The Cursed Gallery - A Glorious Trainwrecks Knytt Stories+ Collaboration

sergiocornaga's picture
cursedgallery00.png

A Knytt Stories+ level by:

Comments

Vegetal Gibber's picture

I really dig the hand-drawn

I really dig the hand-drawn tileset and sprites (both for Juni and the custom creatures) in the "Knytt Drawings" area!

I tried to sketch a simple title screen and give it a "painterly" look, but failed miserably at the latter. Still, it's better than just leaving the default Info.png picture... maybe. Feel free to use it:

Here's also a slightly updated version of the "paintings" tileset. Since the filler 5x4 pictures are not needed anymore (they should be replaced with preview shots of each level, which will probably require a few separate tilesets), I removed those to make room for a few more small paintings:

EDIT: I made 5x4 previews for all areas that were still using a placeholder image. If anyone prefers to make their own canvas for their area, feel free to replace the one I made with any other 112x88 picture.

Funny, I was just doing the

Funny, I was just doing the same thing:




Voidscreen is "dead ends", white canvas is "intentionally left blank"

Vegetal Gibber's picture

I see we even had the same

I see we even had the same idea for the "Gallery Hub" canvas. Heh.

Ha, "dead ends" and the

Ha, "dead ends" and the self-referential "cursed gallery hub" is pretty funny.

Vegetal Gibber's picture

I was able to put together

I was able to put together this really basic intro sequence that doesn't provide any background story and explains absolutely nothing. It does have some neat sound effects, though (all public domain). This can be used as is or added at the end of a narration.

NOTE: For this to work correctly, Juni's starting position at the hub should be moved about 3 tiles to the right.

AttachmentSize
Intro.zip518.11 KB
sergiocornaga's picture

New download link

I've updated the paintings, added VG's title screen and intro, and made a few other bugfixes and changes. Still working on it, but I figured I'd upload something in case I, like, fall asleep at my computer suddenly!

Thanks so much for your help, vg+ncrecc!

sergiocornaga's picture

Newer download link

Alright, hopefully it's at least possible to get in and out of every painting in one playthrough now! I'm sure there are some instances where not enough power-ups get turned off, and probably some other critical flaws. In any case, it's almost 6am and I'm going to bed. I'll try to check up before the competition deadline, but if anyone wants to work on the level they should probably edit it directly rather than wait for me!

zilard's picture

COOL

This looks so cool. Really, really cool. And I'm glad to have been able to take a part in it!

I don't know if we're still making adjustments, so you can ignore this:
-on x1006y1003, there is a missing invisible block and metal platform for some reason, compared to x1006y1006
-on the gallery hub, my level name is listed as the full name instead of QILA (the correct name) because I'm silly and didn't update the name.

Vegetal Gibber's picture

Inspired by Sergio's valiant

Inspired by Sergio's valiant efforts, I uploaded a new version (v0.4) with a last-minute critical fix and a small graphical addition:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vhm25md8uorwzwz/Glorious%20Trainwrecks%20-%20The%20Cursed%20Gallery.knytt.bin?dl=0

* Added a "Terrible-Horrible-No-Good-Very-Bad-Hack" that removes all power-ups collected by the player in the "Stained Glass Sanctuary", "Knytt Drawings" and "Tropical Lima Beans" areas. It's messy and not an elegant solution at all (it relies on duplicate rooms and delayed shifts), but it seems to do the trick. This prevents the player from getting stuck in some areas due to sequence-breaking (e.g. it was possible to keep the high jump from "Stained Glass Sanctuary" and then get stuck in the right area of "Knytt Drawings" after using a save point there).

* Added "Custom object 20" that overrides Bank15Obj5 (the air current) with a sorta-hand-drawn version that mimics the "Knytt Drawings" area look&feel and is more visible over the white background. I had trouble finding my way out of the area due to the default object being quite hard to spot, and I thought this could help.

sergiocornaga's picture

New version uploaded.

This one fixes the errors xZilas mentioned, and adds some (frankly pretty horrible) music to my Knytt Drawings section. Enjoy!

Apparently it's totally within the competition rules for us to keep working on the level over the next month or so, and may even be encouraged? There's nothing pressing I want to put in right now, but I do think we should discuss potential direct routes between paintings we could make, or how an ending might be triggered.

Vegetal Gibber's picture

Hmmm.... I might take this

Hmmm.... I might take this opportunity to finish and submit the small maze area that I wasn't able to complete before the deadline. Can't make any promises, though, since [Sekr1t Pr0ject LPC] will probably keep me busy for the next few days.

I do agree that we should at least try to add a way for the player to keep track of their progress (since each area has a different number of hidden artifacts) and to conclude the adventure by finding all the collectibles. One way of handling this would be including a room (possibly behind the door at the very end of the hub) with a big canvas that acts as a "progress tracker" and contains unreachable duplicates of all the artifacts scattered through the areas. This way, each time an artifact is collected in its respective area, it will disappear from this screen revealing the tile behind it (which could be a gold-colored version of the artifact sprite or something like that).

