One of the most creative entries in our August game design competition was a modest appearing title with a relatively big name: Personal Universe (review). It was created by Damir, a game designer from Slovenia, and his game was an audience favorite. Many asked for more levels and a way to share levels with others. Today he delivered an update that makes that all possible.
I am pleased to announce the latest development in Damir's Personal Universe, complete with all-new user-created levels to play, and a level editor that allows you to upload your own levels to share.
A password feature allows you to edit previously saved levels should it require modification for any reason. Simply enter a password in the space provided when first uploading your level. The password will be ignored on subsequent edits, so be sure to add one the first time.
Much appreciation to Damir for being so very receptive to requests and suggestions and with implementing them so quickly. If you have some constructive criticism or feedback to share, please post a comment. I am sure Damir will be close by.
So what will your personal universe look like? There's only one way to find out. Click.
YAY!!! I've been waiting for this for a while!
Excelent! I've been waiting for new levels, too. Too bad I don't have the required IQ (:D) to come up with a new and interesting ones, but I'll check regularly and see what fresh chalanges the users' twisted little minds could come up with.
Ah, yes. I've finished all three current custom levels and I love the new "grid" feature. It makes things a lot easier.
Hmm, I think the system that checks if the level has been completed is a bit buggy at the moment.. E.g. when I played Damir's "Online Universe" and used this:
http://www.mxb.dk/upload/bug.JPG
as the solution, it said that I had completed the level, but obviously I only managed to push one of the 2 red bits into the green area.
Also, I faced the same problem when playing "Hammer" by LipeCau - I did manage to push the red bit into the green area, thus making a "line" out of the red bits, but I didn't get a "Level completed" message. But, when I messed my mechanism up and it ended up picking up some of the red tiles and pushing them to the left into the green area (not making a line this time), I was told that I had completed the level.. that's a bit strange.
Apart from that, the game's really great!
Cheers,
RiNSpy
RiNSpy: You only have to get the block that is highlighted by the X (it's behind the block) into the (or a, if more than one) green zone.
Nice!
Things I would further enhance:
* Make the engine eat fuel when touching it, not explode, this gives more possibilities in level design.
* Make it possible to have multiple input zones, this yet enhances complexity.
* Allow drag creating of blocks, so holding the mouse button down, and dragging creates multiple blocks. this would make level creation easier.
* Maybe add more possibilities by making multiple engines. Maybe here you can make them explode if 2 engines touch each other. You can calculate their movement in sequence. Or maybe make at least two enginges, a light and a dark blue one. the light one starts, then they move in logic sequentilly one after the other, so the player can anticipate behaviour (I do see that it is a problem to move "at once" with 2 enginges).
* Make some "quality assurance" system to the user levels ... for example let people vote for the level quality. from awesome to crap.
* Some user levels arent solveable (there is for example one where the input zone is already completly full!), a nifty feature would be, having the level designer also have to add one sample-solution. the level designer has to make the blocks that are part of the solution in the level designer in another shape (i.e. circles). After you ran the level, and it solved you can upload it. This would also ease level designing as I can design the level and the solution at the same time... of course circles can only be added in the input areas.
Thank you Aether - didn't know that.
* One thing, a "reset" button would be nice and easy to do.
* Allowing users to comment levels, I know thats a little much asked... but I just wanted to add the suggestion.
* Having a checklist for you, which levels you already solved.
@the "to mars" level creator, I don't know but the rocket is stuck to the ground for me, since it touches the edge...
i love it! I've already made three levels.
Hi. Thanks for all your feedback and suggestions (Grid, I'll consider your multiple enignes solution, thank you).
You can expect updates in near future:
-i'll add level rating.
-will fix physics, so blocks will be able to detach from edges.
-Some of you uploaded levels with large number of blocks. This makes simulation really slow, so i'll try to optimize algorithms.
-Many levels contain a 'path' inside which the device should travell, but it's possible to push this track or cave, because it's not connected to edges. I will make new block type that will not be movable, so it will be easier to create static objects.
Check the updates section in the game page, I'll write all changes there.
The level completition detector, however, is not buggy. The problem is that some people forgot or wrongly set the X block (I call it 'object block') -the one that's marked with X, which must be pushed into green zone for completition. Authors of those few levels can fix them if they have set the password.
I will also consider introducing more block types, but don't expect this very soon.
Also thanks to all people who took their time to upload their level(s)!
I love this game and it loaded fine and I can add blocks and everything but none of the text is visible, I can see the text boxes and clicking on them advances me to a new screen but there is text. Could someone teel me what is wrong? and I haven't been able to set things in motion (though I suspect this is due to my inability to find the right command).
Maybe updating your flash plugin would help. I tried the game with flash 7 plugin and no text was visible.
Try updating to 8 or 9, I'm preety sure it will work fine then.
I think the level creator is quite a democratic feature and thanks to it, we have some neat new levels. But... some people are just posting crap. Some are not even levels!
If you don't want to spoil this democratic feeling, at least add some sort of "rank" system, so players can say if they enjoyed playing a certain level so others won't waste their time.
Cheers,
-Stefano
I vote for a ranking system as well.
And while you are at it, add some simple checks before upload:
* only allow upload if the author also supplies a solution (to avoid impossible levels
* don't allow an upload of a level that finishes without adding any blocks
There are quite some uploads where the target block is already in the target area. I think most of these are actually from authors who mixed up the starting an target areas. That might be due to the fact that the target area is not actually active in the sandbox. That is, if you run your invention, you do not notice that you have swapped target and source areas until you have uploaded the level.
-Rene
I found a glitch:
If you are creating a level, if there isn't a green area yet, and you push start, you can't stop. This really sucks, since I had just finished the best level I'd ever made.
Please consider fixing this glitch, as it is very frustrating for us detailed workers.
Update