Curly's Weird Crusade

The awakening to a stranger's adventure... kind of..



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//What is Curly's Weird Crusade?
Curly Weird Crusade is a mod that is a self parody of Cave Story fangames and Fanfictions in general beholding a truly pacifist message towards fanfiction communities. It has a fun little story which resembles the disconnected nature of some fanfictions, emulating the feeling of stopping/starting and slowing down/speeding up and down in certain parts during reading an actual fanfiction and the canon is mangled to suit the author's wishes.

//Okay but what is the story?
Curly's Weird Crusade (or as the numbreous intentional mistake throughout the adventure calls it, Curly Weird Crusade) is a Cave Story mod starring Curly as the (unintentional) protagonist as she is narrated by a voice that is from an unexperienced writer that wants to improve on his work.

The mod is built on six chapters where currently, three(two and a half) of them are available at the moment, each chapter contain a hard boss that is thought around it's area.

Spoiler: Screenshots

//Wow great! Where do I get to play this mod?

Spoiler: Download Link

https://doukutsuclub.knack.com/database#my-mods/mod-details/617dca967e446d001ff11eaf/

- October 2021 Build:
= Initial release. =

- November 2021 Build:
= Patch applied to the Chapter 2 boss so it doesn't shoot out fish missiles anymore. =
= Skipflags added to cutscenes. =
= Pots are now breakable (for the courtesy of Raymundo.) =

- December 2022 Build:
= Chest opening animation in Chapter 1's boss room =
= Pots breaking animation has been altered to produce smoke than turning into smoke. =
= A little typo has been corrected in the conversation between Curly and the narrator in the last room of Chapter 1. =
= In Chapter 2, if you killed the fishes that lead to the pipe in the first section. Once you grab the life capsule, platforms appear. =
= Facepics will be changed next update with a new artstyle more akin to Cave Story, after careful consideration, I found it better to adapt the facepics to my new artstyle instead of keeping it in this mid 2019-2020ish style. =
= Fixed door sound when there is no door. =
= You can still leave Quote in the cabin. =
= Orgview hasn't changed. =

Development of the project registered here since January 19 2021.

 

Ah, so this is that mod you've been talking about. Wow, almost a year in development. Glad that you decided to go ahead and release a demo. That's an interesting take, making a parody of some fanfictions. The only Cave Story fanfiction I remember ever reading is "The Stranger I Knew," mainly because Dinny recommended it back in 2013. It was that one where

Spoiler

Quote gets possessed by the Doctor in his red magic form, goes around killing people, and it culminates with Curly finally turning him good again, destroying the core, and them both dying, but not before she takes his scarf (and maybe his hat as well?).

And I'm guessing the pacifist message is influenced by Undertale. Unlike some people, I'm old enough to remember when there was a Cave Story fandom but no such thing as Undertale.

I probably won't get around to playing this for at least a week, maybe longer, but I'm sure I'll get around to it at some point.

 

...So, I made most of Chapter 2 in this mod. I don't think I can do an unbiased critique of that section, *but* there are a few small things that I want to say about chapters 1 and 3.

Spoiler

CHAPTER 1

The main cave area is kinda barren. It makes for a bit of creepy atmosphere, but not *enough* in my opinion. Maybe the music could be changed to something creepier, like Quiet or Cemetery. Also, I'd recommend either putting in more enemies, or removing all the enemies.

In the room before Puu Black, the blocks under the drops of water are fake floors. I think it's fine that the leftmost block is fake, since you just miss a shortcut if you fall in. But the block over the lava is *really* cheap. Generally, players shouldn't be killed for falling through a floor tile they thought was solid.

The concept for the Narrator is very cool. Apologies if this is wrong, but I'm *pretty* sure you were inspired by Noob Story's "Mister Mindguy." You know, where the text narrator is their own character that talks to the protagonist. And I gotta say, your application of the idea is WAY better than how I did it. In Noob Story, the narrator was just some jerk who hates you. There's no tact, and very little humor. In this mod, the narrator seems to be more of a well-meaning klutz who is trying to make a *big grand adventure* that doesn't quite come together the way they want. It's charming. That's just my take on the dialogue here, correct me if I'm wrong.

In the room where Curly first talks to the narrator, there are some platforms with water between them. If you kill the critters and fall into the water, you can't get out without resetting the mod.

I'm really not a fan of the Puu Black bossfight here. IMO Puu Black is easily the worst boss in Cave Story, and I can't think of any ways to make it interesting. His balls fall in a semi-random pattern, and they're so fast that you just can't reliably dodge them. Normally this fight is super easy, as you just tank the damage. But here, you're being bombarded by balls that kill you in two hits. Unless I'm missing some super hidden way to manipulate his balls, the fight is almost completely luck-based. The only way I could reliably beat this fight was abusing the invincibility frames from the arena's forcefields. You can just skip the fight with the Machine Gun, but I don't think that excuses the fight's design. If players want to fight the boss, they shouldn't be punished with a fight that's so blatantly unfair.
I'd recommend just replacing Puu Black with some other boss. Maybe a reskinned Balrog.

