July/August 2010 Contest Voting

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Aqua Palace Zone - 4/10
Rush job maybe. But why not wait for the next OLDC?
Because the entire point of the level was to see if I could make something decent over the span of two hours. To enter it into the next OLDC would've defeated the purpose.
 
OK, I don't really want to rate the other levels at all so I'm just going to take care of SCZ1. Let's summarise it:

89%

No wait, I mean.

9/10

+ Beautiful Level;
+ Amazing and original gimmicks;
+ Awesome exploration rewards;
- Too short a level to enjoy everything.
 
Well, I'm going to go through the Multiplayer section. Get Ready,

First, The Match Division.

Secluded Woodland Zone: 6/10

Ok, the level is pretty good. It looked ok, good texture variation and the weapons are quite balanced from what I see.My 2 main issues with this level are that the stage design feels kind of linear and it is very bland. Sure, designing a good stage is vital, but you musn't forgot about the visuals to make it stand out more. It would be cool if you could have some more ring in the air so that Tails players can have a chance of getting rings whilst Sonic & Knuckles easily hog the ones on the floor most of the time.

Random Valley Zone: 4/10

Near Average. It is quite big, but it's quite bland for most of it, and it lacks a bit of scenery in most of the stage. The level design doesn't really suit match, instead I think it suits more Single Player mode to me. Some areas are also quite cramped and the Blue texture you used in parts of the level really killed my eyes. The music doesn't really suit the stage either. The Ring & item placement is good however.

Cold Canyon Zone: 4/10

Another near average, but it suffered from some flaws. First of all, the weapon rings/ammo are too close in running distance and you either need to spread them out, or remove some of the rings. The ice like caves arn't even dark, so the light levels needs to be toned down. It's also quite small & cramped level, but I can see potential in it as it does look good in visuals.

Sparkling City Zone: 8/10

First I thought, this has hangout written all over it, then I explored and was actually quite impressed. Very good level design and very nice visuals. My only issues were the same gray wall texture used all over. Maybe you could try experimenting with other textures to make it stand out more? and some of the power up monitors have been placed too close to one another. This is like the Next Gen Starlit Warehouse, Only Better. Good Job.

Midnight Park Zone: 5/10

An average match map. Only only issues are that the maps feels a bit small & cramped in some places and the visuals are quite bland, though there's some nice texture variation, otherwise nothing else to be said.

Rocky Mesa Zone: 2/10

I can see potential, but you still have a long way to go yet. The level is VERY small, and there is no scenery, nor rings for that matter whatsoever. The old SRB2 Textures really don't fit with the new ones very well and most of it is some platforms and water, with the odd cave. Keep going though, you'll eventually dish something out good.

Overall Match: Definetely an improvement from the last contest I rated for this gametype. Now for the CTF ones.

Slime Stronghold Zone: 5/10

Jesus Christ, my eyes hurt x_x. Seriously, it's way too bright and the clash of bright textures which some of them don't fit don't help the fact either. The bases can still be easily camped even though there are team rings in each of the bases. I like the inside areas though despite it felt a bit cramped, otherwise that's all I can say about this map.

Disrepaired Sanctuary Zone: 6/10

Neat Idea, but there's a few things I spotted. First, there is hardly any scenery despite the texture variation. Second, the bases are still too easy to camp at because of how close the rings & the CTF rings are to one another. You also placed too much of the same weapon rings in parts of the map and it doesn't feel balanced, so remove a few of those, particularly the Auto ring, otherwise, pretty cool map.

Flooded Forest: 3/10

Nothing really interesting, except the way the flag is stored (I quite like that) the water area is a pain in the ass and it is VERY bland with almost no visuals whatsoever. The trees look like Obese Mushrooms. Add some more variety to your levels and more areas to explore too.

Spaceport Warfare Zone: 9/10

H.O.L.Y C.R.A.P

How do you pull of stuff like this? this is amazing! and I loved every minute of it. My only issues with this level are some of the emerald spawn points are too close and and parts of the inside areas, particularly the bases feel a bit cramped, otherwise this is quality. Im a bit envious and wish to design levels like this one. I could see this being in future versions of SRB2, because it does have that potential to be an official stage.

CTF Overall: Quite impressed actually. There are finally some decent content coming here and we need to keep them coming. Here are the race division results.


