In this update, I didn't add bunnies. Sorry. But it has lots of other great stuff, I swear.

Play version 0.2.4: http://droidfreak36.com/HATPC/0_2_4

Like with the last version, this one is compiled in two editions, one for Chrome and one for all other browsers. If you are using chrome, you will automatically be redirected to the Chrome edition. I expect the non-Chrome version to perform a bit better, but ideally they should both run fine.

Changelog:
* After playing a user level, a new screen appears which allows you to replay or share the level. I added the share feature since I noticed a few cavemakers (Jebby and Soccer) shared the version-specific links they got from CaveGen while this share button will give you the versionless link.
* Startup invincibility is now optional for user levels, off by default. If you want to re-enable it, add a line that reads "$inv()" to the end of your level file. It's still on in all campaign levels.
* You can now double-tap R or the Restart button to start the level from the beginning instead of from a checkpoint. This should still consume just one life when performed in the campaign.
* You can now grab ladders at head height. Somehow that didn't actually get fixed last time.
* The gem GUI icon is now displayed if you have collected the gem on the current level.
* Fixed several bugs regarding the behavior of boulders around spikes.
* Objects no longer fall instantly if the object below them is destroyed. This mostly means that dynamite chains destroy objects in a manner more consistent with vanilla HATPC.
* It should now be slightly easier to fall into wooden crates when stepping off of solid tiles.
* Crates no longer make falling sounds when falling zero distance.
* Fixed a bug causing Hannah to be rendered on top of secret areas.
* Fixed a bug causing the door to render as open when reloading a checkpoint from before it opened.
* Fixed a bug causing arrows to hit Hannah's top half while duck-jumping.
* Fixed (I think) a bug causing checkpoints to incorrectly load if they saved while explosions were going off (as in level 15, top right section)

But does it have bunny blocks?!?!

No, it doesn't. If I actually add them (for the lolz) I'll probably call it "The Actual Bunny Update". I've gotta call these updates something, right?

No, not really. But I want to.

I love the share feature. And the replay feature is something I've wanted ever since hooking this up to CaveGen. So good job on adding those. A nice-to-have would be links to the Interguild and CaveGen to "discover more levels like this".

I do have one other wrinkle with loading caves in HATPC Reborn from a text file. Whenever I open one up, I go through the following screens:
- Loading screen
- Type username screen
- Loading screen
- Type username screen
- Then the level starts

Could you figure out a way to remove those "Type username" screens? It could potentially put off new players who assume it's not actually loading their level and quit. The version is Chrome btw - haven't tried it in other browsers.

Here's what's going on with that Jebby:

* Loading screen #1: Loading the normal edition of the game
* Type username screen #1: As soon as the game loads up, it redirects you to the Chrome edition, but for about a frame you get to see the screen where it would try to load the level.
* Loading screen #2: Loading the Chrome edition of the game
* Type username screen #2: The game contacts the server that's hosting the level and waits for a response on the same screen where it would wait for the Neopets server if you had typed in a username.

So the fact that you get two loading screens is because you're on Chrome. The reason why the screen it shows while loading the level is "type username" is because that's the screen where it loads user levels. I suppose I could make it display different text if it's waiting for a response from a server.

Oh, I actually thought the loading bar was for the level, not the game itself.

From a user's perspective, the least jarring thing to see would just be a loading bar and then the level straight away. When opening up an Interguild or CaveGen level, that HATPC Reborn session should be standalone, without any inkling of the rest of the game in there (except perhaps at the end after they've beaten the level). It would be nice to see this slightly different workflow for the "one-off level play session" version of Reborn, i.e. the one that takes a link to a cave text file in its "text" query parameter.

Some combination of the new spike hitboxes and physics result in the first jump of The Isles being (almost?) impossible

I've published a level showing two differences in dynamite physics. Hitting the dynamite up should destroy the spike and make the steel crates fall. Hitting the dynamite to the left used to destroy the platform,

In Tutorial 3, if you climb up the ladder all the way but keep holding the up arrow key, it makes an ungodly RHRHRHZHRHHRHRH noise. Would be nice if this could be fixed somehow.

This update added a strange bug. If you have a boulder on top of an up arrow crate, running into it creates an invisible wall two tiles high on the other side. If you move into it while in the air then the boulder moves first and destroys the arrow. Other arrow crate directions work fine so I imagine it has to do with the boulder being destroyed. (btw this was not in the original game but I really like that you can trigger an up arrow crate and push the boulder off at the same time, preserving the boulder.)

