Quest for the Five Elements: "Gates and Such"

Tech Warrior · Post by **Tech Warrior** » Mon Mar 05, 2012 2:32 am

Periodically I will release a few demo levels from the "Quest for the Five Elements" adventure leading up to the full 194-level release. I will pick levels from multiple difficulties, and ones that will (hopefully) let you speculate what happens next in the story.

Play this level with the timer turned off. Quest levels don't have set time limits just yet, and are currently intended to be played without them.

Due to the positive feedback of the first released level, I have decided to release yet another level. This is one of the easier ones.

Gates and Such

Difficulty: Easy

World: "Upper Elevators"

NOTE: Scenery is not finished for this level.

Have fun and let me know what you think!

elvis · Post by **elvis** » Mon Mar 05, 2012 8:14 am

Err... Does that mean that you are not uploading the levels in order?

Amnon · Post by **Amnon** » Mon Mar 05, 2012 10:24 am

No need to take the timer off - I had 1:20 minutes left without much effort.

Tech Warrior · Post by **Tech Warrior** » Mon Mar 05, 2012 5:33 pm

@Elvis - Correct. I'm uploading a few choice levels throughout the quest. I will also be uploading a few demos as well. Eventually, the final release will be released, with all 194 levels.

@Amnon - I like to say that for every level because none of the time limits have been set. Some levels have been rendered impossible because of the time limit of 5 minutes.

Muzozavr · Post by **Muzozavr** » Mon Mar 05, 2012 6:06 pm

My complaints about the time limit on the previous level "Blockage at the Gate" have been mostly based on the fact that you want this pack to be an adventure on the level of WSW. Had it been "just another custom level" I wouldn't say anything against it. The mindsets "a set of awesome custom levels" and "epic adventure on WSW level and scale" are completely different, the latter requiring more fine-tuning to make the levels difficult without making them unnecessarily harsh. Harsh is OK in custom levels normally, but an epic adventure like this one feels almost like a semi-official expansion to the game. And in official or even semi-official works, the standards are just different.

In WSW, have you ever noticed that in the red gate puzzle in "Trapped in THE VORTEX!!" you have slightly more time to get through the gate than strictly necessary? The original version of that level had three buttons on each side instead of four. I know that for a fact because I used to read parts of the WSW-tester-only subforum while it was still there. It's not there anymore, so don't bother trying to find it.

The reason the extra button was added was formulated by one of the testers like this: "I don't think the player deserves to get killed so easily after solving a particularly difficult puzzle". Extra button was added.

(Mind you, you could potentially solve that level with just one red button, but that requires a completely different solution...)

Tech Warrior · Post by **Tech Warrior** » Mon Mar 05, 2012 6:57 pm

I understand what you mean, Muzozavr. But, please keep in mind that the time limits haven't been set yet. Thus, that isn't the official time limit for that level, "Blockage at the Gate". I originally wanted this to be more of an "exploration" type of adventure, where there are no time limits (hence why I mentioned to turn the timer off). However, I have realized that time limits are still very necessary to add (which is why I will add them). Please don't think that I'm going to be that harsh on time pressure. I probably should've added the time limit before I uploaded the level, but I had forgotten about it at the time.

By no means do I like to make levels unnecessarily harsh. (Example: 50 UFOs over here, next to 50 Z-Bots, and 30 #1 Scouges, with a time limit of 1:00, and only a few wooden boxes to dodge them all) I try to make them challenging and puzzling (for the most part), but not ridiculously difficult. There are few levels in the quest so far that are questionable, but not because of extreme difficulty.

Muzozavr · Post by **Muzozavr** » Mon Mar 05, 2012 7:17 pm

I was replying to Amnon mostly...

Tech Warrior · Post by **Tech Warrior** » Mon Mar 05, 2012 7:21 pm

Oh...

Epic fail.

Sorry!

Muzozavr · Post by **Muzozavr** » Mon Mar 05, 2012 9:07 pm

Actually, no, the epic fail is on my part. I was replying to Amnon, phrasing it like a reply to you. So the one who epic fail'd is not you, it's me.

Muzozavr · Post by **Muzozavr** » Tue Mar 06, 2012 7:10 am

OK, so I finally actually *played* this level -- nice! This one is way more manageable in terms of time limit, I think.

yot yot5 · Post by **yot yot5** » Tue Mar 06, 2012 9:39 am

I did it!
It was great fun, I reccomend the time being about 6 minutes.
Can't wait for the next of your levels!

Tech Warrior · Post by **Tech Warrior** » Tue Mar 06, 2012 5:39 pm

Glad you guys like the level!

A revised version of it will be on the 15-level demo coming out!

Larryoke · Post by **Larryoke** » Mon Mar 12, 2012 9:01 pm

Nice little puzzle on friends helping friends.

sassy · Post by **sassy** » Mon May 07, 2012 7:05 pm

That was fun!