Let the Editing Begin
August 11th, 2010 - filed under Development News, Input Requested, Status Updates, Tech DemosUpdated: Monday Aug 23, 6:30am EST
Since this is my first AS3 project and I have no library built up, I always end up missing parts and underestimating the time to complete a task. If I have future projects, they should go much faster and smoother. Anyway, after what seems like an eternity to me, the editor is finally in good enough shape for release! I didn’t get the time to polish features as I would have liked, but they will be coming in a future release. I hope you find editing as fun as (or more than) the original.
For now, the basics should work:
- Basic editing of all grid layers
- New UI: Editor Main Menu, Level Browser, Level Settings, Tile Picker, & Help
- Loading & saving to jetpackhq, as well as deleting, moving, & folder management
- Automatic thumbnail generation on save. The server doesn’t have the tools to generate a screenshot, so the app sends it along with the level data on save.
- I’ve introduced basic organization, you can now organize levels into folders. You can move levels via “save here” currently. The interface does not allow folders to be nested.
- Retheming
- Automatic revision tracking via the “Revisions” folder – also holds deleted levels
- JET File Import/Export (exports are not backwards-compatible)
What’s missing
- Some entities are just placeholders
- Missing a lot of scenery & backgrounds
- Undo/Redo
- Cut & Paste, clip management
- Login – for now, just login via the web interface
- Some gameplay issues still exist – entities stuck in bricks, & walking on rounded edges
I’ve also improved the jetman motion, so previously tricky maneuvers are much easier now. Frustrating interface is a big pet peeve of mine.
If some of your levels were selected to go into the final game, you’ll find them in a special purple folder. You can pick music/enhance/retheme in whatever way you feel is appropriate. Don’t forget we have 2 extra rows now – ctrl+arrows is a big help.
Behold the Editor
[this version of the editor is now out of date]
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August 12th, 2010 at 5:17 am
Hi Adam,
Haven’t had much chance to play around with this yet, but a few points about my riddler level:
1. The turquoise switch-block should start hidden, otherwise the level is impossible.
2. What’s that purple twirler near the entrance? (I don’t have my original level to check what it was supposed to be, whatever it was it’s definitely not what it is now).
3. When importing levels designed for the old size (two rows shorter) into the new jetpack, it’s important to fill the extra layers with brick until the level has been customised for the higher viewport, otherwise it can (and does here) alter the gameplay of the level.
4. I hope you give me a chance to fit this level to the new size (might take me a week to find the time), of course anyone else can feel free to try to do a better job if they want.
Looking forward to playing with this.
-Ben
August 12th, 2010 at 7:24 am
Somehow, I think the state of the switches it not imported properly. Tried a level of mine and all switches were turned *on*, although most of them were supposed to be *off* (try “barriers, walls and stuff” from my levels). Also, in the very same level, you can see that walking on sludge is too slow compared to the original jetpack, so that it’s very complicated to pass by the first spring in that level. Oh, and I wonder if it’s really a good idea to fill up old levels with emptiness at the top – it will break many levels (just look the level mentioned above how you could reach the door without using the green barriers).
Concerning the editor, I think it was very good in the old editor that all tiles were visible at once when you pressed space. Now, a great part of the screen is unused, and there’s a menu to select categories. Maybe there should also be an “all tiles” view, which is enabled by default?
August 12th, 2010 at 8:14 am
Gah, I had the entity translation table mixed up. Entities will now be correct (unless you already saved a level – you can load the original in Revisions).
> I hope you give me a chance to fit this level to the new size
Feel free to edit any of your levels, they will all need some fixing before release.
> Somehow, I think the state of the switches it not imported properly.
Fixed.
> Maybe there should also be an “all tiles” view, which is enabled by default
I think you’ll like the new system when you get used to it. You can press 0-7 (or tilde) to quickly switch between grids.
I noticed some wonkiness when drawing near edges too, looking into that.
August 12th, 2010 at 8:25 am
First thing I noticed when I tried load one of level, Rocket isn’t working. I assume Rocket AI are unfinished? Then I closed that level, try load another – it got stuck, won’t load another level but I’m seeing at bottom of browser saying “transferring data from http://www.jetpackhq.com” but just stay like that long time.
August 12th, 2010 at 8:29 am
1 more, I am unable to trap enemy in barrier – barrier eject enemy
August 12th, 2010 at 9:29 am
Here’s a list of things I noticed while using the editor:
* Hit detection with floor switches is broken. Switches are triggered when something touches the square beneath the switch instead of the square the switch is in.
* Springs no longer pause when bouncing making some of my levels impossible without major restructuring.
* Springs automatically adjust themselves to the grid when placed between tiles, might be better to adjust them towards their original x-position instead.
* Balls stuck in barriers no longer freeze, instead they get ejected into an adjacent tile if there’s space.
* There are some issues with shading/shadows when shifting the level. Only happens when you place new blocks it seems.
* You’re sometimes able to jump up when “hanging” on a ledge after a failed jump. Kind of useful but doesn’t seem to be intended.
* Displaying mirage tiles in the editor somehow would be appreciated.
* The game sometimes freezes when pressing F2.
* Balls starting on ladder tops fall through them.
* Balls can use scrolling ladders. (Not very well though, they seem get stuck at the top)
* There should be some penalty for dying as some levels become a lot easier. Especially the ones where you have to travel a long way to get a gem and then return to the start to reach the door.
* Barriers fade time makes timing in some puzzles a lot harder and have broken some of my levels.
*Once I was able to place mutiple jetmen, Trying to play the level froze the app.
* After placing the jetman on a new level the cursor bugs out. The cursor is invisible even if you change tile and seems locked in free place mode. Playing the level freezes the app. (is this some kind of default response when the editor bugs?)
* It would be great if it were possible to chose start angle for enemies.
* Teleportation delay for enemies broke some of my levels, nothing that can’t be fixed though.
August 12th, 2010 at 10:17 am
Firstly, creating a level using the new jetpack is incredibly exciting! And this is despite its alpha-like state.
Here’s a list of bugs that I’ve encountered so far. I’ve managed to reproduce all most of them under the same conditions:
-I entered the level settings menu then exited and tried to get back to the main menu by clicking “menu”. this just brought up the level settings again, with no way of backing up to the main menu. This is one bug I couldn’t reproduce.
-Sometimes the selected object to be placed is not visible under the curser, making it hard to place enemies and the jetman especially. I think this happens after switching to another object
-The game editor freezes regularly when trying to test the level. The object menu ceases to pop up. In fact i’ve only managed to test the level once, and I don’t know what was different on that occasion…
-I seem to be able to place blocks in free range after placing an enemy or jetman. This causes tiles to lie on top of one another in a bit of mess.
These bugs prevented me from properly creating and testing anything so far, but it was still a fairly delicious preview of what’s to come!
August 12th, 2010 at 11:32 am
I’m having some major problems getting things to work for some strange reason. It seems like when I go to place the jetman, things get messed up. After placing the jetman, it’s stuck in “place jetman” state, and when I choose other tiles, they are no longer restricted to the grid, nor do I get a hover-preview of what the piece will look like in it’s place. Also, I’m completely unable to test the level using F2 or the menu. Odd!