As for how to handle the "artifact warps", I propose doing this in a "one color at a time" fashion. Trying to set a warp screen for every possible combination would probably be an impractical nightmare, but if we make a separate hall for each color (e.g. first a "red" door that unlocks by collecting all red artifacts, which leads to a hall with a "blue" door, and so on), we'd only need to make up to 6 duplicate screens per color. We could also use each hall to display the collected artifacts for that color, instead of grouping them all in a single huge canvas as I previously explained.

Vegetal Gibber's picture

Uploaded v0.6 with a bugfix

Uploaded v0.6 with a bugfix for the "Tropical Lima Beans" area. This simply replaces a single tile/object, so you may prefer to make that single change in v0.5 yourself instead of downloading and installing another ~75MB file:

(Link removed -- scroll down to find v0.7 instead)

* [x1000y1021]: Replaced instance of CO #04 (the custom spider used in "QILA") with CO #24 (the background wave animation).

Danni's picture

Is it okay for the level

Is it okay for the level portraits to have different sizes? I'd kinda like mine to be portrait rather than landscape since the section has a focus on vertical space. There's a single unconnected area on the lower right corner of my map that I'd like to go somewhere, but I'm not sure where. I think it'd be cool to connect it to an otherwise inaccessible area.

Glad to hear that we have more time to work on this.

Edit: Oh, that region was used to place the exit portrait. Could the exit be down by the level start to make it easier to find?

Edit 2: It seems I was able to enter QILA with both the high jump and double jump after leaving my own section. It's possible to bypass a section you need to go through to get the climbing powerup.

Edit 3 (spoiler?): There also seems to be a wallswim shortly after you find the secret that is "behind you"

Vegetal Gibber's picture

The second point worries me,

The second point worries me, since the update I made yesterday was supposed to prevent that from happening. It seems to work correctly for me every time, though. Are you using the latest version of Knytt Stories +? (1.3.1). Delayed shifts may behave differently in previous builds, resulting in some shifts being completely ignored. If you're already running KS+ 1.3.1, then it's possible that the results can vary depending on the machine's clock speed, which would render this method unreliable. If you could confirm this for me, it'd be a great help.

Danni's picture

Enter and leave my level

Enter and leave my level (Stained Glass Sanctuary). You'll leave with the high jump.

Also there's a double jump powerup sitting in the initial room instead of just given to the player?

Edit: Updating to 1.3.1 seems to have fixed leaving my level with the high jump?

Vegetal Gibber's picture

I see, then it's what I

I see, then it's what I suspected. KS+ 1.2.4 addressed a couple issues related to simultaneous shifts, so it makes sense that it works correctly after updating. Still, it'd probably be a good idea to add a "Play this level in KS+ 1.3.0 or later" warning to the title screen, just in case. Thank you for confirming this.

I'll apply the same trick to all other areas, just to cover all bases, since I noticed that you can leave "The Abandoned Space Station" with a few power-ups too. Also, I just detected a wallswim at x984y1121, so I'll probably post another update in an hour or so. While I'm at it, I'll see if I can adjust the painting for your area, although it might be difficult to fit the resized canvas in one of the current tilesets.

Danni's picture

Played through my level

Played through my level again with the new version of KS+. You're able to leave my level with the hologram and purple key. Is that intended?

Vegetal Gibber's picture

The purple key staying in

The purple key staying in the inventory was intended. I didn't feel the need to clear it since this doesn't conflict with any other area, although I could remove that too if you prefer. The hologram should definitely NOT stay, though. I was just about to upload v0.7, so I'll try to address this issue too before doing that. Thanks for letting me know!

Vegetal Gibber's picture

Uploaded v0.7 with several

Uploaded v0.7 with several fixes and a minor modification:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vhm25md8uorwzwz/Glorious%20Trainwrecks%20-%20The%20Cursed%20Gallery.knytt.bin?dl=0

* (From v0.6): [x1000y1021]: Replaced instance of CO #04 (the custom spider used in "QILA") with CO #24 (the background wave animation).

* Added an extra shift to clear the Hologram power-up after leaving the "Stained Glass Sanctuary" area.

* Added power-up removal shifts to other areas that needed them. Hopefully this should solve all issues with collected power-ups not being cleared upon returning to the hub.

* [x984y1121]: Fixed a wallswim when trying to go down from this screen if the player doesn't have the Eye power-up.

* [x1015y966]: Jumping down from here (instead of taking the portal) leads to a void screen. Added a few filler screens similar to the existing ones to prevent this.

* Resized the "Stained Glass Sanctuary" canvas to "portrait" format per Danni's request.