Also I think the game felt tighter and better without the fall delay, at least the duration it is now, but I might be biased because it broke a few things in the cave I'm making.

There's something up with the way that arrows are controlled. For some reason,This level doesn't work like it should, nor does this? Do you know why?

I believe that has to do with the speed of arrows

When the bottom middle block of a door is blocked ( by a steel crate or whatever) you shouldn't be able to enter it.

It's not possible to make the cave appear immediately after the loading bar is complete because at that point, HATPCR has to wait to receive the level data from the server where it's stored. So there's always gonna be a little delay in there while I load up the level file. What I can do is make a screen that says "loading level" or something and display that while waiting to receive the level data instead of the current "enter username" screen.


That's probably due to the new jump trajectory being a bit different than the one in the original. Your jump goes a bit higher, meaning you bump into the spikes where you wouldn't in vanilla HATPC.


Where? I don't see it on the IG or CaveGen.


That's not an invisible wall. It's an invisible unpushable boulder. It's created when you start pushing the boulder, and then the boulder is instantly destroyed before it can move into that location. You can duck under it because it's just one tile. That's definitely a bug and I'll look into fixing it.


That's because the arrow hits the boulder but the boulder somehow escapes being destroyed by it. I might try to make it preserve the boulder and the arrow both, but IDK if I can get that to work.


Well, I needed to implement the fall delay to make dynamite destroy arrows properly. I can try tweaking it to be shorter.


Both of those levels are rather complex and I don't even know how they're supposed to work. ¯_(ツ)_/¯


Yeah, probably


Noted. I'll fix that.

On my browser Pale Moon, a Firefox fork, when loading The Isles, as well as other caves that are linked in that manner such as the two rocketguy linked, it displays the enter username screen momentarily before switching to the actual cave. On my first opening of a cave this session, when I opened The Isles, it didn't display until after I pressed enter and space numerous times and then entered a username in and pressed enter to see if that would fix it. But I think that was just coincidence based on the behavior afterwards.

@Darvince That's what Jebby was talking about. I currently use the "enter username" screen as a loading screen for user levels. I'll change that to add an actual loading screen to make things more clear. There has to be a loading screen there because the game has to wait for the server hosting the level to respond and give it the level file.

oops

it's published on cavegen now

Ok, I checked it out.


Is that so? I thought that the area of blocks a dynamite destroys was always a 3x3 centered on the block that it hit (in this case, the platform) so the spike would be out of range. That's how it behaves in HATPCR at least.


Well, that's a difference in the dynamite trajectory, which I've already tweaked quite a bit. I could try lowering its arc just a bit and see if that helps without breaking any other cases.

Could checkpoints be a crate that is only collectable once you've satisfied the requirements?

Well, checkpoints aren't a crate per se since they can be placed over any tile, or over any number of tiles, or not over tiles at all. I do think I'll make it a bit more clear when you've triggered a checkpoint though. Like with a "Checkpoint" text popup.

The option to trip one or not would be best?

Do you really want to have to press a button (or click on the screen) to choose every time you pass a checkpoint? That could be kind of annoying. Ideally, they'd be set up to not trigger unless you actually made progress when triggering them (and not in ways that get you stuck, but that's up to the mapmaker. ATM I do have the option to revert to the beginning of the level if a checkpoint goes awry, but that could still screw you out of a lot of progress if you were at a later checkpoint when a checkpoint got you stuck.

I think for some complicated level designs you won't always be able to quantify progress reliably. I can think of a few ways to do that better in Beluga but I can't account for all the possible ways somebody can mess up some part of the cave and then solidify it with a checkpoint (although I feel like once you know what to do it should be mostly obvious when something went wrong).

What about a back button to reload previous checkpoints? How resource intensive would it be to have several stored at once?

I don't think it would be all that resource intensive, really. So I guess I could do that. But I think that the point still stands that the player ought to get checkpoints when they make progress toward solving the level and not when they do something that prevents them from solving the level. No one wants to get most of the way to the end of the level using checkpoints and then discover it's been unsolvable since nearly the beginning.

The "option" could be as simple as jumping over it... You just need to be able to tell where it is. That said it wouldn't bother me if I had to stand in front of a checkpoint and press up to activate it or something.
But then, a way to trigger the same checkpoint again could be helpful too...

There is a way for the level designer to make you able to trigger the same checkpoint again. I really leave pretty much everything up to the level designer. Which means the level designer has the ability to tailor the checkpoints specifically for their level, but also the responsibility to make sure that they are set up to work well for it.