Pieces

I think this game is wonderfull, and I got stuck a number of times. I was so desperate that I made a map on paper with all the pasages of the game.

This is the clue:

Easily my favorite game of the competition. And actually, I don't think it is all that much like Nifflas, despite some minor plot and gameplay similarities. If I was to compare it to any game I have ever played, it would be the old Commodore game Below The Root (still one of my favorite games of all time). In any event, it is a great game that gave me twice as many minutes of fun as every other game in this competition combined. I would love to see a sequel.

Still buggy, even if the game-ending ones have been fixed. Still has dead ends, you just can't save anywhere in them.

And there's little that annoys me more in video gaming than being expected to find the completely random "magic trigger" that must be found to continue the game. I've seen plenty of breakable blocks, I've found the creatures that can break blocks, why can't I learn how to break them myself when faced with a choice between breaking blocks and jumping into lava? Is my character that much of a halfwit?

It makes me think the game would be better off if the world were disassembled and reassembled into one big straight line, since it falls apart anyway when players' paths diverge from the magic, invisible developer-intended line.

Blah. It's a pretty game, sure, but it's far too bothersome to actually play it. Next...

I had a hell of a time finding the 'trigger' for the float ability.

The reason was I had already gotten the ship piece from that room, (via careful jumping) and had no reason to go back. I would recommend putting in a few more blocks there to ensure that piece can ONLY be gotten via the float ability.

I said it before, and I'll say it again: awesome game.
That's about it :D

Hey guys, any help? I'm stuck after getting like the third upgrade,

thanks

Yeah, I'm looking for that one too, Tara.

Looks neat, but I can't get jumping to work.

I have 859 yellow gems. Anyone have more?

Jumping is accomplished with the [Z] key, but only after you learn how.

In other words, jumping is disabled when the game first starts. When you find the creatures that know how to jump, you will learn from them and then be able to jump, yourself.

Like previous commenters, I can't really tell which way to go after getting the double jump -- I can reach the area with the block-breaking dudes, from both directions, but neither triggers anything, and if I come from the right I end up trapped and have to commit suicide to get out.

Aaaand then I found the place with the cutscene that told me I needed to "learn to tunnel". I went far left and down, and then worked my way up to the surface and left further than I'd been before.

Hope that helps folks.

I encountered a bug while playing this on my laptop. I had just got to the part where she learned how to jump and she says to jump I should press 2. I tried this but nothing happens. I even plugged in my usb keyboard and tried using the 2 keys and the num pad on it but to no avail. Without being able to jump I only have access to the 5 beginning screens and can no further.

Ooh I can answer this one.
ElliotM-- try a letter that looks like a two.
I had the same issue!

Upon reading the comments, I have since learned that its supposed to be a Z and not a 2, so I guess there is no bug. However, I don't appear to be the only one confused by this so a font change or something might be a good idea.

@Tara/dotcomlarry:

I have all the parts, 1092 coins, all the herbs...and yet, when I go to the "finish" screen, nothing happens.

I *so* wanted to like this game, but little things like that managed to get in the way.

Basically this is Knytt. The minor changes from the original game include higher resoluion graphics (but by no means better graphics), less direct controls (especially the left/right movement keeps me going beyond the intended point) and nintendoesque music (where Knytt was cool and Knytt Stories was pure genius). Pieces could use a lot more of those triggers... or it could skip the triggers and simply have different dialogues, like "Hey... those creatures use fans to float through the air! I ought to try that, too" or something like that.

It's an ok game, but if I need a Knytt fix I usually simply play Knytt over again. Or I click on the "Knytt Stories" playlist in my Winamp player and just listen to the music.

i tried to make a map (it really helped), but it was massive. i mean like 2000px wide, and i wasn't even done. it was getting to big to work with, since it slowed down my computer and filled up my hard drive, so i gave up.

but making a map helps a ton. try making a pencil and paper one like Anton.

Help? Where do you find the double jump ability?

I'm having a glitch where, after a period of time playing, I suddenly can't jump. It's not my keyboard, "Z" works just fine. I just stop jumping.

Is this something that can be corrected?

sam, you have to go down almost as deep as you can and go to the left.

what do you do after you get digging?

WORLD MAP FOR PIECES

Okay, I've put together a map that covers pretty much the entire game world. (That was a whole heck of a lot of screen captures, let me tell you!)

This is a rather big spoiler (it's effectively a graphical walk-through), so don't download unless you're sure you want it!

After further (torturous) attempts at playing:
Once I can no longer jump, I can no longer save (possibly a good thing)
"I" still works, as does regular walking.

