Official PixelJunk Thread - 4/20: PixelJunk 4AM out May 15, Beta for PS+ Begins May 1

[quote name='pete5883']If I add you guys on PSN, can I compare against your scores like in Rock Band?[/QUOTE]Yes. I really like how the game supports that.
 
damn, the game is hard! i can't get my 4th rainbow! wtf? how do you unlock the other towers so that you can use them in a different level? it takes "forver" to get enough gems to activate the locked towers... what's your strategy for the Power Play level (the one you don't get gold after killing the monsters)?
 
In the easy missions, you don't get much gems because you actually don't really need the other towers. Focus on building lots of smaller towers and quickly upgrading key towers to the highest level.

For example, one fully graded AA tower is enough to cut down a significant portion of any Air monster waves, enough so that the slower firing arrow towers can pick off the stragglers.

One fully upgraded arrow tower has tremendous range and the extra damage at the end makes it deadly for thinning out early hordes.
 
Some vague info on PixelJunk 1-3, from an interview with Dylan Cuthbert, the founder of Q-Games:

PixelJunk 1-3 is as-yet unnamed but we have collaborated with a rather cool artist in Kyoto called Baiyon who is a DJ, musician and illustrative artist to develop some really interesting technology that creates illustrated "life" (that he has designed) that is also synchronized to his music. The game is a total experiment, but rest assured it is going to be very unique and a lot of fun, and it isn't going to be a "rhythm" game.
Click to expand...

Full interview: Part I - Part II

It's fairly old but I didn't read it until recently for some reason. Maybe I just ignored it when it was first published because I wrote off PixelJunk after the Racers demo. After playing Monsters, I'm admittedly sort of curious what Racers offers beyond the demo.
 
[quote name='Vanigan']In the easy missions, you don't get much gems because you actually don't really need the other towers. Focus on building lots of smaller towers and quickly upgrading key towers to the highest level.

For example, one fully graded AA tower is enough to cut down a significant portion of any Air monster waves, enough so that the slower firing arrow towers can pick off the stragglers.

One fully upgraded arrow tower has tremendous range and the extra damage at the end makes it deadly for thinning out early hordes.[/quote]

Thanks for the tips... I'll try again and get my 4th rainbow tonight perhaps.
 
New, albeit sparse, information on PixelJunk 1-3 and 1-4, now revealed as PixelJunk Eden and PixelJunk Dungeons:

As an ending point, Cuthbert then showed a video for PixelJunk Eden, the next in the series, and a spectacularly abstract physics-based game where you collect pollen and birth flowers as a small blob - with plenty of primary colors and combo effects.
Click to expand...
PixelJunk Dungeons is reported to be a top-down dungeon crawler. (Like I said, info is sparse.)

Full article, which is a summary of Dylan Cuthbert's lecture from the Independent Games Summit: http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=17466
 
More info on the expansion on MTV's game blog:

“PixelJunk Monsters: Encore” — This expansion to the tower-defense game “PixelJunk Monsters” adds the island of Toki to the original game’s island of Tiki. Looks like there are at least a dozen new levels, but I need to play more to learn more. Add-on pack will be out in late April
Click to expand...

I guess I should get around to finishing the first island.
 
Any word on Dungeon? I've been playing Shiren the Wanderer on the DS, and while it's okay, I'm looking for some more dungeon crawling goodness.
 
PJ:M Encore looks like a map-pack more than anything else, but that's fine with me. Hopefully the price is less than $10, though I'd buy it either way.
 
[quote name='Dezuria']PJ:M Encore looks like a map-pack more than anything else, but that's fine with me. Hopefully the price is less than $10, though I'd buy it either way.[/quote]
It is an expansion, so I'm not sure what you were expecting. I doubt that it's more expensive than the game itself.
 
[quote name='pete5883']Probably not going to buy, since I can't even get past the Easy levels :whistle2:([/quote]

Check out some videos of people playing on Youtube. Just watching others play it well will give you some ideas on how to get better.

I've been using a combination of building towers quickly after learning what works against what monsters, and tearing some things down and replacing them with different towers when I don't need them anymore (ie, no more flying creatures, replace with cannons for the boss). Also, in the medium levels, you need to start getting fire towers and stuff. Just save up your gems!
 
