Version .91

[testtubegames]

I put up the latest version of the game early this morning. Or was it late last night? In any case, I was sleepy enough that we already found a bug (thanks Misha!)

The big changes in this version:
-Electric Currents are added back in. So we've got electromagnets, folks. (Check out levels 29-31 to see the core current levels)
-Magnetic Yeti is badder (Spikes? More missiles? Multiple ways to scale the wall? It's chaos, folks.)
-There's an end animation when you beat the yeti
-Levels were tweaked slightly throughout the game.

Smaller changes:

-The level load codes were tweaked slightly, though I made the system backwards-compatible for the old codes
-You need to press 'down' to flip switches
-UI is a *lot* smoother
-Different decorative tiles
-Changed the level text a lot

So give it a play, and let me know what you think. Do you like the changes? Did I accidentally make any levels crazy-go-nuts-hard? Is the yeti more fun to beat?

And of course, a big thanks to you all for your suggestions that lead to the changes in this new version.

[robly18]

I was playing a bit (Even before I noticed there was an update, mind you!) and I only got to the 9th level before I ragequit. Not in tip top shape today for reasons of oh god my back why does it hurt so much.
Still, it's nice.

[testtubegames]

As a heads up to people playing around with this version -- there's something wonky with the wall jumps. And some of the levels have the currents flowing backwards. I'm fixing it up, but until it's all better, just keep in mind you might encounter some issues. I'll edit this post when I'm done fixing it to give it the 'all clear'

Edit: All Clear! The currents should all be facing the right direction (I had missed a few when fixing the previous bug), and wall jumps should play better with the currents.

Edit 2: Note to self -- at some point write a blog post about the programming that went into wall jumps. The complexity of the if-then loops is staggering... (I never would'a expected that going in... good thing too, since I probably would have axed the wall jumps if I knew how much work they'd be!)

[exfret]

Mostly, I liked how your levels were like before.
Here's some level design suggestions:

-On level 3, the spikes after the first set of crates should go. They're easily looked over and totally mess up my, um, shockto-level-passing-ness.
-What's with the level 3 hint? What does it have to do with the level?
-A hint on level 6 about how to 'watch your head' might be appropriate if possible.
-Make level 7 more about the charges than the cannons and spikes and such.
-Stars on level 8 should actually add difficulty to the level to get.
-Why'd you change level 28? ):
-Like level 7, you should make level 29 easier to play around with flowing magnetic fields and make it more intuitive to finish.
-Is level 31 possible?
-Level 34 seems too hard, though this could just be due to the magnetic fields being broken. Even so, their broken-ness actually makes levels like number 34 easier, so I doubt this is the case.
-Level 35's a bit too hard and complex. Devote some of the complexity to getting a star and make it more straightforward/easy to get passed the level.
-Place the bombs around the second star of level 36 instead of around the end-of-the-level-doorway.

General level suggestions:
-You give the player too many stars. They're supposed to be extras. It's the levels that are supposed to be easy-ish, but the stars... They should be like Misha's levels.
-Text looks kind of ugly and almost excessive, but I really do appreciate all the text you added in. Just please change it back to the old font, okay? (There was an old font, right?)
-You seem to use the red flowing fields where you should really use the blue ones. Or maybe the red ones just don't rotate you in the right direction. This is probably the cause of the impossibility of level 31 and the hardness of level 29, and I have also seen this with level 33 as well.

Mag. Yet. Sug.:
-You should have stars. Like maybe one at the end of the sand block thing when he's shooting a ton of missiles at you and you have to scale the wall.
-The red flowing magnetic field things is on the. mag. yet. bos. lev. too.
-I like the end. (:

Non-level suggestions:
-There should be a way to get off a wall without jumping off.
-You should have achievements (I think). Maybe you could unlock bonus levels for accomplishing achievements or getting stars?
-When you go into the level editor, all the other buttons go away. That shou... OH! It's so you don't accidentally click them while editing. Uh, nevermind then. Edit: The music and sound buttons don't go away. You should fix that.
-While editing a level, lots of blocks may disappear. These are the ones controlled by a lever and the timed ones (so the ones that turn off and on). Please fix this.