I feel really silly, but I've tried to play this game a handful of times, and I keep getting stuck at the double jump area. It says that I know how to jump higher, but it doesn't tell me how. I end up furiously pressing the 'Z' key, and no higher jumping. I must be missing something.

This skill-learning open-ended platformers are one of my favourite genres of games (my favorites probably being Super Mario 64, Banjo Kazooie and most recently Untitled Story.) As popular as Knytt is, I never find it THAT exceptional - it's a bit too benign for my taste.

As for "Pieces", well, it is initially cute, but the skill-getting mechanism is significantly flawed and ultimately breaks the game. As one of the comments already said - if I see a bunch of breakable blocks and I meet a creature who breaks block, I think it's bad game design I still have to find some invisible magical trigger that will make my character suddenly decide it NEEDS to learn the block-breaking skill...and when I reach that point I am most likely already too annoyed to backtrack some more.

Also, level design could be better. Fewer screens with more stuff to do is better then more screens with the same long jump over and over again (especially with so much needless backtracking).

However, I choose to see this as an early, a bit flawed attempt of a gifted game designer who is bound to make some really great games in the future. Less Knytt, deadlier animals and a main character that isn't so hopelessly daft and you've got a hit on your hands.

sam, to get double jump, you have to go almost as far down, and then as far left as you can go.

what do you do after you have burrowing?
also, where do you find out how to dig down. I have the starter for it, where she says she needs to learn how to dig, but I cant find where to find out how to work it.

Pieces lacks the ambiance that Knytt has. Part of the joy of Knytt was the thrill of exploring. Somehow Nifflas made it so that it never felt tedious to find a part or piece.

Pieces made it a chore. I wanted to just get to the next scene. Also, since, as other people mentioned, there is a set linearity to exploration, it makes the expansive world a little meaningless since it is full of forced backtracking.

I've managed to save in a dead end, and one that was mentioned earlier (in the comp entry comments) but must not have been fixed yet. It's in a long lava tunnel: going forward leads to a pit too wide to jump; when i try to go back I get pushed down by a waterfall or tangled in a vine and can't make the jump that got me in there.

Or maybe i'm missing some other way to get out?

* First, I had an enjoyable few hours playing the game, in total it was really a nice experience.

* Secondly, I have nothing against people taking ideas from other games, You have to view it as flattery than as stealing. I think this game might have had a far better start in the community if it from start would have said: "Hey look, I got this new knytt-inspired game, flashbased with upgrade theme" and paying more honor to knytt, like a link from splash screen, instead of the feeling it was supposed to be hidden that another game like this exists.

* Of course because of the similarity it will be compared to knytt, makes much more sense than comparing it to tetris or pacman :). While I would like to see even far more knytt-style games, please make it another story. Pieces has even the same story as Knytt (starcraft pieces drop on planet, crash, get them back), only man turned to woman. Please next knytt-themed game make another story.

* @Jay, I just got an idea for the next competition, how about "cute" :-)

* This world feels a lot more sterile than Knytt, except the animals you need to find to learn something, it only has one kind of animal goiong around. Compare that to knytt, where you go to the village, all kind of animals, see people fishing, werent there birds also? etc.

* Lava is the only way to die, IMHO the game could be enhanced by making a few (FEW!) agressive monsters.

* I'm generally interested in how games transport cultural values. Whenever I point something out, people say, "but, its just a game, I don't go really shoot somebodies head because...", you know it. But it is IMHO important which games a culture plays, and what values it transports, one has to take it more subtle than the direct approach. Like CS you need to team up to beat another team.. something you will do in your whole life, just call it "company" then instead of "team".
** So in the game, when the girl says, "I need to find out how to make my body lighter"... OUCH. Transport of classic values :-)

* I think there is a general consens among players the game would be better, if you immediatly learn things when seeing the animals, instead of "finding out", you need to learn something. @author If you want to make cool improvements outside the competition, take this seriously.

* In total, this game was *my* favorite of the competition, I hope to see more knytt based games in future (@jay: hint: CUTE :-) . well now talking so much about knytt and being a year since I played it, excuse me, I got something to replay :))))

umm... where do i learn how to triple jump?

How do i walk?

Hehe I liked your comment, fuzzyface.

Ahh! How do you trigger/obtain the next upgrade after burrowing?