Been playing Monsters a bit more and I managed to beat Medium 6 (the upside-down heart) and beat Special 2 to unlock the mine. Used the mine to get rainbows for Easy 3 and 4 (no money and the first level with two possible entrances) and unlock the hard levels and the route to the third special. Managed to beat Hard 1, which allowed me to unlock a few towers (laser, mortar, fire, hive) to beat all the waves. Tried to beat Hard 2, but I seem to do worse with each try. Tried Hard 5, as well, but failed in the later waves.
 
The Mrs. and I play this game quite often. We're hoping(but doubting) we will rainbow every level before the expansion comes out. We rainbow a new place about every two days.

We've got 13 rainbows I believe, so just a few off.
 
[quote name='FriskyTanuki']I just watched On the Spot and they were playing Encore, which Ricardo Torres says will be out by the end of April for $4.99.[/quote]
That leaked release list proves itself once again.
 
Been playing Monsters a bit more and I managed to beat Medium 6 (the upside-down heart) and beat Special 2 to unlock the mine. Used the mine to get rainbows for Easy 3 and 4 (no money and the first level with two possible entrances) and unlock the hard levels and the route to the third special. Managed to beat Hard 1, which allowed me to unlock a few towers (laser, mortar, fire, hive) to beat all the waves. Tried to beat Hard 2, but I seem to do worse with each try. Tried Hard 5, as well, but failed in the later waves.
 
The Mrs. and I play this game quite often. We're hoping(but doubting) we will rainbow every level before the expansion comes out. We rainbow a new place about every two days.

We've got 13 rainbows I believe, so just a few off.
 
[quote name='FriskyTanuki']I just watched On the Spot and they were playing Encore, which Ricardo Torres says will be out by the end of April for $4.99.[/quote]
That leaked release list proves itself once again.
 
So, anyone up for a couple of challenges?

Hard-1 (So Many Monsters): no laser towers (done)
Special-2 (Lines of Attack): no laser towers (done)
Medium-1 (Short Cut): no fire towers (done)
Medium-5 (Monster Mish-mash): only use your basic 3 towers (done - holy crap was that tough)

It's a real shame that the lightning tower wasn't available sooner - it made the final level so much easier!

Anyways, for those looking for a challenge before the expansion pack comes out, give those a shot. They're all do-able.
 
How the heck did you do lines of attack without laser towers? Those Armored Bee monsters are unstoppable without them, especially when they come in droves.

Also, What is the Tesla tower good for? Its range if so short, and the only benefit I see is that it'll attack everything in its range, but the damage is pretty poor.
 
You don't. That's the point of using laser towers. Tesla towers are good for attacking ground troops at their entrance to a level, so it's not a useful tower for every level.
 
[quote name='Vanigan']How the heck did you do lines of attack without laser towers? Those Armored Bee monsters are unstoppable without them, especially when they come in droves.[/quote]

That's the best part - the level is mostly air, so you get alot of time to plan out exactly where the anti-air guns need to go. It's possible, myself having done it around 5 times now. You just need alot of them, and they need to be black.
 
I beat the game with all rainbows a few weeks ago. What a let down when the store came back up w/o the expansion. Any idea when it will be out?
 
Just finished rainbowing every level with the girlfriend on 2-player. Pretty cool effect when you win.

I'm looking forward to the expansion coming out this thursday(I hope).
 
[quote name='FriskyTanuki']You don't. That's the point of using laser towers. Tesla towers are good for attacking ground troops at their entrance to a level, so it's not a useful tower for every level.[/quote]

Yes, yes you do. Laser towers are absolutely a necessity for some levels, but to demonstrate your master of the game, it's fun to do a level with no laser towers just to see if you can. Especially one with an onslaught of bees.

Oh, and using a land mine is cheating (j/k)

I was trying to download the japanese expansion pack (which is already out), but seeing as how I understand nothing of the japanese language, my attempts were very futile. That being said, I believe we have to wait until this Thursday.

My wife's climbing up walls in anticipation.
 
Yes I wonder if it will be out this week. I really want that game to drop but I dont know how much play it will get with Mario Kart and GTA being out this week too.
 
