Timmy's Dream, Spotlighted, Level and Story, by Hex Production.....s

His nightlight shone brightly as timmy lay in bed, but naught could calm the frightening thoughts in his head...

Probably only have time to leave about 10 people feedback on one of their levels as of January 1st 1:46 AM

I have published a new level called Timmy's Dream, you play as timmy who ventures beneath his bed and finds a fantastic dream world. It works best with 1-2 players. It features comprehensive dialog written in a bed time story rhyme style. About 99.9% of it is done in rhyme. The level has a dreamlike look to it, as seen in the screen shots. Although they really don't do it justice.

There is probably about 50+ hours of work that has gone into this, me and my sister spent about 5 hours on the dialog alone. I had OCK and Voltiare play and critique it before release and corrected everything they mentioned and more. I believe the level is quite polished as far as gameplay, looks, and dialog. I gave the story as well as the gameplay a great deal of thought, the narrator talks with more advanced language for the most part, but the people timmy encounters do not because timmy wouldn't know those words. I have tested the game play thoroughly and it is quite polished. Nonetheless please report any problems you encounter. Level is in it's final version, bugs will still be addressed should the need arise but otherwise no changes will be made, or in other words I'm completely satisfied with it.

It's located in northern, south america, if you search Timmy's Dream it's easy to find, its icon is a big star. Go play it! I will be able to respond to any comments and fix any errors for most of today so please comment, don't forget to heart it either.

Recent Changes
I added a ranking system. Any obstacle that has a Star symbol before it means on this obstacle your performance will be judged. Your rank is shown at the end of the level by stars 0-5 the more stars the more points you are awarded, these stars are displayed just before the ending photo booth.

Changed the first trapeze obstacle to be more multi-player friendly as well as gave it a drastic frame rate increase.

I have corrected all problems that have been mentioned on this thread., anything I did not correct I was unable to, or did not think was important. Please continue to leave feedback.

I would also encourage readers to check out my other levels at this thread:http://www.lbpcentral.com/forums/sho...4735#post74735

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Here is a full play through from youtube, only a sample of the dialogue is featured.
[" rel="prettyPhoto" title="">Watch YouTube Video]

OK, so I just had a chance to play the published version and here are my thoughts:

Things I liked:

- The writing was fantastic! It is done in a children's fairytale style and it works perfectly for the theme that you have. I appreciate levels that have a story and wish there were more of them.

- The concept of a circus dreamworld is very original and surreal. I also like that all of the platforming elements revolve around things that you would find in a circus (trapeze, elephants, diving board etc). Well done.

- There are a couple fo VERY cool elements here that I have not seen done before and that really made me smile. I am thinking specifically about the cannon, "bungee jumping" and the big rolling ball. I do not want to go into detail because it would spoil it for everybody else :)

- The level has a good length and the gameplay elements keep changing. The music and sfx used all work well.

Suggestions:

- I appreciate the changes you made to the DM but there are still a lot of parts where DM is studded into the background or is visible as a support. I know you are still adjusting/changing things so keep this in mind.

- You can see where he background is put together. In other words, the edges of those massive blocks that compose the background are always in plain view and I personally find it distracting. Keep in mind that you only have to build a level to fit the players view. Anything off-screen is unecessary and will often negate the need to break a background up. If you still need to break up the background then camera zones can help make sure it is not visible to the player.

- I remember when testing that the bear had a speech bubble indicating when you should let him go but it has been removed. I would suggest putting it back so the player knows how long they have to drag him around. Also keep in mind that when a speech bubble activates the player automatically lets go of the bear and may forget to grab him again. Maybe adding a speech bubble at every cutscene saying "don't forget me Timmy" or something like that would help simply to insure that there is no frustration in running ahead without the bear and the having to run back for him.

- VERY IMPORTANT: the part with the elephant moving across the electric floor. The checkpoint is placed in such a way that if I get crushed by the final block of fire I keep respawning under it and keep dying again. There is also no checkpoint immediately after getting off the elephant and I was killed by those knife-wielding jesters (cool enemies btw). This caused me to respawn on the elephant and the jesters had advanced to the edge of the platform making it IMPOSSIBLE for me to jump back on it without getting killed by their knives.

- The very first jump-pad. I had to jump about 6 times before I reached the height needed to jump onto the next platform. Do not know if this is intentional or not. Maybe a speech bubble saying "jump jump with all your might. Don't give up the fight" lol.

