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[MM] Aidenpons/Ruinae's custom levels & a rant


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Manic Miners is one of the very few (the only?) LRR remake to reach a state where playing it is actually fun. Miners and buildings are fully functional, with vehicles mostly functional, and miner customization just around the corner. Plus, it's got an inbuilt level editor - which makes testing new stuff (and bughunting) absurdly easy, as well as being, y'know, a level editor. Having to manually place tutorial markers using Map Tool is usable, but just not as enjoyable as landscaping on the fly. Plus, you can edit the heightmap like this too, which is great.

 

I've been slowly making LRR maps for a long time... some of which are better than others. In particular, with my earlier levels, I noticed a trend of BIGGER IZ ALWAYS BETTER - which partly in LRR just doesn't work due to exploding, and also isn't fundamentally fun for the player: grab a Chrome Crusher, 2x Loader Dozers, 4x+ Small Transport Trucks, and then you're basically collecting resources as fast as you can click Drill Wall. I notice new MM creators doing the same thing. I know they're why they're doing it, and that's because a) no original level had such a massive goal to show you how much of a chore it becomes and b) the game can very easily be extended to do this. I remember the final levels of Baz's Mod with their 100 or something crystal objectives. Fine levels, but the sheer amount of exploding-ness LRR has meant it took about five tries to complete Rocky Horror.

 

Manic Miners doesn't have such stability issues, and that's why I really enjoy playing it. Yes, vehicles behave oddly and you can still glitch things out. Yes, monsters don't exist. Yes, the overall balance is wack (just put free Tool Stores everywhere - an actually functioning AI can make use of all of them) and I can't really mod it yet (yet!), but it very much fun to play. Your miners scurry about as happily as ever, the game is beautiful, and a lot can be done with it.

 

I haven't been doing a lot of LRR modding recently as a result of this. MM is just more fun to do things with as it doesn't explode. I'm aware LRR is getting new toys with Community Edition too (and has new toys: HazardousLiquids are a thing now! ... but it's just less fun to do things with them. I run into some obscure weird problem which I have to work around: like 8 registers in scripting, Path.map in hidden caverns being exceedingly stupid, inexplicable crashes on load, stunlocked Loader Dozers despite having twin lasers specifically to fight off Rock Monsters, recording objects being incredibly stupid. I can work around nearly all of these, but it doesn't change that as I'm halfway through a level the game will just crash.

 

The other reason I've been doing a lot with MM is because it gets updates. Currently I can bodge walls to turn into water via some painful scripting, but biome modding is planned - and not just the reskins available in LRR, actual biome modding whereby you can make your own new walls with their own drill stats and their own tile they turn into when drilled and it's going to be lovely. Of course, that's not here yet, but it gives a reason to keep poking it now!

 

The newest fun thing to play with in MM is level scripting, and while it's fiddly and has bugs, I know those will be fixed, and it's becoming incrementally more usable. (The first experimental build with scripting was not usable, despite my attempts XD). Already there are things that just... aren't in LRR:

- Infinite variables! Including strings, floats, and some other things I haven't needed to poke yet. No more 8 registers :grbrick:

- Timers actually behave themselves and no longer require a variable to keep track of aaaaaaaaaagh

(For LRR, if you wanted something to trigger, then something to trigger 8s later, you'd need a variable to keep track of that as well as a bunch of labels and general messiness (more explanation here). In MM, all you have to do is specify wait:X in the event chain. It's just so much less painful. )

- No need for a tuto map, you call blocks via their co-ordinates which is so lovely

- Very recently (& still has a bug or two), you can set any tile to anything. LRR just has SetTutorialBlockIsGround and SetTutorialBlockIsPath, but with MM I can basically do the equivalent of SetTutorialBlockIsWater or SetTutorialBlockIsMidStageRubble. This is particularly useful for making drilled tiles turn into water, and has many other interesting uses.

 

That said, it's not complete, and I often find myself grasping at straws to get things to work (eg: a build or two back, you couldn't monitor the same variable twice for two separate thresholds, so I had to basically make a duplicate variable and check that one instead) - but it can only get improved as time goes on. This goes for MM overall: vehicles may be a bit wack and occasionally need a rescue, but they can only get better (and they're way less broken than they were before!) and are already more functional than LRR. Here's some improvements MM has made that just make it so much nicer than LRR...

 

- :chief:  The AI actually works (neaaaaarly all the time)

- :docs:  Drag-fill from the Level Editor to paint large quantities of a map at at time

- :axle:You can load laser vehicles into the Tunnel Transport or Cargo Carrier and fire the laser from onboard them

- :jet:The Hover Scout and Granite Grinder have a Jump ability that allows them to, well, jump over multiple tiles

- :sparks: The Rapid Rider can drill walls and functionally carry resources back to the Docks

- :ilaser: Firing lasers at further walls costs more crystals

- :chief: Custom level loading! Just load a level from a file using the in-game menu. Way less painful than LRR

 

With coming very, very soon:

 

- :infomaniac: Miner customization - as in, recolorable and retexturable miners

- :ilaser: First person mode with usable hand tools, like reinforcing, shovelling, and more

- :rracer: First person mode isn't just a control-a-raider mode but much more like command-from-the-ground mode, with potential to even lock the player into completing a level this way with no overview

 

Anyway, the actual levels I made. Well, for true completeness this would have to go all the way back to the original thread, seeing as I remade The Path to Power and Lake of Fire by hand. Then after Lake of Fire, I realised this would be too much effort for more complicated maps, and wrote a convertor for it instead :P But those were (and still are, until I fix them XD) included in MM, so these are the actually unique levels I made. Some of them are almost ports, like Water Lot of Fun II, but most of them were remade specifically for MM. These ones are ordered by date made.