August 12th, 2010 at 6:26 pm
In addition to all the bugs people have been mentioning, I think that we need to be able to select whether or not the level will reset if you die! Some levels are meant to be reset, and some might be designed where they don’t have to be, but in levels (such as max security break in) that have the thing that freezes the level at the beginning, you need the level to be reset if you die, or it will be nearly impossible to beat.
And I agree that the spring need to be fixed.
Also, the editor REALLY needs something that functions just like the original spear, where if you step on it, you die. Like a tiny mine or something. Something that’s really small like the spear but that only activates when you touch it. I’m not sure if spears that were imported from original JET files even work the “new way” right now, though. But I’m going to have to replace all of my spears with things that function like the original spears.
There should be barrier tiles that are completely invisible when down, so that the person editing can decide if they want their barriers to be visible all the time or not.
All these things affect me personally, and I’m sure some other people’s levels, too.
And one other thing: I don’t think the ice is slippery enough.
August 12th, 2010 at 6:31 pm
I don’t know why I said “at the beginning” regarding the time stopper thing. It would be a problem no matter where it’s placed if it’s a part of the level and it doesn’t reset when you die.
And do things like shields still pop up randomly?
August 12th, 2010 at 6:37 pm
Stupid me. The spears seem to be working perfectly. But not everything is frozen by the time stopper (like the springs, for example).
And how do I select music for a level?
August 12th, 2010 at 9:14 pm
Very exciting!
Here are some issues I’m having:
- When testing a level the character will randomly run in the same direction without me touching anything. This happens when running left or right. Entering the editor and replaying the level doesn’t fix the issue. I’m able to play sometimes but this issue occurs often. Also, unable to test this with switching to a level with music set to another song.
- If I try to test play a level with no gems it seems to freeze with the inability to load any other level. This also happens when forgetting to place a door or jetman.
- Selecting music for one level and then opening another level has the problem of music not turning off.
- Inability to delete revised levels for the game.
- Sometimes a level will not load when first starting up a game and continues to show an empty area. This only happened once.
- Can’t save a level that was started from scratch. Message of “Please enter a Title” appears when I have entered a title but the field keeps going blank after exiting. Never able to save.
- Many issues already mentioned above.
>How important is it to you to have “private” levels, that only friends can see?
Not important to me.
>How important is it to you that work-in-progress levels be private?
As long as people know it’s a work in progress I’m all set. I would just type work in progress in the level description until it’s finished.
Coming along great though!!
August 13th, 2010 at 1:40 am
I figured out how to add music, but nothing I change in the “level settings” gets saved when I save, even though the level gets saved in the revisions (I don’t know if other changes would get saved, because I haven’t edited any part of the actual level, yet).
And I hope you know this already, but some of the monsters, like the spikes and trakbot, don’t move around; they just do their animations in place, and they don’t kill you, either.
Also, after closer inspection, I don’t think the time stopper works at all.
August 13th, 2010 at 5:06 am
Hey, I just looked around the editor, it looks really nice! I have deadlines up until the end of August so until then I will not able to contribute much unfortunately. Until then, here’s the things I’ve noticed:
- As I thought, the sludge slows the Jetman down way more than it should. My Sunken Ship level is virtually unplayable now because of this slowdown.
- Monsters activating switches doesn’t seem to work.
- After opening two or three levels, pushing the Load button did nothing. Reason unknown.
At this point I have one further request: can you please include the sound effect when you bring up the tile selector from the original game? The editor seems so raw without it.
August 13th, 2010 at 7:23 am
Thanks for the great feedback! I have to work today, but I’ll get on these Saturday.
> It would be great if it were possible to chose start angle for enemies.
This is coming soon.
> the thing that freezes the level at the beginning, you need the level to be reset if you die, or it will be nearly impossible to beat.
Hmm this was called a stunner, but that’s not a good description for what it does. Time warp?
Agreed, stunners should reset when you die, anything else?
> nothing I change in the “level settings” gets saved when I save
Your level did save your music choice – are you loading from revisions? That is only old versions of your edits.
> And I hope you know this already, but some of the monsters, like the spikes and trakbot, don’t move around; they just do their animations in place, and they don’t kill you, either.
Yes, some entities are just placeholders
> Barriers fade time makes timing in some puzzles a lot harder and have broken some of my levels.
I will try to fix these timing issues so levels don’t have to be redesigned.
August 13th, 2010 at 3:19 pm
There needs to be a hotkey for rotating.
August 13th, 2010 at 3:50 pm
Using Flash Player 10,0,42,34 on a 64-bit Windows 7 machine, I’m unable to test a level once I place a door or a Jetman. I can test the level just fine with the objects and bad guys I’ve tried… just not with essentials like the door or Jetman.
Am I the only one having this problem?
August 13th, 2010 at 5:48 pm
> Agreed, stunners should reset when you die, anything else?
Switches (barriers) should also be reset when you die.
I remember now that they were called stunners. They always looked like clocks with the hands spinning really fast to me.
And I agree about the barrier fade time. I suspect that that would be a problem in my level, too, if it isn’t fixed.
> Your level did save your music choice – are you loading from revisions? That is only old versions of your edits.
I checked the level, and I see what you mean about the revisions folder saving the old file. I was loading from there before. However, I can’t change the primary theme, select difficulty, write notes, or put in tags. I can only change the music and background. If I try to change any of the other things (I haven’t tried changing the times), then as soon as I exit the level settings menu, those changes are lost.
> As I thought, the sludge slows the Jetman down way more than it should. My Sunken Ship level is virtually unplayable now because of this slowdown.
Sludge and ice should definitely work the same as in the original. That’s all I have for now.
August 13th, 2010 at 6:00 pm
Some more stuff:
* Phased walls remain phased after restarting the level, sometimes breaking the level as enemies might pass through when they’re not supposed to.
* Monsters should only teleport when they’re in the center of the teleporter. At the moment it looks a bit weird, especially when they fall onto the teleporter and gets frozen in mid-air during the teleport sequence.
* If you bump into the corner of a tile when jumping onto it or leaving a ladder, for some reason you won’t be able to jump from the surface and the surface has no friction. This can be reproduced by standing on top of a ladder next to a tile, moving down a pixel or 2 on the ladder and moving towards the tile. The effect stops when you step onto another tile or reach the end of the tile.
* Sometimes collisions with balls won’t kill you. Once I was pushed along and didn’t die until I was crushed against a wall.
* I was able to do a wall-jump once. The reason was probably that the jetman “landed” on the inner edge of the tile next to him long enough to jump off it.
August 14th, 2010 at 1:33 am
Nice to see this shaping up. The game feels rather playable right now, and some of the features of the editor look rather promising, though there’s still a lot of polishing work that needs to be done.
Game design quibbles:
- Shift, Ctrl, and Alt should not be used in browser games, as they can mess with various browse and operating system functions. Z and X (and C) are pretty much standard for games like this.
- Jetman is way too fast on ladders. I’m pretty sure he runs faster on ladders than on the ground.
- The conveyor belts are too fast. You can’t run against them.
