Feel Bad Friday(s)!

[testtubegames]

What with videos of 'Feel Bad Friday' coming out weekly - I figure it's about time to make a mega-thread to keep them all together. Of course, not to say that I can't take FBF to another game (I have my eyes on some Velocity Raptor levels, say).

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For this week's Feel Bad Friday I played through NealCruco's level: 4348. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that's another hexadecimal-titled-level. How'd I do?
Check out the video on YouTube

Wanna try the level yourself? 4348 by NealCruco:

Code: Select all

[The Electric Shocktopus-"4348"-eNrtVstugzAQ/BXk8ypi7ZiUez+ht4pD1BJRqUqqkh4iq/+eXT+IIZFIkJJWyLOGJTBjPJbZ2ID2QeAk85EW+LqTgdNaWEJ3i35x1rBydA+l+3TU3ELqZCBLuuk1+ASIrEOKYmnTSe2iJ+6GxNIgxIEuakFKVAV86NCD1bvhlmNad+rrlBw4vUqHZxN0UaaWPaGfYHnz+xCue9+D7SVzg69ikreJ1qY5m2hMqaiO3OQMojIUPvkB249BxXXlPEZrX2GDqdQV2ks6jBF7Aa8VNSM2wqaWEkoNha7sE0hImBlk7hf6qkzrPGGuqxuldMs7zUnCXwAf0ANWp20Lzr+c2/1e+PeStKkrnd8KjGgEYK5APNfrfZN9tNlh9/Od7bafh6xu39Zf9UJErJemjp8x/52FdyL9n0H9HgF0Tg+V]

Final thoughts -- another fun level. Tough but not crazy-hard. Really, if it weren't for that star placed above the cannons, it would be a straightforward (if difficult) level. That part felt a bit like chance. But I liked the design of having to go up and down, making for a level that felt really big. And, of course, trolling the player with an evil sign is right up my alley so kudos there! Thanks for sharing the level -- and hope I got your name right this time!

[NealCruco]

...Andy. That first star is not that hard, nor is getting it a matter of luck. Just make sure you're centered on the middle gun before jumping, then charge in short bursts to stay between the missiles. You don't have to worry about centering yourself; not if you were properly centered when you jumped.
And sorry, but you aren't the first to beat 4348. I beat it, with 11 deaths and 3 stars, right after v0.5 was released.

On a different note, I'm excited to see you (attempt to) beat some of the older levels. Many are frustratingly hard, and I will greatly enjoy watching you die.

Edit: There, I beat 4348 again and got a screenshot.

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4348 completed.png (341.48 KiB) Viewed 232378 times

[A Random Player]

I'm thinking that you know how FBF is one level, that's very hard (about 15 min)? We could have some FBFs featuring 2 or 3 simpler, but still interesting levels (replacing or in addition to the long one). This is so a level doesn't have to be very hard to make it on to FBF.
(Also I totally nominate my Binary for next week's FBF)

[testtubegames]

...Andy. That first star is not that hard, nor is getting it a matter of luck.

Fair enough. You may have madder-skills than me when it comes to that first star, then

And I'm glad to know you did beat it -- I always get a bit worried playing through a level when I'm not sure if even the creator completed it... I could see some 60min+ episodes of FBF ... but clearly this one is possible (if tough).

I did take a scan through some of the older levels trying to find a good one to do. And maybe I'll do one this week. Unfortunately, I did find a fair number of levels that don't really 'work' anymore. (Namely, they relied on - and exposed - a glitch in the game... which I later fixed). So some might be impossible at this point. And some don't even have 3 stars, since that wasn't as big a deal before FBF. I'll try to find some possible ones, though, and give 'em a play.

Random - I like the idea of showing off multiple levels. (Since, frankly, a level that takes me 15 minutes to complete would be prohibitively hard for any new players). The only tough thing is how to set it up beforehand, since the only way I know how long a level will take is by playing through it. So maybe I set some 'end' conditions... like, I play until the 15 minutes timer is up. And if I can fit another level, I do.

[testtubegames]

I reached back in time a little bit for this week's FBF... all the way to December 2013...

'Meadowy' by exfret...

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[The Electric Shocktopus-"Meadowy"-eNqr1jE20YEDI0sdAsDQXIdCQNgEY9PB4ApcABxGEO14DMEqhRa8SGqQlZPhNAznEDSDCKdTFMgEA4iWUUQ9A6qrlUqUdKJjgahaKQ3EqgUA4nGRSA==]

Give the level a try, then join me to see how I did.

All in all - a nice level that brought us back to basics a bit. No charges. No magnets. No spikes. Nearly nothing in fact. Just the Shocktopus, Goal, Stars... and some sand tiles because exfret was feeling generous. Platforming and precise jumps all-the-way. One of the harder and least forgiving ones that I've played (your timing needs to be perfect for a number of jumps in a row... ) but at the same time it feels pretty fair. That makes for a really nice balance in a level. Well made, exfret! And thanks for sharing the level with us.

[NealCruco]

I reached back in time a little bit for this week's FBF... all the way to December 2013...

'Meadowy' by exfret...

