[KS+][Challenge][Very Hard/Hard/Lunatic] The Dithered Temple

[Vegetal Gibber]

[ Click here to download the level ] (file size: ~6MB)

[ Mirror link (Knyttlevels.com) ]

"The Dithered Temple" is a rather short, retro-styled (complete with fake 16-color EGA graphics and AdLib-like music, emulating old-school DOS games) and quite hard challenge level that will put your KS (and KS+) skills to the test. It's tough, but mostly fair... or at least that was my intention

Two versions of the game, "Original" and "Light" (Very Hard and Hard modes, respectively) are available right at the start. A word of warning, though! The "Very Hard" difficulty tag on the Original version is there for a reason, so if you prefer a less stressful (but still reasonably challenging) experience, playing the Light version is recommended.

Main features:

• Retro-style visuals and music, complete with 16 color fake EGA graphics (for the most part) and fake FM synth AdLib/SoundBlaster music.
• A lot of traps and tricky jumps, combined with some KS+ exclusive obstacles that will offer experienced KS players a good challenge.
• Two difficulty modes: Very Hard (original version) and Hard (light version).
• Hidden treasure vaults and collectible artifacts that unlock additional content. They're all well hidden, but marked with subtle hints.
• Lots of bonus content and hints available after beating the main quest. This includes an unlockable Environmental area and also a (completely optional) Lunatic mini-area that contains extremely hard versions of some of the challenges that will EVISCERATE you really test your reflexes (and your patience!).
• A couple of animated cutscenes (including a full-screen one).

Spoiler: Screenshot Gallery (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Changelog (current version: 1.04) (click to show/hide)

* 1.04 - Added a save point and a few decorations that were present in the "Original version" but missing from some of the "Light version" screens.

* 1.03 - Added a few extra hints for some secrets, moved the title sign at the end of the "Dark Cistern" area (so it doesn't overlap with the 2-way platform on the way back from the garden) and fixed a couple SGEs.

* 1.02 - Added a fix for the slowdowns in the "Corridor of Trials" area when playing in older machines.

* 1.01 - Fixed a void screen and a few non-solid tiles.

* 1.00 - Initial release.

Any feedback and suggestions on how to improve the level will be appreciated! It's been ages since I last designed a pure "Challenge" level, so I'm not very confident I did a good job here

NOTE: This level requires egomassive's KS+ mod to play. Using version 1.3.2 or greater is recommended.

[canteven]

Help! Where do I insert the installation disk?

[Vegetal Gibber]

If you have a 3.5" HD drive, you can just run the game straight from the floppy disk (just don't forget to disable the write protection switch before saving the game!). There's also an installable 5 1/4" version (split into three 360KB disks) that you can get by registering the shareware version via postal mail 

[ixMarcel]

This level blew my mind, as expected. It's insane how much detail and care you put into your levels. I'm at a loss for words. The intro is very impressive, especially when viewed in KS+ fullscreen! Everything looks and feels exactly like a game from the MS-DOS era, I cannot believe you actually pulled this off.

[scratskinner]

Spoiler: bugs 'n' comment (click to show/hide)

So I found a void screen. It's after the Chamber(sp?) of Trials and like one screen before the temple opens to the plains. It appears you're missing some layer 3 tiles on the right side of the screen. Do Did you intend to put a secret here?

Were you doing anything special in the Chamber(sp?) of Trials? I experienced some unusual slowdown there. For context, I use a fairly venerable machine to play KS, and have come to expect anything graphically intensive to slow gameplay down, but there doesn't seem to be any obvious culprit here. Pretty sure I was using a KS+ that's a couple versions behind, if that's relevant here.

I got two artifacts on my first runthrough (One in the garden, the other in upper halls), and while I saw the key graffiti, I didn't manage to figure out getting the key. (I did find it later.)

Also, it's tricky, but you can get to the Flooded Courtyard treasure chamber, without the hologram, from the room with the yellow lock.

And that just-out-of-reach (and non-functional) bounce pad is just mean for anyone who doesn't already know where everything is.

I mostly beat the Inner Temple - I beat one screen quasi-legit (cheated to place I had gotten repeatably to avoid tedium, continued normally from there - it was the screen with the ceiling fireball spewers) and had to skip a screen because of the flying spewers. As I have mentioned, graphically intensive things (like the tint) slow gameplay down. The thing here is, while it slowed down the projectiles, it didn't really seem to slow down the rate at which they were spewed. I'm pretty sure you did not intend a constant stream to block my way.

[Vegetal Gibber]

@ixMarcel: Thanks for the kind words! I'm really glad to hear that I succeeded in recreating that old-school EGA DOS game feeling. There are a few parts where I went for slightly different approaches, though:

Spoiler: This one really is a spoiler! (about the bonus areas) (click to show/hide)

The "Inner Temple" area uses a filter that mimics a monochrome amber monitor to some degree (plus a psychedelic "palette cycling" CO for the breather rooms). Also, the "Shadow Forest" area has a couple alternate "graphics modes" for an even more retro experience (requires finding 5 purple artifacts).

