Community Chainwreck

snapman's picture
eddie.gif

This is my first attempt at a community project, so let me know which parts are good, which are bad, etc...

Presenting the first GloriousTrainwrecks.com Community Chainwreck! A chainwreck is a game built by multiple members using the same template. Each level (or should I say "railway car") of the chainwreck is linked in a consistent way to the preceding and proceeding screen. The objective of the participant is to create a fun and challenging obstacle to the player's progress from the current screen to the other screens.

For this specific chainwreck, participants need to position two objects in their level: The goal and the exit. Everything is set up so that the goals will show up in 5 randomly chosen levels. Once the 5 goals are collected, the exit will appear in one of the levels. To make your level difficult, obstruct the player's path, or reset the level (death). The template consists of the existing counters and objects, and the first 10 events. These shouldn't be deleted. Don't use player values (score and lives) as these values are used extensively by the template.

The file has two copies of the template, so you can see how the game transitions between levels. One template is using a platform movement for the player avatar, while the other is using the 8-directional movement. You are not limited to these two movements! BE CREATIVE! PM your completed levels to me, and I'll assemble them all together in a chaotic manner. The current deadline for submissions is the day before the next KOTM. Feel free to submit more than one level, but remember you're not limited to 2 hours or anything.

"Eddie the Engineer's traingame is off the tracks! Track down the 5 missing gears, before Eddie loses his mind completely!"

AttachmentSize
chainwrk.zip18.89 KB

Comments

SpindleyQ's picture

Hells YES I approve of this

Hells YES I approve of this so hard.

I can't seem to actually get the examples to work, though! Frame 2 doesn't make the exit appear when I collect the gear, and Frame 3 doesn't have the gear show up at all. And Frame 3 has only 4 events in it. Help?

snapman's picture

Clarification:

Clarification: You travel between frames by the left and right sides of the stage, collecting goals as you go. The finished game will have special frames on the far left and far right to wrap around the levels. The game world will be a long horizontal chain of levels. Gameplay is searching the levels for the next gear, and finally the exit. Run the game "as finished" to see this in effect.

If there are less than 10 events in the third frame, the file must be corrupt, and I'll upload a new version tonight. Maybe I left it in the "only show events related to one object" option?

SpindleyQ's picture

Aha, I see! Yes, it's in

Aha, I see! Yes, it's in "Only show P1 events" mode, duh. The whole thing makes much more sense now.

I don't quite understand what's supposed to happen when you reach the exit, though; are you planning on tweaking that event manually on everyone's submission?

snapman's picture

I'm going to manually set

I'm going to manually set the "total levels" counter, the "current level" counter, and add a "jump to frame" on collision with the exit. The object I'm using to make the p2-4 values show up is destroyed, just so the event will be easy to find.

kirkjerk's picture

sorry, what's going on at

sorry, what's going on at the start of a level w/ the gear and the exit?
I see lots of stuff with the Y value being set and destruction going on.
(I'm hyperrusty w/ KNP, which isn't helping)

kirkjerk's picture

Do we just post stuff here,

Do we just post stuff here, or should we sneak 'em to you, or what?

I got two levels... i just jacked the two examples and kept them in the same thing, so I'm not sure if the gear logic works out.

also should levels be renamed, .i.e.
Screen by kirkjerk
or e.g. named like
"fabolosity" by kirkjerk?

PS my levels suck and I remember why I ran away to Java back for the pirate kart

snapman's picture

There's a whole private

There's a whole private message system on Glorious Trainwrecks that SpindleyQ added after I asked for one a while ago.

All the pre-made events are for moving between screens by the left and right sides of the screen, gears randomly appearing in some level you have to find, and when all 5 are found, the exit will show up.

Change the text as much or as little as you want. It makes it more interesting that way!

snapman's picture

Send me the levels through

Send me the levels through the handy private messaging system SpindleyQ added a while ago after I asked for one (he's so nice that way!)

The events already in the template are to move between screens by the left and right sides of the screen. You have to find the level where the gear will show up. Once you collect it, it will appear in a different level. Then you have to find it again. Once you've found it 5 times, the exit appears in one of the levels.

All your level has to do is allow the player to move maximum left, and maximum right, and be able to reach wherever you put the exit and gear. Make it interesting or difficult to reach the exit and gear, and you're good to go! If you want to kill the player, reset the level. It's all up to you!

SpindleyQ's picture

I'm finding that I need to

I'm finding that I need to tweak the "leave the screen on the left/right side" conditions to be "X position < 0" and "X position > 640", just to ensure that my little engineer doesn't glitch out and disappear off into the aether.

I've got a couple of slick levels, though! :)

snapman's picture

Deadline Extention

Seeing that I only got one submitted set of levels, the deadline has been moved ahead by a whole month! Submissions are now due the day before the next KOTM. That's April 17, 2009, a Friday, folks! Get them in earlier, for bonus points!

SpindleyQ's picture

I set up an event with a

I set up an event with a signup reminder to help out the more forgetful among us.

agj's picture

Hey, I had no idea about

Hey, I had no idea about this, but it sounds cool!

SpindleyQ's picture

Did you get enough levels to

Did you get enough levels to put this together? I'm still excited to see what people made...

snapman's picture

I have levels from kirk,

I have levels from kirk, qrleon, agj, haze, yourself, and a mere one level by myself. I wanted to make a proper title screen, ending, etc, but I've suddenly become extremely busy (such that I even missed the last KOTM). Once things settle down again, I'll try to cobble this thing together. I might get some time to do that this weekend, but we'll see.

snapman's picture

progress report

Okay, I really should wrap this thing up and post it. We have a total of 11 levels. I added music to the frames that needed music, and anybody who decided my white background and gray test platforms were good enough had clearly left background design to me, so I whipped up some "quick background gradient" masterpieces to keep the frames from getting all same-y.

What's left: A cohesive title screen and rewarding killscreen "you win" frame, some fiddly wraparound frames, a few more sound effects, and this thing will finally get to be played!

I'm shooting for finishing this up by Friday, and failing that, sometime this weekend. Thank you all for your patience.

pensive-mosquitoes