UpRising: The Mechanical Garden (v0.526 Released! 30/05/15)

[128-Up]

Created primarily by myself, Giest118, and Neo; UpRising: The Mechanical Garden is a simple yet difficult platform game in which you are a small, sentient mushroom searching for his friends as a slow industrialisation movement begins in the distance by a surprisingly familiar being...

Standing in the way, however, are waves of hostile creatures, scattered bottomless pits, and a nigh-uncountable series of spikes.

Featuring over 200 stages and 20 bosses, this mushroom's adventure looks like it won't be ending for some time. Good thing he never truly perishes!

Download the latest version of the game (v0.526) here!

Screenshots:

[mellonpizza]

Wow, looks super fun! I can't wait to try :D

[Clamestarebla]

Played the first few levels before my computer decided to overheat (not the game's fault, my computer just sucks) and I must say that it is very entertaining so far. Trying to get a gold medal on each stage and getting the star really adds a nice challenge. It also appeals to my speedrunner side for some reason, probably because I love trying to do cool wall-jumping tricks. Can't wait to play some more!

[mellonpizza]

I really like what you have here, as a whole. The level and boss design so far are really neat and fun. I do have a few minor complaints:
-You can't seem to quit a level without going to the title screen via escape key.
-I can accidentally use a double jump off a wall instead of a walljump since I'm not pushing against the wall when I jump in that moment. You could program it to "stick" to the wall after letting go for a few frames, a la Super meat boy.

[128-Up]

I really like what you have here, as a whole. The level and boss design so far are really neat and fun. I do have a few minor complaints:
-You can't seem to quit a level without going to the title screen via escape key.
-I can accidentally use a double jump off a wall instead of a walljump since I'm not pushing against the wall when I jump in that moment. You could program it to "stick" to the wall after letting go for a few frames, a la Super meat boy.

- R key. Could've sworn that was mentioned in the textboxes in the hub...
- Often times, you're given more than enough to push into the wall to initiate a wall jump, the only exceptions being when you're forced to wall jump off of a single block. I will see if it's necessary to change this, though.

[128-Up]

Owing to real life hitting all of the developers pretty hard, this is simply a minor update, though it addresses things such as new options and level tweaks.

v0.51 here!

[Heraga]

This is amazing. Just a question:

How many stages/bosses are in the latest version?

[128-Up]

This is amazing. Just a question:

How many stages/bosses are in the latest version?

100 stages, 10 bosses

[Heraga]

Cool. So half the game is done. When are you planning on launching that full game. Will it be paid?

[128-Up]

Cool. So half the game is done. When are you planning on launching that full game. Will it be paid?

No idea, but maybe sometime next year?
And no, it'll be freeware.

[Heraga]

Well that's good. Anyways thanks!

[Clamestarebla]

The main complaint I have with the game is that wall-jumping doesn't reset your double-jump, and since the game has a tendency to count slightly falling off a block as your initial jump, it can lead to undesirable surprises when it comes to trying to double-jump off a wall.

[128-Up]

The main complaint I have with the game is that wall-jumping doesn't reset your double-jump, and since the game has a tendency to count slightly falling off a block as your initial jump, it can lead to undesirable surprises when it comes to trying to double-jump off a wall.

There is a single-frame bug you may be occasionally encountering which we are aware of and it shall be fixed in future versions. (v0.52 or v0.6, whichever comes first)
All I can advise right now is that you be especially careful as to whether you move away from the wall or jump first. If you move away first, that counts as the single mid-air jump you are allowed.

[Heraga]

Who made the custom sprites for this?

[128-Up]

Who made the custom sprites for this?

That would be Neo.

[Slit08]

This is amazing. Just a question:

How many stages/bosses are in the latest version?

100 stages, 10 bosses

Do the Ex versions of the bosses count as seperate bosses. Like will there be 10 different light worlds, each with a boss and 10 dark worlds with the harder versions of said bosses or will there be 20 unique worlds and bosses, each with their own light and dark world?

[128-Up]

Do the Ex versions of the bosses count as seperate bosses. Like will there be 10 different light worlds, each with a boss and 10 dark worlds with the harder versions of said bosses or will there be 20 unique worlds and bosses, each with their own light and dark world?

v0.51 has 50 Light levels, 50 Dark levels, 5 Light bosses, and 5 Dark bosses

[Slit08]

Okay so far I played till world 3-7 (no idea how to beat that O_o).

I really love the fact that each world has ist own Gimmicks and its own enemies. This way it almost feels bad leaving a world as you got so used to the Levels and their Gimmicks there.