All in all this was a very original lvl with a lot of cool ideas. I will be playing again after work today and see if there is anything else that could use tweaking. There are still areas tha feel "raw" but I know you are still working on it post-publishing. This is a really great effort and I encourage everyone to check it out. :)

Ugh, I had to restart because 3 people joined and decimated my lives and the camera issues akin to all 4 player sessions ruined it, but...

Fantastic... in every way. I am in love with this level... but one of your dialogue boxes is censored with stars... find out what word is being filtered and change it. I had that problem with the word "Janus" and had to change it to "J@nus"...

The opening sequence is pure genius... it almost reminded me of the childhood bliss I found in the atmosphere and style of an old PS1 game called Heart of Darkness. I love every piece of dialogue and I love that it's so heavy... this is like Little Nemo on good, clean acid.

Normally I frown upon using story objects, but the elephant is perfect for this and the lush, literal electric circus motif gives it new live. I was very glad to have played this, I immediately hearted it. Levels like this make me want to unheart levels I used to think were good a month ago lol

I love the way your level progresses in difficulty and changes motifs ever so slightly, but stays in theme and connection the whole time - just like a convoluted dream that is difficult to explain. 5/5

:( @ 5 hearts 6 plays... it should be 500/600

This level needs more plays. It's a future showcased level, I believe.

It is creative, artistic, and you just feel like a child while playing it. It is like sending the player back when they were innocent and pure. It just has a certain magic about it that makes me wish I was a kid again and all I needed was a teddy bear and a magical circus.

The spinning things in the beginning are hard. And when you wait to long (wich is what i did, because it was too hard for me) they'll just spin unevenly and you'll have to wait untill it's even possible to play that part again. So it would come in handy if you adjusted those "spinning sponges on a rod"'s speed.

Just played it, truly amazing. I'm not just saying that either. It really was, an incredible level. I was smiling throughout the whole level, at first I thought it was just a walk through, filled with ryhmes. But I was wrong, it had some really fun platforming. Filled with riddles and a great ending. I enjoy your work Hexagohn, it's a shame you couldn't of finished it before 6 though. ;)

But one thing I saw, there was this part, I guess it's a sort of a secret area, you just on dark matter blocks and grab a block, you put the block on a button, which raises a platform, you grab on the swings, swing across the fire pit and get your prize, ok well that was really neat. One thing though, when you try to get out of the "secret" area. You can't, the jump is too high. Simple fix, some stairs or something will easily fix this.

Another problem, still not a biggy. Try to hide the dark matter, it's just there... Sticking out like a sore thumb.

Anyways, really great level, the colors, the feel to it, all the tricks you had to do, really fit in well, the crowd gasping in awe, then watching you land your fall, being welcomed by an applause. Really fun level man, 10/10. Recommend everyone to play it!

I forgot to add one of the most important things: 5 stars and hearted! It goes without saying that I would be happy to playtest other levels in the future and I hope you consider the feedback I left for you in the previous post. I am not the type of person to just endlessly praise a level (even my favorite levels) if I think I can help a level be even better by giving constructive feedback. I will be playing it again later tonight. Once again, great work!

Thanks for the feedback and plays everyone. There are several issues I am going to look into extensively but for the most part I have gotten most of the mentioned issues fixed. I have asked a couple specific questions here I hope to get answered:

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Originally Posted by Yarbone

The spinning things in the beginning are hard. And when you wait to long (wich is what i did, because it was too hard for me) they'll just spin unevenly and you'll have to wait untill it's even possible to play that part again. So it would come in handy if you adjusted those "spinning sponges on a rod"'s speed.

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I actually have all of them set on the same speed except the first one which is twice as fast, the only time I have seen the problem you mentioned is if you have 2+ people on the same rod for an extended period of time, could you please tell me if you were by yourself or not? What happens is even though they are set on maximum tightness it still isn't tight enough and to much wait make them start to slide out of place. If anyone knows a fix for this please reply.

And OCK when you said you got stuck on the first jump do you mean the one with the trampoline?

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And OCK when you said you got stuck on the first jump do you mean the one with the trampoline?

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I meant right near rhe very beginning there is a black jump-pad. But I replayed the lvl about an hour ago and it worked much better now so maybe I was doing something wrong the first time. I also noticed you made some changes based on the feedback given , thank you for that. Btw, I now I have the 2nd highest score :)

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Originally Posted by OCK

I meant right near rhe very beginning there is a black jump-pad. But I replayed the lvl about an hour ago and it worked much better now so maybe I was doing something wrong the first time. I also noticed you made some changes based on the feedback given , thank you for that. Btw, I now I have the 2nd highest score :)

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Gratz on the score and yeah the reason you can to the jump pad now is because I fixed it, I did correct most of the feed back. Wasn't really able to get rid of the background lines totally but whats left looks a lot like seams in the cloth, btw I couldn't because of items being to complicated do to the nature of the construction. Keep replying problems as you see them.

