Trapped - A survival challenge for 1-4 players *** spotlighted! ***

[jwwphotos]

Greetings everyone! My first Vita level is finally finished! ...well, hopefully all the nasty bugs are out of it! lol Sorry to have kept all of you waiting for a new level from me. Hope this makes up for it or maybe just reminds you be careful of what you wish! lol


I present to you:


Trapped - A survival challenge for 1-4 players
You are trapped in an industrial corridor with no way to survive. Your only hope is to bounce and grab your way through the random maze filled with dangers and traps for as long as possible, all while scoring as many points as you can.

http://vita.lbp.me/v/b2g7z

Thanks so much to all my Beta testers not only for finding issues, but giving me some insight for ideas, awesome changes and updates to make this level so much better! You guys were all so very helpful and I cannot possibly ever thank you all enough!! Maybe if I list you all here it might make you feel better since I can't send pizza.

Thanks again to Taffey (tsr13), AmazingFlyingPoo, Gwaeron005, Elvenbane (fullofwin), samiamiamsam (VelcroJonze), LukeCF, Rough_Tea, Imputed7-14, and Syroc. You folks rock!!!

The premise of the level is really simple. SURVIVE!! ...at least as long as possible and gain honor by adorning the top of the scoreboard. I've not even played the live version yet so you have a shot at taking number one for a bit!

It is basically a dual side scroller with randomly generated upper and lower elements coming in to the play area to create the maze to make your way through. There are also point bubbles that make their way down the line as well as a special grab point up above that dispenses bubbles. On in to the challenge, there are special blocks with tunnels filled with prize bubbles for even more points! You also get points just for surviving over time.

The traps / dangers are marked with flashing led lights as well as red markings below them. Grab material is all marked in green. Bounce pads make up the rest of the journey with only the tunnels and grabbable blocks to give you any relief from the bouncing mayhem.

The level will speed up over time and segmented into two stages. Each stage has its own menagerie of custom blocks that randomly come down the line to make your way challenging and also marked by a Stage message that will pop up. As you may have guessed, the second stage is much more challenging and less forgiving. It also contains a few extra challenging surprises. Well, that is if you actually ever get that far. lol

And now a few photos!!
















I truly hope you enjoy this! I think it a bit different and totally fun. Please let me know of any problems and I will address them as best I can. I am especially curious to see if there are any issues now with more than 1 player.

Thanks much!!!
jww

[LukeCF]

Oh it's finally published!
I like that you made all grab able material, and all dangers VERY CLEARLY visible. When you get bouncing around, and in the zone sometimes you lose track of what's coming up, and the color coding is a very nice thing to have.
It also looks like you've added a decent bit since I've last played, so I'm going to have to be sure to play this one again!
I already know the level is going to get a heart from me.

Great work Jww! Keep it up!

[Rough-Tea]

Here it is!

Well, its a real good survival challenge level... its starts a bit slow so, but it features quite some length it seems, didnt make it very far in my first try, but i really wanna see how long it goes lol... the zik-zak points are still hard to chaincombo, but its better than before... i wonder if straight vertical lines, would have worked better.... badge looks kinda meh i have to say, but i still hope u get alot of plays with this one.. it sure is really high on a Top Survival Challenge Level List for LBPV.

I definitely coming back to this level, i might wait for someone to play with, if u want i can tell u bout it. Really wanna see this 2nd Stage ^^ and it sure is a level that will be even more fun in mp. (Why did u tag it with Singleplayer anyways?)

[jwwphotos]

Still working on the badge... not totally happy yet. Always looks better while in create than when published. lol

You can chain combo better if you do every other one rather than from left to right, but yeah.. nothing is perfect. Better than it was before and appreciate the suggestion to get it to what it is now. Especially a challenge considering what type of blocks might be in your way. Sometimes I do best if they are somewhat closer together and just bounce up and down to get them all. I like the pattern as it is intended to distract you from the traps that might be coming up. muhha hahaha haah hah .