CHAPTER 2

I made most of Chapter 2, so I can't really critique it. I'll just say that I tried to make it as good as possible, and I hope players enjoy it.

There are a few things that I noticed in regards to damage numbers.
For the LV3 Bubbler, the bubbles that float around you do 5 damage, but the *thorns* do 3 damage. The thorns should probably do the same amount or more damage.
Also, the Gunfishes' bubbles can damage you. I'd intended for them to do no damage (that's why they're see-through), but having them do damage *does* introduce another challenge.
Also also, I noticed in the Balrog fight that you can kill the Gunfish. They should be invincible, since they're essential for platforming in the earlier part of the level; killing them would softlock you.
Also also also, Balrog's missile sprites are glitched out. IIRC I intended for the missile sprites to be mapped to the the teleporter menu spritesheet, but here they're mapped to one of the map's NPC sets.
Also also also also, the LV1 and LV2 Bubbler bullets can't break star blocks. In the first room of the second level, you're softlocked if the Bubbler isn't at LV3 when all the enemies are dead. Sorry, that's my mistake. I'd recommend just removing that star block.

CHAPTER 3

The rooms with the moving blocks are all really good. They look nice and provide interesting platforming challenges throughout. The dialogue is fun throughout Chapter 3. I especially like the chest and "I'm just very pale." And I really like the way you discover the blue village area.

...Yeah, not much to say at Chapter 3. It's pretty good! The only criticism I can think of is that a couple rooms have lots of cutoff tiles.

Overall, I think this mod is alright. Chapter 1 needs work, Chapter 2 [REDACTED], and Chapter 3 is good so far.

 

The concept for the Narrator is very cool. Apologies if this is wrong, but I'm *pretty* sure you were inspired by Noob Story's "Mister Mindguy." You know, where the text narrator is their own character that talks to the protagonist. And I gotta say, your application of the idea is WAY better than how I did it. In Noob Story, the narrator was just some jerk who hates you. There's no tact, and very little humor. In this mod, the narrator seems to be more of a well-meaning klutz who is trying to make a *big grand adventure* that doesn't quite come together the way they want. It's charming. That's just my take on the dialogue here, correct me if I'm wrong.

I actually talked about that with Woddles like three days ago when I was looking back on Noob Story and I noticed that in my review, I made a lot of joke about Mister Mindguy and how it could have been utilized for comedy. But no, I can't be sure of where the idea of the fanfic writer come, I think I mostly wanted to play with the idea of an omnipotent writer that gets heard by the characters and in turn reacts to what happens in the story.
(Maybe the idea came from around Curly's Prequel and BLink's criticism rolled up about how you weren't sure of what to do and I had the idea? Probably not since I found another solution to that instead of forcing a narrator onto you.)

In the room where Curly first talks to the narrator, there are some platforms with water between them. If you kill the critters and fall into the water, you can't get out without resetting the mod.

Die.

I'm really not a fan of the Puu Black bossfight here. IMO Puu Black is easily the worst boss in Cave Story, and I can't think of any ways to make it interesting. His balls fall in a semi-random pattern, and they're so fast that you just can't reliably dodge them. Normally this fight is super easy, as you just tank the damage. But here, you're being bombarded by balls that kill you in two hits. Unless I'm missing some super hidden way to manipulate his balls, the fight is almost completely luck-based. The only way I could reliably beat this fight was abusing the invincibility frames from the arena's forcefields. You can just skip the fight with the Machine Gun, but I don't think that excuses the fight's design. If players want to fight the boss, they shouldn't be punished with a fight that's so blatantly unfair.
I'd recommend just replacing Puu Black with some other boss. Maybe a reskinned Balrog.

Well there are ways to defeat him, and also the fact the boss is skippable made it that I decided to keep it this way.
First off, if you got the life pot, you have technically three hits before death (yeah kind of cheap but he is skippable.)
Also there is a bit of strategy, I made the area flat so it's easy to roam around the arena, if you start shooting up while moving when his particles/he arrives, you'll be able to dodge one of his shots before he lands. Which then makes the boss a cakewalk.
But yeah, I get your criticism on it, still I wanted the first boss to be more of a challenge than usual balrog, after all, you are equipped with a good enough gun to take him on.

For the LV3 Bubbler, the bubbles that float around you do 5 damage, but the *thorns* do 3 damage. The thorns should probably do the same amount or more damage.

Are thorns bullets or an enemy?

Also, the Gunfishes' bubbles can damage you. I'd intended for them to do no damage (that's why they're see-through), but having them do damage *does* introduce another challenge.