It was great up until the Cannon, I lined up the shot it fired once but fired me into the fire, then after respawning the firing mechanism was jammed and no matter what I did it wouldn't fire again. Will replay it again once you either fix the cannon or offer a different way across that gap.

Cheers QuozL

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Originally Posted by QuozL

It was great up until the Cannon, I lined up the shot it fired once but fired me into the fire, then after respawning the firing mechanism was jammed and no matter what I did it wouldn't fire again. Will replay it again once you either fix the cannon or offer a different way across that gap.

Cheers QuozL

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Fixed the cannon issue as well as some text issues.

Oooo I can't wait to play this level. Feedback in a bit!

Careful not to double post, I hate that one, anyway I now have the high score (don't worry I made it beatable) and I am working on some good rewards for the level.

All working fine here now, a very enjoyable level with great writing.

Cheers QuozL

Yeah I was just going to edit the above post rather than double post :P But thanks :)

Yeah your level didn't disappoint at all. Your lighting was simply amazing, and the theme held throughout the entire level which made it a joyride. The rhymes and teddy bear ending got me all warm inside, and the amount of work you put into the dialogue and gameplay is evident everywhere you look. Great great level!

This level has sparked a new trend in me :)
When I see a level in the showcase that has some very good feedback like this one I'm going to note it down on a list I have just made of levels to play. As sometimes I just forget about the good levels I have heard about in these forums :D
Yours is top of the list :)

Well really, all it takes is ANYONE on the forums to play the level and most importantly provide feedback. I see too many levels get lost in the clutter because either:

A) People play the level, it didn't hit the spot, and they forget to comment on it.

OR

B) The level gets completely shuffled down the list with only a few looks at the thread. This is usually due to a poor description of the level, or simply people only clicking on levels that have been reviewed already by the few on the forums that take the initiative to do so.

I'd encourage everyone to step up and provide feedback, ANY feedback, so that the people on LBC can improve their creating skills and be encouraged to keep creating.

Just my 2 cents! Don't know if this was the right place to do it haha :D

Alright, I am pleased to announce that I was able to correct just about every issue mentioned and the ones I was unable to correct are fairly minor details. The level is functioning quite well now, and all the dialogue reads in a satisfactory way.

I added a key at the end of the level to a version of the level with all the dialogue and the intro removed, as well as an added race timer. Essentially a game play race version of the level, its located near in about the same place, enjoy. :)

I tried this yesterday, but could not get past the second swing thing due to my own poor skill. :o

It looks absolutely amazing though with incredibly high production values thoughout the level. I was going to try it again anyway, but me and Hexagohn have agreed to go through each others levels in depth and make any comments we see. :)

So, let me just start by saying, as I said before, it looks absolutely amazing. I loved the lighting and the subtle changes in the music which changed the mood to the scene, and the art design was really cool. The fact that the whole level rhymes just goes to show how much love and hard work Hexagohn has put into this. :)

I died the first time I tried this on the swings, but I put this down to my own incompetence rather than bad design. I also died the second time through on the boss. I'm too cautious and it took me all the lives to work out the sequence. It was so good though that I had to come back and try it all again. ;) It did not feel cheap though, this boss. It's a matter of skill and timing, and working out the pattern. When I did kill it the appearance of the end I could not quite see. I think I skipped the wrong part or something. Still though, an amazing and well scripted scene from what I saw. :)


A few minor points:

You could see the sensor for the lion's "Roar!". You might want to make it invisible, as it clashes with the art design.

Continuing with the lion idea, you might want to give it some sort of sound effect while you fight it. I think it would really add to the scene.

The first time I played through and got to the spinning barrel you walk on top of, for some reason I paused a long time, probably to absord the atmosphere. The speech bubbles did not all fire though. When I replayed I noticed that it was the lines about the ring that did not activate when I was standing still for too long.

The fire spinning things on top of the elephant ride, if that makes sense, the ones at the start of the ride... well, they don't seem too deadly. If you stand on the middle of the platform, you get set on fire but don't die. I found trying to jump over them would kill me though. You could leave this as a known bug or increase the leathality to electricity if they are meant to be hard.

