The Game of Shadows
The Game of Shadows is a level created by Aurora. It is their submission to the PA Seasonal Level Contest 2020.2. The level is based on the contest prompt of Shadows, and utilizes three songs instead of one.
The Shadows are rising!
Layout
Start
The level starts and introduces itself as a submission to the PA Level Contest 2020.2. and credits the current song; Fright March by cYsmix.
The background switches and a board moves down, giving the player the instructions to hide in purple helpers or "shadows". Bombs also spawn on the left and right of the level
Checkpoint 1 (Fright March)
The screen flashes and shows a mechanical themed setting and a platform rolls to the center of the screen on the bottom bar. Bullets fall from the top and Shades cross the screen.
Checkpoint 2
After a while, the lights turn on and large objects start falling to the beat. Their positions are signaled by a shadow on the platform. Their impact acts like a bomb, spewing bullets around.
A Purple platform rolls into the screen, providing shade on the bottom. The player must navigate with it to remain safe. A smaller platform rises on the right, along with a flashlight that turns on periodically on the left. The player must continue hiding in the shadow of the platform to avoid the flashing light.
This continues until the Flashlight falls and text saying "Thanks for playing?" appears.
Checkpoint 3 (Alacrit)
The screen fades to black and the music changes. The new song is introduced; Alacrit by Kaixo, along with a boss; "The Scientist".
Checkpoint 4
Dawn appears, and the screen is zoomed out, revealing a dark mass around the screen borders.
Dawn (regretfully) attacks by sending down massive eyes, but is interrupted by The Taint stabbing her and fusing her with themselves, making her spew spinning bullets. She then undergoes a transformation scene before revealing her new form; Dusk.
Dusk attacks erratically with laser beams from their four hands, soon making them zoom across the screen and collide with her body, resulting in a pulse. Dusk spins about the screen acting like a moving bomb shooting bullets before resting in the middle and shaking upwards as her hands move up from the bottom.
Checkpoint 5
Two walls of The Taint move from the left and right and the four hands pound on them, making bullets fly out of the walls. This act awakens a large eye in each wall. Dusk watches from above as the Taint attempts to grab The Player.
Eventually, Dusk falls from the ceiling and crashes onto the floor, creating a thin pulse as the Taint continues its assault. Soon, Dusk shifts into a rotating square, flying around the screen as a ring surrounds its borders, replacing the taint. The level starts to override, detailed by the scrolling bar at the bottom. Dusk spews out a few bullets before falling off-screen.
Checkpoint 6 (Spooky Jack)
A sinister laugh is heard as the music changes again, Spooky Jack by Razihel and Varien. Dusk Delta appears, assembling the song credits before shooting downward. Delta moves from the corners of the screen firing lasers from its maw. Periodically, it moves with a Shadow Wall and tries to Skewer the player.
Notably, They appear from the Bottom, then to the top. then split the screen down the middle. Afterwards, they fall off screen, seemingly infused even more with the Taint.
Checkpoint 7
An enlarged Dusk Delta appears on the left of the screen, chasing the player to the right. they will fire a sweeping laser from their eye and the Taint attempts to grab the player again. Delta shifts to the right of the screen and chases the player to the left with the same barrage of attacks, before they quickly rush toward the player, interrupted by their bottom mouth falling due to overuse.
Checkpoint 8 - 9
The music settles down as Dusk Delta starts to transform back into Dawn, but not before spraying a few bullets out. Dawn apologizes to the player and rewards them with the credits for them to read as the music fades out.
Video
Easter Eggs / References
- The same background from the ending of Maze of Mayonnaise is shown in the beginning, making another reference to Artox's Uprising level by using a similar background change animation.
- The Question board from DiyDamian's Algebra is the board that states the instructions to the player in Fright March.
- This is evidenced by the phrase "Algebra Reference go brr"
- The objects falling from the ceiling in Fright March are all references.
- The first "object" to fall in Fright march is a gray version of Ench. The explosion features the phrase; "Ench is dead. Just Leader."
- The second objects to fall are gray Crewmates from the game Among Us, they also feature the phrases; "Axo was the impostor" and "Dre was not the impostor", a reference to a memorable game of Among Us that they played.
- The third objects are a reference to the falling potions from the JSAB level "Flowers of Antimony".
- Weanie Boi's >:D face is featured under the "Good Luck" in Alacrit.
- The Shadowy Entity, "The Taint", that surrounds Dawn and Dusk in Alacrit takes heavy inspiration from The Unknown.
- The zooming fists in Dusk's second attack is a reference to Kitcat's attack style in both Meowter Space and I said Meow.
- When the walls close in on the final yellow square, "Peppa pig Jigsaw Puzzle" is shown on the bottom, fading to white.
- There is text that flashes on the fifth checkpoint saying "RIP Flashdance :(" followed by a remake of a portion from that level.
- The phrase "Peppa Pig Jigsaw Puzzle" is briefly highlighted by the pulse of Dusk hitting the bottom of the screen.
- A lot of easter eggs are hidden in the Level Override Descriptions, namely:
- "Play Stasis btw", a reference to the sudden influx of youtube comments asking to play Rikri's Stasis.
- "Drinking Coca Cola Espuma", a reference to the often used gif in the PA Discord.
- "Focus Tbh" appears, a reference to the act of placing "Focus" in the short break parts of a song.
- "Replacing Batteries", a reference to Aurora's laptop needing a battery change, hampering the production of the level.
- "Deleting System32" a reference to the Deleting System 32 meme.
Trivia
- The text in the beginning of the level has text shadows.
- The Game of Shadows' original songs were Fright March, Dark Darker Yet Darker, and Spooky Jack. Dark Darker yet Darker was removed due to it being unverified.
- Had Dark, Darker yet Darker been verified, the Maze from Aurora's Maze of Mayonnaise would've came back as a reference.
- The reason for the level using multiple songs was because Aurora could not decide which song to decide out of the three songs in the final version.
- Ench will always fall in the middle of the screen in Fright March.
- The supposed "Crack of Dawn" never actually came. This was replaced by Dawn being freed from Dusk Delta.
- The Error Type "$#4170VV" stands for SHADOW in 1337 talk.
- Dawn and Dusk spin most of the time in the level. This was a running gag from the PA Discord where Aurora animated Dawn stretching and spinning rapidly.
- In the Unreleased lore of the Taint, it is said to attack those who aren't attacking others. Dawn knew of this and tried to trick the Taint to leave her alone by attacking the player, this however ended in vain.