Yes, actual items being randomly in the ground would be nice, and it would especially make me go for the spectacles a lot more.

We also need to be able to place items in the ground in the level editor.

Someone above said something that sparked my interest in something regarding Arcade Mode.

If the levels weren't thematic in Arcade, but just jumbled (you could find a spike/vine box next to an ice-area idol trap and a Prayers-to-Kali instance next to that, with a bottomless pit sometimes, or maybe a lake sometimes.

But flares can't be used around water.

Also, agreeing with Arexmastah.

I'd really like to see Spelunky Arcade Mode or such, where you just play as long as you can survive, and the levels are completely random instead of in a certain order.

Ah, yes, agreeing ecstatically with the idea to make craps houses more like Toad's House. That would be awesome, I would use it more, I would be happy to see one when I pass it by.

Yeah, perhaps you could reuse symbols, but make it so that the resultant object is different if there's a block of a certain type next to it.

We also need the spaceship parts. And the boss alien. And the alien's force-field.

And I also like the idea (as always) to have more stuff change in the main menu room. Golden letters, maybe an idol-head-wall-mount for beating the game or such. Doesn't necessarily have to be complex, just enough to see and feel happy about.

As some of you may notice, I've got a nearly finished (and playable plus some) project titled currently "Shit is Going Down in Box World!"

That was the title I appended to the first line of code in my 3am stupor as I made my thread-starter.

I don't know if I still like it, though. I feel like having the profanity is a bit of unneeded, gritty impact, where the game is meant to have a more neutral-happy attitude.

I'm thinking "Trouble in Box Kingdom" or "Goings-on in the World of Box". (optional:"es" at the end, but I sort of like having the singular at the end of that)

Suggestions?

New Version!

Download here:



NEW VERSION CHANGES!

+Added checkpoints (they're yellow plus signs).
+Added new "TRIAL MODES"! Currently, there's only one; Game of Life. How fast are you able to compute Conway's Game of Life in your head?
+Changed some graphics. Brown plus signs are monster predictions, Yellow solid blocks are win points now.
+Added a lives counter. You only get two tries past your first.
+Changed that little number in the lower right corner to "v0.85."


I hope to have some new trial modes by version 0.9 (looking for one new mode at each milestone between now and 1.0). Suggestions?
I hope to add a new level or two between here and there as well.
And I may add a flying enemy between here and there.
And maybe some 1-ups.
And thinking of changing the name to "Trouble in Box Kingdom."

And now, as I look at all my code, I realize the horrifying snarl that it is. And I'm too lazy to clean it up now. Meh, I'll do it when it all falls to shambles...

Because the next frame in the level doesn't have an ice block in that spot, and keeping the ice blocks there would cause lots of unnecessary confusion on the part of players and level designers.

Hehe, that part even fooled me a few times.

The third ice block won't drop if you don't go under it, and in order to go under it and survive, you have to jump over to the block that appears before the lava block appears trying to fool you, then jump back to safety.

And yeah, I've thought of either including checkpoints, or having a simple quicksave key. I still don't know which I want to include, though.

...

Can you tell me what's going on when things start to go crazy?

The way the level's supposed to end is that monsters fall into lava at the bottom, and you have to fall, and jump along them toward the hollow yellow box, which is the win point.

You're not ever supposed to float off to the side.

So, welcome all, to the very first project I actually think I'll finish.

As the title suggests, the game takes place in Box World (which, as its name suggests, consists of lots of boxes), and shit is going down there.

You play as a box in Box World while said shit goes down.

SGDBW is a platform game. You're a box. You jump.

The idea originally was to make a platformer where the level is constantly changing as you play, and I think I've hit it pretty well.

Arrow keys for all movement.

Avoid red. Dark hollow boxes mean a block of that color is about to appear. Bright hollow boxes mean a block of that color is about to disappear. Spikey brown thing means an enemy is about to spawn there. Blue thingies are ice, they fall when you go under them, and can be used as one-use stepping stones. When an enemy touches lava, he also becomes a one-use stepping stone. If you end up inside a wall block, you will be pushed up until you reach open space.





NEW VERSION CHANGES!

+Added checkpoints (they're yellow plus signs).
+Added new "TRIAL MODES"! Currently, there's only one; Game of Life. How fast are you able to compute Conway's Game of Life in your head?
+Changed some graphics. Brown plus signs are monster predictions, Yellow solid blocks are win points now.
+Added a lives counter. You only get two tries past your first.
+Changed that little number in the lower right corner to "v0.85."


I hope to have some new trial modes by version 0.9 (looking for one new mode at each milestone between now and 1.0). Suggestions?
Hoping to come up with something more eye-catching to put in the title screen sometime.
I hope to add a new level or two between here and there as well.
And I may add a flying enemy between here and there.
And maybe some 1-ups.
And thinking of changing the name to "Trouble in Box Kingdom."