...I've beaten this game, but not 100%. And though this is unusual for me, the urge to go for triple digits doesn't reach me in this game. One thing that will really irk 100%-ites is this:

Interesting counterpoint: I played this yesterday and then when to play Knytt for the first time based on the recommendations here. Shockingly, I didn't like it nearly as much as pieces. It's very similar, yes, but is missing the whole metroid-esque upgrading system that makes Pieces interesting! I found just wandering around Knytt's vast landscape got tedious pretty quickly, and only kept playing the game because I assumed there'd be more to it eventually. There wasn't.

There are 2 upgrades hidden in knyt.

Also you might want to play "knitt stories". lotsa upgrades there. (I just played through the 5 "official" stories...)

Okay, I can't figure out how to get to the

I have opened the walkthrough, but I don't see how to get there.

I happily committed suicide at the lava pit.

Pieces has one huge advantage over Knytt: I can play Pieces on a Mac.

I really enjoyed this game, but my computer wasn't crazy about it, it kept pausing between screens. And the first time I played:

so I had to stop and start over

HR

I really wanted to like this game, but it just has so many game-breaking issues. Aside from the ones the other commenters have mentioned, i'm also getting the same bug as JuryRigged, where jump suddenly stops working for no reason. (But walking and inventory still work)

I've restarted the game several times, but it happens eventually and then i'm stuck. Such a shame...

I seem to be stuck...I think because according to the game I only have 9 blue flowers. I have collected every blue flower (according to the excellent map and legend provided by mrputter - THANK YOU VERY MUCH - without which I would have given up long ago) but still when I press I it says I only have 9. Am I right in thinking that without all the blue flowers I don't have the skill I need to get the last piece of the spaceship which seems to be in an inaccessible area (like many of the gold nuggets)? The game certainly got more fun and interesting when I got all of the obvious skills. But it looks like you need the flowers as well.

Can someone post the keys for each upgrade. I have an old browser here that I can't update.

catsmith: if I remember correctly you don't need to get all of the blue flowers just to get the spaceship parts. I think you do need the blue flowers to get all of the pink flowers, but the spaceship parts can all be reached with just the abilities you get by watching animals.

I'm guessing that

Where do I find the float ability? I got the trigger, but I can't find where to actually receive it. Thanks!

I'm a little stuck. I have entered the area to get the

but haven't gained the ability. Is there a certain key to press to tunnel?

Possible spoiler. I can't the jump ability to work.

[Edit: That's because it's not the "2" key that you press to jump. See the note following the review above. -Jay]

How on earth do you get to the floating areas on the left?!?!
there arent any power-whatchamacalits there, and jumping doesn't seem to work since the nearest accessable cliff is at least 2 screens away..

The controls on this game are just too wonky to make it any fun.

can someone help? i'm stuck on getting the last piece of the ship, the one on the floating platform thing

To paraphrase the famous quote: this game has good, original elements. Unfortunately, the original ones are not good, and the good ones are not original. :)

Upgrading, the only addition to what's essentially Knytt in Flash, suffers from the same bad design that destroyed the immersion factor in early RPGs. Like others have noted, the learning trigger feels arbitrary and just out-of-place.

Maybe Pieces used a lot more upgrades than other entries, but it sure didn't implement the idea in a clear, gamer-friendly way.

Finally, I agree with fuzzyface's comment: the authors should've been more forthcoming about the origins of the game. Copying can be viewed as a form of flattery, but only when the source of inspiration is clearly acknowledged.

AAARRRRGGGHHHH!!!

I got all ten blue herbs (yes, I looked at the map), and it STILL says 9! That's it, until this is fixed, I give up!

Does anyone know if there is a significance to the green vines hanging around everywhere? Or are they for decoration?
Because I thought those energy things were for decration too..initially..

I keep seeing something about a compass - I assume that I picked it up because I have almost all the jumps and float but how does one activate the compass. The "I" key just says next piece "unknown"

How do I learn how to jump further?

I've read comments that say to go as far down as I can, and to the left to reach the double jump area. I haven't had any luck so far. Could somebody please help me, and tell me what I'm doing wrong?

I had so much fun!
totally enjoyable

Wow. that was a ton of fun. The map really helped, thanks! Once I got all the purple plants, it was great going on a coin collecting spree. I managed to get

coins, which is suspicious because it's not a neat number, but I got a pretty damn high score so I dunno.

Hey, i've gone everywhere i can and have no idea how to double jump!
i just read every single comment left here, and i've gone almost everyhwere i can, but can sombody please tell me where the double jump animals are?
Thank you so much!

First off, i absolutely LOVE this game!!!
Second, what are the black columns? there like, everywhere and they have little white flecks that rise up in them.

could someone please give me a way to put this game on gamemaker? I promise I won't claim it's my own! I just want to make it easier on myself!!!

