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The Talocan (Score Challenge)

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The Talocan (Score Challenge)o___NEO___o
A little score challenge with a little intro-sequenze. Hope you enjoy...
all
So, I had some time to create a new level - and here it is :-)



The Talocan (Score Challenge)
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(But I have to admit: due to well known problems at this thime, it's not possible to find this level with the search-function. Please search for my Level "The Forgotten Tomb Of Memsut" (just type "memsut" to find it) and go directly to my planet - you can play "The Talocan" from there - thx)
__________________________________________________ ________________________________________


This time, I decided to build a Score Challenge (it's not a Survival Challenge!!!!). At the beginning of this challenge, the player has to walk a little intro-passage -including a mini-game (ring a bell to receive entrance to the Challenge "Talocan")... after that, you are about to enter "The Talocan" - a big giant wheel of stone, that starts to rotate after the player(s) are within the wheel. The mission is simple: grab the pillows as fast and as often as you can to release point-bubbles in the inner section of the wheel. The inner section can only be entered when the player grabs a pillow and waits till the pillow is right above the section - you can fall down there and can collect the bubbles - but you have to hurry, because every 14sec. the inner section squeezes everything inside ;-) The green lights indicates save passage, the red lights indicates... well, I think you know what that means :-)

In total the wheel turns 9 times before it stops. The wheel's former entrance becomes now the exit and the player(s) can leave to go for the scoreboard.



I hope you like this challenge - every comments (positive and critics) are very welcomed!!!

And now some screens



Start-Area

http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/341/einfoto12.jpg ('http://img401.imageshack.us/i/einfoto12.jpg/&apos

Mini-Game right before the Challenge starts

http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/807/einfoto2t.jpg ('http://img195.imageshack.us/i/einfoto2t.jpg/&apos

The Talocan-Challenge

http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/2624/einfoto3.jpg ('http://img10.imageshack.us/i/einfoto3.jpg/&apos

The press right before it squeezes

http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/5342/einfoto.jpg ('http://img230.imageshack.us/i/einfoto.jpg/&apos


I whish you lot of fun while breaking high-scores :-)



Greets
Neo		2009-09-17 16:49:00

Author:
(___NEO___)
Posts: 206

Yeah!
Got the second spot!
This is an awesome survival.
The concept is really cool, and the setting has a wonderful atmosphere.
I enjoyed it a lot.
One of the coolest feature is that the level has a little intro, something you don't see often in survival levels.

I have to spot 2 little things, Neo.
First of all you should set better the camera to the high score panel.
You spoil too much of the room, you must center the camera better on the screen.

Second, sometimes the machine doesn't squeeze all the bubbles and some of them get out of the press.

Other than that I rate it 5 stars, since it's awesomely designed both visually and tech wise and really fun.		2009-09-17 21:49:00

Author:
OmegaSlayer
Posts: 5112

Thanks for that comments OmegaSlayer.

Well, I have updated the level right now - and there are two things that are included in these add-ons :-)

1) The camera-angle of the scoreboard: well, I loved the "not-straight-forward-look" in the first used angle very well, but due to a feedback of Treas aka Noshire (formula-forum) I have changed the grab-switch-tech for the highsocre-showing-function. You can now grab as often you want to check the scores (specially needed in multiplayer-game) and there is a different angle as well

2) I added a really cool lighting effect at the bell - I love it man and I think you will too :-)


The reason for the not-destroyed bubbles has some reasons due to the structure of the press - after all and at least I think that these little and well known "press-malfunctions" are a quiet nice effect. I see it this way: when the press holds very much bubbles, it just can't handle them all and some gets "pressed" out due to the big pressure that occurs inside the press. I mean, it's just the engines-physic that bumps out some of the bubbles

But I will try to fix this as well (even that I love it the way it is right now) :-)		2009-09-18 10:35:00

