 "Level Up!" | |
| Author: | titch007uk |
|---|---|
| Audio used: | Forgotten Ruins{X} |
| Origin: | 11/25/2009 |
| Size: | 3.1 MB |
| Score (As of 8/17/10): | 4.42/5 |
| Genre: | Action-Platformer-Other |
| Awards: |  Daily 2rd Place
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| Author's comments: | |
| UPDATE: MEDALS ARE NOW FIXED.
- Air Recovery altered slightly. It gives a short burst of invincibility and pushes you into the air a bit so you can avoid getting it again. - Worked a bit on the medal reloading script. If you unlocked medals before but the Newgrounds site didn't register it, try reloading the game. It's not foolproof but it should work most of the time. - Fixed a few minor bugs and glitches. I'm still trying to address the issue of the game not loading for a small number of people. Please be patient, it's quite hard to fix a problem when you don't know exactly what is causing it. Inspired by Upgrade Complete, This game is a tribute to anyone who has ever sat there playing a game doing the same repeatable set of actions in order to get a arbitrary number to go up. It's a game about exploration, amnesia and collecting. Every action is will give you experience; You can gain levels in just about everything you do, from Jumping to Taking Damage to standing still and doing nothing at all. The world is sandbox, you can go anywhere you like as long as you level up enough. There is a catch though. Every night a re-occurring nightmare will rob you of everything if you can't survive it. I have this love affair with Platformers and RPG's and this was my shot and bringing them together in an exciting taste explosion, with a little design flair of my own, some excellent editing/writing from Kayn, spiffy cut scene art from Gigas and awesome music from Triplefox. I hope you enjoy playing it as much as I enjoyed making it. I'm desperately trying to get fixes checked in for the various problems reported. I've located the cause in the game. It's just uploading to NG that is causing me problems now as I have to wait an indeterminate amount of time between upload an update and it going live. I'll post something in nice big caps once it's all good again. Yes, you can beat nightmare. Yes it's supposed to be really hard, that what nightmares are like. I made quite a few concessions along the way to make it easier than I had planned. I'm going to upload some Youtube videos of it being done. It's not as hard as it first may seem. Getting the Heart breaker achievement is MUCH trickier, I've yet to capture it on cam to prove it's do-able. The racing one is tricky. Max all your levels and a few well timed DASHES should get you through. Some people might not like the ending, it was never the real heart of the game. I'm a big believer in games being about what you play rather than what you don't. Without the narrative that was created for the ending the world wouldn't be nearly as interesting as it is. In fact the game over all would be a little more dull because of it. The sequel is in the works, I'm already well into making it (get 100% completion and you can get an idea of -how- well started I am), I subscribe to running open devlogs of stuff I'm working on because it's what the players think that is important. It should be appearing Spring next year. Development Blog for the sequel, Gather Up: http://www.nifty-hat.blog spot.com/ The walkthrough, which is seriously a work in progress is here: http://titch007uk.newgrou nds.com/news/post/408038 If you are having trouble with either filling the codex or getting all the giant gems, check in. Theres still a bit of work to be done. It's the first walkthrough I've written and I'm -not- a fast typist ( unless it's AS3 code ^_^) Thanks for playing :) Thanks everyone for all the positive reviews, rates, feedback, oh and being told my game could 'die in a fire' because the boss was so hard. You have to work hard to get that level of frustration out of someone. ^_^ | |
| Note | This information only refers to the official release on the Flash Portal. |
Level Up! is a Game created by Titch007uk, and released to the Flash Portal on November 25, 2009. The aim is to max out all of your character's abilities and find certain items to help her along. You have a time limit before she has to go to sleep each day and face the shadowy figure that haunts her dreams. The story takes her through to an end to be followed in the forthcoming sequel.
Story
The game's story starts simply, but gradually grows more complicated. One day, a nameless girl, the game's protagonist, wakes up to find that a handsome boy has crashed into her fence. He has an extreme case of amnesia, and can't even remember how to jump. He asks the girl to look for gems scattered around the world. While exploring, she meets a variety of characters, many of whom ask her to complete tasks in return for abilities. Every night though, she dreams about a powerful shadowy figure, who wipes her memory clean and takes away all of her levels after defeating her. Every time she defeats it, she goes to sleep later. Eventually, she becomes powerful enough to access a computer, which unlocks her memories. Apparently, she once strove for power, beyond what was possible in the world. The boy was the Deity who stood in her path, and the Shadow in the dream was her own frustration. The game ends on a cliffhanger, when the boy ambushes the girl.