- Marbles falling through ladders breaks some of my levels (The Funnel, Locked In)
- The lack of post-teleport invincibility also breaks one of my levels (The Gateway)
- In levels with no gems the door does not open unless you die.
- The switches need different silhouettes for their on and off states. Even a simple rotation would suffice.
- If you tap the jump button, you’ll fall through ladders unless you press up. imo, you shouldn’t fall through them unless you keeping holding Jump.
- Mirage gold bricks should be removed from the game. Their definite solidity was an important part of the original game’s visual language.
Various editor quibbles:
- The layers should be 1-7 rather than 0-6, due to how number keys are arranged on most keyboards.
- The Start and Door hotkeys (S and D) are an absolute must.
- A cut/copy and paste function should be added to replace the old editor’s block function.
- The tile selection menu is an absolute mess. I’m probably gonna have to make some picture to suggest a fix.
- I’m experiencing weird lock-up errors when attempting to test levels. I press F2 and the game basically freezes except for going into the menu and stuff. It seems to only happen when I create a level from scratch or move the door/player position in an old one.
August 14th, 2010 at 4:56 am
After placing the jetman, everything is in free range mode!
August 14th, 2010 at 5:05 am
I have the same problem like TimK!
After placing the jetman, everything is messed up.
August 14th, 2010 at 4:43 pm
NEW RELEASE POSTED!
I’ve fixed the most urgent bugs, this should make the editor a lot more usable.
Fixes:
* freezing, hopefully. errors should now be visible so you can id problems, and not kill the app if they are recoverable
* fixed placing jetman
* sludge speed fixed, ice tweaked
* fixed run/climb speeds and timings, again. Every time I adjust physics some unexpected things break.
* settings page now saves when X is clicked
* a bug caused all tile id’s to be offset+480. This should transparently auto-correct the next revision you save.
* hit detection for touch switches
* fixed balls & jetman falling when starting or teleporting above a ladder
* balls using moving ladders
Improvements:
* free-range tiles all snap to the tile grid unless shift is held
* mirages are now visible
* rotate the current tile with Z or ENTER
* change the current tile’s theme with PAGE DOWN/UP
* if you didn’t know this already: hold SPACE to select a tile from the level
* level browser key is now TAB
Some other things mentioned are still in the todo list:
* balls don’t get stuck in barriers – this one will take a while
* teleporting can be off-center
* gameplay issues
* timings
* editor sounds
A word on timings:
I’m trying to keep most timings the same as the original Jetpack so the old levels will work, but some timings were very strange:
Run across the screen: 5.1 seconds on ground or ladder
Run with moving floor: 4.5 seconds
Run against moving floor: 11.6 seconds
I’m going to improve these timings by slowing down horizontal motion when climbing a ladder, and balancing moving floor speed.
> The lack of post-teleport invincibility also breaks one of my levels (The Gateway)
This is in the todo list
> The switches need different silhouettes for their on and off states. Even a simple rotation would suffice.
Better switch graphics are in the todo list
> If you tap the jump button, you’ll fall through ladders unless you press up. imo, you shouldn’t fall through them unless you keeping holding Jump.
The behavior of ladders since they are “not sticky” is very complex now, this will probably not change.
> Marbles falling through ladders breaks some of my levels (The Funnel, Locked In)
I don’t think this behavior will be changing, but you can fix this by placing non-ladder tiles where the balls fall.
August 14th, 2010 at 4:50 pm
Didn’t read all the new comments, so maybe I miss something, but…
Some more shortcut keys would be great. For example “R” for rotating tiles would be more logic than “Z”, “D” for quickly selecting the door, and also something like the good old Insert key to pick up tiles in Jetpack 1.
The editor doesn’t refresh barriers properly. For example, try loading my level “Barriers, walls and stuff” again and hover the blue barrier to see the error.
Also, I always feel lost in the picker menu because there are only captions like “Convoyer” and “Sludge”, but no icon next to it (which would be extremely helpful).
August 14th, 2010 at 4:52 pm
Yes overlay icons are coming, and you can hold space to pick up tiles.
August 14th, 2010 at 4:58 pm
Am I missing something? Space opens the tile picker window. I was thinking of just picking up the current tile.
BTW, try my level “crates exist for a reason”. Phase the two crates left to the player and walk around a bit (especially walk back to the sludge and then back again), you might notice that the player gets stuck very easily and can’t jump anymore.
August 14th, 2010 at 5:14 pm
Yes, the word “hold”!
Hmm the mysterious sliding guy syndrome. I’ve seen it before, will add it to the list.
August 14th, 2010 at 5:17 pm
Hmm, would it it possible to also add the classic “press insert and pick up tile instantly” again? It feels so much more complicated now.
I noticed that whenever I save a level, I get this message: “Could not connect to the JetpackHQ server”, but it automatically disappears after a second and the level was saved nevertheless.
Also, I think that teleporters without a counterpart don’t work anymore? (But I suppose this will be fixed once the invincibility trick works again)
August 14th, 2010 at 5:36 pm
The grids make it tricky. If you want to pick up from a certain grid you need to select that grid first.
I’ll add more shortcut keys if they’re still in demand later. I want to give people time to get used to the new controls first.
Hmm that’s the timeout message. I assume its taking more than 5 seconds to save? I’ll bump it up to 15.
August 14th, 2010 at 5:39 pm
Yeah, it indeed takes quite a while to save here. If it’s the upload time that’s slowing it down, maybe it would help to apply some basic compression on the levels (e.g. zlib)?
August 14th, 2010 at 5:50 pm
The levels are tiny actually, I’m using a technique that can actually make them smaller than the original 1-byte-per-tile, without compression! And they have full versioning support, so I can add tiles and other features later and still be able to import any version file.
The main delay in uploading is transferring the generated screenshot, which is around 50k, and thumbnail, which is around 5k. It’s not so useful now, but when your levels are on your profile it will be. I thought of generating the screenshot by rebuilding the level in PHP, but that would be a big headache. I found a 3rd party library for jpg compression, so that part is only taking 1 second instead of 5 – but it leaks memory.
BTW if anyone wants to make more levels for the release, I watched SEVERAL people who play casual games dying on my ultra-simple level 1 beginner level. So we really need ultra-beginner levels, but still with lots of fun stuff. Enemies as decoration only, doing cool tricks and enemy-powered gadgets, and more use of empty space.
August 14th, 2010 at 7:20 pm
Excellent! My failed beginner levels from before have taught me a little bit, I hope. I’ll get to doing the only thing besides criticizing that I can actually do, right away!
Stunner still doesn’t work, but it does reset when you die. Springs still need to compress and pause before changing directions. I’ll do some more tests later.
August 14th, 2010 at 10:27 pm
The sliding issue might have to do with you only checking the normal of a contact point when it’s created. When bumping into the corner of a tile the initial contact normal will be horizontal, but the jetman can slide to the top of a tile without breaking contact, which causes the contact point to be incorrectly flagged as a wall collision and will therefore not have friction or allow the player to jump.
