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Kurtz and the Dead City of Fabul

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Kurtz and the Dead City of Fabulpickled-punk
Your quest for masks takes you to the heart of darkness.
Follow in the footsteps of a missing explorer. Search the crumbling ruins of Fabul. Gaze at the shattered visage of a dead god. Discover the horror of the bonetree...oh... the horror... the horror...

Mentioned on Community Spotlight 44: "Kurtz and the Dead City of Fabul by pickled-punk has a really unique style and will satisfy sackpersons who love to explore vast levels full of hidden bubbles." Wow, thanks!!


The use of Apocalypse now (based in part on Joseph Conrads heart of darkness) as a loose reference material was excellent. Almost expected to see a bald colonel Kurtz sat next to the bone tree quoting his inspired madness. It works great on both levels, the literary and film references are more like a subliminal frosting on top of a party cake filled with adventure!


http://www.lbpcentral.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=19389

http://www.lbpcentral.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=19401

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http://www.lbpcentral.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=19388

http://www.lbpcentral.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=19399

This is part 6B in my Lady Masquette story line. (The sacklings that chose to follow Masquette in "Drones of Genius Loci", this is the correct route to follow. All others: just dive in!)


Thanks to Dinaralin, Mr.Tran and Rohar Dragontamer for playtesting and ideas.		2010-07-17 17:49:00

Author:
pickled-punk
Posts: 598

I spent two minutes in the level. I can't believe you completed the 2nd half of the level in such a short amount of time!

Positives:
As usual your terrain is wonderful. The visual appeal of all your levels are wonderful. I liked the music selections, sound effects and decorations. I really like your use of camera angles. I have always liked your puzzles, even the simple navigation puzzles make your levels fun. I also like the little hidden score bubble areas you have hanging around. "Apocalypse Soon" too funny.

Suggestions:
After you go through the first water maze, then hit the two switches that allows you to proceed past the next water area, you can swim to the bottom of the level, and there isn't anything there. I would consider adding some decorations and score bubbles or sealing the area off. The sticker alphabet letters you used for the Apocalypse Soon graffiti don't really fit the theme of your level, consider taking some time to create your own graphic to sticker there. There are a few score bubbles to the right and below "page 8". There doesn't seem to be a way off that platform without killing yourself and respawning. I don't like dying to get out of areas.

I gave the level 4S+H. Love your stuff.		2010-07-17 19:06:00

Author:
RoharDragontamer
Posts: 397

Thanks Rohar!

Had some free time on my hands this week, so I could really do some work. (Already started on parts 6A and 7B "Forbidden Temple of the Hollow Mask" too.)

Remember that you taught me how to make a collectable scoreboard a while back? I could use it here on the diary pages of Kurtz. And for me, this is some impressive logics at work. Probably simple stuff for most of you, but I felt a bit like Einstein when it all worked in the end.

Good suggestions: I'll add some stuff near the Dead God, I'll fix the winch, and see if I can devise a better script for the grafitti.		2010-07-17 19:31:00

Author:
pickled-punk
Posts: 598

Hey pickled. You made this level with lightning speed! This has to be my favorite level. I love the environment, material you used, and the designs in the layout. It works so well together especially with the background you chose. It gives a big realistic feel to the level that I appreciate. Great gameplay and puzzles as always. I couldn't figure my way out underwater for the longest time. I kept coming back to an area I was at previously lol. I eventually figured it out and it turns out I kept overlooking that part of the level. The underwater scene was long and vast. At times I would swim for minutes just to find myself at a dead end. Maybe add some bubbles at the corners to reward exploration? Terrific level, shame it was shorter than I wanted lol. Keep it up! Definitely looking forward to your next!2010-07-18 16:06:00

Author:
MrTran
Posts: 216

Today I played all of the levels in this series. This is by far the best one of all. You have improved on your game play and visuals by 100 %! I really enjoyed how some paths lead back to the same place, even though I got lost a lot! I also enjoyed the tree, it was very cool looking! The temple ruins were beautiful and fun to travel through! All together it was awesome. Keep up the good work. I cant wait for the next one!2010-07-18 17:16:00

Author:
austimerr
Posts: 385

Thanks guys!

