Quantum Tunnel (v1.2)

[Martze]

This is my new level, Quantum Tunnel. It picks up immediately where Soul Searching left off, but the story is not important.

This level explores the idea of room duality much more deeply than in Soul Searching. It is 20x2, and explores concepts that are only possible in a map that is two rooms tall.

If I had made a full VVVVVV level set, the individual levels probably would have looked like this. Soul Searching might have been my final area. What this means is that this is considerably shorter and easier than Soul Searching was. But it also means it's more consistent, more polished, and more professional.







CHANGELOG:
Version 1.2 (Released September 28, 2011)
-Moved the secret area.
-Minor miscellaneous script changes.

Version 1.1 (Released September 27, 2011)
-Used new commands for forwards compatibility with new features (colored text, map toggle, crew moods)
-Improved layout of Vagrant/Vagabond, Light/Heavy World, and Prim's/Kruskal's Algorithm.
-Fixed misalignment in So Nice/Do It Twice.
-Added a warp to leave the final area and return to the level.
-Tweaked Victoria's dialogue.
-New secret area. (!!!)

Version 1.0.1 (Released September 23, 2011)
-Fixed minor alignment bug in final area.
-Fixed minor scripting bug in final area.

Version 1.0 (Released September 22, 2011)
-Initial release.

[art begotti]

FANTASTIC level! It took a while for me to figure out what was going on and how to use the arrows in the "Pine/Pike Street" sequence, but once it clicked, it was an amazing challenge. Very good use of the warps!

One tiny bug to report: In the ending sequence, you might want to check (I'm trying to avoid spoilers) the lower-right room, as I don't think it's quite lined up with the lower-center room on the top edge.

[Martze]

I'm glad you enjoyed it. I'm definitely going to fix that, but for now I'm going to wait for a little more feedback before I release a bugfixed version. I don't want that version number to climb as high as Soul Searching. (Also, assuming I'm only doing minor changes, I'm going to increment the hundredths places instead of the tenths place; that is, 1.0.1, not 1.1. I'll save the tenths for bigger changes.)

I used the arrows to mark warp lines, just like I used backing in Soul Searching. Backing won't show up in the Lab tileset, but I thought the aesthetics matched the idea of a quantum tunnel pretty well. Warp lines are EXTRA confusing when you're dealing with room duality, so it's understandable why you'd be confused. Maybe I need to make that terminal's explanation a little clearer.

[Officer Captain]

Oh man, this is an amazing concept! The level itself was really enjoyable.
Probably required some planning, no?

[Martze]

It did, yes, but I find that working within constraints really helps me be more creative--I push the boundaries and do the best I can with what I have. Give me unlimited potential, and I won't know where to start.

EDIT: I was willing to wait on the alignment bug. It's pretty hard to notice. This other bug, though, needed fixing.

[PJBottomz]

How the hell did you guys even complete this? I got as far as Pine/Pike street and got eternally lost.

[Officer Captain]

I found it helpful to find that you're always going right, as the level was 2 rooms tall.
As soon as you located an exit that wasn't marked with a >, you'd navigate there and take it.
If it was a dead end, you'd keep moving.
On Pine street, it was a group of 4 rooms. It helped to know that each up and down holes in Spine/Spike street were loops, so you had to navigate Pike street.

[Martze]

How the hell did you guys even complete this? I got as far as Pine/Pike street and got eternally lost.

This level is definitely meant to be more of a cerebral challenge than Soul Searching was.

Hint 1:
Pike/Spine Street can be a bit confusing since the rooms all look the same, but it's a linear path. You can only go forward or back. There's only one door you can go in that sends you back more than one screen, and it's marked with X's. If you find yourself back in Revolution/Nine, turn around. Going into a door on the left or right that's marked with arrows is pointless because you'll come back out in the same room.

Hint 2:
Think of it as eight subrooms. Every time you enter a subroom from the left or right, leave it from the top or bottom.  Every time you enter a room from the top or bottom, go right unless that exit is marked by arrows. In that case, go left.

[PJBottomz]

 

I probably shouldn't have anything to do with levels that require less reflex and more brain, seeing that I appear to lack one.

[ThePaSch]

Brilliant level. Once I figured out how to do it, I couldn't keep myself from constantly smiling. Great to see what can be done with the VVVVVV level editor with a pint of creativity.

I especially liked the ending sequence when you pick up the crew to end the level. Nice use of the Ship tileset.

[Damn It AL to Hell]

I just realized your avatar is Break Man!

[Officer Captain]

Kinda the wrong place to put that, eh?
Well, then again, there really isn't a place to put it, anyway.

[Martze]

I just realized your avatar is Break Man!

Nah, Proto Man isn't wearing his Break Man disguise here. He's wearing Corey Hart's sunglasses.

Of course, Proto Man already wears sunglasses underneath his helmet, so that comes out to three pairs of sunglasses.

He's just that cool.

I don't really mind having the conversation here as long as it doesn't hijack the topic.

[Damn It AL to Hell]

Oh, alright!

[Terry]

Absolutely fantastic stuff I'll have more to say about this one later in the week!

A few small things that seem worth mentioning:
- Viridian isn't great at squeezing into corridors smaller than 4 blocks high when falling in either direction - this means that the path at the top of Vagabond with three XXXs is very difficult to land in if you're trying to, and there's a part in the Heavy World room where you can even get completely stuck!
- This strikes me as a level that having a minimap in would totally ruin. You might want to futureproof it for the upcoming patch by having a "map(off)" command in the introscript.
- Speaking of which, if you feel like it, you might as well futureproof it for textbox colours Use "say(3,violet)" instead of "say(3)" to have a textbox use violet's position and colour (and so on for all the crewmates).