(SPOILER?) I also noticed that [x985y1122] has a secret passage that leads to a hidden room above, but there doesn't seem to be any hints or marks for this. I'm not sure if this was intentional, though. I left it unmodified for now, but I think marking this with Bank12Obj20 would be a good idea.

EDIT: I posted this way too soon, without actually waiting for the file to be completely uploaded. D'oh. It should be OK now.

I think now we can start

I think now we can start considering endings. Flags 2 through 9 are free, so that would be one flag for each enterable non-recursive painting, which is perfect. Though maybe the player should only have to complete 6 out of the 7 to escape since I did not handle difficulty very well with my entry. :/

Maybe for plot, one of the rooms would have a slip of paper left on it describing the point of view from the last person in the gallery. Something something "I've left this note behind in case anyone else is trapped in here, the doors lock behind you as the gallery seems to be haunted or such. After being stuck in here for a while and taking notes on these exhibits, it seems the doors only become unstuck once you fully appreciate at least six of the paintings here - some of which are too abstract for my interests." (referring to the unenterable paintings and the Gallery Hub painting) "Rumor has it there are also 14 artifacts hidden behind the painting frames that let you go deeper into the museum. I got out without even considering them. Worst thing that happened, I lost a bet."

Vegetal Gibber's picture

I like this idea.

I like this idea. Alternatively, we could make it so the player only needs to find at least 1 or 2 artifacts of each color (from any areas) in order to escape the gallery and get the regular ending.

Vegetal Gibber's picture

Uploaded v0.8 with a couple

Uploaded v0.8 with a couple more fixes. Get it by using the link on the first post (I just replaced the previous file).

Changelog:

* Floating Island Park: Replaced a few background tiles to match the color of the others (e.g. x1042y985)

* Floating Island Park: Added a wall to prevent the player from reaching a void screen when climbing up from x1032y983.

* Gallery Hub: Game is now auto-saved when returning from the Floating Park area.

* Gallery Hub: Blank and "Dead Ends" canvases were missing the bottom row.

EDIT: Re-uploaded the file with a few more fixes for voids/wallswims in the "Floating Island Park" area (x1013y981 and x1018y981, when trying to go up after getting the climb power). Ideally, I'd create some filler screens to block the player, but this could be problematic for that particular area (because of the "running through the background hills" part), so I've blocked them with invisible walls (mimicking x1017y981) for now.

EDIT 2: Yet another fix added: changed shift type from "Floor" to "Square" in x983y1010 (at the very end of the "Press A to Slow Down" area). This should prevent the player from accidentally passing through the object without triggering it.

EDIT 3 (Final edit from me... I swear!): I recompressed some of the ambiance/music tracks (atuun's and ncrecc's areas) to reduce their bitrate as much as I could, which cuts down the size of the .knytt.bin file from ~77MB to ~28MB. I've checked each recompressed track and I'm pretty confident that the impact on the overall sound quality is not noticeable, but if anyone's not happy with the end result, please let me know (alternatively, feel free to replace any of the changed tracks with the original one and re-upload the level).

This is most likely going to be my last revision for a while, since I'm going to be very busy in the next few days (both with other projects and holiday stuff). Merry Christmas!

sergiocornaga's picture

Version 0.9

More little fixes!

* Press A to Slow Down Zone: Fixed checkpoint shifts. Made second bail-out point disable umbrella.

* Gallery Hub: Weird vase painting was missing its bottom row now too. What's going on here!?

* Gallery Hub: Brief shift screen gallery screens also had messed-up paintings, probably due to tileset alterations. Anyway, fixed!

-

Some things to consider:

Do we want to add more artifacts? If not, I think we should change the current artifacts to just two colours since we have exactly 14.
On the other hand, if we want ending to be based on artifact collection rather than painting visiting, I think we could add 7 more artifacts.

At this point I think my preference would be to have the requirement for the ending be to enter every painting. In some cases this would allow players to just duck in and out if they didn't want to complete a level, and possibly we could add more shortcuts back to the gallery to accommodate this. We could also reward level exploration with bonus material, such as having something unlocked with the purple key kept from Stained Glass Sanctuary.

For the ending, I was thinking it would be cool to have one more painting behind those doors. To make up for the overly compartmentalised nature of what we have so far, this would be a patchwork/exquisite corpse collaborative area of sorts where we define/graybox/blockout the overall layout together, and then individually remodel screens in disparate visual styles of our own choosing. But perhaps this idea is too ambitious! We've done a lot of work on the level already, after all.

Danni's picture

I like the Exquisite Corpse

I like the Exquisite Corpse idea! Maybe we should limit it to just several screens per contributor? Or would that make it look really inconsistent?

sergiocornaga's picture

I'd like to totally embrace

I'd like to totally embrace "inconsistent" and have no [intentional] visual continuity between screens! Everyone could work on a small number of lone disconnected rooms without seeing what will be adjacent (other than a basic layout to prevent wallswims). I suspect this project has inspired these thoughts!

