Spelunky is © 2008, 2009 Derek Yu and Mossmouth, LLC, and is used under the [Spelunky User License v1.1b](https://spelunky.ai/LICENSE.txt). spelunky.ai is an unofficial fan project, not affiliated with or endorsed by Mossmouth. The game and its assets may not be sold. Music by George Buzinkai and Jonathan Perry; sound effects made in SFXR. From Spelunky Classic 1.1, © 2008, 2009 Derek Yu and Mossmouth, LLC. # The red Lamp gives no light From the spelunky.ai wiki: . The red Lamp gives no light is a quirk of Spelunky Classic in which the Kissing Parlor's lamp, brought down, lights nothing on a dark level. | Quirk | | | ------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | [How we know](https://spelunky.ai/wiki#how) | Read in the game's code and seen in the original game running | | Where | [`objects/oScreen/step_begin.gml:187-194`](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/source/objects/oScreen/step_begin#L187-L194) | | Pinned by | [`fidelity/replays/item-seed-2-red-lamp-dark.txt`](https://github.com/851-labs/spelunky/blob/208933dd4d491fb2cf366575137b625a61e6e378/fidelity/replays/item-seed-2-red-lamp-dark.txt) | | Row | [docs/quirks.md §1, Bugs and leftovers in the 1.1 source](https://github.com/851-labs/spelunky/blob/208933dd4d491fb2cf366575137b625a61e6e378/docs/quirks.md#1-bugs-and-leftovers-in-the-11-source): [“A fallen red lamp lights nothing on a dark level.”](https://github.com/851-labs/spelunky/blob/208933dd4d491fb2cf366575137b625a61e6e378/docs/quirks.md?plain=1#L82) | On a [dark level](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/dark-level), a [Lamp](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/lamp) carried or lying on the ground lights the cave around it, and the player's own light widens as he nears it. The [Kissing Parlor](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/kissing-parlor)'s lamp is red, and while it hangs it lights the shop like any other. Once its block is broken and it falls, though, the red Lamp lights nothing: in the dark, carrying it is the same as carrying nothing, but for a red tint. ## What happens On a dark level, the player throws a lit bomb up under the Kissing Parlor's ceiling, and the red lamp falls. He picks it up and carries it out of the shop into the dark: it casts no light of its own, the dark closes in round him as if his hands were empty, and only the red tint shows[^1]. **Clip: A red Lamp lights nothing on a dark level.** On a dark level, the player throws a lit bomb up under the Kissing Parlor's ceiling, and its red lamp falls. He picks the red Lamp up and carries it out of the shop into the dark: it casts no light of its own, the dark closes in round him as if he held nothing, and only the red tint shows. ([video](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/media/clips/quirks/red-lamp-no-light/clip.mp4)) ## Why The red hanging lamp, `oLampRed`, is a kind of the plain one, `oLamp`, in the game's objects. The red Lamp it falls as, `oLampRedItem`, is an item like any other, not a kind of the plain Lamp, `oLampItem`[^2]. On a dark level the screen draws a circle of light round every hanging lamp, which takes in the red one, and round every fallen Lamp, which names the plain one only: ```gml objects/oScreen/step_begin.gml:187-194 with oLamp { draw_circle((x+8)-view_xview[0], (y+8)-view_yview[0], 96, false); } with oLampItem { draw_circle(x-view_xview[0], (y-4)-view_yview[0], 96, false); } ``` [`objects/oScreen/step_begin.gml:187-194`](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/source/objects/oScreen/step_begin#L187-L194), from `spelunky.gmk`, Spelunky Classic 1.1's source, © 2008, 2009 Derek Yu and Mossmouth, LLC ([Spelunky User License v1.1b](https://spelunky.ai/LICENSE.txt)). The player's step, which finds the nearest light to set how dark it is round him, looks for the same two[^3][^4]. The red Lamp appears in the lighting code only where it tints the lights red while the player is within 96 pixels of it[^5][^6]. ## Reproducing it Find a Kissing Parlor on a dark level: the