FBF Episode 2 - 4A4C

An upcoming game about Electricity, Magnetism, and Cephalopods
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testtubegames
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FBF Episode 2 - 4A4C

Post by testtubegames »

Another Feel Bad Friday video this week -- and this time (no surprise) I played through NealCruco's level, 4A4C. Check out the video on YouTube.

You can find the original post by NealCruco here, or just load up this code in the game to give the level a try.

Code: Select all

[The Electric Shocktopus-"4A4C"-eNq9VEsSgyAMvQvrLAw0omfpuO0F2p3TuzcEqKKooNMmsXTyeQlPcATdgHtqjVhZaKYQscwNEjFaIlEI0OfqXvw4qU1/XCxbSVQxalxSFOtA2JCSiMvDuEFKKuTZaHyz4LNxY4awehykTWOuAha5TFqOvVvMtlncuxfRnK0+3drTWLvtL28+uubzEJDP1gLQj6PlQPqJyulw5yRgYCc+DqEYFTCDkcQ1iB/wkBwM3aShwXh1apFkFjLBwo3NgBwyg+H1nh7ifLmwcbU7wcXd48UBlvVp+Vww+YdTHs5PRd5EjZl/YnM6QoGYNuvWQffkPzk6UXGUJJZD/iBzVC8F94FtVA8ly5OXtoO2H2LAeSzfeNssXN3ken8A7Dx1XA==]
Final analysis:
Nice level, Neal! Very, very hard, clearly -- so not for the feint faint of heart -- and took me a fair bit of time to make it through. I quite enjoyed how the level seemed to incorporate a bunch of different mechanics (I had to use electric fields, magnetic fields, currents, creative jumping... whew), and also threw in that classic off-the-screen trick.
NealCruco
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Re: FBF Episode 2 - 4A4C

Post by NealCruco »

I very much enjoyed watching you die countless times. If it makes you feel any better, though, I fell into every trap you did at least once...except the right gun near star 2. I never got hit by it.
A few comments I have:
That jump back into the level is tricky, isn't it? You can't see where you're going until it's too late to change it.
You came this close to dying at the very end- my guess is that only quick reflexes saved you.
Don't try to use the electric field when trying to get over the wall and past the guns (bottom center). Wall jumping is much more reliable, and it's what I intended the player to use. Electromagnetic hovering just doesn't have enough precision- the margin of success is too narrow. (Of course, you're the maker of the game, so if hovering is easier for you, go right ahead and use it.)
"4A4C" is the hexadecimal representation of the capitalized initials of the autogenerated level title. In other words, if you take the initials from the first, machine-generated title that this level got, make them uppercase, and convert them from ASCII text to hexadecimal, you will receive "4A4C".
Just in case you ever again have a reason to speak my online alias aloud, I pronounce the "u" as "uh", not "oo". So "Cruh-co", not "Croo-co". Also, the term is "faint of heart", not "feint of heart". (Sorry, it's just my pedantry shining through.)
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Re: FBF Episode 2 - 4A4C

Post by A Random Player »

I've messed up my copy of TES again (I'm going to fix it in a while) so I can't test some things, but I agree, the level was very hard. I've only beaten it with 1 star (the bottom) though I suspect I'd get the others with practice. And I nearly fell at the end as well ("Woo, I got there! Should take a scree-waitwaitwait AHH RUN ok I'm safe.")
Beating the area with many crates I actually moved very little, going down two rows at once when there was an opening.
For the bottom, I used wall jumps too to get myself into a good position (augmented with sliding down a bit). I think charging helps, but not that much - Especially considering force (and acceleration) is ∝ to 1/r^2.
I'm guessing JL = Jumpy Laboratory? I can't think of good names either :P (Still remember one of mine: "Tragic Shanty" (later Perilous Sky)). My leading theory was 4A4C = For ARP? For Sparta!

In regards to pronouncing names, I always mentally pronounced it as in Robinson Crusoe (but accented on the first syllable - nealCROOsoe), since I'd never needed to say it out loud. (Now that I think about it, it's pretty obvious it was a hard c).

Oh and I was totally expecting a death and cut at the end (given the extra time).
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testtubegames
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Re: FBF Episode 2 - 4A4C

Post by testtubegames »

Ooh - got it: "Cruh-co". It's always strange to try to pronounce names... and as you're saying them the first time realize you'd only ever read/typed them. I'll keep that in mind for a future FBF.

Random, I like your plan of going down two boxes at a time. Anything to speed up the early part of the level. Which is, incidentally, something I'm discovering in filming these videos. As I'm going through a level, it's as important to optimize the early steps as it is to learn how to beat the later steps. Because I'm going to have to do the first steps dozens of times... and the final steps perhaps only once.

And I had that falling-at-the-end fear, too. I *knew* it was going to happen the whole time. My brain was prepared to go through that door as quickly as possible... but even then, I wanted to sit and bask in the glory for a moment. No such luck :), I had to power through the doorway.
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