Just updated the level:
-added some more underwater terrain
-added a lot of score bubbles and some prize bubbles underwater.
-fixed the area underneath diary page 8.

Still looking for some cool lettering.

Now, on with the next part...		2010-07-19 09:00:00

Author:
pickled-punk
Posts: 598

Ugh, I missed a page. Yeah you did add more score bubbles. I ended up getting a way better score than last time. Now I have the top score! I could help you with the cool lettering next time we're on if you'd like.2010-07-19 14:02:00

Author:
MrTran
Posts: 216

Your help with the grafitti would be great!2010-07-19 17:39:00

Author:
pickled-punk
Posts: 598

Hi pickled-punk !
Great level there, here are my feedbacks :

The good :
- a pleasant and beautiful maze
- very nice atmosphere (specially underwater)
- perfect use of different stone materials

The less good :
- In this nice ruins background I am surprised to find perfect square shapes, I find it doesn't fit with your atmosphere
- Some jumps with grabbing balls were not user-friendly enough and I fell into spikes
- Around the end some shapes are too simple in comparison with the rest of the level (but maybe you were having problems with the thermometer)

I put a deserved :star::star::star::star::star:
Great job !		2010-07-19 23:10:00

Author:
onisdream
Posts: 80

Thanks for the stars and good comments, dreaming oni!

I still had some thermometer to spare at the end, but I got constant warnings about areas being too complex. ("Please try spacing things further apart" etc.)

About the swinging on the grabbing balls.... well, the spikes were put there so you could fall on them...
The one giving difficulty would probably be the one more or less hidden behind the pillar? You only see it when you are running towards it, but when you are close to it, it's hidden from view. (I actually planned it this way, seemed like a nice trick.) Also that you have to swing behind the next structure, and let go at the right moment is a bit tricky, but I kinda like it that way...
Or were there other swinging areas giving problems?		2010-07-20 08:35:00

Author:
pickled-punk
Posts: 598

Today I played all of the levels in this series. This is by far the best one of all. You have improved on your game play and visuals by 100 %! I really enjoyed how some paths lead back to the same place, even though I got lost a lot! I also enjoyed the tree, it was very cool looking! The temple ruins were beautiful and fun to travel through! All together it was awesome. Keep up the good work. I cant wait for the next one!

One of the things I've always enjoyed about Punk's levels is the fact that you do need to do a little exploring to find your way around. It's part of the puzzle. I've always found myself thinking, "that was fun to figure out how to get out of here" vs. "how the bleeping son of a bleeping bleeper was I supposed to bleeping figure that the bleep out?"		2010-07-20 16:13:00

Author:
RoharDragontamer
Posts: 397

Hey, thanks for the feedback on my level!

Great level you have here. I loved the materials used, but my favourite thing was the architecture, going from destroyed pillars to boxes stacked onto each other, and then some sort of giant ancient toilet? (lol) Something about the boxes though... how you took out pieces and destroying them to make gameplay was really awesome.

I liked how the level wasn't linear, and I found myself backtracking accidentally. (Which isn't a bad thing) The addition of those notes gave the level a nice story, which is one of the things I love in levels, especially ones that are a mystery.

As for that tree... I don't know what to say, aside from it was creepy. Was it supposed to do anything because I was thinking it would.

For bad things, I couldn't really find much. Maybe add some decorations to the underwater sections to give a 'older' feeling.

Fun level, I gave it 5 stars and a heart 		2010-07-21 00:02:00

Author:
Kog
Posts: 2358

Thanks guys, good you like the exploring aspect of my level: I've got more of that stuff coming up!
At the moment working on the direct sequel, Forbidden Temple of the Hollow Mask, so we can finally find out what happened to explorer Kurtz, and maybe collect that mask that Lady Masquette needs.

Also: I've added some more decorations to the underwater sections.		2010-07-21 07:03:00

Author:
pickled-punk
Posts: 598

Very cool level! I really liked it! Very good the mazes underwater, but you should put some challenges, i think it was too much simple. I found a lot of secrets, very nice idea! 5 stars and heart! If you want, can you play my level? The link is in my signature..2010-07-21 16:26:00

Author:
Vanfanel
Posts: 8

Oh, i found this problem, i couldn't go up because there was the ball.. Look:

http://img808.imageshack.us/img808/3079/unafoto8.jpg		2010-07-21 16:28:00

Author:
Vanfanel
Posts: 8

Thanks Vanfanel. Good you liked it. I'll go and check out your level next time I'm on.