Vegetal Gibber's picture

I like this idea too. I

I like this idea too. I drafted a couple screens for an area that I ended up discarding due to time constraints, so this could be a good use for those. We should make sure that this could be done before the 2nd (final) deadline, though. I think it should be doable if each participant only has to submit a very small contribution (about 5-6 screens, at most).

Vegetal Gibber's picture

The missing bottom rows you

The missing bottom rows you mentioned were my fault. I rearranged and optimized one of the tilesets to make room for the new "Stained Glass Sanctuary" preview painting, but I forgot to check a few screens when I made a last minute edit there. Sorry for that!

As for the artifacts, I wouldn't be opposed to adding one more to my area (in fact, I already have a place in mind for that purpose), but I'm not sure if all other authors will be available to edit their areas before the 2nd deadline (especially during the holidays). Replacing the three existing green artifacts with red/blue ones would probably be the quickest solution.

Vegetal Gibber's picture

Last area

I'm finding myself with more free time that I originally anticipated. Should I try and kickstart the proposed last/bonus area with a few screens?

sergiocornaga's picture

Go for it!

Go for it!

Vegetal Gibber's picture

Done!

https://www.glorioustrainwrecks.com/node/10919

I can also compile it into the full level if this is preferred.

I think to smooth out the

I think to smooth out the difficulty, the purple key and hologram should be needed in order to exit the Stained Glass Sanctuary. Right now it's the only level that you can "win" without having to collect anything.

The Cursed Gallery

The Cursed Gallery v0.99

Player can now bail out at any point in Press A to Slow Down Zone.
Player must now collect the purple key and hologram in Stained Glass Sanctuary before they can leave.
Purple key is now disabled upon exiting Stained Glass Sanctuary, just for consistency.
Flags are now set upon completing the main levels. (Making it to the exit shift, or exiting through Area 3 in PAtSDZ.)
Doors at the right end of the main hallway can now be opened once all main levels are completed.

Tell me if there's any bugs I missed.

Vegetal Gibber's picture

I like the custom sound

I like the custom sound effect that plays when the new "bail out" feature is used. I think the messages explaining how to use the function should be placed in a sign at the Start/Continue/Quit screen, though. They're really hard to read while you're playing, and it's easy to miss them if you don't pay enough attention and reach the second screen.

The flag warps in the main hallway seem to be working correctly. Nice job!

Thanks! The bail-out sound

Thanks! The bail-out sound is just "boostblock.ogg" found in MAS2: Operator Status and Knytt Underground.

v0.995

Another quick fix! Here's v0.995

Fixed a small typo in the Slow Down Zone script (False= instead of False)
Info about quitting Slow Down Zone is now on its "menu" screen
Flag warps to final area now take advantage of KS+ 1.3.2 supporting a flag in "flag all"

Vegetal Gibber's picture

Uploaded a small update: [

Uploaded a small update:

[ Cursed Gallery v0.996 ]

I've done some touch-up work on the placeholder screens for the last painting, plus a few more things:

* Fixed a few shifts in the final hallway that were not working as intended (hopefully I didn't break anything else in the process).

* The hallway is all dark at first (x1010-1012 y998). However, the screen in the middle suddenly lits up when the player approaches the painting. Going left or right resets the lights, unless the last area has already been beaten.

* Screens at x1010-1013 y996 are lit versions of the original dark screens. These are intended for when the player has completed the last area and Flag 9 is ON.

v0.997

Quick follow-up update, same dropbox link I always use. This just adds two new paintings to the final hallway (from my "Get focus" and xZilas's "Much Ado", respectively) as well as a placeholder painting for the Last Area. Now we just have to decide what the Last Area should actually be called, and what its painting should be.

Vegetal Gibber's picture

Since the last world is

Since the last world is basically an amalgamation of very different-looking areas, I think its name should reflect that. E.g: Cadavre Exquis, Patchwork of Ideas, or anything else along those lines. The painting could just show a few patches of cloth (each one with a tiny picture from a different segment) sewn together with very loose thread.

Version 0.998

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6xv90s8xyibr713/Glorious%20Trainwrecks%20-%20The%20Cursed%20Gallery.knytt.bin?dl=0 Same link as always but w/e

ALL 21 ARTIFACTS ARE NOW IN THE LEVEL!
Added two more green artifacts (#3,4) to Press A to Slow Down Zone, and rearranged the existing two artifacts since they were a bit too easy to get. Also there was an upside-down snail CO just lingering about for some reason so I removed that.
Added a blue artifact (#6) and a red artifact (#4) to Sergio's Knytt Drawings. The addition of the blue artifact also fixes a minor voidscreen.
Added a red artifact (#3) to SavourySnack's Abandoned Space Station, in the big wide open area you can find by passing the exit orb. I also subtly hinted towards the location of red artifact #6 since it didn't seem clear enough where it was.
Everything in the final area is now set up for when someone wants to make ending cutscenes - one normal ending, and one after the player has collected all the artifacts.

