Development of Stinkoman 20X6 Level 10

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That didn't take too long now, did it?

This article is about the running gag of Stinkoman 20X6's tenth level being delayed, along with information about its marketing and release. For the walkthrough and cutscenes, see Stinkoman 20X6 Walkthrough Level 10. For the launch trailer, see Stinkoman Level 10 Launch Trailer.

The tenth and final level of Stinkoman 20X6 was released on December 20, 2020, fifteen years after the previous level, despite the first nine levels being created in less than half a year. This hiatus had been referenced a few times in the Homestar Runner body of work, and there have been multiple multiple trailers, release date announcements, and delays throughout the years.

Development

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" and that the final boss will be "huge, very epic, and a nice end to the game". They've also discussed the idea of decreasing the game's difficulty, possibly creating an easier mode with mid-level checkpoints and additional extra lives. This mode was later implemented upon level 10's release.

In 2008, sketches of Val Yancey and an unused robot enemy were shown in the Sketchbook. In 2017, the @StrongBadActual Twitter account posted an animated GIF of "Stinkoman level 10 relic[s]". This GIF showed the sprites of the enemies Denholm, Lorber, Thurgood Each and Rightade, Val Yancey, Growtan, Plonth and Soup Dib, and Yekop. One Twitter user known as @jezzamonn responded to this Tweet, volunteering to code the rest of the game. @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. This teaser also announced that the level would be playable in Flash, and was later used as part of the opening cutscene for the level. However, no gameplay footage was shown until days later. In the first installment of The Deleteheads Download, a GIF showed off the level's castle setting and destructible floor blocks. By the end of the year, another trailer was released to announce the delay to 2019, blaming Trogdor!! The Board Game for the delay. This trailer showed new graphics, as well as Stinkomanual drawings and names for Thurgood Each, Rightade, Plonth, and Soup Dib. This trailer also showcased the new "edge-fall respawn" feature, as well as a clip featuring Stinkoman becoming muscular and making small rocks float up off the ground, which would be used in the cutscene prior to level 10.3. 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, with a caption asking for difficulty suggestions. The image showed a portion of the level in which Stinkoman descends multiple floors, each one based on a previous level. This idea would later be expanded to the entirety of level 10.2.

On May 28, 2020, Matt Chapman appeared on a live stream of the game Inhuman Conditions, and gave a more specific date:

And right now, I'm finally drawing near to finishing a 15-year-old Flash game called Stinkoman 20X6 that we made Level 9 I think in 2005 and never finished Level 10, which was supposed to be the last one. And so we're actually nearing completion on that, so that's sort of what we're doing right now. Mere months before they kill Flash completely forever. [...] Yeah, that's sort of the idea. We thought about putting it out like literally the day that they [discontinue Flash].
[...]
If you download Flash Player—which you should all get ready. Go find it, and find a secure version, 'cause by the end of the summer, you're gonna be able to play a game we should've finished 15 years ago. And not because we took 15 years to add all this awesome stuff; because we literally didn't work on it for 15 years. We're finally just, like, finishing it before Flash dies.

In a later Trogdor!! The Board Game live stream on August 9, 2020, Matt stated the following:

The big thing we're doing is we're finishing a Flash game that we started fifteen years ago, and trying to finish it before Flash dies forever in your browsers. So we've been working on Stinkoman Level 10 for a Flash game that came out in like 2004 or something. But it's fun, there's going to be a whole awesome animated intro for it, we're treating it like it's the Sega CD re-release of this game that finally finished the game. So it'll have a super compressed QuickTime-looking intro, and big end bosses, and some other fun stuff. And as long as we finish it before December 31st at 12:59 or whatever, the day that Flash is supposed to finally die, hopefully people can play it and enjoy it. And then maybe we'll find a way to play it in some other format.

The level was finally released on December 20, 2020, and the game was updated with a new intro cinematic, easier new mode, and a number of other small updates. @StrongBadActual has teased that a Videlectrix album will be released on streaming services following level 10. The account also revealed that, while there is no clear plan for preserving the game after Flash stops being supported, Videlectrix wants to make it playable for everybody.

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, Z Sabre 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 (17 Apr 2008) — 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 sbemail 206 — 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 the 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.
• @StrongBadActual Tweet (9 Nov 2020) — Another teaser image is posted, this time seemingly depicting the aforementioned animated intro, with the caption "You peoples have no idea what's in store..."
• @StrongBadActual Tweet (19 Nov 2020) — An image is posted of the pile of Stobats in level 10.2.
• @StrongBadActual Tweet (1 Dec 2020) — Another teaser image is posted of the intro cinematic, in response to doubts that the level would release.
• Stinkoman 20X6 Level 10 — The opening cutscene references the long gap between levels 9 and 10, as does the level's launch trailer.

Gallery

Proposed level 10 baddies	Level 10 relics	An image of the teaser trailer	The Deleteheads Download GIF
An image from the second trailer	An image from a Tweet	A teaser for the intro cinematic	An image of chicken piles
Another teaser for the intro cinematic

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
• View release announcement on Twitter