Also, I LOVE this game. I just don't have time to play it!

Two things, first, I finished it in a day, yay! Second, The game is pretty cool, since you don't have to get all skills or gold to finish, but, if you want to play it, that's really all you need. I would give a 5 out of 5 for this game.

I have invested over 4 hours into this game and enjoyed it. I have collected 22 pieces of the ship.

I know that my last piece is located at

I have attempted

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

wow!
what a great game!
i loved it
: ]
and according to janil, i missed 2 coins!
i thought i had them all!
but i still got

and my score was

so, like i said, loved this game!
p.s. i think proo is pretty darn adorable!
>.<

I loved this game as soon as I tried it, which was a couple months ago, and I used the map to help me this time, which makes it much faster.
To get on the floating platform:

Also, to Kimm,

Omg I loved this game TO DEATH!

I did cheat with the Map/Key, but i still didnt find all 15 Pink herbs...

What do you get for all 15 pink herbs?

well I DID get all the 15 herbs (check the map and make sure you saved after each plant) and...

many of these unreachable gems are now avilable. the closed caves opened.

To find double jump,look on mrputter's map,then find the building that looks like a square.

Help! I have found the place where Proo says she needs to learn to jump farther. What do I do now?

I found the jumping-farther, tunneling, and digging abilities. I also found the float ability, but I don't know where the trigger is. Help?

I don't get how to get into the double jump area. It's all blocked off! Help!

I finally finished the game! And I got into the weekly high scores! I scored 53,000! This game is the BEST! Totally worth playing!

I looked at the map, followed advice, but I STILL can't get double-jump! HELP!?

the game doesn't load for me??

The competition page appears to be working just fine. Not sure what to suggest, dogbee, other than checking the usual suspects:

1) Try a different browser
2) Disable your ad blockers
3) Reinstall Flash
4) Enable Javascript

Just to clear up how you get the new skills.

thanks Jay, my adblocker was acting up. I loved this game when I first played it...am replaying it now...

I am Frankly Annoyed.

I have triggered and acquired walk, jump, high jump, and now long jump. However, I had to JUMP DOWN the long jump trigger ledge to achieve the long jump. Now I amm well and truly stuck! I managed to find a nice few yellow gems but how on EARTH am I supposed to get back to the long jump trigger ledge where the next part of the spaceship is?!

I have referred loyally to the map by mrputter and can see no visible way of getting back. Already saved below the ledge (stupidly, clearly) so cannot commit suicide in a nearby lava lake to escape either!

Any ideas? PLEASE?!

Thanks.

I have found a FUNNEH trick. However, you must have the walk, jump, double jump, long jump and float ability. (SORRY! LONG LIST!)

Wait, what? The above trick only works for the duration of the float. So, to look cool just use the above. But for optimal results

I have to edit my posts again. Sorry!

Edit to my FIRST (not second) post.

Can anyone tell me how to get the piece in

?

pieces is an awesome game ^.^

The double jump is at

Hi-

This is an excellent game! However, I seem to be a bit stuck... I have reached the spot where Proo realizes that she needs to learn how to

I have looked at MrPutter's map (which is very well-done, by the by) but I still cannot figure out how to get to the place where she actually learns the skill. Can anyone help me?

Thanks,
Zapuruxo

I've been using the guide provided by mrputter to help me figure out what I need and where I can get it. So far, I have

I need to get to the spot where

but I can't for the life of me figure out HOW to get there. Any insights?

Great, got all the 10 blue plants, but it only shows 9 in the inventory. What next?

Well, I got to the place I posted about above. The problem was a jump I didn't think I could make.

One issue I seem to be having is that when it loads, it tells me I'm using an old version of Flash. I've tried upgrading my Flash, but it doesn't recognize it. (I'm using Firefox on WinXP.) I've already experienced what it warned me might happen, in my case a bit of cut-off image/text. I have to wonder if that's not the problem behind many people's complaints of having 10 blue plants but only 9 showing in the inventory.

* When I went to the download page to upgrade Flash, it told me that was the download for Firefox/Opera/Safari. I have all 3 of those browsers but primarily use Firefox. When I installed the Flash update, it told me it put itself in Opera only. I tried playing the game in Opera, but I got the same "you're using an outdated version of Flash" message. Quite vexing. Any ideas?

ray9na - the standard Flash version detection script in use for years is bugged, as it examines only the first digit of the version number.

With Flash Player 10, that number = 1, which is a smaller number than the minimum version of the Flash Player these games support.