The 'problem' with the ball was actually a planned puzzle. If you put the grabbable sponge in place, you can't use the same way to get up to the second sponge.

(Spoiler: the second route to climb up there is via the broken square block that lies crooked in the second row, it's just visible in your picture, on the far left.)		2010-07-22 06:38:00

Author:
pickled-punk
Posts: 598

Your level did a very good job of making me feel as if I was transversing a real ruin landscape. Muliple paths, underwater sections and extra rooms really brought this feeling to life. Even so, I never really felt completely lost and was always able to find the route through. Overall a fun and polished level very much worth playing.


Check out my level "A Realm Forgotten" if you get a chance, and leave a comment on my page, Thanks!		2010-07-24 02:20:00

Author:
Lockstitch
Posts: 415

:star::star::star::star: So a good level overall, but lets go into more detail shall we?

Good Stuff :

- Choice selection of materials make for a nicely toned templey ruined city. I particularly like how the circular textured stone sometimes matches up with the architecture.

- Nice length with good exploration elements

- Good sense of size and scale. Good reference scenery keeps that feeling going well, things like ruins and cities are hard to capture because if you halfar$e it then it seems very two dimensional

- Nice stickering going on, sublte rust and cracks make the level seem consistent but not same'y.

Stuff to think about :

- Good stickering, but not enough use of decorations me thinks. That said, I do tend to favour the 'crowded' aesthetic style, so maybe I was always going to have this nit pick. It feels a teensy bit empty in some places, especially in the under water tunnels. It might be an idea to play around with the 3d layer glitch some more and maybe put a sunken temple or columuns in the far background. Also sea weed would fit well if sparsely used.

- There was one bit in the water puzzle where the tunnel looked lik ^ and there was a gap, it didn't feel right, I was playing it 2player at the time and I wasn't sure if it was a real route or not so I just left it. If it IS a real route then just ignore me haha. (I did find a gap in the tunnel later on, but I did find out that one was intentional, so take this one with a grain of salt)

- More points bubbles? Just a few clumps of 3 would be nice every now and then. This is the sort of level that does well to have little collectables, eg. you have found 4/7 golden tallywhackers! etc

So yeah, very nice overall, maybe a bit more detail in some sections but bar that very solid.		2010-07-24 03:14:00

Author:
Asbestos101
Posts: 1114

Thanks for the comments Lockstitch, just left feedback on your awesome level.2010-07-24 08:34:00

Author:
pickled-punk
Posts: 598

Thanks for the extensive feedback, Asbestos!

Don't know about adding extra decorations, but I'll think about it.

Indeed the underwater tunnels have a few intentional gaps in the right place (so you can swim out and hunt for bubbles.)

About those collectables, they are in place for the serious explorer. So gather all the scattered diary-pages of that crazy old Kurtz, take the low road just before the temple, and collect your prize.		2010-07-25 07:37:00

Author:
pickled-punk
Posts: 598

Level seems cool, ill check it out.2010-07-25 11:46:00

Author:
emoguy
Posts: 26

My level is mentioned on Community Spotlight 44: "Kurtz and the Dead City of Fabul by pickled-punk has a really unique style and will satisfy sackpersons who love to explore vast levels full of hidden bubbles." Wow, thanks!!2010-07-26 13:40:00

Author:
pickled-punk
Posts: 598

Grats on the Spotlight, punk!!2010-07-26 18:24:00

Author:
RoharDragontamer
Posts: 397

Thanks!

Almost done with the sequel, btw: "Forbidden Tempel of the Hollow Mask", contuining the Heart of Darkness-theme a little further.		2010-07-27 12:32:00

Author:
pickled-punk
Posts: 598

I played this level again last night with 3 people from your side of the world. It was fun playing it in multi player with random people! (A lot better than playing my pain in the *** levels, rofl).2010-07-27 18:22:00

Author:
RoharDragontamer
Posts: 397

I had only tested with 2 players. Good to hear more also works!2010-07-27 20:34:00

Author:
pickled-punk
Posts: 598

I finally got a chance to play this today and I ?m amazed at how far you?ve come since your first level. This was genuinely impressive.