I don't know if you want to talk about it yet but I would be really interested in what the future worlds are going to be. Lots of devs tell or inform the Gamers about what their planned worlds are going to be themed after.

Let's see what we have so far:

World 1 - A medieval, Mario related Castle.
World 2 - Space
World 3 - Toyland
World 4 - Virtual/ Computer world
World 5 - Scary World

I see that you didn't choose different climate zones as world themes but rather "superior" themes if you know what I mean by that.
Anyways am I right with These 3 predictions?

One world being an organic world - that would be really, really cool, like Walking on meat with pulsating stuff and all.
One world being an ice themed world (or ice Crystal cave themed world)... I just love Ice Worlds in Video games.
One world being a factory world (this one should be a given considering the Story of the game.. so probably this is world 10).

[128-Up]

Huh, I didn't expect 3-7 to be a sticking point. Each to their own, though.

Glad to hear you're enjoying the game so far though. Tried any of the Dark Worlds yet? ^^

As for the world predictions, given the list of world themes I plan to use at the time of this post, at least one of your predictions is incorrect.

[Slit08]

Yeah I beat 1-1X. That's about it. I'm going to beat all the light levels first.

I finished world 3. The boss was awesome. I guess the bosses become harder and harder with each world?

One thing I love is the fact that all three level 10 stages were pretty long and used every gimmick and most enemies of this specific world (2-10 didn't have the laser guy ). I hope that this trend continues in world 4 and 5 with these stages being several screens big and really long and being a summary of the world basically.
Will that be the case for every world in the game?

[Slit08]

Heh, I just read another thread that is a lot more detailed on the Pink Kitty Rose forum. So apparently there's going to be a Danmaku world later on as one of you devs mentioned there. That sounds SCARY (especially if all the enemies there have Danmaku attacks... not to speak of the boss). If there indeed is such a world, something Japanese themed would be really nice and appropriate (like wooden temple with bamboo spikes etc.). Also Touhou enemies like Fuzzies and Danmaku Fairies and other Touhou themed enemies (that we also mostly know from all these platforming Touhou fangames). :o

Maybe raocow could LP this game once it is finished. Would be good advertisment (as you asked for methods to make your game better known to the public). Plus if there is a Japanese themed Touhou world that's definiately a plus for raocow.
As far as I know raocow did enjoy Super Meat Boy a lot, so it's actually a possibility that he's going to play your game as well. ;)

One thing I would be interested in, which of the 5 worlds (and their dark equivalent) is your personal favourite so far?
Of the three worlds I played yet the second one was the best atmosphere wise and the third one the best level design wise despite my hate for 3-7 (which wasn't all that hard in the end once I got the hang out of it... now 3-7X though will probably be a different thing entirely though :( ).
Let's see if world 4 and 5 will top this.

Another question I have is about the bosses: All three bosses I fought so far became more and more intense with every world I progress, with the third out of 10 or 11 bosses (not counting the EX version) already being pretty complex in attack variety and overall difficulty.
So what I would be interested in, how extreme will future bosses (like world 8, 9 or 10) become on the obligatory path? Will we have to deal with really intense Danmaku attacks in the late Light worlds or won't it be THAT extreme? Just wondering, because hoo boy, that third boss was troublesome (but also so awesome).

I'm going to send screenshots of my stats, like deaths etc. of every level once I am finished, if you're interested in that 128 Up.

Last but not least, when can we expect a first screenshot of world 6 (maybe the HUB or a level) as it's already been worked on for quite a while (which means graphcis and all are done for that level probably)?

[128-Up]

Wow, I wasn't expecting anyone to find that thread. Either way, yes, there are plans to be some kind of danmaku-themed world later. The details haven't exactly been decided upon yet, but I can almost certain guarantee it'll be better than a certain MaGL X Touhou level in implementation. You all know the one... I assume.

raocow (or is it still "raocow" at the start of sentences?) maybe would like this, but I'm unsure what he'd think of the stages. I've been told the bosses are definitely his kind of thing, though. Besides, how well would this kind of game go down in an LP?

My personal favourite world so far is World 4, with World 2 very close behind it. I definitely had the most fun designing those stages, and the bosses Giest made for those levels are probably the most fun for me to fight. In contrast, I think World 3 is my least favourite so far. Worlds 1 and 5 are middlish to me.

There is intended to be a gradual rise in difficulty in regards to the bosses. I'm not too sure how well we stuck to it, but I think things are decently tricky as they are.

