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[Xion]

I have a question about the bonus doors in the score room: does anyone know how to open the moon door?  I know what affects the others, so I assume that the moon is the other thing, but I don't know if I need SPOILER.

SPOILER

In that case, HERE IS A QUESTION WHICH CONTAINS SPOILERS RELATED TO THE ABOVE SPOILERS

I'm not sure I've only beat it from the beginning. I imagine using shortcuts wouldn't work though, since that would give an unfair advantage.

[PureQuestion]

I have a question about the bonus doors in the score room: does anyone know how to open the moon door?  I know what affects the others, so I assume that the moon is the other thing, but I don't know if I need SPOILER.

SPOILER

In that case, HERE IS A QUESTION WHICH CONTAINS SPOILERS RELATED TO THE ABOVE SPOILERS

I'm not sure I've only beat it from the beginning. I imagine using shortcuts wouldn't work though, since that would give an unfair advantage.

but if you use a shortcut, you have fewer levels to gain the things needed to win. so if you use a shortcut, you're closer to the end, but by that point, someone would already have a few saves, and a bunch of money. you'd start off later, but with none of teh stuff you'd have gotten.

[bugmenot]

Anonymous user here...having problems with Spelunky and it's real disheartening, cause it's so darn good!

First problem: after the first few levels, the loadtime between levels gets excruciatingly long. It seems frozen somehow, as it only tallies some of the loot/points of the level then stops. Eventually it seems like it's cutting into the actual level-time because ghosts start appearing practically as soon as we start playing the level--even if it gets exponentially harder, it's way too soon for it to be such a leap, it seems, so something's up there.

Eventually we got to level 5 and got this error:
___________________________________________
ERROR in
action number 1
of Begin Step Event
for object oScreen:

Trying to use non-existing surface.

___________________________________________

repeated over and over again until we had to abort the whole game.

So...anyone know what's going on? I want my Spelunky.

[Alec]

I thought it was pretty damn funny, Alec. Learn to laugh at yourselves.

I can take a joke, but I don't like seeing my friends getting personally attacked.

[Neddo]

but if you use a shortcut, you have fewer levels to gain the things needed to win. so if you use a shortcut, you're closer to the end, but by that point, someone would already have a few saves, and a bunch of money. you'd start off later, but with none of teh stuff you'd have gotten.

Well, we are talking about the length of time needed to beat the game.  Using a shortcut would cut that down drastically.

[Valter]

I have a question about the bonus doors in the score room: does anyone know how to open the moon door?  I know what affects the others, so I assume that the moon is the other thing, but I don't know if I need SPOILER.

SPOILER

In that case, HERE IS A QUESTION WHICH CONTAINS SPOILERS RELATED TO THE ABOVE SPOILERS

I'm not sure I've only beat it from the beginning. I imagine using shortcuts wouldn't work though, since that would give an unfair advantage.

but if you use a shortcut, you have fewer levels to gain the things needed to win. so if you use a shortcut, you're closer to the end, but by that point, someone would already have a few saves, and a bunch of money. you'd start off later, but with none of teh stuff you'd have gotten.

You must begin from the first level for the SPOILYNESS to work.

[The North]

Would you suddenly not like this game at all if the ghost was out of the next version?

Correct.  I wouldn't like the game if the ghost was out in the next version.  That would encourage repetitive actions and there would be no sense of urgency.

Rougelikes have always been a rather niche genre, and this game is even more so (as the overlap of twitchy action platform fans and rougelike fans).  The goal is not broad appeal.

[brog]

So what you are saying is "The ghost forces players to play the game like me, and therefore it is a good idea because I don't want people to play the game any other way than the way that I want to"

But "playing the game like me" could mean "having to carefully find a balance between caution and speed" rather than "finishing the levels as quickly as possible".  If the ghost is removed then sure, you could still perform exactly the same actions, but you wouldn't be doing them for an interesting reason.

But yeah, the ghost time limit is not very strict.  It doesn't usually affect me unless I'm doing something silly like obsessively gambling (which, by the way, is a reason that the ghost definitely needs to stay - the gambling seems to be biased toward the player, so if there was unlimited time you could accrue unlimited money here), and as you say, the limited supply of ropes and bombs stops you getting everything anyway.
I'd actually like for the ghost time to get progressively shorter as the game goes on, as someone else suggested earlier up this thread.  Currently the later levels get difficult in a way that is frustrating to me - stupid arrangements of traps, fiddly jumps with spikes nearby, and then it's DARK dammit.  I'd be more interested if the platforming difficulty stayed the same, but you just had to get through things faster.  If this was done, then the earlier levels could maybe have a longer time limit too, any everyone would be happy?

[Nitro Crate]

You could always have two modes.

[The North]

Yeah, the time limit really isn't that strict.  The only time I get caught by it are maybe in the dark levels when I'm trying to juggle the flare, the girl and the statue, and maybe a shotgun.  It's not like the ghost instantly kills you when it comes out either.  I often force it to spawn on the side opposite of the exit to buy a little more time.  It's not nearly as frustrating a mechanic as everyone makes it out to be.

[Shatai]

The time limit is fine. Unless you need to take the time to marvel at each individual tile every time you play a floor, you should be good to goof around as much as you want. I conduct elaborate shop heists, loot the floor, and still make it out before the ghost warning comes up.

Game is awesome, very fun.

[Melly]

Man, I rarely leave shopkeepers alive. I just can't help getting all their stuff!

[rrrowdy]

anonymous user here.

i've been lurking this thread (and the whole forum) and playing the game obsessively for about the past three days, since it was posted on the indiegames blog, and it's pretty damn addictive. so much stuff squirreled away in it! anyway, here's my feedback:

 - in the darkened levels, i think it would make sense if the player could see the "help!" speech bubble from the dame.

 - jumping on enemies is definitely a good element (if you fall down a huge pit without a rope or parachute and bounce of an enemy, it is the most satisfying thing ever). however, jumping on spiders seems really finicky. i seem to be able to pull it off about fifty percent of the time, and the other times, i'm landing right on it and just taking a hit instead.

 - the ghost definitely needs to stay in. otherwise there's no incentive to move on. and it's entirely possible to run about the level while the ghost is around, albeit panicked.

 - the giant spiders act a little inconsistently; sometimes i'll be the other side of the level to them, and i'll hear them make the "drop" noise. i'm not sure what the trigger is for the giant spider, or whether it's something that needs looking at. either way, they're terrifying.

personally, i don't think the difficulty of the game is enough stop me playing; i still haven't gotten a "win" and i've played it obsessively for the last three days. thanks derek, it's great!

[William Broom]

I also think that the jumping-upon-enemies hitboxes are kind of erratic. The spiders and frogs are quite hard to hit, while the cavemen, SECRETS and SECRETS are all really easy. Maybe it's just because the frogs and spiders move faster and have smaller hitboxes overall. But if you haven't already, I really think you should unify the hitboxes so that jump-attacking 'feels' the same for every enemy.

[Nerem]

I have just an issue with the game. The alternate run scheme seems to be finicky, and tends to kick in when I'm trying to duck to flip down an edge, usually sending me hurtling to my death.