The visuals were excellent. I loved the bold and monumental style of the temple and the detailed stickering on the stonework was a nice touch. The inserts of patterned material in the blocks of stone added a dash of colour and style. The visuals in the underwater section were also very well done. I loved the originality of the huge swirling lattice work maze and your use of barnacles and seaweed was great. The whole level had a really cool atmosphere to it ? eery, decaying grandeur. You made good use of sweeping camera angles to show off the scale of it too.

The trail of pages was a cool idea and fitted neatly into an intriguing story. The difficulty seems to have been raised a notch too. I lost count of how many times I died hunting underwater bubbles, lol!

Your best work yet. It certainly deserved its Spotlight nod!		2010-07-30 02:04:00

Author:
shropshirelass
Posts: 1455

Thanks for your nice words, Shrops! You were actually one of the first players to welcome me on LBPC, when I published my first Lady Masquette level. I feel it's a big compliment that you still follow and enjoy the story I'm spinning!

'Eery, decaying grandeur'... I love that description.

Indeed, I try the make the optional puzzles and bubble-hunts a notch harder than the required tasks. Something for the die-hards to cut their teeth on.

The story of gloomy Kurtz continues in Forbidden Temple of the Hollow Mask. (With a dash of T.S. Elliot).		2010-07-31 17:54:00

Author:
pickled-punk
Posts: 598

Hi ho.... you really have a great level here.

I love the look and the atmosphere very much. The plattforming is cool and the material-choice is nice and you have a good gameflow here. For my taste the water-section is a bit too long, but this section feels more like an adventure-style and it was a change in gameplay here - interesting. I stucked after the water section for the first time because I didn't realize that I had to switch to the 3 layer to go up - it was hard to see. There is high replay value due to the hidden scripts - i missed two and I will hunt for them the next time I will play it.

Very impressive level!!! great work !!! I gave it:star::star::star::star: and a <3		2010-08-05 06:07:00

Author:
(___NEO___)
Posts: 206

Thanks Neo!!2010-08-06 16:25:00

Author:
pickled-punk
Posts: 598

I've added some more sound effects, and I got a very cool blurb by EnochRoot on my level. Thanks!!2010-08-26 12:12:00

Author:
pickled-punk
Posts: 598

It's a nice level. Bit hard to navigate around. Everything has nice abstract shapes but everything blends together in bland way, nothing really stands out. I gave 4 stars.2010-09-27 17:03:00

Author:
LordMagicPants
Posts: 187

Thanks Lord!2010-09-28 07:00:00

Author:
pickled-punk
Posts: 598

Hi pickled! You asked me to play this level many times but I have bad memory so it took me this long to comment but well, here I am! The main thing what I want to mention about the level was it's visuals. Unlike your other levels (no offense) this one has amazing visuals. You made ruins look very detailed with correct material combinations. Way you used grid was seen in the level, but unlike usualy, in a good way. especially in the underwater part with tunnels and balls you have to swim in. Diary pages were excellent ?dea for the story of the level. I actually liked the whole story. Also unlike ur other levels this level had not only puzzling, but also platforming and swimming. Nothing too magnificent, I prefer you way to make puzzles more than platforming but it was cool to see some of them in this as well. ''The tree of dead'' was visually the best thing in the level. I would have never imagined to use those skull stickers like that. Then into the ''main thing?'' itself: the puzzles. They were just purely awesome. They were nothing too special but you made them fit into theme well and that is what matters in the level like this. It would have been a bit weird with some kind of electrized giant spinning ball with switch turning puzzle in it, right? I gave this one :star::star::star::star::star: and a <3 to the level as well as <3 to you. Definetly your best so far. On thing you should do is adding some signs into level and tell players where to go. Good job!
FreeAim		2010-10-05 15:10:00

Author:
FreeAim
Posts: 2462

Thanks for the nice review, FreeAim!2010-10-10 09:02:00

Author:
pickled-punk
Posts: 598


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