The Fun Never Stops -- A Challenge for Y'all

Sasha_Waters · December 20, 2016, 05:45:31 PM

THE FUN NEVER STOPS!

What's the idea? The idea is that nowhere in this level is there anywhere you can stop moving and survive. There are no breathers. Sometimes there will be conveyor belts below checkpoints that lead to spikes, and you might think "this adds nothing, all it does it make it more stressful!"... and yes, that is the point. Doesn't mean that I'm going to ignore anyone saying that this makes the entire thing completely unenjoyable, but realize that this stress is the point. No breathers. At no point do I want anyone to be able to walk away from the screen unless they pause.

Things about this...
TRINKETS: 9
DIMENSIONS: 5x5, 25 screens
DIFFICULTY CURVE: Almost non-existent
TYPE OF LEVEL: Linear challenge
VERSION: 1.6

My goal was to make something that takes a lot out of someone... but also in the hopes of finding other people like me. By people like me, I mean people who are going to hate this so much, and then reach a point of zen where they feel like they have to beat it. That's how I work with hard games. Beat Super Meat Boy, beat VVVVVV (with all trinkets), beating Battleblock Theater solo, stuff like that. That being said, I want to implement a high score system to encourage people to try their hand at this.

CURRENT HIGH SCORE

Balneor
DEATHS: 267
TIME: 0h 18m 31s
TRINKETS: 9

Below is preserved my message from when I myself held the high score at a bit over forty minutes:

It is probably going to take a lot to beat this high score. No, I do not fancy myself an amazing player, I am just being reasonable. I made this level, and had been, through playtesting, gaining massive amounts of muscle memory for this thing. There are some rooms I passed with less than 10 deaths. That's not usually how it works. I found out that if you save and come back, it will not show your overall time. So, if you exit, please record your time before you exit, unless you are not planning on fighting for a high score. Because my highscore right now is probably a bit hard to beat (I'm sure there are more than a couple amazing VVVVVV players out there to easily ruin it), I'll spotlight the second and third high scores as well. I really hope this catches on, at least a little.

But since then, Balneor has beaten my score fair and square. Congrats! That is one tough score to beat! I might try my hand at it, but I have no hopes. Anyone else wanna try?

POSTING A HIGH SCORE

When you post your score, post it similar to how mine appears above. Also be sure to post, for the benefit of storytelling and raging empathy, the room that gave you the most trouble. If you give up at some point, say the room you gave up on and why. For example... I wouldn't be surprised if 200+ deaths for me came from the room Two Step. It is deceptively difficult, even I didn't expect to get stuck there as much as I did. It was absolutely terrible. What tricks you about it is that it's one of the few rooms with no conveyor belts, so you think that you are relatively safe. But wow... wow you aren't. I had to save and walk away from my computer at that point, and that was the only time I had to do that in my run (the first time around).

Also... each screen is able to be beaten with no deaths. Every trinket is retrievable with no deaths. So, it is theoretically possible to go through the entire level with no deaths. I may or may not reward the person who achieves this with a real 20 USD. Probably not, but please, if you are attempting something like this, please please please record it so everyone can see you in action. That would be amazing. Absolutely spectacular. Without further ado, where is that download link? Ah! There it is below! Do you attempt to open it...?

EDIT: It appears that I posted this topic too soon, because within only an hour or so plus of posting it, I beat my high score by a couple of miles I must say. The ending messages have been changed to fit the new high score, and along the way I tweaked some of the aesthetics of the level. Nothing mechanical, it just looks a whole heck of a lot nicer in certain areas.

EDIT2: It appears V1.5 is out! In an effort to make the difficulty still there, but more fair, I have changed a couple of things so that no more disappearing blocks or spikes are "misaligned". Thank you to SJMistery, sorry for so many changes being made so soon to this project.

EDIT3: Now, V1.6 is out! Not many changes... in fact, only one. The second room, "A Belly Dance", has been made slightly easier to have a semblance of a difficulty curve thanks to criticism from SJMistery and Poni. V1.5 is still very much playable, and all currently 31 people who have downloaded it may continue to play it and post their high scores. Anyways, kind of an update... at some point I will do a recorded run through of this level myself to show all y'all how to beat it. That will be coming within the month. Anyways, really hoping someone beats it sometime soon. Have fun!

VIDEOS OF MYSELF BEATING IT

Just to show you it is possible, and how to get through each room, here is a three video playlist of myself beating the level, and talking about my thought process the whole way through. If that interests you, well... yeah here you go. Warning, I put no effort into these. No cool mic, no real good screen capture stuff. Just thought I'd like the videos out there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEALVO4MKoo&t=0s&index=2&list=PLXUbdn5mp3Lo6g3wgCPxuPQMUlxGTd9ru

December 20, 2016, 06:38:03 PM

The get featured thing does't really apply anymore because Terry stopped featuring levels more than a year ago, but this sounds fun, I'll give it a shot!

Also, welcome to Distractionware! As long as the spammy users don't piss you off, you should have a good time!

Sasha_Waters · December 20, 2016, 08:51:06 PM

Quote from: Starspire on December 20, 2016, 06:38:03 PM
The get featured thing does't really apply anymore because Terry stopped featuring levels more than a year ago, but this sounds fun, I'll give it a shot!