Now I just have to actually merge the final area and the main area. Sergio just did this as of 0.999

sergiocornaga's picture

Version 0.999

https://www.dropbox.com/s/a9me7spz34cfdyp/

This update mostly just incorporates the last area. It had to happen sometime!

Version 0.9991

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6xv90s8xyibr713/Glorious%20Trainwrecks%20-%20The%20Cursed%20Gallery.knytt.bin?dl=1

Paintings (the completeable ones, anyways) are now labelled as COMPLETED when you complete them.
A plaque near the beginning now tells you how many artifacts there are.
Sergio compressed some of the music and chopped 10MB off the level. Thanks Serg!

Version 0.99919

Same link. I realized that in 0.9991 I had a room set to Ambience 1 instead of Ambience 0. My bad!

Version 0.9992

Same link, again. All paintings now autosave the game when the player comes out of them. Also fixed a minor warp issue.

sergiocornaga's picture

Version 0.9993

I fixed some small lingering issues and added one measly screen to the final area.

v0.9994

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6xv90s8xyibr713/Glorious%20Trainwrecks%20-%20The%20Cursed%20Gallery.knytt.bin?dl=0
QILA wasn't disabling things like it should've so I just threw more shift properties at it. Turns out shift time makes a difference.

v0.9995

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6xv90s8xyibr713/Glorious%20Trainwrecks%20-%20The%20Cursed%20Gallery.knytt.bin?dl=0
Same link, new version.

Shifts now stop music upon entering AND exiting a particular secret area.

Fixed voidscreen from going up in x1035y1005 or x1034y10055. Just sealed it off using a tile with 1 opacity that covers the very top row of pixels. you had to use extreme updraft + double-jump precision to get to it.

This modifies 2 screens, the World.ini, and Tileset15.png

sergiocornaga's picture

v0.9996

https://www.dropbox.com/s/34qx1vjj1cznr02/Glorious%20Trainwrecks%20-%20The%20Cursed%20Gallery.knytt.bin?dl=0

Includes:
- Ending cutscenes by Vegetal Gibber! We still gotta do credits, though.
- A new icon, because I decided I didn't like the old one.
- Disabled map, fixed some SGEs, addressed other minor issues.
- A few more paltry additional final area screens. I'll work on this a lot more in the morning.

Vegetal Gibber's picture

I tried to compile a list of

I tried to compile a list of credits for the custom stuff in each area. I had to guess some of them by checking the tags in the audio files, so I might be wrong in some cases. Also, there were a few music/ambience files I could not identify at all:

* Gallery Hub: Tilesets by Vegetal Gibber, ncrecc and Sergio Cornaga. COs by Vegetal Gibber. Music by Podington Bear.

* QILA: Tilesets, COs and gradients by xZilas.

* Stained Glass Sanctuary: Music by HihiDanni.

* The Abandoned Space Station: Gradient by Vegetal Gibber. Music by Gabriel Fauré.

* Floating Island Park: Custom tilesets by Imaddo. Modified tilesets and COs by atuun. Music/Ambience by ???.

* Knytt Drawings: Tileset, COs, gradients and music by Sergio Cornaga.

* Tropical Lima Beans: Tilesets, COs and gradients by Vegetal Gibber. Ambience sounds by Ade Swash and robertsvard (public domain).

* Press A to Slow Down Zone: Music by Bruford, John Scofield and Vince Guaraldi Trio.

* Last Area (not named yet): Tilesets by Vegetal Gibber, ncrecc, Sergio Cornaga and the Nifforum. COs by Vegetal Gibber and ncrecc. Music by Nifflas.

Hope this helps a bit.

Vegetal Gibber's picture

Here's a temporary credits

Here's a temporary credits pic (probably incomplete and/or inaccurate) that I just put together in a mad rush. Let me know if I should add (or remove) anything:

Atuun and Danni composed

Atuun and Danni composed their own music for their areas.

I was thinking there should be individual credits for each of the last area segments, though the secret areas wouldn't be listed unless you got the "all artifacts" ending.

Also maybe Sergio should be marked as "project manager" somewhere, for compiling all the submissions into this level in the first place. And you as the cutscene producer. And myself as "shift technician".

Vegetal Gibber's picture

Thanks for the info! Now

Thanks for the info! Now that I have all the details, I made a better organized and more fleshed-out credits sequence (4 screens long):

[ Cursed Gallery v0.9997 ]

Let me know if something else should be added/modified. Note that I opted to list the last area as "???" in the credits, which totally gives us an excuse to simply name it that way if we can't think up of a proper name before the deadline :P

Hey, what font are you using

Hey, what font are you using for the credits?

Vegetal Gibber's picture

The font is "Andalus". It's

The font is "Andalus". It's the same one I used for the title screen and the "THE END" banner. You can find it here.

