Build 42: Life, the Universe, and Protonaut

[weasel]

Earlier this week I set myself a goal: have 15 draft levels up for the trials by today.

I failed. I only got about 5 in there, including a new one today called "Palindrome." Thanks to one of our new players, Oozle2, for reworking one of the tutorial levels - and of course thanks to Portgoose and OfficiallyHaphazard for making some awesome levels I've included in the set as well.

In this build there's a lot of graphical upgrades and bug fixes, with a primary focus on the Editor. Tooltips are back too so you can see what those menu icons mean!

And guess what... Replays won't die this time! :monocle:

Full changelog after the jump.

[weasel]

GAMEPLAY CHANGES:

- Found a bug where, in rare circumstances, a collected Nitrogen would kill you upon collection. All fixed up now.
- Put in a debug message for damage-testing. Hopefully you never see it. :)

ART CHANGES:

- Brilliant new intro by Greg that drives the whole "under a microscope" feel home. I love it! (While it's playing, the game is retrieving server info on version and player levels, so giving the option to skip it is useless.. you have to wait for the server anyway.)
- Reworked main logo screen, to fit better with the main menu.
- New preloader animation.
- New crosshair that is easier to see at the standard resolution.
- New icons for the level editor, level list, and options menu.
- Replaced the textual mouseover menu names with sexy tab-slideout tooltips for everything except mute (for both the editor and main menus)
- Removed the main menu image overlay effect (the "T" in protonaut doesn't cover the menu anymore)
- Brighter game overlay art (makes things stand out a bit better)
- A lot of other little graphical tweaks and adjustments here and there
- Your gun disappears when you die now, instead of floating in place.
- New death-by-explosion animation (if you touch nitrogen)

GENERAL CHANGES:

- A proper error message now pops up if you try to view an invalid replay or level, and the game prevents you from trying to continuously re-open them.
- The victory menu no longer goes away when you are trying to log in (to save a replay for example)
- The game no longer resets while you are typing (such as in the login fields)
- Victory menu can only be cleared via starting a new level or opening the editor (or exiting to the main menu).
- Suicide now actually kills you.
- When you finish level 9 of the tutorial you now get a speciailzed end message.
- Added a "failed to retrieve user levels" error message. Hopefully it doesn't crop up too much.
- Moved around some initial dialogue boxes that can pop up, such as new version, upgrade warnings, and other output. This should solve a few crashing issues and the level list not populating.
- Fixed an issue where if a menu was closing, and you clicked the menu button, it would get the state mixed up (thanks, oozle2)

EDITOR CHANGES:

- Snap-to-grid wasn't working properly in "move" mode; this has been corrected.
- Moving objects doesn't reset the object to the mouse cursor anymore, and instead stores the appropriate offset.
- Fixed a bug where rapidly switching from game to editor would result in losing the editing bar.
- Fixed a bug that prevented you from being able to copy Iron (and if you did, it would stop copying anything else until you reloaded)
- Put in a better output error message when problems copying and moving come up, to help debugging.
- Fixed a bug where changing editor menus rapidly would cause an exception error (related to the cursor swapping)
- Fixed some of the cursors not showing up at the appropriate time, causing oozle2 to lose his levels.
- Fixed a bug where clearing the level would permanently remove the grid.
- Walls now extend exactly 1 pixel beyond the actual wall boundaries. This way, if you draw a chain of single squares on the editor grid, the walls will appear seamless - and make fine-editing much easier.

OFFICIAL LEVELS:

- I've started populating the official level list. This isn't to say they are final or will even be included in the end product - I just wanted to start fleshing them out there. Here's what I have so far:

Trial 01:
Trial 02:
Trial 03: 701 Palindrome (not tested yet)
Trial 04: 620 Mine Shaft (nice and easy)
Trial 05:
Trial 06:
Trial 07: 615 Descent (kinda crappy)
Trial 08:
Trial 09: 664 Shepherd (needs some work)
Trial 10:
Trial 11:
Trial 12:
Trial 13:
Trial 14: 641 Venture (needs some work on the last half)
Trial 15: 657 Overcomplicated (might need some tweaks)

TUTORIAL LEVELS:

- These are still under construction but are nearly final copies. Bold were updated in this release:

Tutorial 1: 696 Collecting and Jumping
Tutorial 2: 622 Firing
Tutorial 3: 586 Nitrogen
Tutorial 4: 690 Hydrogen
Tutorial 5: 699 Single Bonds (remake by oozle2)
Tutorial 6: 633 Double bonds
Tutorial 7: 630 Ghost Bonds
Tutorial 8: 689 Carbon/Iron intro
Tutorial 9: 632 Wall-Jumping

[Nikola Tesla]

You skipped build 41.

[weasel]

Did you read the build 40 thread?

[Linkzcap]

Is it easy to "clear my browser cache" every time an update happens?

Usually I get the update, but this time I didn't. How do you clear a browser cache?


Also: Weird death jump? http://www.protonaut.net/?replay=36

[weasel]

http://kb.iu.edu/data/ahic.html

looks like a normal death to me in build 42. :P

[Linkzcap]

Thanks weasel.