Azure Night Zone: 2/10

Lacked Texture Variation, bad music choice, and basically just a thok fest with annoying bits under the floating Ice. That's all I can really say about this.

Super Sonic Starway Zone: 3/10

The idea was cool, but the way it was pulled off ended up like a nightmare. First, Sonic is only playable in this stage, as Tails & Knuckles die before it actually starts, so you should of set it as Sonic only. Plus the stage was so awkwardly designed, I kept falling off and dying, which frustrated me loads. It needs major overhaul in terms of design to not make it ridiculously difficult.

Cyan Caves Zone: 5/10

It's alright, but is it any necessary to put that many Flamethrowers in one small racetrack like that? because I kept getting hit after being bit by other and it pissed me off. The music wasn't really a suitable choice in my opinion, but I liked the texture variation. The racetrack could of been bigger as well, but I suppose you've put some effort into it.

Aqua Palace Zone: 3/10

More like Aqua Dirt track. Water + Race does not usually bond very well because of the high drowning rates, especially with the lack of air bubbles. It also felt very linear and very bland, making it not stand out very well at all.

Sky Cliffs Zone: 5/10

Spring, boing, next spring,, boing. Finish. That's what it felt like, and it just took away that racing feel. Sure, the design isn't too bad, but remove some of the spring areas. Some arn't needed and are just wastes of space. The scenery & the texture variation look good though

Race overall: Not impressive, but it's slowly getting there. Maybe the next contest will be better for this division.

Overall Multiplayer: Definetely the best multiplayer pack I've played for about 6 months. We need more of these to appear often.

Single Player Division will be up soon.
 
I'll talk only about some of the Single Player maps:

Aqua Relic Zone - 2/10
Oh, well.... lets me see..... I jumped, walked, jumped again, nothing to die,killed some enemies, some springs, walked a bit more and finished.This level is too simple and small.

Emerald Lake Zone - 3/10
This level is good, but its toooooo dark, tooooo small and the THZROCK texture realy don't fit in the level.I liked of the motobugs, but they'd be a bit faster.Oh, I forgot one thing, the invisible climbable walls almost made me cry . You don't have to put the not climbable flag in the control sector's linedef, but in the tagged sector's linedefs, like a normal wall(at least worked with me).

Lava Reef Zone - 3/10
First of all,getting the elemental shield makes the level looks like a GFZ2 with crushers and teleporters .And even without the shield, the level looks like a mix of the THZ,RVZ and ERZ, with the difficult of the THZ, the textures of the RVZ and the part of the separated ways and the teleporters of ERZ. Nothing too original in the level.

To be continued.
 
seems a lot of people are really hating the lack of overwater scenery (there IS seaweed beneath the water) and the single path, which, fair enough, i'll make a new path soon, but, can somebody do me the favor of reccomending stuff I can do other than: make it better, cause make it better doesn't help me to, yah know, make it better, I entered the OLDC for level advise, so, can somebody suggest good scenery (i don't think GFZ's scenery will work right with it)

sorry if I look like i'm trying to start de-railing this topic, but, just voting and saying it was too short, defeats the point of entering.
 
CTF:
MAPF1 - Slime Stronghold Zone by RedEchidna - 5/10
This map took 20 minutes to complete the first time; probably because it was too easy to camp at the base. The outside was too reliant on springs(easy target), and that secret path on the sides at the bottom of the valley were pointless without an elemental shield.

MAPF2 - Disrepaired Sanctuary Zone by Mach - X/10
Didn't really play this extensively to give it a rating.

MAPF3 - Spaceport Warfare Zone by KO.T.E & Spherallic - 4/10
Way too big and confusing. Much of the map like the top of the beams on factory itself has little to no content(nor a way to get there as Sonic). The elevators also often broke(and you can't control your character while in it).

MAPF4 - Flood Forest Zone by glaber - 2/10
The center path of this map is way too straight forward; it even has both Grenade and Bomb ring panels close to one another. There was little reason to use the outer portions, as flag running back to your base was too easy. The flag capture sector was also way too small. I also heard that there was like 12 Rail ring ammo, so ammo count was a problem as well.