I like it a bit slow at first as sometimes you can get really nailed depending on the random blocks and not used to it yet. I think I have each segment before it goes a bit faster at around 90 seconds. The indicator on the back wall towards the left helps you monitor that.

The second stage is quite fun and much harder. The last photo above is from the 2nd stage.

..and I really didn't mean to tag it with single player!! Wow.. I guess I did!? Probably an accident via the touch screen. Then again, I never can understand those silly tags. Single player I suppose means only one player and multi player means more than one can, but it also makes me wonder... single players can't play or what!? lol

Thanks for playing as well as the input!!!

[VelcroJonze]

This is my favorite survival challenge on lbpvita now. So fun and challenging but worth every chance you take trying to get those delicious combos.

The random power up and power down mechanic plays such a huge factor in this, and is what sets it apart from most of these type levels.

The random generated environments is genius, and negates the urge to memorize the level design. That is so cool!

I have only gotten to stage two as of yet, but I love how the difficulty gets amped up with the bouncepads being slightly angled.

I must get to stage three, and I will.

I downloaded this, and noticed how big it was. Almost 3 mb. That is huge. How much thermo did you use?

I barely used a quarter in my little challenge. lol.

Great job JWW! Hearted.

[jwwphotos]

Thanks so much VJ! Quite an honor reading such wonderful comments!

First off.. there is no Stage 3. I was going to, but decided not. I might revisit that and do a new version that include one in Trapped II. lol However, there IS some additional goodies that happen later on that make up for a lack of a third stage. I never could get that far in testing and just had to change the tags on the main sequencer to see all that madness. lol

I think my thermo is maybe a bit over half. Most of the level is emitted and destroyed to keep things tidy and saves a ton.

[Rough-Tea]

It must be Survival Challenge week or something lol

Anyways i replayed it in mp and its far better ofc, we didnt get thaaaaaaaat far but this level really shows a high replaybility and im glade u put some effort in to deliver enough content.

Still working on the badge... not totally happy yet. Always looks better while in create than when published. lol

I know that, i made some badge for my tetris survival challenge and it looked so dark i redone it, brightened it up and it still looks very dark as a badge... weird.

I have to say, this level got bumped relative quickly, but that badge doesnt look so promising, as u can rarely make out what it is, i hope that doesnt break your neck, in terms of not getting on the first page of the cool pages.. since this level would definitely deserve a few 1000 plays.. (man there are sometimes so awful levels with over 3k plays, mostly cause the badge looks nice lol) and it would do the level good in terms of replaybility since theres some highscore rivalry goin on...

[jwwphotos]

lol... must be!

Yeah.. I tried to brighten the badge up some more and it either washes out or looks dark. I will try again later.

Not that worried about the cool pages. If they are anything like they are on LBP1 or LBP2, I would almost rather stay far away. My biggest pleasure is for those that really love fun levels to give it a shot and really enjoy it.. and maybe even try and snag the high score which I just did a bit ago. lol

Thanks much!

[Shade_seeker]

Hey
Ok so I'm the worlds worst at platforming and timmed jumps so this level really isn't for me, after seven attempts I have up lol, so I can't really offer any ideas about game play because, well, I didnt really see too much lol

I do how ever have a fee suggestions: the idea of pullin the levers is a little bit I a cop out and quite cumbersome. Couldn't work out of I had to keep pulling the green lever for more info or if it was on a reaaaaaly long sequencer, but why not utilise the touch and have you touch an info icon in a menu to make thinks look more slick? Same for the score board camera and start game?

I'd also suggest findi g some different music? I just wrote I nice bit of dance music that could fit in well in there perhaps ( though it's on my team picked level so alot of people may well already have it or atleast have heard it) if you would like it dude, just add me and I'll send it to you

Sorry I couldn't comment more on the game it's self, but my dog would probably et further on it than I would, and he HATES computer games !!

[jwwphotos]

Cop out? lol I like that.

Yeah, I could have done the interface a bit more snazzy along the lines of an app, but as it is a pure platformer I tend to dislike messing around with a phone style app menu system before getting ready for timed bouncing and other mayhem.

