"Bracketed Backslash" (aka "[\]", now updated with version 8)

[Bruce Michez]

Intended as a large, but fairly no-nonsense level, in the tradition of 333333 but (hopefully) less punishing.  I do not use internal scripting.

Story: The data from the secret lab has fallen into the wrong hands (remember that terminal from the main game?) and and company are therefore now imprisoned in an evil dimension.  You play as 's clone - this came about because I figured the last NPC you rescue should be himself.

• The "Wait for It" trinket challenge in 's section was inspired by the "Desert Bus" level from way back, but you won't be waiting anything like that long.
• Teleportation in various places becomes available after you rescue from this dimension's Warp Zone.  (20,9) is the teleport hub for a simple reason: that room always warps in all directions, because in VVVVVV proper those are the co-ordinates of the Super Gravitron.
• I find 's section to be the hardest - in particular, the third and last trinket challenge.
• When you get to a room that looks like "Doing Things the Hard Way", don't panic - it's not what you think it is.
• There are two endings.  Getting all 20 trinkets doesn't unlock any extra area, but it does get you the good ending.
• As promised, there is now a sequel, in which you will get to see what happened to 's clone, and find out what this dimension is actually called.  http://distractionware.com/forum/index.php?topic=1937.0
• And here is the third and final installment: http://distractionware.com/forum/index.php?topic=2768.0

Update history:
Version 5 was the first released, downloaded 9 times.
Version 6, which was downloaded 7 times, addressed a serious technical issue in the final section.
Version 7, which was downloaded 5 times, made some aesthetic changes and hopefully made a few things clearer.
Now updated with version 8, which moves a checkpoint so you can no longer permanently lock in her cell.  (See below)

[Sergione]

I have yet to try it, but it looks interesting, I'll comment later! 

Welcome to the forum! 

[SJMistery]

a new level to mercilessly find bugs in! thanks! i was running out of them...
EDIT: i found a glitch on "this dimension just got weird". the crumbling platforms dissapear if you respawn too much (probable due to the nature of the room) and it freezes forcing you to restart. i saved last time with 2 crewmates and i have to pass again the 3 hardest levels and backtrack again to get a trinket i missed, when i already had 20/20 and was in the final sequence 

[Bruce Michez]

i found a glitch on "this dimension just got weird". the crumbling platforms dissapear if you respawn too much (probable due to the nature of the room) and it freezes forcing you to restart. i saved last time with 2 crewmates and i have to pass again the 3 hardest levels and backtrack again to get a trinket i missed, when i already had 20/20 and was in the final sequence 

Oh dear.  That never happened to me, and I'm terrible at that room too.  I have found that the crumbling platforms change appearance after a few attempts, and actually quite liked the effect.  The platforms disappearing and freezing the game, however, is not good.  Oops.  Noted.
edit: Just reproduced the glitch myself - I see what you mean!  I'm sure I'll think of something.
2nd edit: It turned out that the number of times you can respawn on a crumbling platform before crashing the game depends on the colour of the room (!).  Crumbling platforms in this situation change colour in a fixed order, at the end of which the game runs out of tiles to move on to, and therefore crashes.  Being the second-to-last colour in the sequence, blue was a really bad choice for the room's colour.  Therefore, I have changed it to cyan, and the original post has been updated with version 6.  This doesn't technically remove the glitch, but it should make it much less likely to happen in practice.

[SJMistery]

you could simply put the checkpoint slighly distanced of the platform, floating in the air, it should remove the issue definitively
EDIT: just finished the level, thanks invincibility for allowing me to recover quickly the save i lost, and the luck i had to get trought the glitched room on the first try te two times i had to cross it. Having to REPLAY the blue room twice was a nightmare fuel.

[Bruce Michez]

you could simply put the checkpoint slighly distanced of the platform, floating in the air, it should remove the issue definitively

I did consider that, but everyone hates floating checkpoints.

Having to REPLAY the blue room twice was a nightmare fuel.

Yes, the "What Did the Oracle Say?" trap in the last area is really mean.  It was worse in an unreleased early version, though: the three near-identical rooms on the left were originally completely identical; the direct-mode waves indicating warp lines were a late addition.  Nothing like that in the sequel, I promise.

[Bruce Michez]

Version 7 is now up.  It makes a number of aesthetic changes. 

• 's very vertical section has a new look, inspired by shape worrior t's "Ultimate Trinket Challenge".
• The other place that is significantly changed is the room that leads to the final section: now it actually looks like a flawed prototype weapon.  This should also make it clearer that what you're supposed to do is to use that terminal after rescuing , , , and .
• Almost all warp lines (or "partial warps" in in-universe parlance) are now marked with direct-mode waves.  This was my main motivation for choosing a different look for 's section, as the "space station" tileset doesn't let you do that.
• Finally, it is now possible to have all 400 screens in your map display.  Getting to the final cutscene with all 20 trinkets turns the map back on again.

[i'm not petrikov]

i found a glitch
if you **** ******** after using the warp token in 'master of the universe', the warp token will disappear and you can't progress the level any further

[Bruce Michez]

i found a glitch
if you **** ******** after using the warp token in 'master of the universe', the warp token will disappear and you can't progress the level any further

I didn't think anybody would actually do that.  What happened is this: the script that plays the cutscene when you arrive in 's cell also sets her "rescued" flag.  (I made this level before I knew about pressing "R" to try again - hence traps like "This Time You've Gone Too Far" in the Warp Zone and "What Did the Oracle Say?" in the finale, both of which can be escaped in this way.)

Version 8, which I have just uploaded above, solves the problem.

[VeeC7]

Nice room duality thing in Violet's area!

[ZeNewDragon]

To be honest, the room duality area is probably the worst part of this level imo.

[SJMistery]

cmon it is awesome

[Emmy]

Not sure if you're still editing this level, but the game locks up here:



Can't flip or move, can only kill self with R button.