There is a kind of secret bit... let me put this bit in spoilers so I don't spoil it for others...

[SPOILER]Underneath the clowns, which you get to by going down the gap just before the cannons is what looks like a secret extra bit. If you work out the puzzle you get a bonus prize bubble and points. But... well, I could not get back up. I'd either add more of a step at the start of that area or have some sort of spring or lift near where you get the prize bubble. I got out the situation by simply retrying, but I don't think that's what you meant to have happened.[/SPOILER]

One more small suggestion... you might want to think about adding more points bubbles about the place. I think that could really enhance things. I was inspired enough to consider the schematics for a system that would reward you for acing a section, but I'll have to test it out in detail. You might want to get an emitter system on the monsters though as an easy and rewarding fix, let me describe it. I'm describing part of the system I used in the liver in my level.

Take the lion as an example. Put a magnetic key on the lion itself. Put a magnetic switch somewhere nearby, but not on the lion itself, and increase it's sensor area so it's big enough to cover the entire area where the lion could be. Have the switch on inverted, and hook it up to an emitter. Set the emitter to emitt point bubbles, adjust the settings so it's the right number and speed, something like 3 or 5 or 10, have the same number as max emit and emit at once. Have the bubbles come out relatively quick, especially if there are a lot of them.

Don't actually fire the emitter in the create stage though. It will give the thermometer headaches. :(

Pick up the lion using a popit lasso and it should break the connection to the magnetic switch, and fire the emitter as it would in the game. Just remember to rewind it so the bubbles are not there before you save, but it has all the schematics set.

To set a similar system for the clowns, have the same basic set up but give the clowns different coloured keys with a matching switch and seperate emitter for each of them.

I used this system for the monsters in the liver in my level. If you need more help about it, then ask here or in help or send me a PM. But it might enchance the situation of what's already a great level.

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So... in summary... it really is an amazing level, and I went ahead and hearted it. It was tough for me, a not so hot platformer player, but it never really felt cheap, it just felt I needed to increase my own skill to get things done. The atmosphere and story were enough to bring me back though, and I highly recommend playing this. :D

To be honest, it's one of the best story type levels I have seen. I ultimately want to do a detailed story type level, and you have definitely set a high bar to aim for. ;)

Alright going to go fix up a couple of the things you mentioned. You werent the only one who mentioned issues getting out of that "secret area." Im curious is it leaving the area, or leaving the little section with the points?

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Originally Posted by Hexagohn

Alright going to go fix up a couple of the things you mentioned. You werent the only one who mentioned issues getting out of that "secret area." Im curious is it leaving the area, or leaving the little section with the points?

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Well, it's both. You can use the same mechanism to get to the points area to get back to the way you come in, but either way there is no way out apart from death or retrying.

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Originally Posted by Elbee23

Well, it's both. You can use the same mechanism to get to the points area to get back to the way you come in, but either way there is no way out apart from death or retrying.

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I just tested it, it is possible to do both. It's a puzzle though, I do wish people would give a bit more thought before suicide.

AWWWWWWWWW. That level was so adorable and cute. The writing was excellent and the ending made my heart sink.

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Originally Posted by Hexagohn

I just tested it, it is possible to do both. It's a puzzle though, I do wish people would give a bit more thought before suicide.

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Well, I did poke around a bit to try and find a way to get back up from the secret area. There might be a way, but at the moment it's not obvious from what I saw. :(

Ok, made some major changes shown on the front page of the thread. Including the addition of a ranking system. The "Main Events" are marked with a Star sticker indicating your performance will be judged. Regarding the secret area I will give you guys a clue. [spoiler]The cube is the key to the puzzle and it must be used extensively.[/spoiler]

Wow! Great level! Ock and some others pretty much summed up my thoughts so I'll just add that I really enjoyed the wonderful dream world you created!

Hexagohn, there is one part of the level where there is a puzzle you have to do, just on these steps, graba cube, place it on the button and get the prize bubble, once you do this and try to exit the "secret puzzle area."

My sackboy couldn't jump high enough, I don't see any other way of doing this, and I don't think you can. Correct me if I'm wrong.

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Originally Posted by Whaaaaale

Hexagohn, there is one part of the level where there is a puzzle you have to do, just on these steps, graba cube, place it on the button and get the prize bubble, once you do this and try to exit the "secret puzzle area."

My sackboy couldn't jump high enough, I don't see any other way of doing this, and I don't think you can. Correct me if I'm wrong.