And did you see what I posted in the last build's thread? Did you try what I said out?

I just wanted to make sure that glitch didn't keep happening. Edit: It's still happening for me.


And WOW, looks so much nicer now! Bright and happy! :)

Also: Palindrome spelled wrong under levels... spelled "Plaindrome"...


Thrilling replay to celebrate Bulid 42: http://www.protonaut.net/?replay=37

[Azxs12]

When I play Palindrome from the real game it brings me to a replay.

[JayJSE2]

almost completed palindrome:
http://www.protonaut.net/?replay=57

[Nikola Tesla]

The image seems cleaner and sharper now!

[Linkzcap]

almost completed palindrome:
http://www.protonaut.net/?replay=57


Pssh Palindrome is easy


http://www.protonaut.net/?replay=65

[portgoose]

Here is another release of Overcomplication (http://www.protonaut.net/?level=723)
Solution: http://www.protonaut.net/?replay=77

I redesigned the first puzzle to make it slightly more challenging. If you see any problems, please alert me.

EDIT: I just saw Hap's solution, and he did one part in an unintended way. Should I change this or leave it in for alternate solutions?

[OfficiallyHaphazard]

Here is another release of Overcomplication (http://www.protonaut.net/?level=723)
Solution: http://www.protonaut.net/?replay=77

I redesigned the first puzzle to make it slightly more challenging. If you see any problems, please alert me.

EDIT: I just saw Hap's solution, and he did one part in an unintended way. Should I change this or leave it in for alternate solutions?

Which part did I do in an unintended way? I like the changed start, though it was tough to figure out what to do--took me 4 or 5 tries before I got it :)
http://www.protonaut.net/?replay=76

[portgoose]

Which part did I do in an unintended way? I like the changed start, though it was tough to figure out what to do--took me 4 or 5 tries before I got it :)
http://www.protonaut.net/?replay=76

It's not anything too major, but you are supposed to have to use the falling wall on the far right to get up the second time (which means that you cannot collect the far right oxygen until later). I made a small edit which makes using the falling walls mandatory (I think), and that adds an extra layer of difficulty.

Do you think that I should use the one that you just solved, or that I should use my edit?

Edited level (http://www.protonaut.net/?level=728) (also contains some small edits to the pressure switches).

[OfficiallyHaphazard]

I updated shepherd:
http://www.protonaut.net/?level=739


It is more puzzle-like than the original shepherd, and once you figure it out, it isn't very technically difficult. It would probably rank on the easier side of the list.

[portgoose]

I just found something weird. If you click on a link to watch a replay, and then click levels and go to a level in the middle of playback, the level will load and then the replay will play on that level...


Just click on any replay, and select a level while it is playing. You'll see what I mean.


Was this intended?

[darkeagle]

Good find, portgoose! That is interesting. Maybe there could be a thread where you have to make a replay that solves two levels at once.

[weasel]

Do you think that I should use the one that you just solved, or that I should use my edit?

That little ledge you put in makes it very very hard to jump out to the right and get back onto the ledge.

I don't think making "one and only one" path to victory is the way to go - leave both solutions in!

E: The replay thing is a bug, will fix soon.

[weasel]

I updated shepherd:
http://www.protonaut.net/?level=739


It is more puzzle-like than the original shepherd, and once you figure it out, it isn't very technically difficult. It would probably rank on the easier side of the list.

The existence of the hydrogen-ramp makes it a bit harder to get the rolling ramp down and into position. I was kind of annoyed at the rolling ramp part of the puzzle and ultimately stopped trying because of it. :(

I do like the level design much better though and that you can't "cheat it" like so many others did :)

[OfficiallyHaphazard]

The existence of the hydrogen-ramp makes it a bit harder to get the rolling ramp down and into position. I was kind of annoyed at the rolling ramp part of the puzzle and ultimately stopped trying because of it. :(

I do like the level design much better though and that you can't "cheat it" like so many others did :)

Hmm, every time I tried the rolling wheels part, I get a workable solution. All you need is for the stick go far enough over the over-hang that the nitrogen can roll down.

Anhyhow, how is this for an updated, and longer, Venture: http://www.protonaut.net/?level=747

[portgoose]

Hap, I don't know if this was intended, but the large gap can be crossed by simply jumping.

http://www.protonaut.net/?replay=113

[weasel]

This always happens to me... it didn't a grand total of once:

http://www.protonaut.net/?replay=117

[meteoro]

I dont really like the intro. but you said no skipping button, so i suggest you to have some zoom in into a microscope at the beggining, I dont really feel like I am looking through one. till now, It has always felt like if you are in there, not just looking at it.

And the R in protonaut looks like a K

[Azxs12]

I dont really like the intro. but you said no skipping button, so i suggest you to have some zoom in into a microscope at the beggining, I dont really feel like I am looking through one. till now, It has always felt like if you are in there, not just looking at it.

And the R in protonaut looks like a K

It does look like a K.