Also, the timing of barriers is probably easiest corrected by changing the solidity of the barriers the instant a switch is pressed while keeping the fade time for the visuals. This should retain the original gameplay aspect without having to change the new look.
August 14th, 2010 at 11:42 pm
I agree that the barriers should be considered solid as soon as the switch is activated. One of the problems with the new look is that either the entire area that a barrier that is up covers will kill the jetman or trap a monster as soon as the switch is activated (which would look weird and/or be annoying) or the barrier will move outward, invariably pushing anything in the area out and not trapping or killing it (which could break a lot of levels).
>>>You COULD make the barriers just instantly fade in, and make it so that even when faded they cover the entire area that they would cover when up, so that they don’t have to expand at all, thus eliminating the strange look, the uncertainty that could be caused by not seeing the entire area that the barrier would expand into, and fixing any levels that would otherwise be broken. If you want to keep some of the flashiness of the current barrier transition, you could have the barrier still fade in (and out), but consider it solid as soon as the switch is activated, and not solid as soon as the switch is activated to put the barrier down. There’s always the problem with fading of it being bad for the game, because things that fade in and out are not associated with instantaneous solidity, nor are they particularly easy to spot, which is probably why you made the barriers expand and contract in the first place.
>>>Doing this would not eliminate the need for barriers that are invisible when down.
>>>Another suggestion: For “pop up” power-ups (shield, stunner, fuel), in Level Settings you could make it so that one is able to select which kinds of things can pop up in the level, in the same manner that tags are selected. I haven’t seen anything pop up in a level, yet, so I don’t know if you’ve even gotten to things popping up randomly yet. All 4 things (full tank, half tank, stunner, shield) could be automatically checked-off when levels are first made, and then the maker can de-select things they don’t want to pop up in the level. Doing this would ensure that only what the level creator wanted to pop up ever pops up.
August 15th, 2010 at 9:25 am
> the timing of barriers is probably easiest corrected by changing the solidity of the barriers the instant a switch is pressed while keeping the fade time for the visuals.
I was trying to enhance playability by changing the behavior of barriers – this way you have time to jump if you see a barrier fading out, and you have time to move if you see it fading in, which I think is far superior for gameplay.
> in Level Settings you could make it so that one is able to select which kinds of things can pop up in the level
I’ll do this if I keep them, I’m not sure if I even like the random popups though.
August 16th, 2010 at 3:46 pm
There’s a problem with touch switches which can render some levels unplayable. Check my level “test”. As soon as the level starts, keep pressing the left arrow so you’ll fall left, as much as possible. During falling down, the touch switch is toggled. But now that you can fall down further, the switch is toggled again! Somehow, this doesn’t happen if the jetman is centered.
BTW, maybe it would be nice if the enemies don’t move until the first key is pressed, like in the old Jetpack.
August 16th, 2010 at 4:03 pm
another problem in “icy house”: that blue switch right at the level start is damn hard to toggle. that was easier in Jetpack.
August 16th, 2010 at 9:12 pm
I just made a level in Classic Jetpack. I tested it, it was hard but solvable. I imported it into New Jetpack, and I ran into the following problems (which have been discussed already):
1) The rockets don’t work. This makes getting the Idol painfully easy as opposed to being a reward for dodging the rockets well. The rockets are supposed to be the standard “Fly Forward then Turn at walls” rockets.
2) The stunner doesn’t stun springs. This makes the Red Jewel Area (bottom right) very hard, nearly impossible.
3) It’s very hard to hit a switch while airbourne, much harder than it needs to be.
I’ve saved the level into my folder, for anyone who wants to view it. Erm, is there a way I can save it to my shiny new “Works in Classic” folder?
August 17th, 2010 at 11:18 am
Locking enemies in blocks (most notably in barriers) doesn’t seem to work. As soon as the level is started, they pop out of the block which they are supposed to be trapped in.
August 17th, 2010 at 1:02 pm
> problem in “icy house”: that blue switch right at the level start is damn hard to toggle.
That’s because switches change on key-up instead of key-down. This way you can have a switch at the top of a ladder, and go down the ladder without hitting the switch.
> I’ve saved the level into my folder, for anyone who wants to view it. Erm, is there a way I can save it to my shiny new “Works in Classic” folder?
“Save Here”, however noone can view your levels but you currently.
August 17th, 2010 at 1:22 pm
I had some time today to look more into my levels, I left the complex ones out as they utilize features that are not ready yet. Level editing is smooth and easy now, no freezes, I went through 9 of my levels currently in my maps folder without anything going wrong. Because of the new physics engine, a few levels became much more harder than I originally intended them to be, so I removed a number of hazards from some levels to make them easier. So two thumbs up for all the hard work Adam!
August 17th, 2010 at 5:35 pm
Nice work so far! I’m really excited to see that four of my levels even made the cut! (These levels have since been edited to work better with the new engine.) However, I regret to inform you, however, that the program is not fully compatable with Internet Explorer 8. Don’t get me wrong! It’s fully functional as an editor and playtesting program. I can do everything I need to do without any problems. But…I can’t do everything I’d like to do, as Internet Explorer does not lock the focus to the Flash file. In other words, certain key combinations end up doing things in Internet Explorer rather than Jetpack Level Editor:
———-
F7 – Rather than converting levels to specific themes, this gives a “Caret Browsing” toggle.
F5 – This refreshes the whole browser instead of the level…
CTRL-I – Opens the favorites sidebar but doesn’t open the Import prompt.
CTRL-E – Switches focus to Internet Search prompt.
F3 – Opens “Find On Page” box.
CTRL-S – Gives an “error” beep.
CTRL-N – Opens a cloned Internet Explorer browser.
F1 – Opens Internet Explorer‘s Help function.
CTRL-Q – Does absolutely nothing.
———-
Now, it’s not all gloom and doom… The editor’s hotkeys function perfectly in Opera Browser (and presumably other browsers). It’s just Internet Explorer that seems to not want to give up focus for some reason… If there’s a way to fix this in the browser, I’d love to hear it. I willingly choose Internet Explorer as my browser because it’s been reliable for many years and done just what I want it to when and how I want it to. Despite all its issues, I don’t think I would willingly change browsers on a permenant basis.
Anyway, thank you very much for everything so far. I hope to see great things continue to rise up in this project!
August 17th, 2010 at 5:50 pm
Wow, thanks a pantload IE. No function keys and no ctrl-keys, of course alt-keys are already out. That’s just fantastic. Back to the drawing board..
August 17th, 2010 at 8:08 pm
For what it’s worth, once you get to the point where you can log in via the client itself and make a standalone client people can download, the hotkeys you choose will be completely irrelivant! Also, the some Ctrl-Keys work just fine even in Internet Explorer. Ctrl-Arrow shifts the level around, for example.
I also have a comment/suggestion that’s not reliant on which browser you use. I’ve noticed that on occasion, Jet Man can hop on the SteelBall actors. I’m really hoping this is intentional. Players could really use this to their advantage in making levels. As you can see in my newly-created “Candy Land 1″ level, when this (currently an?) exploit works, it’s actually quite challenging and fun! If this was completely unintentional, though, please do say so, but I’m strongly hoping it’s intended.