Screenshots (version 0.8, 0.85 isn't much different visually):




Download NEW VERSION:



You can make your own levels in notepad, just use mine as a model and you should figure everything out.

My current level is just a temporary one, but will probably stick around as an optional one. I've currently got a friend working on level design.




Is it too trial-and-error? What do you think of the graphics? Would someone be willing to make music for me?





Now I need to go to bed or something...

Oh. My. God.

That was so ridiculously awesome... I don't know. It was just ridiculously awesome.

I mean... Wow. The ending... was... holy shit.

[NEVER, EVER, EVER IN A MILLION MILLENIA]

You enter the forgotten temple below the ancient jungle, the freezing catacombs, and the deserted caverns, shotgun in hand and jetpack worn, magic helmet upon your head, shining a bright white color. You're almost certain that somewhere in this temple is a mummy, holding a scepter; the key to all the riches you could ever imagine, and more. You walk a few steps further, and notice some bones flitting about. As the dust clears, you notice the scepter, falling, falling, almost in slow motion for your sudden rush of adrenaline. You can examine the fine carvings and details wrought upon it by ancient artists as it falls, falls, falls, into...

A pit of son-of-a-bitch-fucking lava. Now, I was still accustomed to the mummies being immune to lava, but the mummy was dead, I saw it die, so I figured the scepter would just be in the lava somewhere. So, I think, oh, cool scepter, but no mummy to fight, yay. So I bomb the living hell out of the lava pit. No scepter.

I'm thinking, maybe the mummy should NEVER, EVER, EVER IN A MILLION MILLENIA spawn near lava, and especially not in a situation where it would have a chance of falling into. EVER.

Well, one thing I don't like, for sure, is Swedish people. Begone, the lot of you

For the benefit of the real people here: What my post-count-raising fellow countryman is referring to, is the game Dungeonquest, the visual style of which has been a strong source of influence when I created the look (though not the gameplay) of this game. I don't know what he really wanted to say though - if it was anything of significance, I'd had expected him to post something with more substance. But then again, you don't get to 240 posts in less than 2 months by writing informed posts 

Whoa, holy shit, man. I can't tell if that was sarcasm (terrible sarcasm, if it is) or just plain dickery. I mean, I can't say that I'm a perfect internet angel (gotdamn spelunky thread, ruin my track record), but seriously man...

I'd say get better at sarcasm (if it was sarcasm), or try not to be an asshat (if it wasn't sarcasm).

For me, every other game has either a key or a chest but not its counterpart. Or at least it seems that way.

Suggestion: Poltergeist

Invisible monster which grabs objects and flings them at the shopkeeperspelunker. For extra horror factor, only found in dark levels. (emits light as if it were a scarab)

It appears the directory idea is making a come-back.

And I'd like to also reiterate my concerns involving the boss-fight. I'd be totally fine (actually a bit happy) if the thing were just totally removed and the goal were changed to an object, which you have to bring back to the top of the dungeon. The boss as it currently is is much too easy. I've made tons of false moves, but I don't think I've been crushed once. Or burnt. The only time I've lost in the fight was to the horde of monsters he generates. But I can usually get past that with bombs or a scepter. Before that, it was a menial process of, "run left, run right, run left, run right, run left."

Of course, the levels would still be randomly generated, but you would go up instead of down. (The object, as the Amulet of Yendor is described to in Rogue, would allow limited flying capability, perhaps half the range of a jetpack, unless a jetpack had already been obtained? Or maybe full jetpack range, but it has to take up your carry slot. Or you could basically just have to carry an object through fifteen more levels, still in the normal direction, but the game says it's up, which is also pretty much what Rogue did.)

I like Radix's idea a lot.

And agree (surprising, no?) with everything Friend said.

Except the last sentence. I've actually saved my self from certain death a few times due to being able to grab onto a ledge rather than land on it.

Unless... Yeah, I can't really decipher what you're trying to say all that well anyway.

Hm... Mopquill is right...

Directories allow for conflicting names, which would be really convenient when the levels all start adding up.

That would probably work just as well.

Derek, can you please make the teleporter teleport a set distance instead of a wildly random one?

It's already dangerous enough without the worry of it randomly deciding to teleport you four squares instead of eight and you ending up in rocks.

Also, it could be put to much better use in custom levels if it were more constant, so designers don't have to worry about people not teleporting far enough or too far to fit their level.

I suggest 6 squares.

EDIT: And I'm really sick of falling right through giant spiders when I'm trying to put my awesome all in their heads via my feet.