Somewhat Random Questions:
-When I delete-click outside of the Shocktopus screen, my we browser goes back to the previous page (not a problem with ~TES~). Where would be the hidden setting area thing that changes that (browser is Google Chrome, computer is mac).
-There is a laptop I play minecraft on, but I can't move the mouse while pressing down keys, so I can't run and look around, which seriously annoys me. I've already checked computer settings for the option to disable this, but I can't find anything. Any help?
Thanks to any of you computer-help-desk, err, forum-poster peoples who help!


The puns on level 15, 16, and 27 are shockingly funny!
I like the crates and flowing magnetic field on level 29. I totally wasn't expecting that.
The level display screen is awesome!!!!!!!

[exfret]

MAGNETIC FIELDS ARE TOTALLY BROKEN!!!

Just try them out yourself, you'll see.

My guess is that you somehow changed them into super-strong magnetic fields that make you go in extremely tiny circles.

Try level 22 w/ the glitch. It's fun.

Edit: The red magnetic fields work. It's just the blue that are broken.

Edit 2: I just had a thought. Maybe you super-sized the blue magnetic field's when you added in flowing charges? Maybe this also has something to do with the red flowing fields not working properly...

[testtubegames]

Huh, curious. I can't seem to reproduce this, though both you and Misha seem to be finding problems with the magnetic fields. I know I uploaded a few versions of the game in quick succession (some with bugs), so maybe try reloading the page? (If you do it twice in succession, you'll be sure it's grabbing the latest build of the game.)

If the problem is still around, I'll keep investigating over here. Like I said, I don't doubt you've found a problem. Just, when I play around with level 22, everything seems like it always did.

[exfret]

At this rate of 0.02 posts every 4 months, ~TES~ has only a year and a half to go before version 1.0. (Woah, I totally didn't mean for that to rhyme). topus

Huh, curious. I can't seem to reproduce this, though both you and Misha seem to be finding problems with the magnetic fields. I know I uploaded a few versions of the game in quick succession (some with bugs), so maybe try reloading the page? (If you do it twice in succession, you'll be sure it's grabbing the latest build of the game.)

If the problem is still around, I'll keep investigating over here. Like I said, I don't doubt you've found a problem. Just, when I play around with level 22, everything seems like it always did.

It's still there. It should be pretty obvious. Are you playing a different version than you have uploaded?

You also didn't say anything about the other glitch w/ the red flowing magnetic fields or any of my other suggestions.

And my Secret Website VP topic, 1/0 topic, and he To-Do list topics aren't getting replied to.

I'm sorry I need so much attention.

I'm not sorry, for wanting to conquer the forums. Muahahaha!!!!!!!

[testtubegames]

Whoa - somehow I missed that previous post. (That's what I get for clicking on 'take me to the final post' I suppose)

Great suggestions all around. I don't have too much time at the moment to address them individually -- but most of them I'm on board with.

Mostly, I liked how your levels were like before.

Fair enough - helpful to know. I'm trying to tweak the levels that got lower ratings -- though some of the 'improvements' might end up hurting the levels. That's the joy of having playtesters to catch me!

-You give the player too many stars. They're supposed to be extras. It's the levels that are supposed to be easy-ish, but the stars... They should be like Misha's levels.

I'll ponder that. I once thought totally like you and Misha -- I made 1 star easy... 1 hard... and 1 super hard. But people barely made it past level two -- turns out they insisted on getting all the stars before moving on. Maybe it's related to that whole topic of grade inflation. Suddenly, everyone thinks they should be getting A+'s in the levels!

Anyway, that's why I toned it down. But, maybe I could ramp it up as the game goes on. In the first act, no star is too crazy hard... just so newbies don't get bogged down. But in act 2 and 3 maybe they get tougher.

-Text looks kind of ugly and almost excessive, but I really do appreciate all the text you added in. Just please change it back to the old font, okay? (There was an old font, right?)

I'll try and make it prettier. I think in making it 'readable' I went a bit overboard... A bit too high of contrast. I'll play around with it a bit more to find something that is a bit more subtle.

...Intermezzo...

Gotta run at the moment - but I figured I'd get a response started. Still can't replicate that magnetism problem, by the by. Odd. I should be playing the same build. (You did reload the page a few times?)

[exfret]

I'll ponder that. I once thought totally like you and Misha -- I made 1 star easy... 1 hard... and 1 super hard. But people barely made it past level two -- turns out they insisted on getting all the stars before moving on. Maybe it's related to that whole topic of grade inflation. Suddenly, everyone thinks they should be getting A+'s in the levels!

