Filename(s): bbpsych.j2l
Title: Psych Major
Tileset: Psych 2
Dimensions: 100x48
Music: freeze
Type: Capture the Flag
Author: BloodBunny of Ninjin & ELM
Email: Edward Kmett <harmless@bloodshed.com>
URL: http://www.bloodshed.com/~harmless
ICQ: 1985432
Comments:
This level was designed when I found that a CTF base balanced perfectly
on a hat. Well, almost perfectly. There was the slight problem of Eva
floating in midair, so being pragmatic, I hid her behind some foreground
piping. And thus, my psychedelic map was born.
Initially there were more caterpillars than just the one in the middle, but
when running in a multiplayer game it appears these hookah smoking drug
addicts puff a little more often than in single player. (At least, they
don't
wait for you to come on screen, which is logical in retrospect) so I had to
cut down on them severely.
This is my first attempt to actually incorporate animated ledges. The
animated
cat ledges are used to guard the one of the faster path to blue base and as
an
obstacle to obtaining the seeker powerup. I was initially using a couple of
cat 'hooks' as well, but hook events seem to be harder to jump off of than
vines in my experience. I later replaced the 'vine cat' with a 'Cheshire 2'
event, which acts as a nice levitating hook and doubled as a way to keep
people from following you into the cubbyhole under red base from below.
There are three powerups that depend on 'puzzles' to access them. They are
listed in
the 'spoiler' section below. They arent very complicated puzzles, but they
are
geared to be something you arent likely to grab while on the run.
Since "BloodBunny's Lair", I have been trying to get away from boring
'flat'
platforms floating in midair for no reason. This level was intended to, and
I believe succeeds at, contorting the platforms into distinctive shapes
and to tie them together with vines if nothing else. Leaving no surface
without a logical means of support. (Mind you, the issue of the tensile
strength on those vines and of the mortar holding those stones together is
a matter for future levels)
I played around with the idea of a bonus warp, but after the puzzle driven
powerups there wasnt much to put in a bonus warp except a base raiding zone
or more unnecessary powerups, so it was scrapped.
The topology of this map is intended to provide multiple capture paths with
different speed/risk tradeoffs. For example, when running from red base to
blue base:
The fastest path i can come up with requires running through the hookah
smoke, which can make the path take appreciably longer than any of the
others if you run afoul of one of the smoke rings.
A slightly longer path requires you to go lower and come back up by
bounding
off of the back of one of the cats, which may not be there when you arrive,
which could damage your run time as well.
Slower routes let you avoid any of these hazards by dropping lower
still and taking one of the tunnels in the lower left. These have the
advantage of no speedtrap issues, but don't have the speed of the best case
of the riskier routes.
The second hats above the bases provide a 'base camper' a place to wait and
align himself with the base. It is easy to drop through from above and
snatch the flag, but harder for a defender near the base to align himself
with
the tophat in an emergency and chase after the flag runner.
I also attempted to give a little more positional info than I have in the
past by using the lava lamps to denote which side of the map you
are on, and the arrow signs to direct the player to the base.
There are 5 fast fires around the level to encourage the use of the
Blaster and Bouncy Ball weapons. This is also why these powerups are
easier to obtain than the Seeker powerup.
Hints/Tips: (Do not read past this point if you want to discover how to
get the powerups by yourself, not that the puzzles are
incredibly difficult or anything like that)
At the blue base if you go down through the hat, or if you come up off the
back of the animated cat from the vine, there is a Blaster powerup which
you
cannot hit with anything but the bombs from above. The invulnerability to
the electroblasters from the sides is obtained by using blue springs (which
are partially visible) It would have also been possible to do so by using
'breakable' tiles which were keyed to a gun other than the electroblaster,
but I didnt do that. The Bouncy powerup on this landmass is placed as a
freebie
to encourage its use, because of all of the vines and places for bouncy
ball ambushes around the level. The 'Lets Blow This Joint!' text is meant
as a
clue as to how to get the blaster powerup below.
On the red base landmass through the hat are a handful of electroblasters
and
two powerups embedded in the walls. A toaster powerup above and a seeker
powerup to the left. The sign is meant as a clue that you should try
attacking the seeker powerup from another direction. The toaster powerup is
also there to try to prod the player into thinking about shooting up.
One can obtain the seeker powerup by firing straight up off of the back of
the animated cheshire cat below it with the electroblaster. This was
intended
to keep people from grabbing the powerup in the heat of a chase or on every
pass near this part of the map and to require at least rudimentary
intelligence and decent reflexes to obtain it.
P.S. Yes, I ramble like this in real life too.
P.P.S. Does anybody read this?
-BB/N/ELM