At least this game allows you to continue, many sites do not when they detect (incorrectly) less than the minimum compatible version.

So, I do not believe your Flash Player 10 should cause a problem when playing the game.

If text is being cutoff, however, that could simply be the result of a font not being embedded properly and should not affect gameplay in any way.

I hope that helps.

All right. Thanks to the WONDERFUL map/walkthrough, I've gotten many yellow gems, all of the skills, and *almost* all of the herbs. There's one last one I just can NOT get to, and I've tried so many times.

Any tips?

i cannot go anywhere now. How do I get jump?! Im having so much trouble!

[Edit by Kayleigh]

I THOROUGHLY, THOROUGHLY enjoyed this game!!! It took me 10 hours, but I had so much fum doing it. Mrputter's map was invaluable, thank you very much! (Although it is much easier to use when each screen shot is individually numbered. I did so & suggest you do, too). My final score was 97,100, all the herbs & 925 gold pieces. FUN! Especially after you get all your skills!

Ray9na:

i used the map, but I'm missing the last red herb. I double-checked, the guy didn't mess up, I didn't mess up, it's just glitch-ed! help! I want the secret places! >o<

This game is really buggy. In my game, it won't let me get the double jump... nothing triggers in the room with the jumping green things.

I'm having the same problem as you Nathan. I like the game, but I seem to be stuck without that double jump.

I'm trying to open Mr.Putter's map of the Pieces world, but am not able to do so. The map index is working fine, but when I try to open the map, it says that the map cannot be read or does not exist.

Please help! I'm pretty sure I can't get through the world with the map.

nathan, the reason the green animals don't work is because they are not the right animals

Can some one please tell me where to find the long jump? I'm so stuck

Very pleasing game!
I got all the spaceship parts and blue herbs, and 9 of the pink herbs, without checking the map. Even with the map, I think I've got all the pink herbs, but it only says I've got 14. Nonetheless, I'm glad I did look at the map, because seeing the scope of the world laid out like that is very pleasing, and you can see more of the pleasing gradients that are spread across several screens.

The comparisons to Knytt are interesting. Superficially, yes, I can see the similarity, but Pieces has one vast advantage over Knytt: progression. Upgrades. The chance to gain abilities and unlock new exits from places you've already been to new areas. Knytt bored me to tears because there was nothing you gained from visiting all these weird places.

The two tweaks I'd suggest if the designer were to make any enhancements:
1) Whoa, this girl moves fast! Really fast! She moved plenty fast enough before the green herbs, and with the green herbs it makes her really hard to control, particularly when wanting to just move one step left or right when in the air (like jumping onto a single floating cube). Now moving fast is good, usually, but it'd be nice if there were some way to tell her to slow down - perhaps hold Shift for "go slow", like in Prince of Persia.
2) Exploring and crisscrossing the world is fun, but it'd be nice to have an automatic map. Obviously not with the detail of mrputter's map, but just one like Untitled Story's small squares, with blocks of colour to indicate broad regions and one space highlighted to show where you are, would be really handy.

But nonetheless, Pieces is a very pleasing game - thanks!

I have a problem with the double jump.

I am trying to get the float feature. When I look at the map and index, it tells me to go to an area that I can not access. It says I'm to go to 8, -2...well when I fall down by the "rain" in screen 7, -1 there is lava all the way across. There's no platform to fall on as indicated in the map. Is this a different version of the game maybe? So far there have only been small minor differences in terrain such as one block on top of the other instead of two blocks side by side, etc. Any input?

Thanks for bringing this one to light on the Vault posting this week :)

I don't know how I had missed it, but I had, and I love these type of games and this was good ... okay well some glitches but nothing not mentioned before

5/5 for me

So on a side note, kinda disappointed that I can't seem to comment on JIG as a guest/anonymous anymore. I am having similar problem as Dent, except with the tunneling skill. I went and got the "Hey I should learn to tunnel" message and then went to the spot that the walkthrough outline says to acquire the skill and nothing is triggering.

I agree with other people in that the character moves much too quickly so I don't see a reason for the green plant. I have collected a few of the blue plants but nothing ever triggered to explain what they are for, not sure if that is a glitch or not.

[Regarding commenting as a guest, please note explanation on this page. -Jay]

Thursday

I did get that problem with the tunnel. Tried it from the left approach and the right and nothing worked, then when I hit "I" the need to learn was not on my console, so I just went back and got it again. Then it worked fine.

I do not honestly know if it was a bug or if perhaps I reloaded and had not saved properly.

Anyway, check it is on your console.