but some people I'm sure don't even playtest their efforts 

I've tried Game Maker, and to be honest, I found it difficult to make a simple flick-screen game without stretching my programming skills (which are very limited) - mostly because it seems to default to scrolling level-based stages and circumventing this was quite a difficult task for a beginner...

Basically I'm looking to make my first game, and the kind of games I'm interested in have very simple game logic, and the whole experience of the game depends on the map design, art, music, etc, which are all my strong points (unlike programming, which I'm really bad at... yep so bad I'm pointing it out a second time in parenthesis!).

Thanks in advance for any recommendations!

I know VVVVVV is supposed to be 'pronounced' "V", but I always say it the way that raocow says it on his LP... It's just impossible to pass up. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sj5o-sHoM80

[Difficult]

Seriously. I think there's a fine line between difficult and impossible.

... Oh look, there is...

Difficult

Impossible

Wow, that line IS fine!

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Right, I happen to love very hard levels as well, provided they're intelligently built... I still think it's a good idea if the most difficult 5% of a level/game is made optional for the player - no matter what the average difficulty of the level as a whole is.

IIRC Golden Spiral did this to good effect - I balked at a couple of the trinket challenges, gave them about 200 deaths and moved on! If the trinkets were compulsory, I probably would have never finished and enjoyed the level. And yet now I have the option to go back and try and 100% the level... Therefore I'm pretty sure that in most cases, having the hardest parts of the game be optional is a superior design choice, if it can be taken.

A good example of this is in the puzzle game DROD. When designers create monsterous puzzles that lie outside of the difficulty curve, they are thrown off of the beaten track and flagged as optional/secret.

Incidentally, I'd love to see someone get the trinket in "Weep like a Widow"... Some of the chicanes in that spike tunnel are painful to even LOOK at