I didn't like the idea that an enemies bullets could just phase through you without anything done, I tried to look if there was a way to stop their behavior of attacking but I haven't really found a good solution to it. So I decided to keep it that way and see for the future.

Also also, I noticed in the Balrog fight that you can kill the Gunfish. They should be invincible, since they're essential for platforming in the earlier part of the level; killing them would softlock you.

Yeah, they were quite annoying with the bullets on, I noticed that it added another dimension to the Balrog boss fight so I decided to keep it, as I found it was very cool that the environnement around you mattered.

Also also also, Balrog's missile sprites are glitched out. IIRC I intended for the missile sprites to be mapped to the the teleporter menu spritesheet, but here they're mapped to one of the map's NPC sets.

I didn't knew that. But hey, they're still fishes, heeeeh?

Also also also also, the LV1 and LV2 Bubbler bullets can't break star blocks. In the first room of the second level, you're softlocked if the Bubbler isn't at LV3 when all the enemies are dead. Sorry, that's my mistake. I'd recommend just removing that star block.

I haven't really seen nor got that issue, I'll think about if it's a wise decision.

CHAPTER 3

The rooms with the moving blocks are all really good. They look nice and provide interesting platforming challenges throughout. The dialogue is fun throughout Chapter 3. I especially like the chest and "I'm just very pale." And I really like the way you discover the blue village area.

...Yeah, not much to say at Chapter 3. It's pretty good! The only criticism I can think of is that a couple rooms have lots of cutoff tiles.

Oh! If I recall correctly, zxin just kept joking about how the tileset was f*cked up lol, I fixed most of what I can and some are on slopes and well good luck fixing that lol.

Overall, I think this mod is alright. Chapter 1 needs work, Chapter 2 [REDACTED], and Chapter 3 is good so far.

Chapter 1 was thought to be skippable in the first place but I guess I get where you're coming from.

 

Hey~ here's my full hour playthrough of the November release:

Let's Play - Curly's Weird Crusade - (a Cave Story mod)

Curly's Weird Crusade, by Mister.Hex! Nov. 2021 build, a work in progresshttps://forum.cavestory.org/threads/curlys-weird-crusade.15430/Info can be found a...

youtu.be

I didn't record commentary, but did make a few edits on the video, like fast-forwarding some parts, TTS, and the occasional effect~
I probably could/should edit in a whole timestamped list of comments, but I enjoyed just playing through and not worrying about issues (Which were mostly dialogue; some scripting: like a dialogue only triggered if I went a certain way, or if I saw the skipping-first-area achievement, but backtracked to finish it properly; Oh and the gunfish of course. There was also an underwater tile that gave air, which probably wasn't supposed to?)

Favorite section was the bullet hell. Don't think I have a least favorite. Everything else was pretty enjoyable, though I did spend way too much time trying to do a pixel perfect jump since I killed the gunfish lol, and trying to get that chest in the underwater area. (probably needed lvl 3 bubbler to open up the way or something?) Or I just failed on my jumps lol.

Could have had even more narrator dialogue, was amusing. Reminded me of other games I enjoyed where the narrator sticks his foot into the game. But in general, just looking forward to any additional content in this Weird Crusade

 

Wow your power ran out while playing one of the best mods of all time! Let's hope you had no animatronic bear around or else would've been a dozy.

I noticed a bunch of things while watching the playthrough that I would be able to fix for next update.

- Chapter 3-6 <MNA
-I never noticed that air tile... or maybe very early in development and forgot it was there. Lol
-I never noticed the chest could be open multiple time at the beginning of chapter 3, then again from the look of it, this chest was scripted a different way than most other I made later down the line for one reason being this was one of the first room made in the mod after chapter 1(Plus fun fact I actually lost it after I made it because Booster Lab encrypted it)
-Yeah the gun fishes, I actually thought of making them respawn after you

Spoiler

get your machine gun taken away before the life capsule

Spoiler

Once the first achievement is completed, the game activate the flag that makes the fan spin and generator activated, it's mostly for the sake of congratulating the player in a "You did it!"
Kind of way.

The narrator could have been more included yes but I didn't want him to be a background noise while the game goes and I prefered to keep him as a character that interacted in the world around you, plus I had some testers (More precisely Ray) that found him annoying in the first chapter which, in a mean way, was the intention. I really liked the TTS voice btw, it felt weird to hear what I wrote read out to me. :]

There are probably some other notice I did while watching this but I may have forgot, having done the notes later during the evening.

Thank you for your feedback, it is much appreciated and thank you a lot for appreciating Curly's Werid Crusade, it means a lot.
Next update is gonna be packed which might take a long time to be released, best goals would be next year but I will be a bit busy during these times.