Circuit:
MAPR1 - Azure Night Zone by Kaysakado - 3/10
Too much of a thok fest. The gap below the ice near the end is too narrow, and the lack of checkpoints makes this a bit exploitable. Otherwise, it was just too basic.

MAPR2 - Super Sonic Starway Zone by RedEchidna - 3/10
Good production values, but it all seems broken due to using Match mode Super and the lack of rings. There were also too many instances where if you fall, you spend too much time getting back up/you go back too far. Cheat had to be enabled in order for this map to even work right.

MAPR3 - Cyan Caves Zone by Blade - 7/10
Not bad, although it is a bit difficult to see the flames(although that is more SRB2's problem). Flowed nicely, although you shouldn't have to turn sharply right after the last(I think) checkpoint.

MAPR4 - Aqua Palace Zone by simsmagic - 5/10
The beginning seemed misleading, as you couldn't really tell that there was a bottomless pit there(not to mention the stairs that go to the right are useless). Otherwise, it flowed well, though the wall at the end could be just a little bit lower.

MAPR5 - Sky Cliffs Zone by darkbob1713 - 3/10
The start of this map is poor; it was far too difficult to get up the ledge(seeing many players fall down at once is a sign that something was wrong). The fact that the blue springs didn't bounce you high enough to the point where you would fall before even reaching the ledge didn't help. The rest of it was just a underwater hole that is too easy to thok past, and a bunch of spring sets.
 
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Sky Palace Zone - 9/10
Right from the start, I had trouble getting up to the blue springs, i had to stand on the highest sector to get up there, and even there, the blure springs on the lower sector didn't propell me high enough, which i ended up dying by thokking at. Also, i discovered that a lake now has the ability to hover magically without draining through a hole in the bottom of it. Other than that, ti was actually very detailed and very beautiful to look at, the detail was like a dream to me. If it played nicely at the beginning of the stage, and the lake ake a little more sense (waterfall into another lake below?) it would get a 10 from me. Keep up the wonderful work, I wish ll wads were as beautufl as this one.

Every one of these problems is a result of me running out of time to finish my map. D:
 
MAPF3 - Spaceport Warfare Zone by KO.T.E & Spherallic - 4/10
Way too big and confusing. Much of the map like the top of the beams on factory itself has little to no content(nor a way to get there as Sonic). The elevators also often broke(and you can't control your character while in it).

Well, there isn't anything on the huge missile towers for Sonic because he shouldn't even GET up there, and we was running out of time so we just decided to put nothing there because we wouldn't have any time to test it if we did put it there. And the elevators being broken is SRB2's fault, the "each time" linedef is broken, and it was the only way to make the elevators work correctly, and why does the player freeze when he is in the elevator? To keep them from getting stuck between the door and the elevator, it can happen, so I tried different was of fixing it, and they all broke the elevator in some way. But anyways, thanks for the comments! I'll put my CTF votes up once I get to play them again.
 
And the elevators being broken is SRB2's fault, the "each time" linedef is broken, and it was the only way to make the elevators work correctly
You didn't learn from last contest, did you? You could have used an invisible, intangible FOF that is lowered upon being triggered, and given it the Continuous trigger. As far as I know, you were even the one that suggested that for Cinefast's and my map in the last contest.

Sapphire Coast Zone: 3/10
the gameplay was incredibly lacking in anything interesting
The mushrooms beg to differ.

there's barely any difficulty
Does every level need difficulty? No, especially not the first level of a level pack.

the platforming is repetitive [...] The level was also very short
Oh yeah, I see what you did there.

and the enemies with Springs on top are as uninteresting as ever (getting to the upper areas is just boring and annoying when the target is moving and you need a certain top speed).
Boring and annoying at the same time? Also, you don't even need to use these enemies to complete the level, so I don't how it is a problem that using them is difficult. Besides that, I didn't find it difficult at all to use them, and you're better at SRB2 than I am.

Oh, and 3/10 means the level sucks. Judging from your description, SCZ was boring but solid. I get the feeling that you're the one trying to troll here. You didn't say anything positive about any of the levels, and you found something negative to say about every idea anybody had. Are you just not pleased by anything in this game (apart from NiGHTS), or are you trying to find flaws? I'm not trying to start a war or something, but your attitude seriously annoys me. A lot of your complaints are valid and important, but I have the impression you're trying to be over-the-top with your reviews on purpose.