August 17th, 2010 at 8:14 pm
Nope, in this situation I’m limited by the lowest common denominator – I think web play will remain a good chunk of the audience, and I can’t have 2 different control schemes. Therefore IE dictates my controls.
Walking on steel balls is intentional. I haven’t really had a chance to play with it though – if it works well I’ll keep it!
August 17th, 2010 at 10:44 pm
I found another minor hiccup. F1 doesn’t pop open the “Help” function even in Opera Browser and F7, no matter how many times you press it and no matter what you do with the level or tile selector, won’t convert the level to a different overall theme. I’m not sure why that is.
And yes, the importer now works perfectly, as evidenced by my Stairmaster import (and the most recent “Candy Land” stage, which was created in Jetpack and imported here). Even if most of the enemies don’t yet have AI. XD
August 18th, 2010 at 12:25 pm
“and I can’t have 2 different control schemes” – as suggested before, if it wouldn’t be too much work to make customizable keymappings, I’d definitely go for that, and probably provide two default mappings.
BTW, F7 somehow did nothing but displaying a strange message here that I should “repeat my command” – but even pressing it twice doesn’t change the theme…? :s
August 18th, 2010 at 1:47 pm
Excellent work, Adam! Once you get used to the level editor and the layer system, creating new levels is very fun. I can’t wait to see all enemies working!
I have just two questions:
- The par and the expert times are going to be set by the level editor after testing a level or by the designer? Maybe the editor should set those times automatically to avoid cheating.
- Would it be difficult to add a new spring that moves horizontally, not vertically?
By the way, Joseph and Saga, to change the overall theme of a level, you must have selected any tile of the new theme before pressing F7.
August 18th, 2010 at 2:58 pm
> what should I do about new levels I’m making? Should I email them to you or just put them in a folder?
The next release will have new folders that you should find helpful.
> The par and the expert times are going to be set by the level editor
You’ll need to enter them yourself – the level timer is great for this as it respects pauses and games speed changes.
> Would it be difficult to add a new spring that moves horizontally, not vertically?
I thought about this, but I think it would be better to add a different enemy if we want one with horizontal behavior. Something that naturally ignores gravity, like a laser beam or something mounted to the back wall.
August 18th, 2010 at 4:46 pm
>The next release will have new folders that you should find helpful.
Sounds good.
I think a laser beam would be a good idea. I think if you make something like that it would be a great addition, maybe even for the 1st game, but definitely for the others. Again, I don’t think the first game should have too much innovation.
August 18th, 2010 at 5:31 pm
I can’t find my level! My purple folder vanished and all I have left is something in revisions that says “max security break in” (null)!
August 18th, 2010 at 5:34 pm
Um…nevermind? after I posted that comment and opened the editor again everything was normal. The problem happened after I imported a level and saved it…weird…I almost had a heart attack haha.
August 18th, 2010 at 5:52 pm
> By the way, Joseph and Saga, to change the overall theme of a level, you must have selected any tile of the new theme before pressing F7.
That’s odd… I did that exact thing, but it didn’t work before. Works just fine now, though. How very strange… O_o
August 18th, 2010 at 5:57 pm
Ahhhhh…I see what’s going on! It’s working in all my levels but one. “Death by Chocolate” refuses to be mass-reskinned because rather than use the standard Steel Ball enemy, I used the Peppermint Candy object. This causes the level editor to slow down immensely and not reskin anything. I’ll assume the same happens if you use the Eyeball enemy in a level then try to reskin it. Why this happens, I can’t say, but now that I know why it’s happening, I should be good to go!
August 18th, 2010 at 6:26 pm
It seems that whenever I select the spring from the tileset, I can’t place it (well, if I do place it somewhere, i can’t see it – it’s just an empty square that says there’s a spring there). But the bigger problem is that pressing the spacebar ceases to do anything after I select the spring.
August 19th, 2010 at 10:18 am
> By the way, Joseph and Saga, to change the overall theme of a level, you must have selected any tile of the new theme before pressing F7.
That is not intuitive at all. I was seriously expecting this to respect the “primary theme” level setting.
August 19th, 2010 at 10:26 am
I can also confirm what Robert experienced there, as soon as I want to pick up using space a spring and place it somewhere, the editor goes nuts…
August 19th, 2010 at 10:36 am
I just found a very weird way to die, which mostly happens because of the barrier timing. Seems like the jetman is first blocked in front of the barrier, but then somehow gets stuck and dies…
Just have a look: http://sagagames.de/stuff/jetpack/barrier.avi
August 19th, 2010 at 11:27 am
Hmmm, all my par/expert times break whenever I change them! After opening the dialog again, it suddenly says “200″ instead of “2″ in the minutes fields.
August 19th, 2010 at 2:00 pm
Sorry for being late to the party, but the hidden spear mechanic was perfect the way it used to be (only activates when you’re touching a floor at the same time). Would like to see that back, if not only to differentiate spears and spikes other than graphically.
August 19th, 2010 at 3:27 pm
ok I don’t know if I’m doing anything wrong but I can’t export levels?
If you need to know I am using google chrome.
August 19th, 2010 at 10:56 pm
I’m doing a big update to both client & server and it’s late, so I hope nothing blows up. Backed up the db just in case.
Important changes
Other changes
Still coming
motion tweaks, timing tweaks, sounds, block copy, enemy facing, enemies stuck in barriers
> [F7] That is not intuitive at all. I was seriously expecting this to respect the “primary theme” level setting.
The primary theme setting is just for my reference when arranging levels. The convert command will convert all tiles to whatever theme is currently selected in the editor.
> the hidden spear mechanic was perfect the way it used to be (only activates when you’re touching a floor at the same time). Would like to see that back, if not only to differentiate spears and spikes other than graphically.
Ahh good point – but if I shrink the collision area for the spear any more, it becomes possible to jump or fly over it in a 1-tile high tunnel, which while kind of cool, breaks from the existing behavior in the old game.
> ok I don’t know if I’m doing anything wrong but I can’t export levels?
What happens when you hit shift-e ?
August 20th, 2010 at 12:30 am
New levels are flagged as “not mine” and the game won’t let me save them.
Also, I’m not able to rotate tiles as my keyboard doesn’t have the ][ keys.
August 20th, 2010 at 4:48 am
“Concealed gems/treasure/idol now flash to prevent accidents.” this is a very nice idea, but it can easily get annoying (see my “castle” level in my personal folder to see what I’m talking about). Maybe adding some glow to those items instead would help.
Also, in the very same level, you should see for example on the left side, that gems that are placed on a “thin castle wall” get a stand, however there is so much room between the wall and the stand that it just looks stupid.
Also, I think that sludge / ice should look the same when placed next to mirage walls as when placing it next to a normal wall, as it reveals secret paths. Just look at my raindrops level, right above the idol, to see what I mean.
August 20th, 2010 at 8:51 am
Ack. Rotating doesn’t work on non-English keyboards. Plain arrow keys might be more intuitive here.
August 20th, 2010 at 10:29 am
> Rotating doesn’t work on non-English keyboards.
Foiled again! Maybe I’ll switch to <>. For now you can rotate with the button in the tile picker.