 

This may not be the most insightful comment, but your mod was fun to play. I feel like it had the right balance of being not so easy as to be boring, but not so hard as to make one give up in frustration - there were several satisfying 'yes, I did it!' moments throughout the game.
The way the narrator keeps interrupting was amusing, as intended. It would be nice to see more of that.
There's lots of nice gameplay and action, so overall I feel there could be more elements that advance humour and plot - that would add a lot of value to the experience.
Eagerly awaiting the remaining chapters. I hope you enjoy making and finishing this mod!

 

really enjoyed this mod for the most part and can't wait to see more, a lot of the setups were super clever and made me laugh (my favourite was probably the narrator realising the machine gun broke level design) and the narration was overall enjoyable. was a little hard to see against the background some points, though - maybe consider always having it in a textbox?

cool stuff:
- level design was generally pretty solid, i thought those jumps in the waterway that had you start a jump on dry ground and continue through the water were really cool
- plot's amusing enough to keep me wanting more, curious to see where it's going
- pretty solid sense of humour
- overall a nice amount of polish, i came across a few bugs (mostly just doorframes playing door sounds when there wasn't an actual, uh, door there) but nothing gamebreaking
- quote as an NPC was handled pretty nicely, rip those gaudi

general complaints:
- critters in the first area were a bit hard to see
- that one jump over the three 2-block water pits was not fun
- waterway/labyrinth areas felt a bit unbalanced difficulty-wise, especially towards the end, i also didn't enjoy that balrog boss fight much (though it was a neat idea). low amount of HP/bubbler as the only weapon was just not fun against the enemy spam, i'll admit i gave up occasionally and resorted to douktrainer to get past some segments lol.
- pipes in the waterway are kinda inconsistent - they look like solid foreground tiles and sometimes are, but most of them are just regular foreground?
- maybe lessen the amount of <WAIs in dialogue and just rely on <NODs instead, i kept thinking the game had frozen

 

Whoa! I did a double take when I first loaded this mod up and the main menu music started playing, because it was playing that ORG rendition that I made 8 years ago of Cave Story 3D's website music. On one hand, it would have been nice to get a heads-up or something before using an ORG I made. On the other hand, it was quite a pleasant surprise to unexpectedly see someone else's mod using an ORG that I made several years ago and never ended up using, and that I wasn't sure anyone else even listened to, since no one gave feedback on it when I posted it. In any case, I'm fine with you using that ORG, but now that you've achieved the surprise effect, I would appreciate it if you would credit me in future releases wherever you choose to list the credits, since I did put a lot of work into that ORG despite the fact that I was standing on Otemoto's shoulders.

So, I finally got around to playing this demo. This was an enjoyable mod, you clearly put a lot of work into this. This mod's biggest strength is probably the level design. Although there's room for cosmetic improvement on the tiles as StudioDixel pointed out (especially in the Labyrinth area), the layout of the maps are pretty well-constructed and well-connected, and you introduce some new clever techniques when it comes to reaching certain areas. The whole narration gag was cute, although I didn't think the humor was anything special; I sometimes forgot that this thing gives the narrator an odd role.

Even though the Quote attire, cartoonish Curly facepic, and comical role played by the narrator seem to be the mod's intended selling points, it was the level design that really brought out the cheeky tone of this mod. You are the master of trolling when it comes to level design in chapter 1. I loved the fake-outs you had with the fall-through platforms to get the life-pot at the beginning, as well as the spike pit you have to jump into that turns out to have a fan in it, which I didn't bother trying until failing to jump over that lava pit a couple of times. I also loved the little gag about how turning the fan on isn't actually what's needed to get to that next area, all it really does is just draw your attention to where you need to go in order to progress.

All right, so I guess StudioDixel made most of the content for chapter 2, but in keeping with the standard I set when I reviewed 100 worlds, this is your mod, and you're ultimately responsible for the content in your mod, so I'll address the content of chapter 2 as if I'm addressing you. The level design in chapter 2 continued this streak of well-designed maps that utilized existing mechanics in a way that the original Cave Story never really touched on. Only the experienced Cave Story player would know the trick to getting up on that platform by getting hit by that blue enemy's projectiles, but I guess I'm willing to let it pass, since most people playing this mod will be experienced Cave Story players, and you only pulled that trick out once. I thought the mechanic of going into those tile-44-walled-off air pockets was pretty cool. It was especially cool how you played with this mechanic for certain jumps that at first I thought I wouldn't be able to make. The setting for the Balrog boss was pretty cool. It was a little bit hard at first, but after a few tries, I was able to adapt to his attack patterns and beat him.