Secluded Woodland Zone: 6/10
Ok, the level is pretty good. It looked ok, good texture variation and the weapons are quite balanced from what I see.My 2 main issues with this level are that the stage design feels kind of linear and it is very bland. Sure, designing a good stage is vital, but you musn't forgot about the visuals to make it stand out more. It would be cool if you could have some more ring in the air so that Tails players can have a chance of getting rings whilst Sonic & Knuckles easily hog the ones on the floor most of the time.
How can a Match stage be linear? Also, I didn't find the visuals to be bland at all, but that's my opinion. Notice for example how every room looks different from each other by using different textures. Also, visuals aren't nearly as important as gameplay, especially in Match.

Random Valley Zone: 4/10
The level design doesn't really suit match, instead I think it suits more Single Player mode to me.
If possible, could you elaborate on this one? I don't wanna say you're wrong (haven't even really played the stage in question), I'm just curious what led you to that conclusion.

MisterX said:
Emerald Lake Zone - 3/10
This level is good
Wait, what?
 
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Are you just not pleased by anything in this game (apart from NiGHTS), or are you trying to find flaws? I'm not trying to start a war or something, but your attitude seriously annoys me. A lot of your complaints are valid and important, but I have the impression you're trying to be over-the-top with your reviews on purpose.
I really like Match mode, I enjoy Race, and the single player levels are much better than what we had in v1.0.
I guess I might be giving things too low a score (hence why I usually avoid giving out numeral scores), but the opinions and statements really are how I feel about levels.
 
Well, it's not like you dislike everything, but you really dislike an awful lot of stuff that just about anybody else likes. I don't know, maybe you just shouldn't give scores at all and just give feedback or something.
 
Can I mention a few things?

Super Sonic Starway: I had forceskin in the header, something must've gone wrong. And I absolutely did not use the Power Stone forms, as seen by the fact that Tails and Knuckles can't go super.

Slime Stronghold: The bottom path was meant for people with elemental shields, to provide some risk. "What if somebody shoots me while I'm down here?"

Cold Canyon: The rail is from the Scatter panel, you have to make some jumps from the pillar spiraly thingy. Also, that graphical glitch with the sector tearing isn't my fault, I tried everything to fix it and the goddamn sectors refused to get along. Also, whoever said it was rushed, no it wasn't ;-;
 
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I really like Match mode, I enjoy Race, and the single player levels are much better than what we had in v1.0.
I guess I might be giving things too low a score (hence why I usually avoid giving out numeral scores), but the opinions and statements really are how I feel about levels.
Honestly, for a while there I was trying to figure out if I should infract you for trolling with those scores. Surely giving out a numerical comparison score can't be THAT hard for you.
 
SpiritCrusher said:
Wait, what?

Oh, well, I don't know if you read and understood the rest of my post to say that, but anyway, I'll explain:

The structure(or construction,composition,formation,constitution,conformation, or wathever the google translater says) of the level (and I'll say the good with others words) isn't that bad, but he used this "not bad structure" in a way that made the rating go to "this level sucks" or 3/10.

EDIT:

The rest and the best SP maps rates:

Golden Palace Zone - 6/10
Ok, your level is very good, but the golden textures made me blind and after a time, the music gets veeery annoying XD.The start comes with the enter of a bank, so, well, I liked it and entered, the level was going very well before I realize that the predominant type of enemies was Egg Knights,nothing more than this and some Pop-Up turrets, and in the boss fight there were some annoying egg guards, a boss fight would be WITH and ONLY with the boss and nothing more, the gimmick isn't that good, I've already seen one or two gimmicks like this in some levels and didn't fit very well, this happened to your gimmick too. Also a question, the slippery golden floor in some parts is because of a very clean floor or a floor being clean up yet?

Sapphire Coast Zone - 8/10
Whoops!! played the wrong level. Real review will be posted anyway. =I
 
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hey the person who made golden palace. um the teleporter doesnt work in the beginning of the level and at all in multiplayer can you fix it.
 
If possible, could you elaborate on this one? I don't wanna say you're wrong (haven't even really played the stage in question), I'm just curious what led you to that conclusion.

I thought of that because when I played through it, there was a lot of exploring and has that single player feel of *keep to one path and keep going up it to advance to the next area* least, that's what I personally think anyways. hough I'm up at 8:45am so my brain isn't on fully functioned mode yet.
 