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Ok, a lot of people are having trouble with this. I keep going back to look at it and still find it's possible. So here it is:You grab the cube, place the cube on the button, jump off the cube, swing over and get the points, swing back, grab the cube and drag it up the incline, jump off the cube and your out.

I was short on space, all I had to really work with was that tiny area so I did my best to make it a challenging puzzle. I am greatly considering removing the need for the cube to exit.

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Originally Posted by Hexagohn

Ok, a lot of people are having trouble with this. I keep going back to look at it and still find it's possible. So here it is:You grab the cube, place the cube on the button, jump off the cube, swing over and get the points, swing back, grab the cube and drag it up the incline, jump off the cube and your out.

I was short on space, all I had to really work with was that tiny area so I did my best to make it a challenging puzzle. I am greatly considering removing the need for the cube to exit.

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Ah, so that's how you do it. I was wondering about that.

From a players perspective though, we think cube = access to bonus area rather than cube = bonus area + exit.

What your saying does indeed make sense, but it's just not immediately obvious to use the cube twice in two different ways on two different screens.

Perhaps a second cube kind of near the exit might do that job without making it too simple. :)

Yeah i'm gonna fix it, disobeyed my own motto here without realizing it, "Never punish the player" you shouldn't be put in a place where after entering a bonus area you think you are doomed. I just thought of something pretty good that will fix it and it should be implemented pretty soon.

I played this today and it was really fun. The secret area did not give me too much trouble - perhaps you have already fixed it? The cannon was clever, though I had no idea where I had ended up afterward. And the opening sequence with the bed ... that was inspired.

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Originally Posted by Trystian

I played this today and it was really fun. The secret area did not give me too much trouble - perhaps you have already fixed it? The cannon was clever, though I had no idea where I had ended up afterward. And the opening sequence with the bed ... that was inspired.

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Thanks, and yeah I fixed the secret area already. Glad you enjoyed the level.

Fun fun fun. Played with another dude and we kept dying all the time. He slapped me out in the smoke and electrified floors but I was laughing through the whole thing. I think there's something with sackboys falling long distances only to be fried. Five star. Nothing major to pick on. Great level!

Oh yeah, I did play this.
It was awesome. Loved it. I loved all the little rhyming dialogue, that was a nice touch.

Just played it. It was nice, and the ending was fun, too. I liked the story. There were a few things I thought you could improve.

- When you have two checkpoints next to each other, it's hard to pass the second without activating it. Maybe put the second one higher up so you have to jump to activate it?

- You should set some of your emitters so that 'max emitted at once' is 1, and then you have to activate it to get the first one. Then you'll never have duplicate objects.

- When the big electric elephant wheel goes by, you can still die if you're in the hole if you happen to be standing toward the right side.

I really enjoyed this stage.

The only thing I saw were grammar and spelling errors.

Great work. You sort of had what I wanted with my amusement park and casino levels-- lighting-wise. :)

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Originally Posted by SuperPhillip

I really enjoyed this stage.

The only thing I saw were grammar and spelling errors.

Great work. You sort of had what I wanted with my amusement park and casino levels-- lighting-wise. :)

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Yeah, I hate trying to type with the controller and I did the best I could as far as spelling goes. Grammar for the most part I broke about a million rules because I wanted it to read one way or another. As far as spelling goes I will check it out and fix any errors I see as well as any specific ones anyone mentions. Hopefully I will be getting a keyboard for my PS3 soon which should make fixing stuff like that easier.

And thanks Risen for the feedback, I will fix the elephant thing and the double checkpoints for sure. The parts with duplicate objects are there because I have one existing one and then something to make them respawn in case you screw it up. I prefer to have one existing when the player approaches the obstacle so the first attempt can be more smooth. And at the part with the ball it is there for cinematic reasons. I will look for a solution though.

Oh, you did it all with the annoying cell phone-like text input?

Goodness. I don't envy you. hehe
Great job on that, too, then.

And I thought writing a million words worth of dialogue in RPG Maker for the PS1 with only a controller was a pain. X:

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Originally Posted by Hexagohn

The parts with duplicate objects are there because I have one existing one and then something to make them respawn in case you screw it up. I prefer to have one existing when the player approaches the obstacle so the first attempt can be more smooth.

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Right, and that's fine... you can keep it that way. You just need to wire in a proximity switch somewhere that activates the emitter for the first object. You can't wire two switches to the same object, but that's really easy to work around by putting in an "OR" switch.