The automatic left/right shifting on different parts of the Core area was a little bit jarring, but it worked for me. The Labyrinth area felt pretty normal, but the storage area with the injured Gaudis was pretty good. "My guts, feels like pain!" that one gave me a chuckle. And "We tried to defend against him but it was no use, he was covered in dust." Congratulations, whether on purpose or not, you managed to make me think of Sonic 06 and Undertale within the span of one sentence. When I first went into that Labyrinth room to see Quote, it activated the Quote fight, and I died, so I went back in again, but this time, it didn't activate the Quote fight, it had the Gaudis confronting us and we fought them together. At first, I didn't understand why these events played out differently. And then after I beat those monsters and saved, it dawned on me why the events were different. The first time, I talked to all the Gaudis who told me about how horrible Quote is for shooting up the Labyrinth. But the second time, I just walked right past them and went straight to Quote. I don't know if that's the reason why, but if so, that's pretty clever.

Overall, this was an enjoyable mod. Here are some glitches or odd things that stood out to me:

Spoiler

• Those lava droplets in the first/last cave area don't seem to have that "splash" effect until the drop past the lava tiles and onto the solid tiles. This seems a bit odd. Maybe you could put a tile 44 over those lava pits that sit underneath the drops or something.
• I found it a little bit odd that Curly magically got the air tank as we transitioned from the waterway area to the core area.
• At one point, when I was carrying Quote and going through one of those pipes in Waterway, it appeared that Curly was going in through the pipe, but Quote was getting left behind because his NPC didn't disappear like Curly did upon entering the pipe. This broke the illusion.
• When I was transitioning from the waterway area to the core area, the cutscene didn't have Quote and Curly clearing that door, and the door closed over Quote and Curly. It looks like they properly spawned past the door when the cutscene ended, but there's still the broken illusion.
• Some of the grammar in the narration seems a bit questionable, but given the tone of this mod, part of me wonders if it's on purpose. However, there were some mis-spellings that I'm guessing weren't on purpose:
  • "She took a quick glance around the room she entered, water seemd to be dripping from the celling."
  • "She quickly realize she was going crazy, as her mind drifted of thoughts and fears."
• I think you forgot to include a <KEY/<PRI command before displaying the "Deafeated =Dark Puu=!" text. Because when I pressed z to close that text box, Curly jumped. This common oversight in scripting is a pet peeve of mine.

I'm not a fan of this level design choice:

Unless I'm missing something, it seems that if I kill the critters in here and get stuck, then I can't get out. I can delay the inevitable by jumping up and gasping for breath, but I can't ever get out, so I have to either reset, or accept my fate and drown in order to reload. While I was amused by your trollery with the fallthrough platforms and spikes with the fan, I don't like this because it's kind of soft-locking you.

This door's event is missing a "door open" sound:


This door's event has a "door open" sound, but shouldn't:

After writing this all up, I went ahead and looked at the reviews that others have posted here, so I guess I'll respond to one of those comments:

Unless I'm missing some super hidden way to manipulate his balls, the [Dark Puu] fight is almost completely luck-based.

I was able to avoid getting hit by those projectiles by standing on one end of the room when he goes up, and then starting to walk to the other end of the room right as those projectiles are about to come down. It's not a strategy that will allow you to reliably and consistently "manipulate his balls," but it will reduce your chances of getting hit. That's clever that you used the invincibility frames from the forcefield that does less damage, though. I wouldn't have thought to do that.

 

Btw about that video I posted earlier:

Let's Play - Curly's Weird Crusade - (a Cave Story mod)

Curly's Weird Crusade, by Mister.Hex! Nov. 2021 build, a work in progresshttps://forum.cavestory.org/threads/curlys-weird-crusade.15430/Info can be found a...

youtu.be

51:24 - By blind, sheer luck, our heroine stumbles upon...?

 

On one hand, it would have been nice to get a heads-up or something before using an ORG I made.

What, I was suppose to come up to you and go, "Oh hELLO, can I use that one ORG you probably forgot about in my cave story mod?". Also yeah I'll credit you but I forgot it was you who made the org.

I sometimes forgot that this thing gives the narrator an odd role.

Nothing odd in writing a fanfic my guy.

Even though the Quote attire, cartoonish Curly facepic, and comical role played by the narrator seem to be the mod's intended selling points

I remember apprehending how the forums would take how I dressed up Quote, it is logical, since Curly took on Quote's clothes but still, who knows.
Your face is cartoonish.
Oh no definitly not, the mod is all about Curly's Weird Crusade, nothing much to see here- I'm doing cynism.

Even though the Quote attire, cartoonish Curly facepic, and comical role played by the narrator seem to be the mod's intended selling points, it was the level design that really brought out the cheeky tone of this mod. You are the master of trolling when it comes to level design in chapter 1. I loved the fake-outs you had with the fall-through platforms to get the life-pot at the beginning, as well as the spike pit you have to jump into that turns out to have a fan in it, which I didn't bother trying until failing to jump over that lava pit a couple of times. I also loved the little gag about how turning the fan on isn't actually what's needed to get to that next area, all it really does is just draw your attention to where you need to go in order to progress.