> New levels are flagged as “not mine” and the game won’t let me save them.
Patched that this morning – you might need to clear your cache to get the update.
August 20th, 2010 at 12:21 pm
I’m trying to make a Sokoban-style puzzle right now, but the way pushable blocks rotate adds randomness that no amount of playtesting seems to iron out. I can’t think of a single situation where rotating blocks would be more useful than still blocks. Small tunnels get clogged, falling blocks miss their marks and the level structure doesn’t allow me to add workarounds everywhere.
Also, their masks are a pixel or two short of a tile. Placing several on top of each other makes them “sink” to each other and pushing becomes awkward.
August 20th, 2010 at 1:53 pm
Think I’ll throw the idea of teleporting push blocks here as well.
August 20th, 2010 at 4:58 pm
If you have a look at my public level “push me baby”, you’ll probably see that rotating blocks can be quite some fun.
August 20th, 2010 at 5:27 pm
Well I’ll admit they’re not really a problem in open-ended levels, but as someone generally scared of empty areas, I’d also like an alternative push block that doesn’t rotate. Still boxes could be heavier and more precise when pushed while the rotating ones act as if you were kicking pieces of polystyrene.
August 20th, 2010 at 6:33 pm
Hrn. Found a couple more bugs, but I think one of them might purely be my poor connection:
- When I try to save a file to the Shared (public) folder, I get “HttpRequest: Error #2032″, which is a “stack overflow” according to some websites? I dunno… This actually causes the editor to cease functioning, as well.
- Due to “Shift+I” and “Shift-E” being Import/Export Level now, it’s impossible to capitalize those letters in level notes now. Not a major problem considering you can just write the notes in a seperate window, but it kind of caught me off-guard at first.
August 20th, 2010 at 6:34 pm
Oh, and renaming any custom level folders gives that “Error #2032″ message, too.
August 20th, 2010 at 6:40 pm
Ah! I figured it out, I think. The game/engine doesn’t like it when you save a copy of a level anywhere, but it has no problem moving the original level wherever you want it. As for why it won’t let you delete (or rename) custom folders… I honestly don’t have a clue. Something to do with server permissions?
August 20th, 2010 at 8:31 pm
I’m not sure where else to say this, so I’ll just get it out of my head right here:
Some ideas for the future (either in this game or the ones to come…):
One-way teleporters (look different from normal teleporters): I’ve found myself wanting these for a long time. They can really make for some interesting game mechanics. They could also serve to prevent baddies from teleporting.
Jetman-only teleporters (also look different from normal ones and one-way ones): I only thought of that last point for one-way teleporters as I was typing this. Jetman-only teleporters could still have their uses, though. One-way teleporters have others, so I think ones that only the Jetman can use would allow for better usage of space and for some other game mechanics to be used more easily.
A LASER!!!: Your idea for a laser and my own idea led me to this; it works like a barrier (it can be activated by a switch). It’s invisible when down (you could have a tiny thing about the size of the down spear that the laser comes out of, though), and it activates and de-activates instantly, like the old barriers. They instantly kill the Jetman, but enemies can pass through it.
And finally, more barrier/teleporter colors (at least 2 more colors). I’ve been cut short on my level ideas plenty of times for lack of more barriers/switches and teleporter colors.
that’s all I got for now.
August 20th, 2010 at 9:34 pm
Okay now for the editor stuff (actually I think it’s just game stuff): I get the feeling that the jetman can jump too high. And probably too far. I mean, his head will go through the tiles if he jumps. He gets over 2 tiles of air, and then instead of the arc being designed so that he won’t hit his head, his head just goes into the tile, giving him even more air. And his typical jump without inhibitions is over 3 tiles in length! This would likely make many levels much easier than than were meant to be, and could make for poor use of space for levels. Just my opinion. It also looks ridiculous.
August 20th, 2010 at 9:37 pm
Anther note on my comment: The large jumps would also probably make many levels harder than they were meant to be. Jumping too high or too far will get you killed a lot of times.
August 20th, 2010 at 11:07 pm
How do we configure help icons to say stuff?
August 21st, 2010 at 9:10 am
The problem moving levels & changing folders should be fixed now.
I should note that some of the less popular backgrounds may be removed later on. If that happens I’ll update affected levels with the closest similar background.
I’m looking at a bunch of intl keyboards and they all have [braces]. Which ones don’t have braces?
I think this would be a good time to add some tiles. I’m in rush mode, so not much time to brainstorm. Any ideas beyond these?
* blue teleporter
* yellow switch/barrier
* invincibility suit
Question: If you play games on a typical game website, what’s the average length of a game? How many levels should the jetpack free version have?
> I’m trying to make a Sokoban-style puzzle right now, but the way pushable blocks rotate adds randomness that no amount of playtesting seems to iron out
If I disable rotation, it looks very odd to have a block on the very edge hanging in space. I’ll try making them closer to octagons and see how that works.
Hmm if this is popular I could make a pushable ball too.. maybe bouncy?
> How do we configure help icons to say stuff?
You can’t, I don’t have plans to use them as plot devices for the moment, they are just for teaching the basics. So if you have a beginner level to submit you can give me the text and I’ll hard code it. There shouldn’t be more than 1 or 2 help icons per level.
> One-way teleporters
You can use other methods to prevent return to a teleporter so I don’t think this is necessary.
> that Error #2032″ message
That’s probably a flash code, not http. The problem was on the server, it returned a response that flash didn’t understand.
August 21st, 2010 at 9:42 am
>If I disable rotation, it looks very odd to have a block on the very edge hanging in space.
Not necessarily, that’s how pushable objects usually work in 2D games. Players may already be expecting them to work that way (at least I was) and accept it as part of the video game logic. And like I said, they don’t even have to replace rotating blocks, but be an alternative for use in more grid-based puzzle maps.
>Hmm if this is popular I could make a pushable ball too.. maybe bouncy?
Now I’m imagining a level where you push an elastic ball down to a pit and bounce off it to get to the other side.
>>One-way teleporters
>You can use other methods to prevent return to a teleporter so I don’t think this is necessary.
This is true, but the way you now momentarily lose control while teleporting disqualifies many of the related gimmicks. I suppose you’re trying to weed out the “walk through spikes” exploit, but it was so widespread it felt more like a feature than a bug. Guess it comes down to personal design preferences.
August 21st, 2010 at 10:47 am
Adam: Sure international keyboards also have [ and ], but f.e. on German keyboards they can only be access through AltGr+8/9, meaning that they won’t work with your code. However, when switching to US layout in game (using Windows’ Alt+Shift combination), German users can use the Ü and * keys to rotate.
August 21st, 2010 at 11:20 am
> I should note that some of the less popular backgrounds may be removed later on. If that happens I’ll update affected levels with the closest similar background.
Personally I think the brighter backgrounds don’t work as well as the darker ones. Also, I’m missing a more industrial-style background.
August 21st, 2010 at 11:27 am
Please try my level “buggy switches”. There are multiple issues:
1) Switches are triggered if you walk below them (also works with steel balls)
2) The switch above the steel ball gets triggered as soon as you press F2, but nothing happes until you press a key. While this may just seem to be a cosmetic issue, it results in the green switch graphics not being updated properly if you let the game run for a while.