Thanks

Thanks

sergiocornaga's picture

Here are some suggested

Here are some suggested additions for making the credits more comprehensive if you want (and again, anyone else should feel free to chime in if I've missed something or made a mistake here):

"Stained Glass Sanctuary"
Tilesets by Yann van der Cruyssen & Nifflas

"Knytt Drawings"
Font by Sara Sandberg

"Tropical Lima Beans"
(I'd suggest just using "Ambiance" rather than "Ambience sound" here to be consistent with the spelling used by KS itself)

"Floating Island Park"
Tilesets by Nifflas, Mylveri, Imaddo & NeonPSY. Gradient based on work by Markham Carroll.

"The Abandoned Space Station"
Tilesets by PONTO & X_Sheep.

"Press A to Slow Down Zone"
(this should probably include the word "Zone" after "Down")
Tilesets by Nifflas & David K Newton.

"???"
(I can accept "???" as a name. The only alternative I was thinking of is "The End" which I think could be confusing since "The End" appears as a phrase just before the credits too… maybe we could go for something like "Denouement"!)
(there's an extra space between "tilesets" and "by")
Ambiance by digifishmusic. Some tilesets based on work by Nifflas & The Nifflas Forum Community.

[Last Screen]
Maybe add something like:
"Knytt Stories Plus by egomassive, based on Knytt Stories by Nifflas et al."
or some similar nod to Knytt Stories & Knytt Stories+? Maybe the way I wrote it doesn't give Nifflas enough credit, but then again he is mentioned like ten times in these credits.

v0.9998

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6xv90s8xyibr713/Glorious%20Trainwrecks%20-%20The%20Cursed%20Gallery.knytt.bin?dl
I was working on this before VG came out with v0.9997, so I just merged in the cutscenes.

Added a screw in Abandoned Space Station on the rivet really close to red artifact #6. Want to make sure nobody ever says "hey guys there's a red artifact that missing from the level why are you so lazy?"

Added artifacts above the COMPLETED paintings to show what artifacts you haven't collected.

Fixed an exploit in Windy Valley that allowed you to get into the cave part without double-jump.

Shifts in/out Protofigure now autosave.

Entrance plaque is slightly rewritten.

Ending scenes with text displayed are now b&w. Looks fancy.

Fixed one last voidscreen in Knytt Drawings.

Vegetal Gibber's picture

I uploaded new versions of

I uploaded new versions of the cutscenes. They feature the screens greyed out by ncrecc plus a few other changes:

* All SFX in the Artifact Ending have been made louder so they aren't drown out by the music.

* The credits have been extended with Sergio's suggestions.

[ Normal Ending ]

[ Artifact Ending ]

I forgot to comment on this when it was first released, but it was cool to see the homage to the secret inaccessible area in "Exploring the Golden Land" in the last section. The greyscale version of the tileset gets my Seal of Approval(tm) as well!

sergiocornaga's picture

v0.9999 (Release candidate)

I finished the last area and made many other strange changes that I don't remember! Since I worked on this until morning and haven't managed a full test playthrough, there could well be bugs. I'll try to stay up a little longer so I can update the link if someone makes changes… though if Fubaka decides the deadline is up and looks at this page, I'm sure he's capable of downloading a link at the bottom of the page rather than the top, so maybe I'm worrying too much.

Now, some lingering dissatisfaction! I'm not entirely happy with the current level description ("At night, the paintings come to life...") but I'm not sure how it could be improved within the character limit. Something that better establishes the content or backstory of the level could be nice. Try your hand at it!

Vegetal Gibber's picture

I gave the level one last

I gave the level one last full playthrough, completing the areas in random order and intentionally leaving behind a few artifacts for later. I was able to reach both endings without any major issues. Hooray! Also, I really liked the recolored/retextured version of the "Broken Bulwarks" tileset in the very last segment.

I've uploaded RC2 with only the following minor changes/fixes:

* Fixed a corrupted character in the Sign A text at [x1012y982]
* Fixed a SGE in the "Floating Island Park" area.
* Added an alternate version of the title screen, only visible when the level is installed in vanilla KS or a mod other than KS+.

I noticed that the red key is not disabled when the player leaves the ??? area, although this doesn't seem to cause any problems (other than allowing the player to skip a tiny bit of the last area if they decide to replay it, but I'm personally okay with that).

Since it's only a very minor update, it should be fine even if it's missed and the previous RC version is used for the last scoring round. Still, here it is:

[ The Cursed Gallery - RC2 ]

Congrats everyone!

RC3

The Cursed Gallery - RC3

Fixed several SGEs and inconsistencies in Floating Park Island and one wallswim.
Leaving the ??? area now disables the red key.

