Recent Good Knytt Stories #5

By: Derek Yu

On: January 30th, 2012

[This is a guest post by ortoslon.]

Here’s an hour’s worth of jumping, climbing and gliding. As usual, you’ll need the latest version of Knytt Stories to play these levels.

1. Snow Machine by RichardJ is short, scenic and devoid of challenge. Playthrough.

2. The Dying Core by Egomassive puts you through lasers, water, lava and spikes. Custom music tracks set the tone for each trial. Playthrough.

3. White City by Headgrinder has you exploring nooks and crannies of an abandoned floating city. Playthrough.

4. Do Not Pick Up The Key by Talps is a hard level about temptation. Do not watch the playthrough.

Recent Good Knytt Stories #4

By: Derek Yu

On: November 17th, 2011

[This is a guest post by ortoslon.]

Ahead lie four platformers that can be beaten in under ten minutes each (by me, that is). As usual, you’ll need the latest version of Knytt Stories to play these levels.

1. Oxi by Harumbai is a hard level that packs great graphical variety and detail into ten screens and forces the player to backtrack just enough to appreciate them fully. Playthrough.

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Recent Good Knytt Stories #3

By: Derek Yu

On: July 7th, 2011

[This is a guest post by ortoslon.]

Yep, five more short pretty platformers. You’ll need the latest version of Knytt Stories to play these levels.

1. Dark Sea by SecretGlitch offers a mix of brutally hard but fair obstacles and amusing surprise deaths.

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More Good Knytt Stories

By: Derek Yu

On: February 21st, 2011

[This is a guest post by ortoslon.]

Since my first Knytt Stories post, I’ve discovered five more good levels. Like last time, download the latest version of the game (1.2.1) to play these.

1. The Other Side by The Red Snifit. After being knocked out by a strange light, Juni wakes up into a barren, synthetic environment and sets out to explore it. The farther she goes, the harder challenges she faces. This is by far the largest level on this list. Playthrough.

2. Antsy by dessgeega puts you on a small uninhabited island. This playground level (you can’t win) plays a lot like the original Knytt.

3. Enemy Mine by Dave Germain is an obstacle course inspired by dessgeega’s Oubliette. Playthroughs of both.

4. Race to the Pumpkin Patch by Healy demands both speed and precision. If you think this level is too easy, try B-Man’s Monocromatica Grotta. Playthroughs of both.

5. Pestilence by Yohji is what you’d get if you put a nice level on a warm wet spot and left it to rot for a month. Playthrough.

NightSky

By: ithamore

On: January 9th, 2011

The PC version of Nifflas’ NightSky is still available for $7.20, but today is the last day to buy it at this discounted release price. Tomorrow, the price will be raised to $10.

If you’ve been looking forward to the PC version, now’s the time to try out the demo if all the previews, reviews, and videos out there weren’t convincing enough for you to have purchased it already. However, if you would prefer to express you enjoyment of and delight in NightSky and Nifflas’ other games by waiting for the $10 price, you also have that choice as a means of expressing your gratitude.

Recent Good Knytt Stories

By: Derek Yu

On: November 9th, 2010

[This is a guest post by ortoslon.]

Remember that pretty platformer that came with an intuitive level editor? Some of you liked the game enough to reach for user-made levels, coming regularly to Nifflas’ Forums and the Knytt Stories Level Archive, but ultimately turned away as gems became rarer and harder to find. Good news for you: nice Knytt Stories are still being made, and I’m here to show them.

(Make sure that you have the latest version of Knytt Stories, or these levels might not run correctly.)

1. Shipwrecked, by egomassive, is an episodic adventure with custom graphics, ambience, and carefully-chosen music. You end up on an island, befriend a crab, and find out that you’re not alone. This level isn’t very hard unless you go for one of the bonus endings. Playthrough.

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FiNCK

By: Derek Yu

On: May 25th, 2010

Nifflas released FiNCK (Fire Nuclear Crocodile Killer) yesterday. Ostensibly inspired by Super Mario Bros. 2 (and possibly Lyle in Cube Sector?), Finck’s protagonist’s only real abilities are jumping, picking up things, and throwing them. You can also drop things in mid-air to give yourself a slight double jump. Each room in the game has one or more doors which take you to other rooms, and getting to the doors usually requires solving some simple puzzles using those mechanics.

FiNCK is a short game and consists of five small, mostly linear areas. The puzzles aren’t particularly difficult, either, but completists may feel compelled to backtrack in order to collect every coin in the game (I wasn’t particularly inclined to, to be honest!). Overall, I found it to be an alright game. There are some clever puzzles but also some tedious ones that involve carrying a lot of blocks back and forth from one end of a room to another. The colorful graphics and signature Nifflas music are not bad at all but feel a little bit bland, in my opinion. It’s… alright, okay? That is to say, it’s okay… alright?

Anyway, the game and the level editor are both free to download but it costs $4 to unlock the ability to play custom levels. The game’s soundtrack is also available for $3.

TIGdb: Entry for FiNCK

Saira

By: Derek Yu

On: January 6th, 2010

Nifflas, the creator of Knytt, Knytt Stories, and Within a Deep Forest, released a new game at the tail end of 2009. Saira is another platformer in Nifflas’s non-violent, minimalistic style. Unlike his previous games, however, Saira features high-resolution graphics that mix hand-drawn artwork with photographs. Aside from the graphical differences, the game also has a lot more puzzle-solving than Knytt or WaDF, typically in the form of small command consoles that require you to input codes and play minigames. I’m ambivalent about the minigames, which kind of take away from the platforming for me, but it hasn’t been a deal-breaker yet. Partway through the game, and I feel like the story and environments are fun enough to jump through that the game’s small faults do not bring it down too much.

Also, happy birthday, Nifflas! Dude turns 27 today (January 6th)! In celebration, he’s providing a discount to the game. For the next two weeks, the full version of Saira will cost $12 USD, down from $17, and you can also buy a gift code for $1.50 with each purchase. This deal will last until January 20th.

Those of you who are interested in a level editor for the game can find it here, at Nifflas’s support forums.

TIGdb: Entry for Saira

Project Q: First Look

By: Derek Yu

On: August 1st, 2009

Cave Story, Night Game, La Mulana… and now Q! Here’s a teaser video of a prototype platformer by Nicklas “Nifflas” Nygren and the Nicalis crew. IGN has an interview with Nicklas and Tyrone about the project (which is not yet confirmed for any one platform).

Fans who might be worried that all these new games are causing delays should take comfort in the fact that Nicklas has “wrapped up most of his work for Night Game.”

Knytt Stories Design Tour

By: Derek Yu

On: December 10th, 2008

Following fast on the heels of David Rosen’s last design tour (World of Goo) is a new tour of Knytt Stories. I’m really enjoying the style of these videos, and the analysis is fun, too. Keep ’em coming!

From the Wolfire blog.