Code: Select all

[The Electric Shocktopus-"Meadowy"-eNqr1jE20YEDI0sdAsDQXIdCQNgEY9PB4ApcABxGEO14DMEqhRa8SGqQlZPhNAznEDSDCKdTFMgEA4iWUUQ9A6qrlUqUdKJjgahaKQ3EqgUA4nGRSA==]

Give the level a try, then join me to see how I did.

All in all - a nice level that brought us back to basics a bit. No charges. No magnets. No spikes. Nearly nothing in fact. Just the Shocktopus, Goal, Stars... and some sand tiles because exfret was feeling generous. Platforming and precise jumps all-the-way. One of the harder and least forgiving ones that I've played (your timing needs to be perfect for a number of jumps in a row... ) but at the same time it feels pretty fair. That makes for a really nice balance in a level. Well made, exfret! And thanks for sharing the level with us.

...exfret is so much more creative than I am. I would never think of making so much with so little. Well made indeed.

[testtubegames]

...exfret is so much more creative than I am. I would never think of making so much with so little. Well made indeed.

I think that every time I play a user level!

There are tons of up-sides to letting you all make levels in the game. The only problem is that it makes it so much harder for me to make subsequent 'official' levels. When I see the care and creativity that goes into making all the user levels (yes, yours included!), it makes it a lot harder to stare at the blank canvas.

[testtubegames]

A little edit to last week's level. exfret got in touch with me to let me know there was a bug in Meadowy. The player was supposed to spawn just over the bottom block, not in the far left corner. Makes a bit more sense, I suppose.

The correct code would be this:

Code: Select all

[The Electric Shocktopus-"Meadowy"-eNqr1kEAI0sdAsDQXIdCQNgEY9PB4ApcABxGEO14DMEqhRa8SGqQlZPhNAznEDSDCKdTFMgEA4iWUUSsAcYmhI2orlYqUdKJjgWiaqU0EKsWALjskUg=]

[testtubegames]

Okay, Friday is here, and that brings another video... this one living up to the title of Feel Bad Friday.

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I die a lot.

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Like, a bunch of times

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Like, so much that I had to edit the video for length.

It's another level by A Random Player this week... and I must say, with so many new levels posted by Random, it was hard to choose -- but Juggling caught my eye. I'll leave it to history to decide whether that was a good thing or a bad thing Watch me fail, fail, fail (and maybe succeed) in the video on YouTube.

Juggling by A Random Player:

Code: Select all

    [The Electric Shocktopus-"Juggling"-eNrtmE0OgjAQhe/Cugum06l6FsPWC+iu8e42QEMh2p9AMOj7piT8PAqU10eCU0yrGqkMhxAk0Zdog9f1lcRwjYjstMSwWYhpauP7okXJrHjYET+vvBuKoGhTt8s6Pl8+64p66e9LKip1yULEZO3hJb2KJdNRrwqjXvMg/jyrrFPgT9CJqlK75tGoa+eba25+DUMLjjEDhg+dlvmWt/Hd29hIq6x08DMogwhuASsNFLJHI3sAogfsnjwGyQMQPGDX3DlZ5A74dbtv6G+BYCtBiCBDiKCDTKTQwNq4oeIC3zC6rzGf+IyfQmXZkDlEBblC+fgpmH3d8wWQXsF3]

Thanks to A Random Player for sharing the level. I think the video mainly speaks for itself...

I quite enjoyed the confusion that came from figuring out how the switches were supposed to work, and it was very clever how intricate it ended up being. And the juggling -- while at times infuriating -- was pretty fun when I was in the flow of it. That said oh-my-that-was-hard. And the end leap of faith was terrific.

[A Random Player]

Okay, Friday is here, and that brings another video... this one living up to the title of Feel Bad Friday.

It's another level by A Random Player this week... and I must say, with so many new levels posted by Random, it was hard to choose -- but Juggling caught my eye. I'll leave it to history to decide whether that was a good thing or a bad thing Watch me fail, fail, fail (and maybe succeed) in the video on YouTube.

I just broke the record for deaths and video length, didn't I? Oops. (?)

Anyway I'm a bit late in posting this, but I'm glad you liked this level! I felt it was a neat balance between skill and puzzle, and it used a fair bit of switch mechanisms. (I think this is where I discovered the 2-perpendicular-missiles-can-have-one-of-them-destroyed-with-another-one-going-parallel-to-it-so-the-other-one-escapes mechanism.
Also 153 deaths to figure out the juggling? And 27 for the rest? Interesting ratio.. Though I'd say the juggling was quite difficult myself. (It evolved from You Only Get One Jump-rope - I was experimenting with making bullets "orbit" Shocktopus and tried more.. which lead to this.)

The part where the white switch opens was quite funny. "It's gonna open... *boom*. Surely he'll get it the next time... Fall down, curve, *boom*"
The beginning of the level went much like a genetic algorithm - Starting with a totally random "strategy", but slowly honing the juggling process until it worked.

Finally, I liked how you cut the video - I didn't feel anything important was missing, except for a few lines of speech. Though I think that's due to the 5 minutes of learning how to juggle in the beginning

A challenge (from the original post): Create a level that shows it's possible to juggle 4 missiles.