"CCCCCCCCCC Retold" by Whirligig

Started by Whirligig, August 26, 2011, 01:39:24 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

Sendy

#15
And now some overall, non-spoilery wordy things...

Overall I found this very fun. I'm fed up with the current rash of small, rushed minilevels being dashed out for the hell of it, so this is one of my favourite levels so far. I also happen to like levels which are difficult, but not stupid insane. With a bit of work improving the already good aesthetics, and a round or two of bugfixing, this will be another feature-worthy game-sized level!  :-*

EDIT: Endgame Statistics:

628 deaths, 1:18:48. Some of this was time spent actively bugseeking, though most was probably deaths in "I mean it" which I think killed me equally in both directions.

Psychopath

That tower was actually pretty easy for me. I got the trinket immediately once I had seen the entire thing and died at the top. Then I flipped from the trinket location and did the entire thing over again and landed at the exit. Apparently others had greater difficulty with it, maybe I'm just crazy good without really noticing it :vermillion:

The 2 block safezones within spikes were a bit annoying, though. I did manage my way through them but that sort of precision can get annoying when having one's toe stub the base of a spike means death. That trinket was a royal bitch to get, but I got it without cheating.

Whirligig

Some notes on what I'm hearing so far:

-"Small Big Difference" was interesting from a development standpoint. I kept moving the beam up one tile at a time, finding the "bare minimum" setting and moving it up one more to make it easier. Then, I decided to make the trinket force you to do the hard version. So a one tile difference is a HUGE difficulty difference, hence the name.
-In "What's Up?" you can actually get the trinket and die at the same time; it's not that hard to get.
-In "Eaten by a Grue," note the two floors you have to flip between to get through the room. The top one isn't safe, but if you stay on the bottom floor, the enemy will pass inches over your head and you'll be fine.
-In "Digits of Precision," you can skip over a couple of the safe areas if you flip far enough.
-Viridian didn't actually kill everyone in the Polar Dimension -- Pearl just thinks he did. Besides, she has no idea where her family is, so they're as good as dead to her. The more I think about it, the more of a ripoff of Myst III: Exile it seems to be.

PJBottomz


Whirligig

I didn't forget about it -- the notes weren't meant to be a comprehensive list. I fixed that bug already.

PJBottomz


Whirligig

I re-uploaded it, so all you need to do is re-download from the same link. I sent out the link again just in case.

bigkahuna

Nice presentation, good aesthetics, good storyline relatively, challenging.

Very great and enjoyable level! Here are a few of my thoughts.

"Beginners should panic now": Laughed here :)

"Presenting VVVVVV": The first two times I tried it, I missed the checkpoint and couldn't get back up to it... put it on the floor?

"Pressure Cooker": Flipping to the roof causes you to slide on the invisible conveyor belt and get lost for a while... moving
   too much to the right causes you to glitch into another room.

"Phear": several times, going down the vertical shaft caused me to get impaled on an invisible spike (and end up in the wall somehow)

"Discharging": pausing to go up on the first gravity line allows you to skip past the shockers.

The Spike Tower level: SERIOUSLY?!?! I really hated this, mainly because of Veni Vidi Vici (which I finished, but grew tired the entire genre of puzzles after that). I skipped over that part.

Dreary Caverns: Very well designed, I really liked this.

I really liked the final challenge. It was confusing at first, but very interesting concept and fun challenge.

Whirligig

Sendy: Found the spelling error. I'm assuming you mean the "final challege"?

PJBottomz

Whirligig, not to be a jackass, but after you finish a zone, instead of warping right to the beginning of the hub, you should just warp the person back to the part of the hub where you enter the zone. At first, it's okay, but by the time you get to Zone 5's hub room, it sucks. :-X

FlamingBanana

Area 4 is EXTREMELY difficult. I can get as far as the second level, going backward, but i cant get any farther.

Whirligig

Well, due to my busy schedule that will only get busier, I'm hoping to get the level out tomorrow. This means that if you have anything else to say (or that needs to be fixed), say it now!

FlamingBanana

I beat it with only 2000000000 deaths.

HAH!

BillyTheBanana

#28
I never played the ASCII version, but I loved this! I'm amazed that you were able to make ten worlds that each felt fundamentally unique. The difficulty was just right for me, including all ten trinkets, which I enjoyed getting. (The only easy one was in the "small difference" room, in which I didn't see any difference between the top and bottom half of the screen!) As was mentioned, it's possible to see the walls in the world where they're presumably supposed to be invisible. I assume you got it to work easily in your ASCII version. Too bad there's no way to do it in the editor, because I felt like I was missing out on a fun level.

Everybody complained about the Veni Vidi Vici world, but I thought it was a cool idea to take a short, highly challenging sequence with no checkpoints and use that as an entire world. The only thing I found odd was that it seemed easier to land on the trinket (smack in the middle of the room) than on the regular exit. Also, I didn't like having to do it twice in order to get the trinket.

Did you ever consider a reward for getting the puzzles right on the first try? I thought maybe that's how the trinket was going to be obtained there. I felt kind of cheated when I didn't get anything for thinking through the puzzles rather than using trial and error.

Some other rooms I liked:
Toad in the Hole - I like that you had to stay in the same column for a couple flips. I always enjoy sequences that make you move around in one area instead of just constantly pushing forward.
You Got the Map - Took me a second to realize what I was looking at, but I enjoyed the "lightbulb moment" of understanding.
Room Name Illusion - lol
Warp Away
Aim Well
Going Up/Not So Fast/The Roof - Nice to have some open-ended obstacles occasionally.
Burning Bridges
Find the Liars (Love the connection to the next puzzle especially. Very clever)
Bonus Level "storage chambers" - lol

Didn't like:
Potential for Anything - Felt awkward. I found it easier to ignore the leftmost platform.
My Lady's Chamber - I didn't see any logical way to get through this, so I just repeatedly jumped in blindly until I made it.

I just have one question about something I didn't understand... Why do you hate Sony?

Martze

Great level. It's nice to see someone else really explore the shock idea in depth. Though, you made me regret ever coming up with the idea on some of those screens.

Since this seems to be becoming a recurring trend on these really large levels: please, please stop making keyboard-smashingly hard final areas, and making me replay them if I miss one of the trinkets. I mean, I dis what I always do--edit the level to add a warp point--but I shouldn't have to do that.

I have to say that all of your "precision" screens made me furious. VVVVVV's controls are just a little too slippery for those. The main game is designed to fit the controls, but your brand of precision challenges aren't. The reason I love Mega Man (if my avatar doesn't make it clear) is because the controls are so tight, making platforming a total breeze. It's not the first time I've wished Viridian had the ability to start and stop on a dime.

Also, you can go to hell for making "Gift Wrap."

I very much enjoyed this level.