Thank you! Didn't know levels stopped being featured, but thanks for checking out my level!

EDIT: Sorry, this came up so quickly, but I should let you know there is already a new version out because I got a new high score... I apologize...?

SJMistery · December 21, 2016, 03:59:21 PM

Pffff, as I start playing, I got the feeling it would be hard for the WRONG reasons. I was totally right.
Not going to provide a bugfix for the crapload of misalignements, because I know that if I did I would inevitably also cut most of the fake difficultly of this unfair kaizo-style level and nerf at least half the rooms.

Sasha_Waters · December 21, 2016, 06:07:53 PM

Quote from: SJMistery on December 21, 2016, 03:59:21 PM
Pffff, as I start playing, I got the feeling it would be hard for the WRONG reasons. I was totally right.
Not going to provide a bugfix for the crapload of misalignements, because I know that if I did I would inevitably also cut most of the fake difficultly of this unfair kaizo-style level and nerf at least half the rooms.

...What? No, you don't get off by telling me you have legitimate criticisms and things you think would help the level and then not telling me, that's not how this works. Please point out all the misalignments, dude, that would be very helpful. Also, what does that even mean, really..?

SJMistery · December 21, 2016, 06:24:16 PM

It means that normally I provide a fixed variant of the level directly, it's quicker and easier than pointing every bug, and I have time to spare. But considering half of the spike misalignements seem INTENTIONAL, I won't bother.

Sasha_Waters · December 21, 2016, 06:37:26 PM

Quote from: SJMistery on December 21, 2016, 06:24:16 PM
It means that normally I provide a fixed variant of the level directly, it's quicker and easier than pointing every bug, and I have time to spare. But considering half of the spike misalignements seem INTENTIONAL, I won't bother.

..But it would be helpful to know what you're talking about.

SJMistery · December 21, 2016, 06:52:05 PM

For example, on the very first room, the exit marked with XX on the top leads straight to spikes. This kind of trap causes luck-based deaths and is considered a terrible design flaw. Like this one, many more are around scattered on your level. Putting Dissapearing platforms near the edges of the rooms is also dangerous, as it can easily trigger the "suffocated between walls" glitch.

Sasha_Waters · December 21, 2016, 06:56:10 PM

Quote from: SJMistery on December 21, 2016, 06:52:05 PM
For example, on the very first room, the exit marked with XX on the top leads straight to spikes. This kind of trap causes luck-based deaths and is considered a terrible design flaw. Like this one, many more are around scattered on your level. Putting Dissapearing platforms near the edges of the rooms is also dangerous, as it can easily trigger the "suffocated between walls" glitch.

I realized this on the first room, but felt bad putting spikes in the first room, as it was supposed to be a lounge. Now I see this is a big problem, so I'll take away my apprehension and change it. You are correct in all of those areas, I'll probably go in and change that when I get back from a walk I'm going on, and see how it plays.

EDIT: With the help of SJMistery, I have modified the game to make it "The Fun Never Stops V1.5", in which there are no misaligned spikes or disappearing blocks. This way, the difficulty can be considered "fair", unless someone points out otherwise.

SJMistery · December 21, 2016, 09:21:50 PM

You didn't understand, dissapearing blocks on themselves are fine. What I meant is that you must avoid putting them near the edges of the rooms, as they can glitch up the game in an hilarious yet potentially annoying way. Take a look at this example. It's semi-automatic, you don't need to press a thing, it will be easier to show it this way.

Sasha_Waters · December 21, 2016, 11:13:19 PM

Quote from: SJMistery on December 21, 2016, 09:21:50 PM
You didn't understand, dissapearing blocks on themselves are fine. What I meant is that you must avoid putting them near the edges of the rooms, as they can glitch up the game in an hilarious yet potentially annoying way. Take a look at this example. It's semi-automatic, you don't need to press a thing, it will be easier to show it this way.

I didn't take out the disappearing blocks, there are no "misaligned" ones, meaning ones that you can walk through near the edge of a screen.

Sasha_Waters · January 22, 2017, 05:10:13 PM

I have heard it is not frowned upon to bump your topic unless you do it repeatedly, so I am making a vow now to not bump this topic more than 3 times, but since nobody else seems to have beaten it yet, I would like to try and show people this again. So...

Bump.

poni64 · February 05, 2017, 12:56:19 AM

time taken: 9:38
trinkets:0/9
Deaths:226
ROOM REACHED: A Belly Dance

Could you nerf the difficulty of the first part of A Belly Danch Just a little bit?

Sasha_Waters · February 05, 2017, 05:18:18 AM

Quote from: poni64 on February 05, 2017, 12:56:19 AM
time taken: 9:38
trinkets:0/9
Deaths:226
ROOM REACHED: A Belly Dance

Could you nerf the difficulty of the first part of A Belly Danch Just a little bit?

Now that I have gotten two complaints about the difficulty of this room... maybe I should. Could you tell me what specific part is so difficult? There are multiple challenges in this room.

poni64 · February 07, 2017, 01:59:21 AM

Alright, in the room belly dance the part that needs to be nerfed is the 1 block gap between conveyer and moving platform
the time to get from one to another is to small.
My suggestion is to extend the moving platform range to the right by one. this will give a larger window of time to get on it, while still being difficult

wheeeee!

move move move move!

AHHHH i died again.