[quote name='punkmaggit']Yes, yes you do. Laser towers are absolutely a necessity for some levels, but to demonstrate your master of the game, it's fun to do a level with no laser towers just to see if you can. Especially one with an onslaught of bees.

Oh, and using a land mine is cheating (j/k)

I was trying to download the japanese expansion pack (which is already out), but seeing as how I understand nothing of the japanese language, my attempts were very futile. That being said, I believe we have to wait until this Thursday.

My wife's climbing up walls in anticipation.[/quote]
How do you get a line of attacks without a laser tower then?
 
There's a very cool bonus for beating the expansion.
If you don't want to be spoiled...........

a new third island opens, and it contains a level generator
 
There's no way. I think you just have to build a crap load of arrow and AA towers and upgrade them all.

I really have no idea how anyone can finish a map with Bees without laser towers.
 
[quote name='FriskyTanuki']How do you get a line of attacks without a laser tower then?[/quote]

A whole lot of black anti-air towers. If you really need more clarity than that, I can tell you exactly where to put 'em.

Trust me, it's possible (and quite the gratifying accomplishment when you do it).

[quote name='dallow']There's a very cool bonus for beating the expansion.
If you don't want to be spoiled...........[/quote]

That is just about the COOLEST thing I've seen yet!! Can't wait for the expansion (Thursday can't come fast enough!)
 
New update/interview.

Hey everyone,
We’re excited to be working with Dylan Cuthbert and Q-Games again on the upcoming release of PixelJunk Monsters Encore, a new expansion pack to the original game, which was released in late January 2008.
You may have recently read some previews of PJM Encore in a bunch of places. If you haven’t checked them out, here’s what 1UP, IGN, Gamespot, Crispy Gamer, and Gamespot (again!) had to say about it.

Of course we’re huge fans of all things Monsters, and totally biased about spreading the PixelJunk gospel but first, here’s a quick overview of some of the highlights in PixelJunk Monsters Encore:
  • 1 new island, Toki Island
  • 15 new levels
  • 5 new music tracks from Otograph
  • Ice Tower is now a stock item
  • Reduced gem cost to buy the Tesla Tower
  • Releasing in May 2008

We had loads of questions for Dylan and team, so we’re splitting this interview into two parts. Featured below are my top five burning questions for Dylan, and be sure to check back next week when SCE Associate Producer Matt Morton delivers the goods on the remaining five.
1. (Deb) How did you decide on the name for the expansion pack? Personally, you know we liked “PixelJunk Monsters: The Lost Island” or “PixelJunk Monsters: The Others”…we’re huge fans of the TV show Lost over here.
(Dylan) Heh heh. Yes I particularly liked “The Others” as I am a fan of Lost too…and am even signed up for that theories forum, 49153…whatever it’s called. However, we needed a name that could be understood in Japan as well, as we don’t like having a different title here, and Encore is understood by the Japanese (although it is pronounced “ahnkowlu”). Also, we wanted the name to reflect the fact that the reason we made this pack is because of the huge response we got from fans of the original, so Encore seemed particularly appropriate as it is what you shout at the end of a good concert etc, when you want just that *little bit more*.
2. (Deb) We get some fan mail here (thanks QA!), but we’re sure you get tons more. Can you spill the beans on what has been your most crazed fan mail to date? Anything PixelJunk juicy?
(Dylan) We’ve been getting a lot of fan mail every week. The bulk tends to arrive just after the weekend so I presume everybody is playing it non-stop during the weekend and they get back to work on Monday/Tuesday etc., feel the itch to play again but can’t, and then look up our mail address on the net. We haven’t had any crazy e-mails, but we’ve had lots of people suggest ideas for a sequel which is really cool. Also, we had a couple of mails about plasma tv burn-in, and rest-assured if we had known people would be playing this game the no. of hours people seem to be playing it then we would have discovered this problem. Therefore Encore and all future PixelJunk games will have an anti-burn option in the menu so as to prevent the PixelJunk logo being forever scarred into your TVs!
We get loads of mails from couples who are enjoying PixelJunk Monsters together. It’s surprising how RTS-like games (usually associated with war and destruction) appeal to both male and female alike, perhaps they even appeal more to women?

