Development of Stinkoman 20X6 Level 10

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Revision as of 18:25, 26 February 2020

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The tenth and final level of Stinkoman 20X6 has been delayed for 18 years, despite the first nine levels being created in less than half a year. This hiatus has been referenced a few times in the Homestar Runner body of work, and there have been multiple multiple trailers and release date announcements throughout the years.

Information

An image from a Tweet

The level is tentatively planned for 2020 and will be playable in Flash, according to the previews posted to @StrongBadActual. It will be castle-themed (presumably taking place inside Shadowy Figure's evil fortress), with blue stone walls in the background resembling The King of Town's castle. The background will be decorated with columns, curtains, and stained-glass windows (through which you can see the sky and some gray mountains). The floor is made of gray shiny bricks, with some metallic platforms. There are destructible floor blocks shaped like skulls, which can be jumped on three times to break them. Most of the enemies are also skull-themed. As revealed on @StrongBadActual and The Deleteheads Download, these include:

• A skeleton that walks back and forth, wearing red clothes. Its clothes have two horizontal yellow lines on the side.
• The same enemy, but with a gun in place of eyes, and a jet pack it can use to fly. It shoots out three small red balls at a time. Its clothes have three horizontal yellow lines on the side.
• Thurgood Each — A bigger, fatter version that spits out Rightades. Its clothes have only one yellow shape.
• Rightade — A jumping wind-up skull.
• A running armless stick figure with a shiny red object for a head. Two bolts stick out of each side of its head. It runs around the player.
• A skull that rests on the ground, then springs up as its eyes open.
• Plonth — A hole in the ground that shoots Soup-Dibs.
• Soup Dib — A shiny red object.
• A jumping stack of five green skulls. It must be shot multiple times for each skull to disappear.
• Returning enemies such as Greggo, Jaro, Browntant, and Tortan will apparently be present.

In a Sketchbook sketch, another enemy is seen: a walking robot with two antennae. Its game sprite has never been seen, however.

An image from a @StrongBadActual Tweet seemingly shows that part of the level will contain a sequence in which the player has to descend down multiple floors, each containing objects and enemies from Level 1 and Level 2.

The second trailer shows a "new edge-fall respawn", where the player returns to the spot where they fell, although it is unknown if it is only for this level, or for the entire game. It also shows a floating Shadowy Figure shooting red balls, most likely the boss of the level. Stinkoman can also be seen becoming muscular (as in time capsule or Twenty THANXty Six) as My Benjes float up around him and the screen flashes white, which may also be part of the boss battle. The boss, in the words of The Brothers Chaps during the Late Nite JengaJam interview, will be huge, very epic, and a nice end to the game.

Progress

In 2007, the Brothers Chaps attributed the hiatus to the programmer, Jonathan Howe, moving away after Level 9. Despite this, they were still discussing the level at that point, and stated that "[they] know ... exactly what's going to happen". They've also discussed the idea of making the game easier numerous times, via difficulty levels, mid-level checkpoints, or additional extra lives. (This decreased difficulty would eventually come to pass, with the second trailer revealing an edge-fall respawn, and a later Tweet asking for difficulty suggestions.) Starting in 2008, The Brothers Chaps started releasing the level's concept art and sprites in the Sketchbook and on Twitter.

One Twitter user known as @jezzamonn, in response to an animated GIF of "Stinkoman level 10 relic[s]", volunteered to code the rest of the game in 2017. @StrongBadActual replied with "You better watch out or Videlectrix gone hire you! How do you feel about Actionscript 1.terrible?". @jezzamonn replied that he was familiar with Actionscript, and went on to become the official programmer of Level 10. The first teaser trailer was released less than four months later, announcing the release year of 2018. By the end of the year, another trailer was released to announce the delay to 2019, blaming Trogdor!! The Board Game for the delay. At the end of 2019, it was once again delayed, citing an internal surplus of "not working on it enough/at all". The accompanying image implied a release year of "2020?". Another teaser image was posted nearly three months later.

Appearances

• Stinkoman 20X6 — At the end of level -0, Stinkoman finds out that 1-Up and Pan Pan are on level 10. At the beginning of level 9, Shadowy Figure asks if Stinkoman thinks he can fly straight to level 10.
• Georgia Tech - 26 Apr 2007 — In reply to someone's question, Matt Chapman says level 10 is in the works, and will probably will come before a Peasant's Quest sequel is made.
• Late Nite JengaJam Interview - 4 Oct 2007 — The Brothers Chaps say that level 10 will be released before homestarrunner.com comes off the internet. They mention Jonathan Howe moving, and that they talked earlier that day about how the end boss would work.
• Sketchbook — The April 17, 2008 sketch shows proposed enemies for level 10.
• 8-Bit is Enough — Strong Bad claims there is a level 10.5, with Sticklyman as the secret boss.
• Email sbemail206 — The floppy disk container reads "level 10". Also notable is the fact that this email was similarly teased and anticipated, being the first Strong Bad Email in over five years.
• @StrongBadActual Tweet (29 Jul 2017) — Strong Bad says he was saving a fan's fanart to use in level 10, which has been delayed to 20X6.
• @StrongBadActual Tweet (8 Sep 2017) — Strong Bad says the titular boss from the Skills of an Artist episode End Boss wasn't a "level 10 relic", and posts a GIF of several enemies.
• @StrongBadActual Tweet (6 Jan 2018) — A teaser trailer for level 10 is posted, saying it will be released in 2018. The video pokes fun at the gap between level releases by revealing that, in the time between level 9 and 10, Stinkoman has fallen asleep, 1-Up has grown a "prodigious beard", and Pan Pan had a hundred babies.
• The Deleteheads Download Vol. 1 — Strong Sad posts a GIF of level 10 from Videlectrix Two, featuring a "destructible floor block".
• @StrongBadActual Tweet (7 Apr 2018) — Strong Bad Tweets a GIF from Twitter user @jezzamonn (the new programmer for Stinkoman 20X6) of a Stinkoman game sprite punching a picture of Bubs off screen (referencing The Next April Fools Thing). Strong Bad thanks the user and tells them to "get back to work on level 10".
• @StrongBadActual Tweet (4 Sep 2018) — Strong Bad Tweets some inspiration for level 10 enemy names.
• @StrongBadActual Tweet (28 Dec 2018) — Another trailer for level 10 is posted to announce the delay to 2019, revealing new graphics, Stinkomanual drawings, and enemy names.
• @StrongBadActual Tweet (5 Dec 2019) — A second delay is announced, with the level tentatively planned for a 2020 release.
• @StrongBadActual Tweet (25 Feb 2020) — A teaser image is posted, alongside a request for suggestions on how to make the game easier.

Gallery

Proposed level 10 baddies	Level 10 relics	An image of the teaser trailer	The Deleteheads Download GIF
A still image of the GIF	An image from the second trailer

External Links

• View enemy GIF on Twitter
• View teaser trailer on Twitter
• View delay trailer on Twitter
• View second delay on Twitter
• View teaser image on Twitter