Despite the serious premise of the game, the story is usually quite lighthearted. The various characters are talkative and eccentric, make constant jokes, and frequently break the fourth wall while giving tutorials or discussing the world around them. Only during the nightmare and the final scene does the story become serious.
Design
Level Up! has a fairly unusual design for a Flash game. It combines aspects of traditional platforming games, Role Playing Games, and Metroidvania action adventures. The player starts without any levels, skills, or gems, and must gather them by traveling the world. Levels are gained by doing simple actions. For example, one starts running faster after running a lot, jump higher after jumping more, and so on. Several special skills can be learned by completing missions for various characters. These usually involve collecting a certain number of gems. These abilities involve jumping in midair, regaing health while moving, and running at unnatural speeds. One major goal of the game is to be able to defeat the shadow that haunts your dreams. Otherwise, all of the levels are lost. However, the skills and gems remain, making those levels easier to regain. The game automatically saves upon activating a checkpoint.
Gameplay
Unlike in many Flash games, the Protagonist of Level Up! has absolutely no offensive abilities. The character is controlled using the left and right keys to run, the down key to interact, the X key to jump, and the C key to access menus. Generally, the game's challenge comes from avoiding enemies, searching for gems in the large environment, and finding the best way to level up. The progress toward each level up is shown in the boxes in the top, right corner- so if you particularly need to jump higher you can just jump until the box fills up and you level up for jumping.
Shadow Guide
The Shadow's energy is stored in dark crystals. In order to hurt it, the players must collect them. However, they are only dropped after it is hit by its own meteor attack. The Shadow is the only character other than the protagonist who can level up. This means that as the fight goes on, it will gain new abilities and increase the power of older ones. Therefore, it is necessary to defeat it as quickly as possible. One of the shadow's attacks is to throw flaming swords around it. Eventually, the best way to avoid this is by jumping directly on top of the enemy. It can also leap up and slash at the girl, but this can also be avoided by running and jumping away. The meteor attack is easily recognized, since the Shadow will stand still and meteors will rise in the background. Shortly afterwards, dark circles will appear on the ground, where they will hit. If the Shadow stands there, they will lose crystals, which can be gathered to decrease its health. Later on, it will start summoning fireballs, which stay on the ground. It will also eventually begin to use a large energy attack, which starts from the center of the area and goes towards the edges.
If the player has high healing and fortitude levels,as well as the regain ability, it becomes relatively easy to defeat the Shadow. They only need to stand on one of the two outcrops on the sides of the screen. They will become essentially immune to the Shadow's later abilities, and since the Shadow will chase them there, it becomes easy to hit them with the meteor. However, the player will have to be careful to avoid getting hit by the projectile attack, and a high jumping level will also help them to avoid attacks.
Medals
TIME WASTER - 5 points: Play to day 7 and beyond.
GEM COLLECTOR - 5 points: Collect 100 gems.
GEM HOARDER - 10 points: Collect 400 gems.
MOVING THE MAIL - 10 points: Find all the checkpoints in the level.
GEM CONNOISSEUR - 10 points: Collect all giant gems.
GEM ADDICT - 25 points: Collect every red gem on the level.
MAD SKILLS - 25 points: Buy every skill.
DASHING COURSE LEGEND - 25 points: Beat the Super Dashing Course in under 25 seconds.
FOUNTAIN OF KNOWLEDGE - 25 points: Fill out every entry in the Codex.
INSOMNIAC - 50 points: Complete the game without ever sleeping.
HEARTBREAKER - 50 points: Defeat Nightmare with only 1 LOVE level.
GRINDING MANIAC - 50 points: Max out every single level type.
OBSESSIVE - 100 points: Get 100% completion.
Presentation
The game's graphical design is similar to that of many Super Nintendo games.
Level Up!, which was made with Flixel, has graphics reminiscent of a fourth generation console game. The sprites, though pixellated, are bright and colorful. The main character has a wide variety of animations, and each of the game's characters, though not the enemy creatures, is unique. The exception is the final cutscene, which has a more traditionally drawn design. The game's soundtrack comes from several different musicians. Sound effects consists of beeps and whistling noises, which were also common in fourth-generation games.
Reception on Newgrounds
As of January 2011, Level Up! has over 1,100,000 views and an average review of 8.8/10. It also earned the Daily 2nd Award, the Weekly 4th award, and the Newgrounds tank award for best game in 2009. Furthermore, Level Up! is featured in three collections: Adventure Games, Flash Portal History, and Flixel. If the clamour for the sequel after the Tank Award is anything to go by, the audience were still full of support for the game.
The Sequel
The sequel, Gather Up! is being created and can be followed on the [http://www.nifty-hat.blogspot.com/
Development Blog]