That being said, I did think about possibly swiping the screen to advance the instructions, but as you would only go through those once if ever, I didn't bother.

Appreciate the offer of the music!! I think if I were to have a custom one I would do it myself rather than an already known work. However I really do thank you for that. Most kind!

[Shade_seeker]

You're very welcome my friend

The reason I suggested the touch screen was to try and stream line things....it was a big 'faf' to have to keep going to the score board every time I die, press start to skip and then press re try, re do the switch and all that so, what I was thinking was, why not do a 'start again' or 'quit' feature.... If you die,you can choose to restar the level ( as in start straight back at the beginning of the jump pads, or quit to enter your score on the score board. If it was more stream pinned and less awkward then I may have stuck at it longer.

[jwwphotos]

OH!!!

I now see your point! I shall think on that and maybe include that as an upgrade. Very nice idea!

Thanks so much for helping me understand what you meant. I at least keep you out of the range of the blah blah blah so you can dive on in, but that might be better. Maybe some others can weigh in on what they think. So nice to have so many creative friends out there to discuss the finer points.

Thanks again!!!

[Shade_seeker]

You're welcome! Always happy to give you my thoughts, never found it hard to offer crytisisms

[gamerguy5432]

Yes! Ive been waiting for this! Ill play it right now...

[Pulparindo15]

Awesome Survival! The random freature and the concept is simply AWESOME! : )
Me gusta!

[Masseyf]

Yup queued. I think I've played pretty much every level you have, why stop now? ^^

Edit:

Just gave it a whirl, don't often play survival challenges, think the sifting thru a sea of them when I first played LBP put me off!

This was lots of fun, I did unfortunately die from going into the back layer twice >.< if your on the way up past the base of a power up you get put into the back layer. Didn't notice the first time what caused it, actually didn't spot the power ups at all on first run (was wondering how you were meant to get to some of those points caches!).

Died from natural causes on third play, those tilted bounce pads and no hook makes things go hairy fast lol. Good fun

[Dentonik]

! Bounce bounce bounce good survival challenge. It remember me Jetpack for ios! I think you must make a menu to start the game. I don't like the intro... But I think the game is cooooool good work sir!

[jwwphotos]

Glad you like it!

Appreciate your thoughts. I might do that sometime or maybe in another version such as Trapped II.

Thing is... Tarsier doesn't make a menu to start levels do they? Especially in An Appetite for Metal though you can survive. They only do it in the arcade / phone app style games. Not ones with a sackboy that I can recall. I just feel it sends a mixed message if you do that.

Can I do it? Sure, but not sure I understand why I "must" do it. I feel it is a forcing a standard because you can, not because it makes much sense.

Thanks again!

[LukeCF]

Glad you like it!

Appreciate your thoughts. I might do that sometime or maybe in another version such as Trapped II.

Thing is... Tarsier doesn't make a menu to start levels do they? Especially in An Appetite for Metal though you can survive. They only do it in the arcade / phone app style games. Not ones with a sackboy that I can recall. I just feel it sends a mixed message if you do that.

Can I do it? Sure, but not sure I understand why I "must" do it. I feel it is a forcing a standard because you can, not because it makes much sense.

Thanks again!

I never noticed that in their levels, but I think that is a perfectly acceptable reason as to why you don't have a menu. This challenge is one that focuses on your skills as a sack person, so why would you hide your sack person?

[jwwphotos]

I never noticed that in their levels, but I think that is a perfectly acceptable reason as to why you don't have a menu. This challenge is one that focuses on your skills as a sack person, so why would you hide your sack person?

Thanks for that.

I've seen several survival challenges on Vita have a menu of sorts, but I just feel it sorta swaps my hands and my brain a bit out of position for what is about to come. I like limbering up a bit.. lol

Though I can see maybe changing the instruction phase a bit to be more touch pad like. Maybe swiping to change screens as well as simply changing based on a timer. Then again instructions is a bit of a novelty anyway since most of the level is pretty intuitive.