Golden Palace Zone - 5/10
Since you're French, I will try to keep my words simple.

The first room looked great and had a lot of nice detail. The flashing walls at the entrance hurt my eyes, however, and you should remove them. Both the door and the button that opened it were disappointing? Why does the door to such a huge building look so simple, and why can I open it by just pressing a button in front of it. A building like this will be secured, and the way to open the door should be more complex. Also, why does the door wait three seconds before opening? I didn't have anything to do in that time apart from waiting. Another problem is that you had too many enemies. I often ran into them because there were too many.

The textures you used for the level looked bad. They are so yellow that they hurt my eyes. They also didn't fit the theme. The wall textures are normally used for ice levels, and the floor textures are used for special stages. They didn't fit the theme of your level, and because of that, it didn't feel like a real level. It didn't feel like I was in a palace because the textures didn't look like a palace. Try to use textures that fit better, it really improves the quality of your level. I liked how the city part and the 2D section looked, and I liked the details you put into your level.

The gameplay had a lot of effects that removed the control from the player. For example, you used teleporters for a cool effect, but they were useless and just wasted time. Other things I found were button pressing, elevators that were activated simply by entering them, a weird puzzle that could be solved in seconds by just jumping on every number, and doors that took too long to open. Much of your level felt like a cutscene, and I didn't have much to do except for running and waiting. The slippery floors made little sense (why are they slippery?) and the 2D section didn't have anything interesting. There wasn't much platforming, but the city part where you had to jump on the big car was fun. There was alos just one path. You should have more than one way to go, so players can choose where to go.

There are two things you need to improve for future levels. The first is the texturing. The second is that you should have more engaging gameplay. Your level basically "played itself". Try to focus more on platforming and less on special effects, like you did in the city part in the middle of the level. Your sense for detail and architecture are already very good, but some parts of the level had more detail than others.

Emerald Lake Zone - 2/10
I'm not gonna talk much about the fences, we've been over that already. Logic dictates that Sonic is able to jump over them, and thus he should. Also, in a level with that much vertical variations and a lot of springs, there are many points where I touched the thok barrier in the air and wondered why I was suddenly stopped. Now let's concentrate on the other reasons why this level fails.

The water sections are too dark. Much too dark. Now one might argue that's not a problem because there's nothing to see anyway, but I'd still like to see where I should go. The gameplay was extremely boring. You know something's wrong with your level if it has less action than GFZ, and this stage consisted entirely of jumping up some basic steps and taking some springs. Some of the springs didn't really show where they were supposed to lead either. The biggest problem were the visuals though. You used one wall texture and nothing else, so your level was insanely bland. There wasn't really any scenery either, not even grass borders. Just a valley with water and this texture everywhere. I've never seen such an ugly and boring lake. Yeah, and that's it. There wasn't anything else to the level. The motobugs were nice, but they didn't save a level that had absolutely no content.

Lava Reef Zone - 3/10
The visuals actually aren't to shabby for the most part. Not really great or interesting, but at least they're varied. Did you, by any chance, get any inspiration from Tortured Planet (yet again)? Whatever, it feels like you didn't put any real thought in what wall gets what texture. The result isn't that bad, but far from the quality of the official RVZ.

The gameplay, however, is just extremely tedious. A lot of it is simple jumping over stationary platforms. The beginning is quite confusing, and it's easy to go in circles. The per-character split is obviously ripped off from ERZ1, only that it looks terrible and makes no sense. Tails and Knuckles can pass all three paths, and the Knuckles path completely bypasses half of the stage.

The 2D section seems to be there for the sake of being there, because it doesn't actually feature any real gameplay. Contrary to what you might think, 2D does not make your level better. The yellow spring that puts you into 3D and lets you collect all those overpowered items makes no sense. I have to actually try to skip, because if I just run forward, I automatically run into it. Powerups should be a reward for going out of your way, no something that's more obvious than the actual path. By the way, the stripes you stand on in 2D look terrible in a 3D environment. The zoom tubes are insanely slow, and the last one is glitched.