On a side note, I love how I was writing a pretty dickish reply because all I noticed was just (some) unnecessary criticism but totally flew over that paragraph.

Only the experienced Cave Story player would know the trick to getting up on that platform by getting hit by that blue enemy's projectiles

I'm not trying to be rude but I never needed to do that to get on that platform. Nor thought of it this way.

The automatic left/right shifting on different parts of the Core area was a little bit jarring, but it worked for me. The Labyrinth area felt pretty normal, but the storage area with the injured Gaudis was pretty good. "My guts, feels like pain!" that one gave me a chuckle. And "We tried to defend against him but it was no use, he was covered in dust." Congratulations, whether on purpose or not, you managed to make me think of Sonic 06 and Undertale within the span of one sentence. When I first went into that Labyrinth room to see Quote, it activated the Quote fight, and I died, so I went back in again, but this time, it didn't activate the Quote fight, it had the Gaudis confronting us and we fought them together. At first, I didn't understand why these events played out differently. And then after I beat those monsters and saved, it dawned on me why the events were different. The first time, I talked to all the Gaudis who told me about how horrible Quote is for shooting up the Labyrinth. But the second time, I just walked right past them and went straight to Quote. I don't know if that's the reason why, but if so, that's pretty clever.

Yeah, this part is to introduce the player to the moving blocks and their paths and how to use them and them put a challenge beneath them once they got it. It's classic and honestly, too much crazy wackyness kills the crazy wackyness.
I actually remember writing in the script with // that this was a thing and found a partial fix to it but sometime it does like the boss battle already happened. It was kind of cool 'cause if you didn't take the save point before the ambush happens and you die, then you're back to your old save file but no need to redo Quote again. Just one of these cool things I did but never truly fixed ig.
Also I have no idea what Sonic 06 refs you're onto.

I found it a little bit odd that Curly magically got the air tank as we transitioned from the waterway area to the core area.

Do you want to have a AIR stuck up to your face during the entire section or did you prefer dyin?. Either ways, the fanfiction writer blends shapes and reality to his will, if Curly doesn't drown then Curly doesn't drown.

I think you forgot to include a <KEY/<PRI command before displaying the "Deafeated =Dark Puu=!" text. Because when I pressed z to close that text box, Curly jumped. This common oversight in scripting is a pet peeve of mine.

No.

Some of the grammar in the narration seems a bit questionable, but given the tone of this mod, part of me wonders if it's on purpose. However, there were some mis-spellings that I'm guessing weren't on purpose:

Gee, one of those things I wondered if people were gonna take 100% seriously, guess I'll fix them, sure..

• At one point, when I was carrying Quote and going through one of those pipes in Waterway, it appeared that Curly was going in through the pipe, but Quote was getting left behind because his NPC didn't disappear like Curly did upon entering the pipe. This broke the illusion.
• When I was transitioning from the waterway area to the core area, the cutscene didn't have Quote and Curly clearing that door, and the door closed over Quote and Curly. It looks like they properly spawned past the door when the cutscene ended, but there's still the broken illusion.

Oh no, my poor illusion that got broke in a mod where Balrog suddenly becomes evil and my machine gun dissapear out of nowhere and I get a key randomly just to open one door, woops. Yeah I guess, I take notes sure.

Sorry if the answer sounds dickish, I just noticed a bunch of things that got pointed out were kind of evident. Atleast for the most part. Otherwise your criticism is alright, it feels kinda padded out but you can't really know this. I'm glad you liked it.

 

What, I was suppose to come up to you and go, "Oh hELLO, can I use that one ORG you probably forgot about in my cave story mod?".

Yes, that is indeed what you're supposed to do. And for users that are inactive, it's common courtesy to put forth at least a little bit of effort to contact them to try and get their permission. It's common content-creator etiquette, and some people can get pretty upset when you don't follow it.

What I'm more curious about though, is how you came across that remix, considering I posted that 4 1/2 years before you even joined. Were you actively searching to see if someone had made an ORG of that song, or did you come across that post by other means?

Only the experienced Cave Story player would know the trick to getting up on that platform by getting hit by that blue enemy's projectiles

I'm not trying to be rude but I never needed to do that to get on that platform. Nor thought of it this way.

I guess I'm missing something, then. I was referring to this part here:


When I got to this part after having recently had my machine gun taken away, I thought I had softlocked myself after destroying that Buyobuyo base. I tried different ways to get up there, but I guess I didn't experiment around much with trying to carry some vertical momentum from the air pocket into the water area, not sure if that was the key. In the end, I got up there by reloading my save file, being sure not to destroy the Buyobuyo base this time, and using a damage jump from one of the Buyos. I'd be interested to know what the best way would have been to get up there, because it wasn't obvious to me how to get up there without damaging myself.

Also I have no idea what Sonic 06 refs you're onto.