Hmm... Good point. The same thing happens with my Mom on Agent Higgs. She refuses to move on until she finds the perfect/lowest number of moves.

Anyway, that's why I toned it down. But, maybe I could ramp it up as the game goes on. In the first act, no star is too crazy hard... just so newbies don't get bogged down. But in act 2 and 3 maybe they get tougher.

Good idea. Another thing would be cruelly keeping them from getting the last star of some level so they don't get so worked up about all the stars in future levels. You could also make it so the first star is always possible to get, but the second and third star only appear after they've played a few levels ahead. If you must make stars easy, please at least make them out of the way. My biggest annoyance is just that it's practically impossible not to get some stars, and then I don't see why those stars have to be there in the first place.

I'll try and make it prettier. I think in making it 'readable' I went a bit overboard... A bit too high of contrast. I'll play around with it a bit more to find something that is a bit more subtle.

You also use that extremely fancy, 'hard' font in levels with simple, 'soft' gamer graphics... Not exactly a the best artistic match for a game set in a sandcastle.

Still can't replicate that magnetism problem, by the by. Odd. I should be playing the same build. (You did reload the page a few times?)

Didn't reload it, but I did access the game again, which should have the same results. The glitch is still there. Is there a different version on a 'Developer' account than on a 'Fan' account? Also noticed a trailer. Have I just not thought/posted about it before or is that new? Anyways, the trailer should be made public soon if not now if you're planning on releasing it to sponsors then the general public soon.

[testtubegames]

My biggest annoyance is just that it's practically impossible not to get some stars, and then I don't see why those stars have to be there in the first place.

Yeah, well, one of the reasons for that is at one point, I toyed with 'ghosting' levels. As in: it's hard to get three stars, sure... but even harder to get zero stars. You'd need to use a completely different, very tough strategy on a level, say. But it was difficult to design levels that worked like that. I'll take another look... either go all in and make 'ghosting levels' a thing, or remove the difficult-not-to-get stars.

Didn't reload it, but I did access the game again, which should have the same results. The glitch is still there... Also noticed a trailer. Have I just not thought/posted about it before or is that new? Anyways, the trailer should be made public soon if not now if you're planning on releasing it to sponsors then the general public soon.

Hmm. Just as an experiment, the next time you play the game, when you have the page up already, hit reload a couple times. I've been burned by this issue before -- looking for complex bugs -- when really it's just that your browser is using an old, cached version of the game. You'll know it is loading the new version, because it should take a while, between one and two minutes. (The cached version loads up very quickly... in 15-20 seconds... since it's already on your computer)

-You should have stars. Like maybe one at the end of the sand block thing when he's shooting a ton of missiles at you and you have to scale the wall.
-I like the end. (:

I was pondering stars, and yeah, I agree that putting it at the end of the sand blocks would be the obvious place. Do you think it would be fun to try to get stars, too, though? I was worried it might be too much going on. It's hard enough just to stay alive, frankly.

-There should be a way to get off a wall without jumping off.
-You should have achievements (I think). Maybe you could unlock bonus levels for accomplishing achievements or getting stars?

Well, you can stop holding onto the wall and fall down. But, yeah, *not* wall jumping is kinda tough. Which is a byproduct of me spending a lot of time making it really easy to wall jump. And I do like how easy wall jumping is. But sometimes you just don't want to wall jump. I suppose I could make it so that holding 'down' disconnects you from a wall. So that, if you're on a wall, and press down+away, you can easily come off the wall. Could be worth a try.

Achievements? Like it:
-# of deaths (100, 1000, ...)
-# of stars collected
-"what's up there?" award for going off the top of the screen
-"energy waster" award for using your charge power for some # of seconds
-...

I'm not sure about bonus levels -- mainly 'cause I'm wary of the scope of the game getting too big. (We all wanna see it finally finished, after all!) But I like the idea, and agree it'd be rad. I'll consider it.

-When I delete-click outside of the Shocktopus screen...
- I can't move the mouse while pressing down keys...

Hrm... afraid I just don't know.

The level display screen is awesome!!!!!!!

Yay! Yeah, I was really excited with the new look. It'll make it so much easier to find the levels you're looking for. (Especially for 'made' levels... you won't have to remember what level 106 is anymore)

And the trailer, yeah, that is brand new. Just a simple gameplay trailer - so that potential sponsors can get a look at it before they play it. Not quite so flashy as the Agent Higgs trailer