Also also, there's a completely useless but kinda cool easter egg that you can access at the starting area, if you manage to do something unexpected instead of entering the temple normally.

@scratskinner: Glad you tracked down the bonus areas! Hope you enjoyed completing the level.

Spoiler: Somewhat spoiler-ish answers (click to show/hide)

So I found a void screen. It's after the Chamber(sp?) of Trials and like one screen before the temple opens to the plains. It appears you're missing some layer 3 tiles on the right side of the screen. Do Did you intend to put a secret here?

Nope, that was just a genuine mistake   I forgot to fill that area with solid tiles after adding the shadows. It should be fixed now.

Were you doing anything special in the Chamber(sp?) of Trials? I experienced some unusual slowdown there.

I think that might be caused by the "autosave" triggered right when you enter the room. I added it to prevent the player from accidentally dying right after entering the room before they were able to use the save point, but it seems this can cause slowdowns in older machines (since the shift is triggered constantly). I'll see if I can do something about it.

Also, it's tricky, but you can get to the Flooded Courtyard treasure chamber, without the hologram, from the room with the yellow lock.

I'll probably leave that as it is now. Some players have a lot of fun trying to take unexpected/unintended shortcuts, so I'm okay with it! (unless this causes a wallswim or something like that)

And that just-out-of-reach (and non-functional) bounce pad is just mean for anyone who doesn't already know where everything is.

Sorry about that! I added that bounce pad just for decoration because the screen looked a bit too empty. I tried placing it very high so it wouldn't confuse the players too much, but it seems this wasn't enough so I may remove it altogether.

The thing here is, while it slowed down the projectiles, it didn't really seem to slow down the rate at which they were spewed. I'm pretty sure you did not intend a constant stream to block my way.

That was not intended at all. It's weird, because that screen doesn't have any autosaves, overlay attachments nor full-screen COs. Maybe the AND tint is just really slow in older machines. I'm not sure if there's anything I can do to fix it, though   (other than disabling the screen tint for all those screens). Perhaps I could try making a "low detail" version of the level in the future.

[Vegetal Gibber]

I just updated the level with a potential fix for the slowdowns in the "Corridor of Trials" segment reported by scratskinner. However, I'm not sure if this fix will be effective, since I cannot reproduce the issue on my machine at all. If anyone else experienced the mentioned slowdown issue and is willing to check again after reinstalling the level (saves should not be affected), I'd appreciate it if they'd let me know whether the update helped or not.

UPDATE: The previous fix was confirmed to not be effective at all (thanks, ristos! ) , so I've updated the level again with a different workaround. This one should either completely address the issue or make it so there's only a single, very brief moment of lag when entering the mentioned rooms.

[Purple Ink]

Haven't actually finished this one yet. But I must say, the graphics hurt my eyes. Nice.

[Vegetal Gibber]

Glad you're enjoying it   I'm concerned about the graphics hurting your eyes, though. Hopefully it's in a good way (as in "this really looks like an old game with a very limited color palette") and not in a bad one (as in "this is so hard to look at that it literally causes me pain")   Good thing I didn't go with the infamous CGA cyan/magenta/white default 4-color palette, as I was originally planning to!

Spoiler: (click to show/hide)

...or did I?

In other news, I silently released an updated version of the level yesterday, which fixes a couple SGEs and makes a few other minor adjustments. I'm also considering the possibility of making an easy version of this level as a separate download, although I'm not sure if there'd be enough demand for it. If any of you guys found the lower difficulty mode (Light version) way too hard to beat, feel free to chime in with your opinion!

[Purple Ink]

Glad you're enjoying it   I'm concerned about the graphics hurting your eyes, though. Hopefully it's in a good way (as in "this really looks like an old game with a very limited color palette") and not in a bad one (as in "this is so hard to look at that it literally causes me pain")   Good thing I didn't go with the infamous CGA cyan/magenta/white default 4-color palette, as I was originally planning to!

I mostly meant that in jest. But I also meant it really looks like one of those old games. So great work with the graphics.

[Vegetal Gibber]

Thanks! The "limited color palette" look is kind of a hit-or-miss thing, so I'm glad it worked out fine in this case.

I released one more update that adds a missing save point in the "Light version" and fixes a few minor graphical inconsistencies between the two modes. This will probably be the final version I upload to KnyttLevels.com, unless anyone reports an issue or makes a suggestion before I do that.

[jeanbeane]

I'm really enjoying your level so far. It's creative and well-organized. Also, great job on capturing the retro feel! 

I've been looking around for the high jump. Is it included in the level?

[Vegetal Gibber]

Thanks! Glad you're enjoying the challenges and the aesthetics so far

There's no high jump power-up in this level. I thought about including it in the later sections of the temple, but I decided against it because it would have made things very unbalanced when backtracking for secrets. The exit and all collectibles can be reached with only Run+Climb+Double Jump+"Modded" Hologram. The "Shadow Forest" bonus area features an additional power-up (and a few challenges based on it), although it can't be carried over to the main area.