It's no use!

No.

Gee, one of those things I wondered if people were gonna take 100% seriously, guess I'll fix them, sure..

Oh no, my poor illusion that got broke in a mod where Balrog suddenly becomes evil and my machine gun dissapear out of nowhere and I get a key randomly just to open one door, woops. Yeah I guess, I take notes sure.

I just noticed a bunch of things that got pointed out were kind of evident. Atleast for the most part.

Sorry if the answer sounds dickish

Your response sure does come across as dickish, especially considering that a few weeks ago, you were clamoring for people to play your mod and give feedback on it.

Whenever I play a mod and give feedback on it, I'm doing so in an earnest attempt to help the creator make it the best it can be, and share what I was thinking and feeling when playing it. I addressed these issues in good faith bearing in mind that it's very easy as a content creator to overlook things that would be easily caught by a fresh set of eyes going through the typical end-user journey.

There's a big difference between the "illusion-breaking" oversights that I pointed out, and the ones that you named. The difference being, the ones you named were very obviously done on purpose and consistent with the comical tone of the mod. I pointed out the things that I did because they did not strike me as deliberate, and kind of made the game feel less polished. If these things were on purpose, then that's fine, I'm just saying that it wasn't obvious to me that that was on purpose. Sometimes, misguided feedback can be just as valuable as on-point feedback, because you gain insight into how others perceive your mod. It can also sometimes highlight some fundamentally different assumptions the player had, and possibly give you ideas for how you can mitigate the underlying problem by making other changes that it will eliminate whatever faulty assumptions the player had at that point in time.

I would strongly suggest working on how you respond to feedback, particularly feedback you don't agree with. If there's an already known bug that's being pointed out, then you can simply respond by saying "Yeah, that's a known issue, that will be fixed in a future release." For feedback that is outright incorrect, you can say something like "It's actually possible to get up there without damaging yourself. You simply do this type of special jump." For potentially subjective feedback that strikes you as misguided, there's all kinds of constructive ways to respond to them about letting them know that something was on purpose, or possibly asking follow-up questions to understand why said aspect of the mod struck them as not good. And of course, there's always the option to just simply skip over feedback you didn't find helpful and just not respond to it. Responding the way you did is very disrespectful to people who invest the time into playing your mod and trying to give constructive feedback on it.

 

What I'm more curious about though, is how you came across that remix, considering I posted that 4 1/2 years before you even joined. Were you actively searching to see if someone had made an ORG of that song, or did you come across that post by other means?

I had this ORG for a good three years now, I honestly didn't remember who it was. I dunno if that's supposed to be a big deal?

When I got to this part after having recently had my machine gun taken away, I thought I had softlocked myself after destroying that Buyobuyo base. I tried different ways to get up there, but I guess I didn't experiment around much with trying to carry some vertical momentum from the air pocket into the water area, not sure if that was the key. In the end, I got up there by reloading my save file, being sure not to destroy the Buyobuyo base this time, and using a damage jump from one of the Buyos. I'd be interested to know what the best way would have been to get up there, because it wasn't obvious to me how to get up there without damaging myself.

Mmh, I see.

Your response sure does come across as dickish, especially considering that a few weeks ago, you were clamoring for people to play your mod and give feedback on it.

Whenever I play a mod and give feedback on it, I'm doing so in an earnest attempt to help the creator make it the best it can be, and share what I was thinking and feeling when playing it. I addressed these issues in good faith bearing in mind that it's very easy as a content creator to overlook things that would be easily caught by a fresh set of eyes going through the typical end-user journey.

There's a big difference between the "illusion-breaking" oversights that I pointed out, and the ones that you named. The difference being, the ones you named were very obviously done on purpose and consistent with the comical tone of the mod. I pointed out the things that I did because they did not strike me as deliberate, and kind of made the game feel less polished. If these things were on purpose, then that's fine, I'm just saying that it wasn't obvious to me that that was on purpose. Sometimes, misguided feedback can be just as valuable as on-point feedback, because you gain insight into how others perceive your mod. It can also sometimes highlight some fundamentally different assumptions the player had, and possibly give you ideas for how you can mitigate the underlying problem by making other changes that it will eliminate whatever faulty assumptions the player had at that point in time.

I would strongly suggest working on how you respond to feedback, particularly feedback you don't agree with. If there's an already known bug that's being pointed out, then you can simply respond by saying "Yeah, that's a known issue, that will be fixed in a future release." For feedback that is outright incorrect, you can say something like "It's actually possible to get up there without damaging yourself. You simply do this type of special jump." For potentially subjective feedback that strikes you as misguided, there's all kinds of constructive ways to respond to them about letting them know that something was on purpose, or possibly asking follow-up questions to understand why said aspect of the mod struck them as not good. And of course, there's always the option to just simply skip over feedback you didn't find helpful and just not respond to it. Responding the way you did is very disrespectful to people who invest the time into playing your mod and trying to give constructive feedback on it.