Author:
(___NEO___)
Posts: 206

Yeah, the physic explanation is fitting! 2009-09-18 11:31:00

Author:
OmegaSlayer
Posts: 5112

Once again, I tried to solve the issue of the press for over 2hours today. But it just doesn't work! I can not explain why - the distance between the whalls when the press is catapulting together is "0", and even at the downside of the press, I added a little glas-stripe ot make it possible to pull the left wall of the press down to the plattform at the bottom of the press - so the left wall has contact to the plattform under it: no way for a bubble to pass through - so physically it's not possible for the bubbles to survive :-) I guess I have to accept that... If someone has a solution: pls pm me... but I'm run out of ideas to solve that puzzle...

well, just one idea I still have: maybee I should not use the catapult effect - instead I can set the time for this piston-sequence to 0.1 ? I will try this.... maybee this works...		2009-09-18 15:17:00

Author:
(___NEO___)
Posts: 206

This is a great score challenge. Simple concept but original. I havn't seen anything like it. The intro is a little long but looks so good it's fine and the level isn't so quick that it gets tedious to go through when we retry.

The first time I didn't read the speech-bubbles carefully and failed to understand I was supposed to grab the sponges for points. I'll return for a better score when there's some more competition.		2009-09-19 00:49:00

Author:
Kipmonlin
Posts: 251

Just played it. Got the 3rd place!!!

Okay here is the feedback.
It looks great!!! I can really feel the gold in the cave. I love the way you introduce the lvl before going to the challenge room. Most of the challenge lvl just spawn you right to the action not yours The bell thing is also nice and memorable. Challenge room fits perfectly with the theme. It's unique and fun.

I never tried to create a challenge lvl but IMO, it needs to be something so addicted to. I don't know if it's addictive enough. (played it 5 times already Hahahaha!!!)

Anyway, I don't mind having extra bubbles survive from the press. Lucky me

Overall
A Must play --> :star::star::star::star::star:		2009-09-19 01:24:00

Author:
SiXth
Posts: 59

This is my new favourite mini-game challenge! Like the others have said it's so addictive and fun too! It's a very clever idea and so well made. It's a really beautiful level and that lighting effect on the bell is amazing.

I'm another player who doesn't mind a few bubbles falling out of the middle every so often! Somehow I even managed to get a high score, but I couldn't beat you! I'll try again later though...!

Please make more levels soon (maybe a sequel to this...?!).

5 stars and some hearts for you 		2009-09-19 02:22:00

Author:
Quiche Friendzy
Posts: 5

Thank you guys for your comments - It's great to know when people having fun with the levels I've created. I promise, if you have fun with the Talocan - you defenitely have fun with the Memsut Levels as well.

I've played some challenges (survivals (which I not prefer) and score) before I build this - and LOL the main reason to build this one was simple: I hadn't enough time for a story level, but I loved the theme of the used materials so much that I decided to make a short level to test a few creating-ideas: and the solution for that was, yep, a challenge - and here we are :-) To make it a bit different from most of the other challenges, I decided to include these little bell-ringing part. It was a try to stand out due to these 10.000 of challenges where you just come into the level, press a button and have to run/jump for your life :-) I'm glad you like this approach!!		2009-09-19 09:44:00

Author:
(___NEO___)
Posts: 206

Wow, this level is beautiful. The opening section looks fantastic, as good as a Media Molecule creation. I love the atmosphere you've given this creation.


The set-piece with the bell is really nice... it doesn't take too long, and as Kipmonlin said, it looks so nice I don't mind replaying it again and again

It was also a really good idea to let players see the scoreboard before the challenge begins. It gives us a clear score target to aim for. The challenge itself is very original. It took me a while to get the hang of it- for the first minute or two, I didn't realise that the bubble drops were being triggered by my grabs (This might be because I'm being tired and dopey today). Once I'd sussed it out, I had to play several times. The risk/reward mechanic is clever and works really well.

All in all, this is an excellent, original high-score challenge made to the highest standards. Great work :hero:

:star::star::star::star::star: + heart 		2009-09-20 17:30:00

Author:
Tig-W
Posts: 106

Wow, this level is beautiful. The opening section looks fantastic, as good as a Media Molecule creation.

omg - Thank you Tig-W - that's the coolest thing I heard about this level till now and I guess that it's almost impossible to top this statement.


