The Island (Mod Contest)

Pic has slope errors and tile-aesthetic problems.

I would have expected better for four years of "work".

 

Pic has slope errors and tile-aesthetic problems.

I would have expected better for four years of "work".

ooo, shots fired

But yeah DT, I'll allow it.

 

Thanks, I appreciate it


Update (+ auto-merge), now with up to 10% less ambiguity:

Spoiler

I may have made it too hard, I never can resist fiddling around with possibilities and physics

All the maps are complete now, which leaves me tomorrow to hopefully put together some music and give the whole thing one last touch-up
Actually I think I'll ask right now if I'm able have just one more day again (i.e. Sunday) so I know if I'm going to be able to do anything else tomorrow when I wake up



(Merging again) It's done

Here is Cloud City, a minimod made over four three years weeks, using
THE BEST CAVE STORY MAP EDITOR
with music made in THE BEST VERSION OF ORGMAKER
and new spritework done in THE BEST IMAGE EDITING PROGRAM i'll stop now

Mini-background/blurb:

Spoiler

To fit in with the theme, way back in the day I decided to put together an area based on my first ever mod idea. It's meant to be set at the top of the mountain in the middle of the island. It's also semi-experimental in the sense that it's meant to be (chiefly) atmospheric, so I recommend playing without urgency, although the environments may soak in regardless

I think this roughly represents all that I'd mentally planned out; I might've intended for it to have a more freedom and interactivity, maybe be somewhat longer, but if so I might have had to expand the plan beyond three main areas. Could've done with a little more detail and polish too but Noxid had to go and RUSH ME Overall I think I'm reasonably satisfied with what I've expressed here though... at least for the time being.

Guess that's that then; if the second area is still too hard I can adjust it (although it's definitely possible, I've beaten it twice today in testing alone). Not sure what to do about the 'contest' though, insofar as this even qualifies as much of one anymore. If nothing else I expect full support from the Tornado Squad I've finished up my current job too so I should be able to be more active in the community in general again for a while.

 

something that has been around longer than me
has finally come so close to being laid to rest
this truly is a magnificent day

 

Spoiler

I think noxid's mod wins if solely because of that scaffolding area. I'm surprised you were able to make such an irritating area after playing as many mods as you have. Especially with having to go esc->f2 every time whenever you fell down the wrong hole (I did eventually discover the "button", but it was never made obvious that it was in our inventory so my natural instinct was that by "reset" you meant "reset the game").

Also the music there is very unfitting and breaks the calm and quiet pace of the mod, which was a thing it had going for it until the scaffolding.

I don't even remember what noxid's mod was actually about, but I do remember that it didn't make me want to hurt him for making such frustrating precision platforming.

 

Spoiler

Well crap I didn't think it was quite that hard. Or that anyone would think I'd expect them to do the whole lot in one go, especially after hitting the first checkpoint. I was kinda concerned about it holding up the flow though so I think I'll give it a smoothing over.

I've always intended for that area to be a "caught in the storm" type deal using this track so I'm not sure what I could include that would be calm but still capture that feeling. Could look into it but that would take time obvs.

Here we go then: Cloud City (again). Second area should be a good deal easier now.

 

Dang, I'm gonna have to play this now aren't I

I didn't think this through

 

DT Chrome thinks your download is evil and is now intuitive enough to not let me download it anyways. Perhaps a mirror is necessary?

 

YOU LIE MATT.
DT your mod undid the evil that Ryan's atrocity enacted upon my version of chrome, and for that, I thank you.
(But yeah chrome wouldn't let me download it the first time because of "malicious content")

 

So after using Internet Explorer to download it, Here's a few thoughts.

That moving Block NEEDS some sorta tile going the entire way to justify it moving as well as let the player know they are actually going somewhere and not just on a block in the middle of nowhere.

Same thing with the first jumping puzzle, some sorta context to those blocks would be nice, on that note as well the first block jump is somewhere you can not see which I would consider generally not good.

Actually nope, stopping here I can't complete this scaffolding area.