Vegetal Gibber's picture

RC4

I tested the last area again and the red key stayed in the inventory (at least for me). Executing three shifts at once, even when they're timed, seems to be unreliable. It should be fixed in RC4 (I added another duplicate screen with two more shifts), although it'd be great if you could test it again just to be sure.

[ The Cursed Gallery - RC4 ]

This should also fix an issue where the player could trigger Shift B in screen x1046y1002 (which disables the double jump) without activating Shift A (which disables the climb and shifts the player to the next screen) due to the collision masks not matching. As a result, the player could get stuck in that screen, since none of the shifts are reachable without the double jump.

RC5

This fixes a SGE at x1007y1005 and adds a comment to the World.ini explaining that Sergio made the last segment of the final area. Consistency.

RC5

RC6

I am really really hoping this will be the final update

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6xv90s8xyibr713/Glorious%20Trainwrecks%20-%20The%20Cursed%20Gallery.knytt.bin?dl=0

Fixes a SGE at x1013y983, and a voidscreen at x1015y983. The door shifts at x1029y976 and x1029y975 are no longer one block off horizontally.

RC7

Damn.
This one was pretty minor anyways.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6xv90s8xyibr713/Glorious%20Trainwrecks%20-%20The%20Cursed%20Gallery.knytt.bin?dl=0

There was this one autosave in Slow Down Zone that made the default shift noise when you passed over it. This doesn't happen anymore.

sergiocornaga's picture

RC8

https://www.dropbox.com/s/34qx1vjj1cznr02/Glorious%20Trainwrecks%20-%20The%20Cursed%20Gallery.knytt.bin?dl=0

This update merely reverts a bad change I made to atuun's area for RC1, and fixes up some ambiance and SGEs to compensate.

sergiocornaga's picture

Does the purple key still

Does the purple key still stay in the inventory in Stained Glass Sanctuary? That was my reasoning behind not disabling the red key, but it's probably something that was fixed months ago without me noticing.

Thanks for the (ongoing?) fixes, y'all!

Vegetal Gibber's picture

Yeah, that change was made

Yeah, that change was made in version 0.99. Since we ended up not using the purple key for anything outside the Stained Glass Sanctuary area, I guess it makes sense to remove the red key as well, even if it's just for consistency.

VG's map size tool says this

VG's map size tool says this has 569 screens. I don't think that's the correct number.

Either way, it's important we include the fact that there are currently 4 unused screens that cannot be gotten to in normal play. One in Knytt Drawings, and 3 in Floating Island Park.

Vegetal Gibber's picture

That total number seems

That total number seems correct to me. However, that count includes fillers (e.g. empty sky screens), duplicates and screens that are used only for shifting/animations, so the actual number of unique screens is probably about 500 or so. Most of the submitted areas include a screen count in their description text, although those numbers may have changed in the last version (such as the gallery hub, which was recently extended).

Vegetal Gibber's picture

Since we finally have a

Since we finally have a finished version, what do you guys think of posting a release thread in the Nifflas forums in the next few days? (so all other users have a chance to play the level before the voting round starts). Or perhaps we should hold up for an extra week or so, in case some more bugs are spotted and/or anyone wants to make any minor edits? (even if these won't count for the competition)

sergiocornaga's picture

I think we should definitely

I think we should definitely do that in the next few days! Since I made the thread for the last collab level and I did relatively less work towards this one, I'm happy to hand over the reigns of thread creation to you/ncrecc/anyone this time around. Of course, I'm assuming that making the level release thread is perceived as a fun, glory-filled job... if I'm the only one that feels this way and this is more like I'm passing on a burden, I'm happy to do it.

Vegetal Gibber's picture

I'd be glad to handle that

I'd be glad to handle that task as well, although I personally think you should have the honors. I'd also be happy with ncrecc or anyone else doing it or simply trusting the decision to a coin toss or equivalent, in case there are any other volunteers!

I'd be fine with doing it as

I'd be fine with doing it as well

Vegetal Gibber's picture

Level Released!

The level has been officially released. Hooray!

It's been a fun and exciting ride. It was really interesting to see how all the different styles mashed together as the level was coming along. Looking forward to participating again in any future KS collabs with you guys!

Vegetal Gibber's picture

Just some minor fixes

Just some minor fixes (mostly cosmetic stuff for the "Tropical Lima Beans" area). It's probably not worth replacing the current link for now, unless a bunch of other small issues (or a single a major bug) are discovered:

[ Cursed Gallery 1.01 ]

* Added the missing wave COs to screen x995y1018.
* Added a couple invisible blocks to prevent some creatures from occasionally clipping through slopes.
* Removed the "template.png" file in the "ArtifactEnding" folder, since it's no longer needed.

Vegetal Gibber's picture

Updated the previous link to

Updated the previous link to v1.02 with the following fixes/changes:

* Fixed another wallswim in [x984y1121 - x984y1122]. Turns out there were more non-solid tiles right next to the ones I fixed in v0.7. Once again, I'm very disappointed in myself.