I didn't realise that the bubble drops were being triggered by my grabs (This might be because I'm being tired and dopey today)
LOL - yeah, i hope this might be cause you're tired :-) I thought that I've explained this in the three text-infos right before the Talocan's entrance :-) I guess I have to check that again... I'm not sure if I had explained it clear enough ;-)

I hope we can play this one together one day - in multiplayer there are much higher scores possible!

Thx again for your feedback Tig-W! I appreciate!!! 		2009-09-20 19:01:00

Author:
(___NEO___)
Posts: 206

LOL - yeah, i hope this might be cause you're tired :-) I thought that I've explained this in the three text-infos right before the Talocan's entrance :-)

Duh!
yeah, put that one down to me being a fool 		2009-09-20 19:31:00

Author:
Tig-W
Posts: 106

hehe, ok Tig-W, I owe you an apology!!!! I take back my statement :-)

... but like a friend once said: "the ball was so close to the goal, I just have to kick it ... " :-)

but to be serious again: I really have to check the text-infos - I can't remember the exact words that I've included there... The qunatity of letters in the speech-bubbles (sorry, I don't know the english expression for it) is still too low so we're always forced to cut things into pieces...		2009-09-20 20:20:00

Author:
(___NEO___)
Posts: 206

amazing survival level!

I will not write a review about this one (simply because I have lots of levels to play and test) but it's a very good survival point fest level.

Once more, the visual style stands out.
It's clear to me that you understand how to make a level look good, nicely done 		2009-09-22 14:48:00

Author:
nightwing
Posts: 422

This looks awesome! i cant wait to play it!2009-09-23 00:58:00

Author:
Bulbasore
Posts: 17

Time to leave some feedback here as well

I've got one suggestion: Add a sound effect for grabbing a sponge. I think the "Bell" tune ("Fun" category) would fit in quite well. The one I used in Bubble Caves whenever you collect all bubbles on a pillar.

Other than that, it's a great level. There's not much to add, since everything I wanted to say has already been pointed out by others. Great visual style, outstanding lighting, nice challenge, perfect tech, fun gameplay and high replay value.

As for the glitching bubble press, you might want to set it to directional instead of OneShot, remove the catapult setting and set the speed to something between 0.1 and 0.5 instead. Catapult setting is prone to clipping issues.

:star: :star: :star: :star: :star: from me.		2009-09-27 10:23:00

Author:
Treas
Posts: 223

As for the glitching bubble press, you might want to set it to directional instead of OneShot, remove the catapult setting and set the speed to something between 0.1 and 0.5 instead. Catapult setting is prone to clipping issue
Thx for your suggestions treas. I appreciate!!! I tried this non-catapult setting right in the beginning of the creating-process - but the effect was just the same result: some bubbles just getting "pressed out" the press and survived (^^) the pressure inside the walls.

Nice idea with the sound while grabbing a sponge - I will try this. At least I'm not certain if this will push the gameplay because this revolving sound maybee feel a bit nerve-wrecking: if you grab as often and as fast as you can (because every single grab releases 2 point bubbles into the press) you will hear that sound dozens of times during the 9 turns of the wheel. And if you hear this over and over again, this sound could get on the player's nerves :-) So it could be better to use a sound that's not to loud or to freaky :-) but I will definitely try this - sounds very good to me....		2009-09-27 15:54:00

Author:
(___NEO___)
Posts: 206

I've got one suggestion: Add a sound effect for grabbing a sponge.

I think that's a great idea.
It would help out players who are too slapdash to read the instructions properly.

:blush:		2009-09-27 18:04:00

Author:
Tig-W
Posts: 106

So, due to your comments (treas and Tig-W) I added a sound-effect for every single pillow-grab in the wheel. I'm not sure if this sound matches the scenery perfectly, but it turned out great - I tried this with the bell-ringing-sound too, but in my ears this sound feels exhausted after 20 grabs...