 

YEEAAH TORNADO MAN
So I basically want to mirror what Matt just said. The scaffolding section I like because it makes you think about where you need to jump before you do it, but feels way too precise and frustrating. At the third checkpoint now and I'll continue until I win or it gets too frustrating. Oh yeah and the reset button has a few stray marks on its image.

EDIT: OK I guess I finished it. There was another door it looked like I missed so I guess I got the normal ending or something?

 

Spoiler

Ok so the jumping in the scaffolding is less malicious/more bearable now near the end, but the main problem with it is still that you have to use the "reset button" to go back, which breaks flow. Like there's a few areas where you can just climb back to a starting point and those areas don't feel nearly as frustrating if simply because of that.

 

That moving Block NEEDS some sorta tile going the entire way to justify it moving as well as let the player know they are actually going somewhere and not just on a block in the middle of nowhere.

Hidden text highlight (or click) to view:

Magnets
Also I don't want air rails getting in the way of my rain aesthetic

on that note as well the first block jump is somewhere you can not see which I would consider generally not good.

You can see it from the other side and if you hold down, and it's an easy jump, literally just have to hold jump and left.

Spoiler

Ok so the jumping in the scaffolding is less malicious/more bearable now near the end, but the main problem with it is still that you have to use the "reset button" to go back, which breaks flow. Like there's a few areas where you can just climb back to a starting point and those areas don't feel nearly as frustrating if simply because of that.

Spoiler

Some places I don't feel it's necessary at all, e.g. I could stick in a return path right after the third checkpoint but it's so close that it would probably be faster to zap back in the first place. Taking out all the checkpoints would basically be a complete redesign and I think it's a bit late to go that far.

Any more calls for another difficulty drop?

EDIT: OK I guess I finished it. There was another door it looked like I missed so I guess I got the normal ending or something?

Oh whoops uh, no, there's only one ending.

 

Tbh if you made the reset button not require sitting through half a second of text and another half a second of accepting it wouldn't be so bad

Like, use a <CAT command and get rid of the question upon activating it. Just have it activate when you press it without asking. It'd feel alot better.

Spoiler

Also this looks gross because the wall you DO collide with looks exactly the same as the wall you don't collide with.

Making it look pretty bad.

 

pee ess if anyone hasn't played /my/ entry since it was released however many years ago this would be a fine time to try it
you can piss up a rope if you think I'm going to fix anything at this point though.

 

One more update: http://www.mediafire.com/download/fj7d86wlc6afxr7/Cloud_City.zip
And for those who can't beat the second area, or would rather cruise on by, I've created a second option: http://www.mediafire.com/download/kjtn4a8f1245uqo/Cloud_City_(Easygoing_Mode).zip

 

you can piss up a rope if you think I'm going to fix anything at this point though.

Never heard that one before. =o

But anyway, good job actually getting it done after 4 years, DT! Of course I can't play it, but you have a semi-excuse for never sending him jerky now. -w-

 

Mmmmm... a simple, but atmospheric adventure; the journey home from work...
Makes me wish there were more entries...

Spoiler

The weather impressed me the most (good music too). The journey itself was pretty easy, including the "heavy rain" part. So I just enjoyed letting my mind wander as the Mimiga made his way home. This must have been in the future right? I suppose it could have been before the War... but...

Nice message at the end... I wish we could have actually seen the "Cloud City", but it's the journey, not the destination...
(Would we rather have had a pretty city town to wander around? Or the journey to reach the city... The contest is "The Island...", after all... Not "the quest", or "the battle".)
*nods to self*

Nice entry.
..... Now maybe if you can extend the contest a few more years... then I too...
....

....what?? lol

 

Spoiler

The journey itself was pretty easy, including the "heavy rain" part.

Good I guess I've toned that down enough now then

This must have been in the future right? I suppose it could have been before the War... but...

After the war, but before Cave Story

I wish we could have actually seen the "Cloud City",

It's not much of a city, actually, only one other person lives there while the protagonist's out

 

When does the voting begin?