I mean, I dunno it's more sassy attitude then anything, a good half of the thing that got pointed out like the story or Quote or whatever are stuff I don't get why was mentionned, it isn't a bad thing plus in the end you more or less compliment the level design then the actual concept of the mod and well, I find that bit too bad since I thought more of the concept of the mod and how it could be done then etc.. then in the end, I get a review mostly complimenting the level design. I find it too bad but as long as you like the mod, more power to y'a ig. Guess I wasn't expecting a review that just really liked the level design.
Still, I'm sorry to have answered like that, but in the future, read the criticism the mod already had to not rehash the same thing. Also I'm pretty sure it's a basic right to except someone to play their mod when you post it on the internet. If I didn't want criticism or people opinions, I would have just posted on my blog for anyone to see and that's it. So yeah making a thread and all to realize nobody really botherd to check it out, I don't think I asked too much when I was "clamoring".

 

I had this ORG for a good three years now, I honestly didn't remember who it was. I dunno if that's supposed to be a big deal?

It's not a big deal, I was just curious as to how intentional you were about finding that ORG, since it's uncommon for people to find old orgs like that buried beneath a bunch of posts that were made in a big thread like that years before they even joined. Just to be clear, I take it as a compliment more than anything that you found that ORG and liked it enough to want to use it in your own mod.

Still, I'm sorry to have answered like that, but in the future, read the criticism the mod already had to not rehash the same thing.

Receiving the same feedback from numerous different people is part of the process of gathering a consensus. I provided feedback in some areas I knew had already been touched upon by previous reviews because it helps drive home the point that numerous people feel the same way about something, and there were some details that others glossed over in their reviews that I wanted to further elaborate on. If I skip over things just because other people mentioned them, then that's diminishing the substance of my review. Part of being a content creator is sifting through feedback from different people, and seeing the differences in how they perceived it, as well as the recurring themes. It's kind of unreasonable to ask people to leave certain details out of their reviews just because it's been touched on by other people. If it weren't for numerous people telling me that it didn't make sense for the Core to magically appear in the black space without you fighting it in my 4th ending mod, then I probably wouldn't have ended up adding a cutscene of Misery and the Doctor teleporting it out of the core room.

 

You're right, I just got kind of sick of hearing the same issues brought up, hell you actually brought up some actual useful things like the Quote on your back still showing during the pipes transportation part that I got to fix today.
So yeah, thanks to you, I noticed something I didn't thought much of it. (still what an illusion break amiright)

It's not a big deal, I was just curious as to how intentional you were about finding that ORG, since it's uncommon for people to find old orgs like that buried beneath a bunch of posts that were made in a big thread like that years before they even joined. Just to be clear, I take it as a compliment more than anything that you found that ORG and liked it enough to want to use it in your own mod.

I discovered that org in the Org thread on the forums like three years ago, I remember scrolling in very old discussions and seeing someone saying they remade the Cave Story 3D Website music and it got kept for a while until I stumbled upon and thought it'd fit the mod title screen more than anything else.

 

Hey'O thread, bumping because I have finally released an update after a year so announce it to the world,

Curly's Weird Crusade got an update!

ow that was too loud

 

Well, I've just noticed that the times around the mod got an update was end of the yearish.

Tl;dr: Mod will get an update before the end of the year which include a finished chapter 3.

I felt very unmotivated to go forward with this mod so I cancelled it around march and went to do other things. (I think the last post on the Dev blog is one where everything is strikethrough because I was not in the mindset of the things I actually wrote beforehand).
During end of summer, I remember playing Symphony of The Night and thinking that it'd be great if a mod was inspired by it and it reminded me of that passion project that I toss aside.
So I booted Booster's lab and I felt the motivation to actually make that final level and scripting. Plus I watched a Ghouls N Ghost let's play so I was inspired to make mean level design.
Coming back from six months of rest gave me a fresh look on the mod and criticism it got, so I followed some of Suote's suggestions with Chapter 1 mainly because cemetary is a nice track that gets forgotten usually. I also fixed a lot of flags and scripting error that I just didn't want to bare back then.
I also want to thank friends and most specifically Suote(again) for testing, replaying through the entire mod with one of the creator of the maps made me realized a flag that was added disrupted a lot of flag jumps in the latter half.
I remember I didn't plan to post this mod onto forums because I was very shy and afraid of the reception it would get and I gotta say that I don't regret at all with how well it has been received (Even if I find the first build to be a bit thrown out there).
Also I've apologized to Hayden for being on the defensive over his criticism and the ORG situation, I got this ORG like in 2017, back when I joined forums ground and I totally forgot who composed it so it's a mistake on my end.

 

make a mod or toroko and the others don't die please