3) As mentioned before, the jetman can jump higher than in Jetpack 1, meaning that he can now reach the red switch in that level and trigger it, which was previously not possible.
August 21st, 2010 at 11:35 am
Oh and I’m not sure if anyone has mentioned it yet, but deleting enemies is somewhat buggy – if there are several enemies next to each other, they are often select as one big object, so you can’t delete just one of them.
August 21st, 2010 at 11:40 am
Oops! I have just deleted one of my “for releease” levels and now I can’t save it anymore to that folder. It’s now in my private folder, name is “tricky switches” (it was renamed). Can you move it back?
August 21st, 2010 at 11:56 am
I undeleted ‘RUNTIME ERROR200 AT 251-74′ but tricky switches doesn’t look like it was ever in release?
August 21st, 2010 at 12:02 pm
It’s almost the same level, just with a few switches moved. did you probably confuse it with “buggy switches” which I mentioned in a bug report above?
August 21st, 2010 at 12:28 pm
The server will no longer allow levels to be moved in/out of releases. I had that in a todo note that never got done.
August 21st, 2010 at 12:45 pm
Would it be possible that the jetman can stand on movable blocks? Currently, he just falls off if they’re moving.
Also, the jetman somehow exists the door through the floor and not sideways anymore! *g*
August 21st, 2010 at 4:41 pm
Okay, big bug here! If you place the jetman’s start position on some loot (at least anything that’s gold), the editor will suddenly behave very strange… Just try it!
August 21st, 2010 at 8:12 pm
2 things:
1. I can’t see the folder to submit new levels in.
2. Gems on sludge don’t have pedestals. Is this intentional?
August 22nd, 2010 at 12:19 pm
I also think that gems on sludge should have pedestals.
Also, I saved a level in the “bugs” folder (“sliding jetman”) which is probably the easiest example how to reproduce the sliding jetman bug. Just walk straight to the right side and you won’t be able to jump anymore.
August 22nd, 2010 at 3:36 pm
I also would appreciate a separate pushable block that doesn’t rotate (it would have to look a little different, obviously).
I love the death animation for the flitzer. I’d rather the jetman stay on the screen when flitzer kills him, though.
Enemies should teleport faster than the jetman.
“Ramp” tiles might be cool (that is, tiles cut in half along the diagonal).
If you’re going to make the current pushable block more like an octagonal prism, then I still think you should keep the cubic block. Hell, you could have the ball, the octagonal rotating block, the cubic rotating block, and the cubic non-rotating block.
And I like that idea for teleporting the pushable blocks.
August 22nd, 2010 at 11:34 pm
The editor has been updated!
I swear these bugs are breeding.
Big Changes
* New silver teleporter & barrier
* Pushables: slight octagon sides, new non-rotating block, octagon, ball, and bouncy ball
* Pushables now interact with teleporters, touch switches, spears
* Redesigned switches
* Fixed bug that caused the new submission folder to be invisible
* Eliminated delay when teleporting – I didn’t like the slowdown in gameplay
* Fixed bug that caused the new submission folder to be invisible
Misc Changes
* sludge now looks correct next to mirages
* fixed gems having stands incorrectly
* fixed touch switch issues
* shared folder will now refresh every 5 minutes
* concealed gems will only flash for 5 seconds on load/refresh
* tweaked some contact timings, made teleportation trigger more accurate
* gems on sludge get a stand
* fixed error when jetman starting on gold
* drawing out of bounds is now prevented
* ball slows down in sludge
* mysterious sliding jetman fixed (when a contact started on the side and moved to the ground it was not recognized as ground)
Still Coming
* many many things
Wow, the levels in the shared folder are really looking good!
> Would it be possible that the jetman can stand on movable blocks? Currently, he just falls off if they’re moving.
I would like that, but the finicky physics engine is making it hard. We’ll see.
> When jumping and phasing, the direction of the phase is always up. In the original jetpack the character would phase either left or right depending where your facing
I don’t see this behavior, he phases the direction you are facing when jumping.
> The sliding issue might have to do with you only checking the normal of a contact point when it’s created.
Good call! That’s exactly what it was.
August 23rd, 2010 at 3:19 am
For some reason phasing crates freezes the app after the update.
I also noticed that the loader app maxed out 3 out of 4 cores on my processor when loading the game while the game itself uses almost nothing…
August 23rd, 2010 at 4:15 am
Hmm, “push me, baby” breaks with the teleporting blocks – I liked the old idea. “Filling in for a mechanic” also breaks because the blocks trigger the blue switch.
Also, I’m not quite sure if gems on a movable block should have a stand? It looks a bit weird as soon as you move the block.
August 23rd, 2010 at 6:16 am
Fixed the crate phasing bug
August 23rd, 2010 at 6:24 am
Saga, “filling in for a mechanic” has a great new gameplay idea, if you let the blocks teleport back up to the top. Except for the physics engine snagging at every tile edge of course.
I’ll have to make the moving blocks kill you if they impact above a certain speed.
August 23rd, 2010 at 6:32 am
Yeah, but the main problem is that the blocks trigger switches, which they didn’t in the previous version. The whole idea behind the level doesn’t work anymore.
BTW, I’d prefer a proper scroll bar in the level selection (vertical, not horizontal, if possible). Somehow, everyone does custom scroll controls in JavaScript and Flash these days and they all fail on usability big time. The left/right buttons are just not fast enough if there are a lot of levels to scroll through.
August 23rd, 2010 at 6:37 am
BUG: When exiting a level through the door and pressing ESC while the game over melody is playing, it is played a second time, resulting in a big mess, sound-wise.
August 23rd, 2010 at 6:46 am
> Yeah, but the main problem is that the blocks trigger switches, which they didn’t in the previous version. The whole idea behind the level doesn’t work anymore.
Why doesn’t it work? Just make the touch switches regular switches.
August 23rd, 2010 at 7:02 am
Hmm, that sounds like intriguingly easy solution.
August 23rd, 2010 at 8:09 am
- All my recent levels have been deleted!
- How can i also publish my levels to the public folder?
August 23rd, 2010 at 8:42 am
vielhuber: The database shows 7 levels in the default folder “my levels”:
TEST1,HELL YEAH,WELCOME TO JETPACK,DEATH TUNNEL,BOOM,TEST AREA,THE BIG JUMP
What is missing?
> How can i also publish my levels to the public folder?
Just move them there, you can move them around just like files.
August 23rd, 2010 at 8:49 am
There are some cool ideas in the shared folder:
“Filling in for a Mechanic” has a cool idea with moving blocks on a conveyor belt.
“Push Me, Baby” is using moving blocks to get over spikes.
“Puzzle Push” has some new puzzle elements using the moving blocks.
“Three Towers” has a nice look using the new graphics.
“1-0″ has some really cool abstract trees.
“Balance Exercise” is doing some crazy experiments with the new physics.