The pipe segment in the factory looks unrealistic. I mean, have you ever seen pipes like that? I sure haven't. If you're gonna use the pipe texture, make pipes with it. Apart from that, little to comment on, because the rest of the stage consists almost entirely of more boring platform hopping. Teleporters are a cheap way out, by the way.

Aqua Relic Zone - 5/10

I don't know, maybe the score is actually too high, but I really love how you grasped the level architecture of Deep Sea Zone. In the indoors parts, you really evoked that "ruins" feeling that I loved so much in the original DSZ. However, the texturing was very bland. You almost exclusively used the standard DSZ texture for inside, and the gray Mine Maze texture for outside. That made your level boring at times, especially in the outside parts. More variety in textures and more detail in general help reduce that feeling. Seeing as this seems to be your first level, you might think you spend a lot of time on this. The lesson you learned now is that a really good stage takes even more time and effort. It's a very solid start, but you need to go even greater lengths in terms of visual design if you want every room to look engaging.

The gameplay felt sort of neglected. As Mystic said, you need a gimmick to draw attention to your stage. Right now, it's mostly just basic platforming, and many spots can be cleared by simple running. The path split were also sometimes confusing, I remember a path that looped at the beginning, and a dead end that contained a powerup but felt like a real path that was just missing an exit. All in all, a solid stage, but too generic to be really interesting. As a first attempt however, this deserves respect.

Sapphire Coast Zone - 9/10
Yeah, this is pretty amazing. The custom enemies are both very interesting, and I like how you involved the spring enemies in a lot of secrets. The mushrooms added a small gimmick that prevented the stage from becoming repetitive, and the tree-trunks-as-stepping-stones worked very well too, as did the lily pads. I do think however that you should somehow force the player to actually stay on the lily pads, because in that section I could just run through the water and jump out at the end.

The visuals were top-notch, I really liked the mix of custom and regular textures. You also did a very good job of varying the visuals over the whole level by using cue objects such as the bridge and very subtle differences in design and structure. Every room felt distinct in some way, and sometimes you managed that with simple methods such as using fewer or more scenery objects. There were, however, some spots that felt a bit cluttered with scenery objects, mainly the second room on the right path (the one that was taken from the old SCZ) and the last room.

The secret was great, and made me want to see a complete level with that theme. The length of the level is also not a problem at all, this is supposed to be the first level in Lost Worlds after all. A small bug that I found was in the last room, to the left. Some of your custom bushes/plants/whatever were floating in the air. I remember posing the question if your level would be able to surpass Fawfulfan's Sunshine Atoll as the best first zone. Well, to be honest, I'm still having quite a hard time deciding...

Secluded Woodland Zone - 8/10
Something strange happened: You have not made the best Match map. It's certainly not for lack of trying, since what you have there is quite ambitious. I kinda like the gimmick of extreme vertical contrast, and I had a lot of fun with sudden stealth attacks from above. The visuals are very competent, as we've come to expect of you, and I like how you made every room distinct from each other. That made it very easy to get familiar with the map, despite being so large. I also thought that for being so huge, it was quite easy to find your opponents, because there were some obvious focal points like the Scatter room. We played this with three people, and it worked remarkably well.

The biggest problem is how you distributed your monitors. The SRM was insanely hard to get as Sonic, so our one Tails player was always equipped with a shield with the others weren't. The WRM locations, on the other hand, were too memorize, because they were virtually indistinguishable from the normal Super Ring monitors. This is the main reason why Neo's map is better than yours: it's entirely clear where the powerups are. Here, I had a hard time finding monitors, and right now, I could only name two WRM locations from the top of my head.

Apart from that one (rather glaring) flaw, your map is as competent as usual. Weapon and ammo distribution is thought-out as usual, the amount of rings is fitting (I do think there should be more regular rings and less monitors though), Tails can stand a chance both because of extra Tails stuff and because the map itself is rather vertical. I do think the map could be a tad smaller though, because especially in the main room, a lot of space winds up unused. Also, you might wanna move another weapon tile into the upper area, so the players have more incentive to travel upwards.

Random Valley Zone - 4/10
I see that a lot of effort went into this, but it's way too large. The Match system simply cannot handle stages of this size, because it takes ages to even get any items. Also, you need to make the separate areas of your map actually look distinct from each other. Currently, a lot of it looks very similar, which makes it even harder to find your way around.

