The Temple of the Pen

Hmm I've not reached that point yet, so what is the problem exactly that would force you to give up on the Boss health bar?

When you hit the "Boss Start" trigger and start firing, the frame rate dies. Horribly.

Strange. Well, go ahead and do it, make sure it works, and release that update.

Though I've not reached that part yet, is the boss area really big? Edwards has speculated that bosses don't get culled out (makes sense, you want them to keep going even if they're out of culling range) so if you have a huge boss area, the framerate is gonna take it in the shorts. This can be seen in Pi's abandoned factory as well. (I wonder how that one plays on 1.0.1? It chugged badly enough before the update...)

No, the boss area isn't that big. When you don't hit the boss trigger, you can get it to cull by huddling in a certain corners.

Well, I finally made it to the last boss (I guess the last - the one with the health meter anyway). Took 2h10 of clocked time to get there and about 10-15 deaths mostly thanks to that insane ice-mine-laying thing. Great map, but sadly I couldn't beat the final it - the frame-rate went down the tube and there was just no way... I then tried going back into the previous mini-boss room, and that was it - stuck I should have read the posts here earlier!

Not sure if I can be bothered to play through again though, but maybe, when I get a faster computer.

Okay. That's it. I'm going to remove the boss trigger.

I'll re-iterate though that it was a great map and I really enjoyed playing it. It's just that until I have a faster machine and/or SFA finally sorts out its collision detection and culling engine and/or it lets you properly save custom levels games (the hack around is too much effort for me to bother with what with the lost time counter too) then life is just too short to spend another hour or two to get to the same point again only to find the framerate is still too low to play.

But thank-you very much for investing so much of your time in making such a colossal level. I thought the level of difficulty was pretty good, and genuinely enjoyed all the new tricks you pulled with the rather limited resources the editor and engine allow.

:: :: ::

I've uploaded the real 1.0.1. It should be on the add-ons page anytime now.

I'm just about to try it out, I hope it's a little easier then V1

I completed the level.

I liked it, though you'll have to wait for a bit (like for me to have gotten a good night's sleep) for the complete list of things I liked and things that I liked less.

On a side note, I played the initial version too, and I didn't get any slowdown in the final boss battle, though of course my setup isn't exactly slow.

Okay, more complete feedback on the temple of the Pen.

For one, I like the layout, you begin by having the feeling of entering somewhere important, and then you have this big central hall, with the four side parts around it, each having its own personality. I also like the number and variety of bosses (especially with the really cheap way of doing boss battles that you put in, which allows to put as many as you want without having to do any special tinkering or use undocumented stuff), my favorite is the marine crab boss, though I also like the utterly inpredictable Boss4. I also like the bigass final boss battle, though it was a bit long at times to have to use the homing gun for half an hour just in order to safely kill the four thingies to lower the boss shields. I also like the fact that you do have to go back to an earlier zone in order to fetch some upgrades, though it would have been better if it was required to do so sooner (this way, people wouldn't get into the habit that this isn't necessary to do so, in fact it would be better to encourage to revisit the old parts, by forcing them to do so at least, but not only that, it's probably why Edwards initially ended up in the final battle without any optional weapon and ended up with a nigh-impossible task), not at the last parts of the Ice zone. Oh, and of course, I appreciate the secrets :evil grin:

Now, for the stuff I like less. For one, there is no indication of what triggering a switch does, I just mindlessly do everything I can and trigger everything, go back to see if this has opened new stuff, rinse and repeat. While this has the advantage of making the level progression be fluid and really a no-brainer, it removes an interesting aspect of the game which is figuring out how the heck to unlock that thing in order to further go on. It would be more interesting if for some doors you really met the door first and it was obvious it blocked you (like the beginning of the level, in fact), and you have to figure out how to open it. Also, I don't really like how the four subzones are strictly separate, there could be a few secret passageways between them or things like that, at least. Also, perhaps you should have put more missile packs (and no just as a secret )

Difficulty is okay (though I warn you that I shouldn't be considered a very good judge of difficulty ), wall design and other such stuff is okay Definitely recommanded for everyone, especially those who find the five seasons too hard.

Hmm okay. Thanks ZP.

Did anyone have trouble finding the secrets? What did you think of my methods? Should I do it again for Shrine of the Seasons?

I really like the secrets. It reminds me of Yipe, they're so well hidden! I've only found the one at the start, the "Ha! Fooled you!" and the Shield Upgrade 1. Definitely add more in Shrine Of The Seasons.

@silverwind, on Mar 18 2007, 12:41 PM, said in The Temple of the Pen:

I really like the secrets. It reminds me of Yipe, they're so well hidden! I've only found the one at the start, the "Ha! Fooled you!" and the Shield Upgrade 1. Definitely add more in Shrine Of The Seasons.

I found another message a while back near the save point in the Factory section. It'll just show up for a moment if you get killed and restart at the SP, but that could be a bug, though.

Hmm, I have still not completed this level...

It's no bug, I found that one ages ago. There's also one near the entrance of the Volcano.

Ok I found a few more secrets. A pack of Missiles, Homing and S. Homing. (I actually got S. Homing first, is this supposed to be possible?

There are two map text things in the Yellow, Green, and Red areas.. Three in the Blue area, and one in the final zone next to the save point. There's a system to the first map text item in each area. The others are just there. Four are near boss/mini-boss battle arenas. One of those is inside the arena. If you don't find them, it's no big deal.

Seeing as the homing gun isn't a secret, it's okay if you find the S. homing first.

@Silverwind: There's one more thing you haven't found. It makes the final boss battle a lot easier, so it's really well hidden. Try back-tracking once you have a certain gun color.

I haven't gotten past the Ice Caverns yet, so maybe I just haven't come to it. Although I did see a Shield Upgrade in a concealed room in the Techno zone, with no apparent entrance. Is this the secret you speak of?