Jul 30 2011

VVVVVV LEVEL

Yup. I’ve spent the past two days writing what amounts to indie game fanfic.

The single best thing about VVVVVV – the thing that made it work, I think – was that it had instant restarts from checkpoints all over the place. You could tackle incredibly hard challenges and failing wasn’t a problem, since you were straight back in there for another go.

Yeah, I’m doing things a bit differently. 😀

The approach I’m taking is totally different from VVVVVV. The levels are a bit easier, I think; you should be able to clear them on your first go, if you sit and think and work out the timings. Likewise, a lot of them have multiple paths through to reward observation as much as timing.

The other thing I’m doing differently is that collecting trinkets (“power cells”) removes gravity lines in an area. This is how your progression through the central tower works, but it also means that once you’ve collected a power cell, the challenges on the way back to the hub are slightly different. Of course, you can just die and walk back to the hub… but where’s the fun in that? That’s the loser way out. 😀

I’ll finish and release this over the weekend and write up a more detailed breakdown (with spoilers!) on Monday.

3 Comments on “VVVVVV LEVEL”

  1. I like your idea of having a slightly different challenge on the return leg from collecting a trinket, but as soon as you die once, you’re never going to reattempt that different challenge… unless there’s a reward. Maybe a trinket that you can only collect if you go back through that different route? Otherwise it only becomes a useful addition when trying to complete the level with no deaths.

  2. “Trying to complete the level with no deaths” is what I made the level for, really. 😀 It’s come out quite a bit harder than I wanted, but the point’s the same – making the return trip different just means it’s more fun than doing the same thing twice, and it’s still more fun than dying.

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