Mines' levels 2 to 4, the Jungle or the Temple, or any level defiling a third [altar](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/kalis-altar), or a later one, makes dark, the Ice Caves' too. Its lamp hangs from the shop's ceiling, out of reach of a bomb on the floor, and a lit bomb near the Shopkeeper in his shop angers him, so deal with him first, then throw a lit bomb up under the lamp as its fuse runs out. Pick the red Lamp up and walk into the dark. The replay of the clip does so on a dark level 2: carrying the red Lamp, the nearest light the player has is never closer than 20 pixels, and the darkness reaches its deepest[^7]. Another replay brings a dark level's plain lamp down and carries it, and the darkness is gone while he does[^8]. ## In the port The spelunky.ai port reproduces it exactly: it's in docs/quirks.md's list of the 1.1 source's bugs[^6], and the oracle's fingerprints of the two replays pin the light round the player with each Lamp. No option turns it off. ## FAQ ### Does the red Lamp light up a dark level in Spelunky Classic? No. Hanging in the Kissing Parlor it lights the shop as any lamp does, but once its block is broken and it falls, it gives no light at all, carried or lying: only a red tint on the lights near it. ### Why does the plain Lamp light the dark but the red one doesn't? The code that lights a fallen Lamp names the plain Lamp only. The red hanging lamp counts as a kind of the plain hanging one, but the red Lamp it falls as doesn't count as a kind of the plain Lamp. ### Is a plain Lamp a good light on a dark level? Yes. Carried, it's as close as a light can be, and the darkness lifts round the player completely. It can't leave its level, though. ## See also - **Related:** [Lamp](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/lamp), [Kissing Parlor](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/kissing-parlor), [Dark level](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/dark-level) ## References [^1]: Clip [quirks/red-lamp-no-light](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/red-lamp-no-light#clip-quirks-red-lamp-no-light) [^2]: [`objects/oSolid/destroy.gml:24-33`](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/source/objects/oSolid/destroy#L24-L33) [^3]: [`objects/oPlayer1/step.gml:89-100`](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/source/objects/oPlayer1/step#L89-L100) [^4]: [`objects/oLevel/step.gml:110-136`](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/source/objects/oLevel/step#L110-L136) [^5]: [`objects/oScreen/step_begin.gml:167-177`](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/source/objects/oScreen/step_begin#L167-L177) [^6]: [“A fallen red lamp lights nothing on a dark level.”](https://github.com/851-labs/spelunky/blob/208933dd4d491fb2cf366575137b625a61e6e378/docs/quirks.md?plain=1#L82), [docs/quirks.md §1](https://github.com/851-labs/spelunky/blob/208933dd4d491fb2cf366575137b625a61e6e378/docs/quirks.md#1-bugs-and-leftovers-in-the-11-source) [^7]: Replay [`fidelity/replays/item-seed-2-red-lamp-dark.txt`](https://github.com/851-labs/spelunky/blob/208933dd4d491fb2cf366575137b625a61e6e378/fidelity/replays/item-seed-2-red-lamp-dark.txt), which the clip [A red Lamp lights nothing on a dark level](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/red-lamp-no-light#clip-quirks-red-lamp-no-light) plays [^8]: Replay [`fidelity/replays/item-seed-2-lamp-dark.txt`](https://github.com/851-labs/spelunky/blob/208933dd4d491fb2cf366575137b625a61e6e378/fidelity/replays/item-seed-2-lamp-dark.txt) ### Source code - [`objects/oScreen/step_begin.gml`](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/source/objects/oScreen/step_begin) - [`objects/oPlayer1/step.gml`](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/source/objects/oPlayer1/step) - [`objects/oLevel/step.gml`](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/source/objects/oLevel/step) - [`objects/oSolid/destroy.gml`](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/source/objects/oSolid/destroy)