* Added a small visual hint to the secret tunnel in x985y1122 when the player has the Eye. If you guys think this gives out the secret too much, feel free to revert the change!

Also, I was thinking that maybe we should follow ncrecc's suggestion and make the "Press A to Slow Down Zone" area activate its completion flag after the player manages to finish the first segment (making the other two optional). This way, it would still be necessary to enter the area and play it at least partially, while also avoiding a big spike in the difficulty curve. What do you guys think?

Personally I think the Eye

Personally I think the Eye hint is kind of inconsistent with KS logic, because you don't actually need the eye to get into that area.

I'm not sure about letting players complete Slow Down Zone early, because then there won't be any reason to "complete" Area 3 after all the artifacts in it have been collected. And it's not like we can have two "semi-completed" and "completed" variants of the painting in the main hub, because all the flags have already been used up. But I suppose that if we really want this, and aren't afraid to defy all the logic we've set up so far, we can get rid of the purple key-removing shift from the end of Stained Glass Sanctuary and use that to track completion of SGS instead of Flag 6; then assign Flag 6 to completing Area 1 of Slow Down Zone, and just remove Flag 2 (the regular "completed Area 3") from the rightmost hallway's flag-checking sequence.

Vegetal Gibber's picture

Oh yeah, I forgot about

Oh yeah, I forgot about that. For some reason, I was still fixated on the idea that there was one artifact per segment (even though I replayed the entire area just before the release!). My bad. Also, I think you're right about the "semi-completed" status potentially being too inconsistent/confusing.

The idea for the visual hint I added is just that I personally found that particular secret too easy to miss, since most of the secret passages in all the other areas are marked in some way (detector areas, visual cues, foreground objects covering them only partially...). Then again, maybe I'm just being pedantic here. I've replaced the Eye hint with a (barely visible) ray of light, to make it more consistent.

sergiocornaga's picture

I agree that there being no

I agree that there being no explicit reason to complete the final challenge is a slight issue, though players striving for all artifacts will probably do it anyway because they want to. Speaking of that challenge, there’s no autosave on the very last screen, right? Is there any specific reason for that?

That's so I can shove all

That's so I can shove all the "turn powers off" shifts into one screen. The 3rd last screen doesn't have an autosave either, so it's just disguised under the fact that there's only an autosave every other screen in the falling segment.

quasiotter's picture

This Can't Wait!

Wow, wow, wow, this was an incredible! I loved every single one, uh, even though "Press A To Slow Down" was downright infuriating (but, the design on that was really great). I think it took me about 1.5-2 hours to complete this.

I kept on thinking how amazing KS+ is, I can't believe it's not one of the most popular platformers in the world (or maybe it is, and I'm unaware). What y'all did with this was a rather splendid showcase of what can be done.

I don't really want to talk about individual levels right now, I just want to soak up the feeling of completing it. Yayy (:

Apparently quas didn't

Apparently quas didn't realize that there was a final area. Maybe there should be a sign at the final hallway door saying "this will open to anyone who can truly appreciate art" or something.

Vegetal Gibber's picture

I didn't think this would be

I didn't think this would be a problem, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to throw in an extra hint! It could even be added to the plaque at the beginning of the gallery (right before the explanation about the artifacts, so both endings and hinted there), instead of creating a new sign.

sergiocornaga's picture

I think I'd prefer a new

I think I'd prefer a new sign next to the door right at the end, since that's the place players will be curious about and need to remember to return to? Or is the issue that players enter the Gallery Hub painting and then think there's nothing to the right worth going all the way back for?

Oh wait, seems like this change has been made already. Never mind!

quasiotter's picture

pencil rain

Just an FYI to people who didn't see on Discord, I just had the wrong version of KS+. I didn't have 1.3 or whatever the newest one is, and when I updated it, it was fine.

Vegetal Gibber's picture

KS+ version reminder in title screen

I created a new version of the title screen that includes a "This level requires KS+ 1.3.2" reminder. Let me know if you guys think I should place the text elsewhere or even add anything else while I'm at it (e.g. "A KS collaboration by Glorious Trainwrecks").

(picture above is just a preview)

I think it would look better

I think it would look better if it was above the back button

Vegetal Gibber's picture

Here's v1.05

* Title screen now displays a "This level requires KS+ 1.3.2" reminder above the "Back" button area.
* Removed the temporary "template.png" file from the "ArtifactEnding" folder (reappeared again for some reason).

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nkj2h43k5lxw9pn/Glorious%20Trainwrecks%20-%20The%20Cursed%20Gallery.knytt.bin?dl=0

v1.06

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6xv90s8xyibr713/Glorious%20Trainwrecks%20-%20The%20Cursed%20Gallery.knytt.bin?dl=0
Fixed a major bug that allowed you to exit Stained Glass Sanctuary with double-jump and hologram.