Celeste Strawberry Jam - Cycle Madness B-Side by DeathKontrol (Full Clear)
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- čas přidán 19. 02. 2023
- DO TOWELS BOOKS BOXES. I'M NOT DOING A DESCRIPTION JOKE FOR THIS VIDEO, THAT ORDER MAKES EVERYTHING SO MUCH EASIER DO TOWELS BOOKS BOXES FOR YOUR OWN SANITY
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Cycle Madness B-Side was explicitly lied about early in development. When the Q&A happened back in 2021, it was confirmed that there would be no sequel maps. Lo and behold, here we are with CMB. While it's not immediately obvious from a surface viewing, the map takes advantage of many new types of dust bunnies taking arbitrary equations as parameters - if you look closely, you'll see waveform bunnies, parametric equation bunnies, and whatever the hell is going on in the heart room. The deco for this map was rather contentious, especially the inclusion of 100 stacked washing machines, but I'm very glad that made it into the final version. It just wouldn't be the same without it.
Download Strawberry Jam here: gamebanana.com/mods/424541
celeste speedrunners trying not to demo through a wall (it gives them flashbacks to chapter 3 elevator shaft)
holy shit y=sin(x) dust bunnies
Cycle Madness was probably one of the hardest maps I could beat from Spring Collab. Seeing it make a comeback in Strawberry Jam now is terrifying beyond words DD:
Okay, so there's two ways that cycles are mainly employed in platformers. Vanilla Celeste uses them to enforce a certain pace of play, to evoke the push and pull of dealing with someone else's mental struggles. This is what most gamers/speedrunners think of when they think of cycles, it's implied in the name, repetitive oscillating obstacles that turn certain sections into bus stops that can be missed if you don't save enough time to beat it. The second use of cycles would be the VVVVVV method, where bouncing and patrolling agents give variance and life to an otherwise pretty rudimentary platformer, inspiring improvisatory and reactive play that is resistant to trial and error memorization. This mode is less common in mods, but Bee Berzerk from the SJ advanced lobby is an A+ example of this second type.
Now, I've found that when cycles are translated into stupid high levels of difficulty they tend to get "lost in translation" so to speak. These two methods come to resemble each other, as the demand for precision becomes stronger, cycle gameplay so often becomes a puzzle of making the cycles invisible, finding the path where it ceases to matter. This was, unfortunately, the fate of OG cycle madness. HOWEVER, this B side was a breath of fresh air in comparison and after clearing it I'm certain that the author knew exactly what kind of assignment they'd given themselves and performed it with gusto.
A contentious feature of this map is the arbitrarily segmented screens, it's often frustrating when it feels like a screen is made of discreet segments that were only merged together for difficulty's sake, but I would like to posit that this is the map's greatest strength. See, DeathKontrol employs both modes of cycle gameplay, but organizes them in a strikingly deliberate way that elevates both. Look again, the early portions of each screen are often the most outwardly absurd and are the strongest example of the "invisibility puzzle" mode of GM cycle gameplay, while the latter portions are more unpredictable but also leave room to improvise and react to what's going on. I'd argue that this is in the short list of maps that are strictly worse when you use savestates to practice, because now the discovery of routes through the early portions of the screen is REWARDING as it gives more attempts at the later chaotic portions. Conversely, the chaotic portions are far more resistant to memorization and compartmentalization, because it's difficult to control the exact circumstances you arrive with.
I did boxes, books, then towels, it was at towels when I picked up what this map was doing. The first towels screen is the best GM screen to ever not include a bino. Solid A tier map overall.
first towels screen does have a bino - it's just under a dash block so 90% of people don't realise it's there
I found out via reporting that there is a bino hidden in that room, which I felt silly for missing ^^; but overall agreed, I think this is a pretty good way to think about how to better design cycle gameplay
not me memorizing a consistent path for every room, even for the parts “resistant to memorization” 👀. Ngl, a lot of the times I just don’t see what you’re talking about in your videos. Like saying temporal tower makes the spikes not feel invisible like how olden tower ruins does (yet both feel invisible to me tbh), and having the cycles eventually just become invisible after figuring out how to traverse their mazes (cycle madness b side still has this for me, and honestly i don’t think this type of gameplay is bad at all). But of course i’m not saying you’re wrong, after all it’s just our experiences with the game
no offense they should put deathkontrol on the electric chair for the decal placement in this map
washing machine
Where are the 100 stacked washing machines?
@@1unar_eclipse 1:58
“no offense X person should die” lmao
this isn't the only map that was lied about
because world abyss :)
cycle madness has a b side???
ah the joys of trying to remain "unspoiled" I'm pretty sure i did it in the least optimal order possible
Why, why would you do this to me. WHAT MANIAC THOUGHT GIVING CYCLE MADNESS A SEQUEL WAS A GOOD IDEA
Why was cmb a green on release lmao wtf
it was a green for almost all of development, just wasn't seen as that hard idk. it was swapped to yellow a bit before release then swapped back for 1.0, then back again in a later patch after community response
I’m not clearing this lol
(edit: I’m like a third of the way through the level now and damn this is HARD)
It was such a terrible experience