Purpose
"Water walking" is a technique/exploit I've been using for a while playing other people's quests. I've mentioned it once or twice on the boards with little reaction. For some reason I just assumed other people knew about it, but recently I've seen locations to do the exploit in really good designer's quests and realized- I don't think anyone knows about this. And this exploit is important because it can be found in a lot of quests. I'm making this topic for two reasons: so your quest can be immune from this exploit and so you can use it when you want in other people's quests. I think making a topic like this is necessary so that quests avoid this exploit more.
What is Water Walking?
Hopefully I can add a video eventually as it makes more sense seeing it then reading about it.
Water walking can occur when you have drownable water lining the edges of two adjacent screens. Drowning over and over, you can move along the water and edge of the screens, into areas you are not suppose to go. Let's go over some mechanics to explain how this works.
-When you drown, you go back to the location you entered the screen.
-When you drown, you cannot immediately drown again when you respawn.
-When you drown and respawn over water, you can walk a little on the water before you drown.
All these mechanics work together like this:
Say you exit a screen from the east and come across a beach. Much like the original Legend of Zelda, the beach reaches up to the north, with water blocking off your way progressing east. The beach stretches several screens. This is the perfect place to water walk and this situation occurs in many, many quests.
Exit to the north, going along the water. Then get as close to the water as you can without drowning and then exit to the screen below, to the south. Drown yourself in the water. Then, when you briefly cannot drown again, move east into the water and then move up onto the screen to your north. You should immediately drown on that screen (and you should be standing a little bit over the water). When you drown, move further east over the water and then move down to the south again. You should immediately drown on that screen, but you should be further out over the water. Repeat this until you have exited the screen to the east, drowning over and over, walking over the water.
Keep in mind this works in any direction: north, south, east, or west. So anytime you have water along the edges of two adjacent screens, this is probably possible.
More Details about the Exploit
Some water walks are more efficient than others. If you simply hold diagonally while you drown, buffering the movement, you will instantly exit the screen. This is the least efficient water walk because you gain barely any distance before you drown again. It is much more efficient to hold the direction you want to move, straight on. You should do this for only a fraction of a second, however, before you shift the input diagonally to exit the screen and drown again. This actually makes a significant difference. The longer you can hold straight without drowning, the more efficient the walk is. If you drowned, you held straight too long and a fourth of a heart was wasted.
The distance you can cover is determined by your health and ability to regain health. It can take as much as a heart and a half to cross one tile (if you are doing it very inefficiently). Or a tile can be crossed in about 3/4ths of a heart. I suggest using potions if you want to cross a substantial distance; a red potion triples the distance you can cross. Also, if you have a regenerative heart ring, you can go on forever. Simply wait or uncap the frame rate when you are low on hearts.
Here's a way to make sure the start of your water walk is optimal. You want to exit screen as close to the water as possible, so you get the most distance on your first drown. To do this, move between the screens on land, buffering diagonal movement in between the the screen transitions. Inch your way to the water. When you drown, your last screen exit was as close as possible to the water- which is optimal.
You don't have to act as soon as you get out of the drown animation. It might seem that you have to move while you are flickering from being invincible. You don't. If you just stand still, you will be fine and rest on top of the water. You don't lose any distance this way either: act whenever you are ready.
WHY THIS PROBABLY MATTERS FOR YOUR QUEST
If your quest uses drownable water and ever has water along the edges of two consecutive screens, water walking can be used in your quest. And there is a pretty decent chance in at least one location it can be used to sequence break or get out of bounds. I'm telling you, this is in a lot of quests. It's just a common thing to use water as a barrier between screens.
How to avoid this in your quests:
-Use solid water.
-Never have drownable water along the edge of two consecutive screens.
-Place solid objects in the water on screen borders.
-Have water become solid one tile into water. Or at least on the edges of screens.
-Be mindful anytime you use water.
Conclusion
This is a decently powerful exploit that is in a lot of games. Look out for it while playing other people's quests and your own. I think you'll be surprised when you start looking- you can do this in so many quests, even ones that are generally bug proof. Thanks for your time and hopefully this helps you playing and making quests.
Edited by strike, 21 May 2017 - 06:45 PM.