August 23rd, 2010 at 10:42 am
Hi Adam! Everything is fine, all levels are there and i submitted a new one! Thanks
August 24th, 2010 at 3:02 pm
There are some levels that cannot be solvable. “stock room” e.g
What can be do to prevent this?
August 24th, 2010 at 3:07 pm
The speed seems always to be set back to 5.
Even if the number says it is 1.
Try it, test a level, switch to 1, die, play it again now its speed like 5.
August 24th, 2010 at 3:50 pm
usability request: the level selector should remember the previous scroll position when being called again.
August 24th, 2010 at 5:37 pm
Stock Room: I love the level. The physics engine is once again screwing me over, by knocking the moving bricks sideways when falling down by what should be a flat wall. I will find a solution, you can count on this working. If I can’t find a good solution, I’ll just force these things to the center of the tile when falling.
BTW: It might be nice to throw in a few extra blocks, so perfection isn’t required.
August 24th, 2010 at 10:05 pm
The steel ball won’t teleport on sludge if it’s simply moving along on it. The ball will only teleport if it falls from above onto the teleporter. The same appears to be true for all of the pushable objects. I think it’s related to what the sludge does to their position. I suspect that the trackbot would very likely also have this problem if it were working.
Also, I think whatever it is that happens with the animation after teleporting should only happen with the jetman – on enemies and other stuff like the pushable objects it just makes it look like something’s wrong with the game. The jetman seems to be the only one that can pull off that kind of teleportation animation.
August 24th, 2010 at 10:46 pm
There have been over 850 revisions since the editor went live 2 weeks ago!
> The steel ball won’t teleport on sludge if it’s simply moving along on it
I recommend not putting teleporters on sludge. However, you can force this by placing the teleporter off-grid, 1 step below normal y position. I just noticed a bug where that position isn’t saved though, so this won’t work until the next editor update.
> The jetman seems to be the only one that can pull off that kind of teleportation animation
I need to add glow to the enemies, but the effect does need tweaking.
August 25th, 2010 at 10:31 am
Since levels made by other users cannot be edited anyway, maybe the hidden paths in those levels should not be visible as well when loading them in the editor?
I added a new level to the “bugs” folder, which demonstrates that it’s very easy to circumvent spikes and that it’s not really possible anymore to use them for blocking the play from passing small passages. Maybe it would help if one could place spikes on both walls (currently, that would just delete the previously placed spikes), or they should kill the player more easily.
The same level demonstrates a bug with rounded blocks: You can easily get stuck between the blocks if you move towards the gap, and you can even pass through that gap if you’re positioned correctly.
August 25th, 2010 at 10:31 am
“…blocking the player…”
August 25th, 2010 at 10:42 am
I also think there’s a problem with the new octagonal blocks which didn’t happen with the cubes: if you jump on the edge of an octagonal block, it can be moved far too easily and you will slide off very easily from that edge – which makes some levels which depend on blocks being moved by the player slightly more difficult, especially if the blocks are placed on spikes.
August 25th, 2010 at 11:19 am
While making Ruins of Zephelos, I came up with two suggestions:
1. The lag while toggling barriers is distracting. Half a second doesn’t sound like much on paper, but since barriers are often used to create timed traps, it seems unintuitive that flipping a switch doesn’t give instant feedback.
2. It’d come in handy if the author could record a demo of their level and let others watch it as an optional spoiler. RoZ isn’t hard if you can figure out the right technique, but some might treat it as an action map and think it’s impossible when they fail at rushing to the gems.
August 25th, 2010 at 12:45 pm
agree with amorphous.
another point is the “time lag” when teleporting. it just does feel very… slow.
I want to be teleported immediately, not half a second later after pressing DOWN.
another thing is the jump behaviour: i know this is fine tuning but it seems that the jetman
jumps to far, small jumps are not possible.
August 25th, 2010 at 1:39 pm
actually, the jetman seems to jump a bit higher than in the original game, but a few pixels less wide – i had to change some of the the extreme jumps in my bonus level because they don’t work with the new engine.
August 25th, 2010 at 8:31 pm
> Since levels made by other users cannot be edited anyway, maybe the hidden paths in those levels should not be visible as well when loading them in the editor?
I’ll do that later, soon there will be editing value in this, because you will be able to block-copy from someone else’s level – is anyone against that?
> I added a new level to the “bugs” folder, which demonstrates that it’s very easy to circumvent spikes and that it’s not really possible anymore to use them for blocking the play from passing small passages.
This works as intended – you could place spikes on the other side by placing them off-grid.
> The same level demonstrates a bug with rounded blocks: You can easily get stuck between the blocks if you move towards the gap, and you can even pass through that gap if you’re positioned correctly.
Hrm.
> While making Ruins of Zephelos, I came up with two suggestions: 1. The lag while toggling barriers is distracting.
I’ll work on this. Great level btw.
> It’d come in handy if the author could record a demo of their level and let others watch it as an optional spoiler.
That was a feature goal, the variability of the physics engine has cast doubt on whether demos are possible. I haven’t tried it yet.
> another point is the “time lag” when teleporting. it just does feel very… slow.
It fires on key-up, not down. I’ll look into another way of doing this.
> jetman jumps to far, small jumps are not possible.
> jetman seems to jump a bit higher than in the original game, but a few pixels less wide
Actually he jumps exactly 3.5 tiles if you hold down the arrow all the way, which is a little longer than the original’s 2.9. I might drop this to 3.2 so long jumps are a bit more nerve wracking.
He jumps exactly 2 tiles if you let go of the arrow immediately. I might try to lower that too.
I posted a level “Pit of Chaos” in the shared folder. This demonstrates some of the possibilities if pushable blocks can’t hurt you. Does anyone have a compelling reason why they should hurt you?
August 30th, 2010 at 10:41 pm
The update that is coming up has 633 tiles. The way I detected broken levels was to check if any tiles above 530 were in use. So I have to remove the automatic broken-level-fixer in this release. What this means to you: if you edited any level between 2-3 weeks ago and have not edited it since, please go in and save it. If you don’t, in the next release your level will be a steaming pile of chaos. If that happens, just load from a previous revision.
Coming soon – this stuff is done, but waiting on some other fixes:
* lots of new backgrounds and scenery tiles – 6 large backgrounds & 9 small per theme
* nature theme
* undo
* lots of fixes
August 31st, 2010 at 8:06 am
nice! the project is moving forward, some levels are very cool.
August 31st, 2010 at 9:22 am
>* undo
OH YEAH
August 31st, 2010 at 10:29 am
I think the spear animation is only working for vertical spears, but not horizontal ones…
September 1st, 2010 at 11:09 am
> I think the spear animation is only working for vertical spears, but not horizontal ones…
Can you put up an example? It’s working fine for me.
September 1st, 2010 at 6:45 pm
I tried “deathcall” by 1673 and whenever I fly into a spear (coming from below), I die, but I don’t actually see the animation. The animation seems to trigger a second later, though.
September 1st, 2010 at 6:46 pm
Ok, I have to say that the same problem actually also occours with vertical spears in that level…
September 1st, 2010 at 6:50 pm
Another bug: Pressing ESC during a death sequence (while the game over jingle is playing) also cuts off the background music until the level is restarted.