I'm curious about your feedback due to this new element.

@Treas: nice 2nd place my friend! 11.040 points are very close to the first place! I honour your attempt to crush my record!! :-) I whish I would be able to reach your score in Bubble Caves... btw: the emergency-lifts between the pillars are great!!! That's a great solution for nuclearfish's hint (if I am right) ... :-)		2009-09-29 21:12:00

Author:
(___NEO___)
Posts: 206

I?m a bit late getting in on this but I just wanted to say what a fantastic level you?ve got here. I love the look of it. The intro section in particular is just beautiful and very atmospheric, something you don't normally find with a score challenge level. I think the bell ringing is a nice touch.

The gameplay itself is both fun and very addictive and, as Kipmonlin said, original, too. I shall definitely be going back to try and improve my score.

Overall a really cool level. It deserves so many more plays than it has at the moment! I really hope that if this thread gets into the Cool Levels that will change!


BTW the sound effect on grabbing the sponges works really well. It's not at all irritating and I think it would seem odd without it!

5 :star: and hearted!		2009-09-30 18:39:00

Author:
shropshirelass
Posts: 1455

Just by the look of the pictures looks great. Im going to play it right now and later will share some comments; but looks fantastic.2009-10-02 00:09:00

Author:
Duckywolf
Posts: 198

Neo!

just played the level. Great! An interesting concept, it works nicely.

hmmm...i would like in this level is maybe changing the direction of the wheel rotation from time to time would add more interest to the overall game play.

good intro, looked great!

maybe put more hazards in the wheel. Maybe changing the sponges from fire to normal and normal sponges into fire. Something like that...

:star::star::star::star::star:		2009-10-04 08:55:00

Author:
HOLLYWOOD234
Posts: 30

Neo!

just played the level. Great! An interesting concept, it works nicely.

hmmm...i would like in this level is maybe changing the direction of the wheel rotation from time to time would add more interest to the overall game play.

good intro, looked great!

maybe put more hazards in the wheel. Maybe changing the sponges from fire to normal and normal sponges into fire. Something like that...

:star::star::star::star::star:

Thx for your feedback Hollywood234 - these are very interesting suggestions!!! Changing the wheels direction: puh, I don't know if I am able to build such a cunstruction within the existing wheel because I am not a high-end-game-tech-pro :-) but I will make a little brainstorming on that - sounds great!

Change sponges into fire and vice versa: indeed a brilliant idea to make it a bit more challenging - i whish there would be an option to change material into fire and vice versa whithin the game - otherwise the only solution (for my level of tech-skill) is to spawn little fire-pieces above every sponge from time to time so that the sponges are not accessable at this time. If I had thought of this option before I started this wheel I guess it would have been possible to put these fire and sponges onto pistons and make these pistons move every xy-seconds - for this option the outer ring of the wheel should have been bigger -with more space- so the sponges/fire-pieces could be pulled back into the outer ring - d a m n :-) thats also a pretty cool idea...

Btw: today I'm looking forward playing your pirate level :-)		2009-10-04 11:26:00

Author:
(___NEO___)
Posts: 206

UPDATE

After many helpfull comments I've been able to add a new option for those, who get bored from the bell-ringing part after playing the level again and again and again ^^...

At the level's entrance you'll find a switch that gives instant access to the Talocan wheel!!! The usage of this switch saves at least one minute and allow the player(s) to start directly above the wheels entrance :-)

I hope that this improvement motivates a lot of player to go for the highscore... I'll be waiting for those who knock me down from the first place 		2009-10-19 17:02:00

Author:
(___NEO___)
Posts: 206

That sounds like a good idea but does it mean that you would lose the 2100 worth of score bubbles you would otherwise get from ringing the bell? That might make it harder to get the top score (for me at least!).2009-10-19 19:33:00

Author:
shropshirelass
Posts: 1455

No, you will not loose these points - at the moment you are released close to the wheel these points fall from above so there is no disadvantage at all :-)2009-10-20 07:27:00

Author:
(___NEO___)
Posts: 206


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