The item placement was for the most part good, although the Explosion Ring cave had too much Explosion ammo, and I didn't quite like how you hid a lot of items in the river. I shouldn't be searching for powerups, I should rather be picking them up along the way. The visuals were quite nice, although I second the statement that the trees looked like obese mushrooms. If it wasn't for the impractical size, this would've probably gotten quite a high score.

Cold Canyon Zone - 5/10
You just can't do decent visuals, can you? The whole layout feels like some random formation of rocks with random ice textures on them. It's not so much a level as it is a bunch of areas. The fact that you always make sectors with really, simple, squarish shapes makes matters worse. Your levels always feel very boring and plain, because there is absolutely no detail. In a good Match map, all rooms or areas should be distinct from each other and easily discernible, and that is not really the case in your map. It could be much worse, but it also could be much better. That requires exactly the sense for detail and texturing that you seem to lack. See, visuals are not just important for making your map pretty, they also serve a gameplay purpose.

The layout is for the most part well done, and the rooms are connected enough so you can travel around without having to stop much. There are some problems with the layout however: The first is the pool where the SRM is. That round structure it stands on has very awkward collision detection, and it's annoyingly hard to not overshoot when trying to get up. In first-person modes, you should never use steps that are so large that you need a ramp sector. The second problem is the Grenade location. That room is an integral part of the layout, and since your layout is circular, you're bound to come across it every now and then. The problem is the death pit which isn't all that easy too see, it makes the room much too hard in comparison to the rest. You can't even really avoid that room, because once you're in front of it, you have to go there or make a 180 degree turn. The Grenade Ring is also sorta picked up along the way, which is all but ideal for such a powerful weapon.

The by far worst problem is that idiotic corkscrew though. I mean, I can barely see what's going on when I'm on it, and it also looks stupidly unrealistic. Also, once you're on top of it, you have easy access to the Scatter Ring, the Rail Ring and a WRM. That is way too much stuff in one spot. So, in general, you have a very average map that is pulled down by some layout issues but redeemed by the fact that it's actually kinda fun.

Sparkling City Zone - 9/10

Hands down best map in the contest, and one of the best Match maps I've played for SRB2. I like your effective use of small eyecatchers, such as the garage or the Sonic wallpaper, to make each room memorable and distinct from each other. The gray brick texture might be a bit overused, but it's hard to avoid that in a city map, especially since SRB2 lacks city textures. The eastern section of the map looked a bit dull because it was entirely encircled by those rather bland streets. The eastmost road was somewhat pointless and remained unused as a result.

The weapon placement is extremely thought-out, and after I played two rounds of this, I found that each weapon was useful in its own way. It's kinda seldom to see all weapons being used in a Match game, but your map somehow encouraged that. Similarly, I like how the powerup monitors were distributed. I always knew where I could go to rack up items, and the SRM was slightly more out of the way than the WRMs. I really enjoyed the matches I played here, and aside from the irritatingly empty street I mentioned above, this map is pretty much perfect.

Midnight Park Zone - 5/10
You, sir, receive the grand Mystic Realm award for the most solid yet boring map in this contest. I mean, you know what you're doing, but why are you doing it? The map was very flat in a lot of places, resulting in a lot of Elemental Shield abuse, and there was no real incentive to ever go upwards, since neither Scatter nor Rail were worth the effort. That resulted in a really boring spamfest in the flat parts of the stage, since every other weapon as readily available, as were two random monitors. I did have some fun, but it wasn't remarkable in the slightest. It's needless to tell you what you need to do to improve your skills when you're usually better than this.

Rocky Mesa Zone - 1/10
So this is like the third Match map in a row we've seen from you, and you haven't improved one bit. It looks awful, the water has no colormap, there is a random monitor, the Grenade panel and ammo are next to each other. Unlike your previous maps, there isn't even one of each weapon. In fact, you're not only not getting better, you're getting worse, despite the criticism we gave. Next time, I'm not even gonna bother giving you a review, since you're not gonna read it anyway.

Slime Stronghold Zone - 6/10
The visuals are utterly atrocious, and I hope you know that. I still don't know why you refused to go with my suggestion of a simple THZ theme. Everything is better than that mess you currently have. GHZ doesn't mix well with ERZ and THZ at all. I also dislike your habit of using detailed textures for very small or thin walls. That cuts off half the pattern, which looks weird.