If you do want to post screenshots, use the Records option in the main menu, if you haven't seen it yet. (Oh, and while I don't explain it in-game, hit F9 to take a screenshot.)

As for World 6, we're currently discussing the nuances of the intended mechanics, and one part of the usable tiles is done. Not that much progress, admittedly, but each world tends to take a while with us. ^^;

[Slit08]

Heh, I took a short peak into world 4 yesterday before going to bed and what I saw was really awesome, especially these laser beams (Do you know Megaman Unlimited, a MM fangame recently released? There's a stage called Rainbow Man with Quickman Lasers that stop at certain points and can be moved in different directions). Going to look forward to that. Also a virtual world once again is pretty original. If I'll love this world and will be able to handle its unique gimmicks better than world 3 I might as well start playing all the X levels of this world first. Plus I've seen a video of one of the X levels on your youtube channel and did like that one quite a bit. I also love the music in the X part of World 4: It's from MM right?

Am I right to assume that each world will feature its very own unique gimmicks, level elements and enemies?

The Danmaku world idea sounds both scary and awesome. And yeah, as long as it will follow a certain theme visually and keep that constant throughot the world (like being a Japanese themed Danmaku world) it's awesome.

BTW, could you list the music themes for the Light World, Dark World and boss levels? I'd be interested in knowing where the tracks originate.
I recognize the castle theme from New Super Mario Bros Wii in World 1X. I also believe that World 2's Light version is using the Starlight Zone theme from Sonic 1?

Am I allowed to make criticism btw, like if I think that one specific level isn't that great?

[128-Up]

The World 4 gimmick is basically a slight expansion on that from Rainbow Man's stage, yes.

Each world will probably have unique enemies and gimmicks. The only one that will probably re-use things is the final world, but even then I make re-use mechanics earlier if I feel like they would work.

You can make criticisms, yes, just try not to be a jerk about it, I guess. I've received heavy criticisms from at least one other player about one later not-so-great level, and... well... just try not to be scathing. I've seen how harsh Talkhausers can be and I'd rather not wind up with some of it. ^^; *glares at MaGL X thread*

As for the music, all the track names are in the Music folder provided with the zip, but here they are anyway.

World 1: Mushroom Castle - Mario Party 6 ~ Clockwork Castle (Daytime)
World 1X: Black Flower Tower - New Super Mario Bros. Wii ~ Castle
Boss 1: Castle Cannon - Mario Party 9 ~ Now You've Done It

World 2: Starlight Station - Kirby's Epic Yarn ~ Outer Rings
World 2X: Astro Track - Mega Man Network Transmission ~ StarMan.EXE Stage (Zero Gravity Area)
Boss 2: Stellar Sprinter - Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz ~ Yoko the Psychic Monkey*
*Unsure if this is the official track name, but the first video I found had that title.

World 3: Plastic Playground - Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance ~ One for All
World 3X: Torturous Toybox - Digimon Rumble Arena 2 ~ Twisted Toybox
Boss 3: Figurine Fighter - Banjo-Tooie ~ Mr. Patch

World 4: Circuitry Citadel - Pac-Man Championship Edition DX ~ BGM #1
World 4X: Cyberspace Highway - Mega Man X4 ~ Cyber Peacock
Boss 4: Microchip Mantis - Shadow the Hedgehog ~ Digital Circuit

World 5: Fungus Graveyard - Super Castlevania IV ~ Treasury (Stage 8)
World 5X: Whispering Nexus - Super Mario 3D World ~ Shifty Boo Mansion
Boss 5: Arcana Apparition - The House of the Dead ~ The Magician

[Slit08]

Nah, don't worry, I won't be too harsh.

Anyways, one level I wasn't a fan of is 2-9 of all things. I think it is a bit too easy, especially compared to previous world 2 levels. And honestly there's not a lot happening. We have these red Podobo like aliens that we did encounter in a similiar fashion in 2-2 (which by the way was a lot harder than 2-9) and we do have a few switches that need to be pressed (again something from 2-2).
So I personally would suggest to redisgn 2-9 and come up with another idea for that one, something a bit more challenging (like 2-7... this level was really hard, but super awesome). Maybe a vertical map where you need to move down while avoiding spikes and enemies and hitting one or the other switch... just a suggestion though.

So yeah, 2-9 felt a little bit flat compared to the rest of the world. So far it is still my favourite world though.

See, that wasn't too harsh, at least I hope so. ;)

Also, in case I'm never gonna make it there: I watched your video of the world 5 boss. How intense is this thing on Ex? Do I have to fear the worst as it already looks super hard on normal?