3. (Deb) Are the rumors true about your need to make this expansion pack? Was your marriage really in jeopardy if you didn’t turn around a quick XP?
(Dylan) Haha, no, not at all…but my wife simply loved the game so much she would badger me every day for more levels, so in the end I caved in. Of course, we were also getting mails every day from people asking for more so we simply decided to listen to everyone!
4. (Deb) What is your favorite map in PJM Encore & why?
(Dylan) Racer Gardens, because the rough layout is based on a track in PixelJunk Racers and it is a really tough map to beat, but really enjoyable once you learn the patterns. (Hint: The big guys always cross the bridges!)
The secret for the all-clear is rather superb, too, but of course we want the first real player to get there to spill the beans on that one.
5. (Deb) What was the inspiration for the unique and charming art style?
(Dylan) Well, our lead designer on the project, Andy Palmer, came up with some weird red riding hood style pics of a forest with a little girl in a hood and wolves in a kind of Sabre Wulf looking game (Sabre Wulf is an old game Rare made for the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 in Britain back in the 80s), but it also had hints of the SNES version of Zelda. Let’s ask Andy himself.
(Andy) Originally we were just throwing around game ideas on the company BBS. I was making concept images to illustrate how the games might look and as Dylan mentioned, one of the images I made was of a simple multiplayer game inspired by Red Riding Hood, which was set in a forest. When it was later decided that we were going to be making a tower defense game, Dylan said he liked the style of the forest image and from then it became the basis for the rest of the game’s look. Initially I didn’t really want to go in that direction because I didn’t really have any character design or 2D game experience, but Dylan encouraged me to stick with it and I’m glad I did. Not only did the game end up looking good, but I was also able to use a graphics tablet instead of a mouse for several months, which helped my arms recover from RSI
icon_smile.gif

(Dylan) So I suppose those two games were subtle inspirations for the style, but then Andy took it all and slowly transformed it into the whole southern tropical island WikiTiki type thing and we ran with it. The monsters have all been animated by those weird witch-masks they are wearing, but underneath those masks they are probably all friendly folk you would invite around for tea.
(Deb) Very cool, and we should mention that Andy created some really amazing new themes, wallpapers and avatars so keep your eyes open on the PS Store for these very soon.
…
We’re going a bit long here so we’ll pick this back up again next week for the continuation of our interview. Five more questions and answers, plus a few more details about the expansion that you simply won’t want to miss.
Click to expand...
 
That's not really a line of attacks though, just a cluster of towers that may or may not work like that.

I need some help on the T-shaped hard level, I can do fine until the boss, then I can barely take half of his health before he kills my base, so I'm thinking that I'm messing up what my third upgrade should be. I know the first two should be flame and laser to take care of the ground and air waves, but I've tried Hive and Mortar and they're not really getting the job done.
 
[quote name='FriskyTanuki']That's not really a line of attacks though, just a cluster of towers that may or may not work like that.

I need some help on the T-shaped hard level, I can do fine until the boss, then I can barely take half of his health before he kills my base, so I'm thinking that I'm messing up what my third upgrade should be. I know the first two should be flame and laser to take care of the ground and air waves, but I've tried Hive and Mortar and they're not really getting the job done.[/quote]

I couldn't beat that one until I watched the youtube video. Just type in the name of the level i.e. "Hard 2" or whatever it is and watch the video. My girlfriend and I beat it first try, but it took literally 25 times to get the rainbow.
 
Downloaded Encore last night. Only had a chance to play it very briefly, but it looks like the powerups from the previous island don't work on the new island...? At least it didn't feel like holding down circle made me run faster.

I appreciate that they made the ice tower automatically unlocked. I may actually use it now. Before, it always seemed to be a waste of gems.
 
I just played the demo for the first time with my nephew and niece tonight and it was a blast! I can't believe it took me this long to try the the demo out. Can't wait to download the game and encore pack.
 
Tried to beat the first level of Encore again and managed to get through with the help of the Hive and a bunch of Mortar towers. Then tried out the second easy level, which was a bit easier than the first. I love that the third easy level is inspired by Pac-Man.
 
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