 

Oh, one more thing: I go by Ruinae Retroque Rursus on the Discord now, a name I'll eventually roll out to RRU as well, so that's why these levels aren't signed aidenpons.

 

Burning Path

 

Spoiler

 

Right Rock Raider, things are heating up! An elite team of Rock Raiders were pursuing Energy Crystals and Ore when disaster struck - seismic activity nearly brought pools of molten magma to beneath our Rock Raider's feet!

The Energy Crystals are still showing on our scanners, but we won't have another chance to visit this cavern again. You must stay in the field and collect twenty-five Energy Crystals before evacuating the cavern.

 

large.BurningPath.png.9c4e82142b8259a598cbee2fce81e22e.png

 

A level whereby you're supposed to run from the erosion, quickly plonk down a Tool Store to nab some crystals, and then teleport it up and run off again. Rinse and repeat until you run out of caverns and lose, or collect the 25 crystals needed to win. Or you could do what Discord user B1er0l4m did and exploit Power Path mechanics to, in fact, build your own save cavern :P

 

Requires: build that has erosion (stable, as of time of writing)

 

 

Water Works 2

 

Spoiler

OK, Rock Raider - are you ready for the next mission? A flood has washed through the cavern and created an underground lake! You must establish our Rock Raider HQ and build the Docks. Once you have achieved this, get a Rapid Rider and bring back any Energy Crystals in the cavern. We need a total of twenty-five Energy Crystals.

 

large.WaterWorks2.png.25e2dad95e52dce7067bc61a8f8a9411.png

 

Water Works was an entertaining LRR map but foiled by the useless AI. Fortunately MM has less of an issue :) so I was able to make a map reliant around picking up scarce crystals with vehicles. Not very threatening.

 

Requires: Any build with functioning vehicles (which as of time of writing is an experimental build)

 

Water Lot of Fun 2

 

Spoiler

 

I hope you don't mind water, Rock Raider! An underground river has burst its banks and devastated our Mining HQ! All that is left is the Docks and the Support Station. There are still valuable Energy Crystals to be found and we must continue our mining operation.

Build a new base on the opposite bank of the river and ferry equipment to the other side to re-establish Rock Raider HQ! Once the base is operational, collect fifteen Energy Crystals.

 

 

large.WaterLotOfFun2.png.dca3110931d5d4e49fd75069afa604c8.png

 

Like Water Works, Water Lot of Fun was an interesting idea but a) cheesable (there are 16 crystals on your side of the pond, more than the 15 you need to win), b) very poorly executed (what's with this mega winding path around the side??), and c) hamstrung by terrible AI. This version has none of these and I think is a really entertaining puzzle of sorts. Unfortunately it's hard to make an actually hard puzzle level

 

Note: level may become impossible if crystal resources change, accurate 2020-05-12

 

Requires: build with vehicles

 

Lake of Fire 2

 

Spoiler

Are you feeling cool, Rock Raider? You won't be for long. This next mission could be your toughest yet!

We have located an area with high amounts of Energy Crystals and Ore. However, there are only very small areas of land in a rapidly rising lake of lava. Our scanners detect a large cavern complex around this lava lake that is safe from the rising lava, but you'll need to blast a way through to it.

Once you've found the safe cavern, rebuild Rock Raider HQ and collect fifty Energy Crystals.

 

large.LakeOfFire2.png.fd461e9f0f4a0682f2b4a73b4b9c9411.png

 

Like Lake of Fire, but instead of stripmining the 40 crystals you need, you'll need to get enough equipment teleported down to open the way to the safe cavern and rebuild your base there.

 

Requires: build with vehicles

 

Search and Rescue 2

 

Spoiler

Are you ready for some more action? One of our Miners has become lost while exploring distant caverns at the end of an underground river, and we need you to find him!

We have already sent a rescue party consisting of a Cargo Carrier and Small Mobile Laser Cutter down there, but they must have got lost too! You'll want to find them and then find the lost Miner.

Take care and don't get lost, Rock Raider - we don't want to have to send a rescue mission after you too!

Oh, one more thing: scanners detect a lot of Recharge Seams in the area. See if you can find them all.

 

large.SearchAndRescue2.png.8d1ee19669facc148406834b4cfa0acd.png

 

Again, another mission on LRR that was let down by technical incapability. This level uses scripting to turn drilled walls into water so your Rapid Rider can travel across them :) It also has other fun stuff - like you can find secret Recharge Seams scattered throughout the level, which are then recorded by Power Paths near your initial HQ. The former isn't really doable in LRR (could use a Tunnel Scout), and the latter is also possible - but it's so much more painless to work with MM.

 

Requires basically the latest experimental build with scripting as of time of writing (build 2020-05-09), as it has bugfixes neccessary for this to actually work.

 

 

 

As I'm sure you can see, I used a lot of inspiration from LRR levels. They had a lot of interesting ideas that weren't executed properly, partly due to technical capabilities (eg: there's nothing you can do in LRR to make the Rapid Rider not suck, even with modding) and level incompetence (eg: slug spam in Back to Basics). Both are likely due to time constraints. In some cases I can refit them, like Water Lot of Fun II, which is a port of a level I made for LRR earlier. Actually, Water Works 2 is a also a port of an LRR level that I never released as I wasn't totally happy with it. These aren't just modified slightly like Baz's Mod to have a couple new caverns and a couple new crystals: these are total redos of the level with very little left from the original.

There's a couple of other levels hanging around I want to finalize and finish too... some using new scripting in MM, some not. Fun stuff awaits :)

 

 

> Download the pack of 5

Place in ManicMiners\ManicMiners\Levels and then load them from the menu.

 

 

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