But visuals are of course only half the level, and in case of multiplayer maps, probably less. Your bases have an extreme choke point, which makes defense very easy, probably too easy. I only got to play this against vastly inferior opponents, so I could just camp my own base and prevent the enemies from ever getting away with the flag. In a more balanced game, this would probably lead to stalemates. The weapon placement is good, except for the Explosion Ring location. Explosion is an extremely powerful weapon, so I don't think it's a good idea to put the panels so close to each other. Change them with Scatter or something.

The breakable wall in the Elemental-Shield-only path is kind of stupid, since everyone can enter from both sides once the first person has gone through it. The Tails/Knux path, on the other hand, is kinda cool. The Grenade room, as Neo observed rightfully, was a bad idea, since the entrance and exit were so cramped that it was hard not to get hit if you met somebody in there. All in all, a good level that plays quite well despite the insane bottleneck. I had quite a bit of fun, but I did subtract one point for the exceptionally hideous texturing. Still a solid effort though.

Disrepaired Sanctuary Zone - 0/10
Next time, don't submit a map that lags like hell AND has tiny platforms over death pits. Not only does the water obscure the platforms below it, it also produces additional lag. As a result, the map was literally unplayable. Note that I am one of those persons who likes Nimbus Ruins, but this map took its problems and multiplied them tenfold.

Spaceport Warfare Zone - 5/10
Who invented team-only paths in CTF? Oh, it was you, KOTE. Here, have a poisoned cookie. It's an awful idea for three reasons: The first is that they don't even work half of the time, because the associated trigger is bugged. The second is that they essentially provide a quick escape for flag carriers, which means the other team can't catch up. The third is that a team-only path usually comes at the cost of a real path. As is the case for your map. Why on earth is there only one path? CTF maps should ALWAYS have at least two, to ensure that the path to the flag can't just be camped. In your map, there are TWO chokepoints, the yellow spring leading into the base and the flag room itself.

There's another really glaring flaw regarding paths: If you invade a base, you can take only one path, and it has the aforementioned two chokepoints. That makes getting the flag annoyingly hard. Once you have the flag though, you can go onto the balcony and jump off for a very quick escape and then take the elevator to your own base. Defenders won't have any chance catching up. Any potential that this map had (and it had a lot, both visually and gameplay-wise, as shown best by the great SRM dungeon) was ruined by the awful path layout. Five points because it magically managed to not break together despite that.

Flood Forest Zone - 3/10
The layout was quite good, except for the totally empty lake. Either fill it up with something or make it a pit. Currently, it's just wide unused space, which makes the springs hard to find. I also didn't like how cramped the WRM passages near the base were. The visuals were functional but boring. It looked like a 1.09.4 map, and was simply bland in general.

The really big problem was the weapon placement though. I mean seriously, have you even played the official Match/CTF maps? Have you even read Level Design 101? Or are you just trying to break every convention in existence? You should not supply ammo in pairs, especially not next to the weapon tile. Additionally, don't put such insanely powerful items as Grenade and Explosion on the main path. The whole thing turned into a total bomb and grenade spamfest, because there was such much ammo and it was so easily reachable. Additionally, there was virtually no Auto ammo at all. Automatic is the weapon that needs the most ammo, not the least. This could have been a good map, but you chose to completely ruin it.

Can't get myself to review those, Race is so booooooring...
 
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Sapphire Coast Zone - 9/10
Yeah, this is pretty amazing. The custom enemies are both very interesting, and I like how you involved the spring enemies in a lot of secrets. The mushrooms added a small gimmick that prevented the stage from becoming repetitive, and the tree-trunks-as-stepping-stones worked very well too
:(

stairway_to_srm.png


Two months early, but in the wrong contest, I guess...
 
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As for the THZrock texture, that texture was the closest to the Emerald Hill tiles of Sonic 2 SRB2 had.
When "closest" means that it looks nothing like it and results in a level that looks as disgusting as yours, it's time to change your plan. If you care more about the accuracy of the port than the quality of the map, you shouldn't submit it to the OLDC.

Oh and Neo, tough luck I guess. I actually liked the SRM location in your map, although the trunks should've probably been slightly wider. I didn't see too many people actually getting to it.
 
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