July/August 2015 Voting

Status
Not open for further replies.
Cease the meta-commentary, people. We're here to talk about the maps, not to start up drama with the people. Xefa, you aren't obligated to respond to the people making reviews, and in general it's a better idea not to respond to hecklers. The rest of you meanwhile barely know what he's objecting to - the points you can make already have been, so there's no reason for anyone to draw this out.
 
Last edited:
I do not say this.




I respect the comments, but we must respect the terms to criticize.
I'm not saying that all comments are invalid.
I respect the following problems:
- music.
- The enemies.
With all respect, I tell you that the theme-level is like that!
roads, lasers, configurations and textures are like that, I 'trying to start correcting the mistakes.
And sorry.

Moderator Notice:
Considering how close together these posts were, I expect XEFA was making this post when my post went up, and didn't see it as a result. He'd be getting warned here too, otherwise. This post being after mine is not a sign that you can continue the discussion or add closing remarks.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Single Player division:

Sonic & Knuckles Robo Blast 2 & Knuckles Ft Knuckles & Knuckles FlipgoopStation Demo
Scarlet Lake Zone
Sacred Woodland Zone
Technology Station Zone
Proud Sky Zone

Reviews coming ....today!

Sonic & Knuckles Robo Blast 2 & Knuckles Ft Knuckles & Knuckles FlipgoopStation Demo, by "Lat'":
Despite the stupid name that stuffs several fads down our throats, this is actually a rather decent level. The main gimmick, which of course is the gravity-flipping goop, is used well, and the boss fight at the end (Sonic/Tails only) is decent. There's even a Knuckles route with its own climbing challenges which are fairly well-handled also (for the most part), the level was worth a replay at least just to check this out alone.

Now for some of the downsides:
  • The waterslide isn't the worst thing ever, but what really gets me is that corner turn where you have little time to dodge the first pair of electric walls. Followed by the chance of hitting the final wall if a yellow spring failed to get you up before it, ugh.
  • In a few areas it's actually a little unclear where to go next when playing for the first time; they had me wondering around for a long time before I realised where to go. The worst offender though is one part of the Knuckles route with a ton of spokes where it's not immediately obvious that you're supposed to fall down the hole at the end of the tunnel (which I barely noticed was there). Put some form of arrow signs about perhaps? I know you use them mostly for showing off the "change-the-arrow-displayed" visual trick but as a directional guide they could be helpful elsewhere.
  • Is there any reason why you changed the explosions of Unidus spikeballs to the NiGHTS paraloop-style one used by Explosion/Grenade rings? This just feels like a weird design decision, I don't know what the point of it is.
  • Maybe it's just me, but I feel the last part of the boss fight is kind of silly; it's basically just you trying to survive a bunch of attacks from a super Knuckles you can't even hit ...until he turns back to normal for no apparent reason. And after hitting him, that's it?

Also some bugs you may want to be aware of:
  • Apparently the Insta-shield ability for Sonic works on enemies/projectiles regardless of z position. I take it this probably isn't intentional, it's rather obvious after using it for a while.
  • Knuckles briefly turns green in some angles when you hurt him during the boss fight.
  • Some of the scrolling walls in Knuckles' route act weird when you grab onto them sometimes. This could be just a bug with SRB2 itself though, then again.

As a last note, this level is rather linear - aside from the Knuckles route, there is basically no alternative route or anything the whole way. Multiple routes can add replay value if you implement them right. For now, the level as it is is good.

Scarlet Lake Zone, by Zipper:
What can I say? I already gave some of my thoughts on this level to the author personally via IRC during beta testing, so I find it slightly awkward to repeat myself. Oh well, here we go...

This level is of course decent in general, and the main gimmick of the level is interesting, and once again you've proved you can make engaging boss fights. Even a Knuckles route to top it off (yeah yeah, I get the joke about the music, whatever), adding a bit of replay value.

However, there are a number of problems with this level:
  • At the path split shortly after the start... for someone new to the level, it's not even clear that it is a path split at all! Only reason I found where to go as Sonic on my first go was purely because I accidentally fell into the river ...which turns out to be where both him and Tails goes apparently. Had to be told directly to learn this, that's not exactly a good thing. I don't think it's entirely obvious Knuckles is supposed to climb up the waterfall on the other side either.
  • Pretty much every instance one of those water columns that pushes you up appears, it's almost guaranteed to cause some frustration in trying to use one of them. The main problem is when you're jumping into one of these, it's incredibly easy to fall out of the column part of the way up it. This is especially infuriating in the second phase of the boss fight, when the boss goes high above the ground... good thing one can just wait that attack on the ground instead, otherwise I'd have rage-quit by then.
  • As much as killing ghosts with light is a cool gimmick, in a number of places where you cannot kill the ghosts they're actually really annoying. This includes their inclusion at the start where you have no idea how to kill the things to begin with. In the case of the Knuckles route it's obvious they're supposed to be obstacles, though that doesn't redeem my partial hatred of the fiendish spirits.

Sacred Woodland Zone, by HAPPYFOX:
FINALLY, A LEVEL THAT IS NOT SATURATED WITH FADS OF ANY KI- wait, haven't I seen this level before?

In all fairness I don't remember much of the older version of this level from the first 2.1 OLDC, but re-reading my old review you've dealt with some of my complaints then at least. One thing you've included that pretty much every other level in this contest division has omitted is multiple routes! (Ignoring Knuckles routes, that is) Alas though, even if it's more or less totally remade, this version of the level has problems of its own:
  • First and foremost, the rooms with rising water and death pits are pure evil. Everyone hates them, and I totally see why. There is little time to react, and once the water rises above you you're almost guaranteed to die to the pit shortly afterwards. Tame these things, or kill them off completely.
  • Next up on the hate list are the flame-shooting Robo-Hoods; these things were present in the old version of the level, and they're still there in THIS version. And they're annoying as ever: if you spend too long around them, the scene is littered with flames all over the place, doomed to be there for eternity. Why don't you make these things ever disappear at all? Furthermore I'd like to be able to kill those Robo-Hoods one day, but most of them are in out-of-reach branches meaning Sonic has no hope in doing so 99% of the time.
  • The Jet Jaws in the gargoyle puzzle route are rather annoying; the water being shallow yet still deep enough to drown in, the fish enemies are somehow

Other weird but not necessarily bad design decisions I'm questioning here:
  • Why are many of the invisible platforms in the level indicated by ...monitors? I guess it's not as bad as using rings, but still, it's odd. Not necessarily bad I guess, but odd.
  • Why use Brak Eggman's landing-on-ground sound for all shutting doors? None of them are even close to metallic, so it doesn't really fit.

Technology Station Zone, by XEFAGame:
I actually don't find this map to be irredeemably awful, but it definitely needs a lot of work in places:
  • Many rooms in this level have at least two Crawla Commanders within, which is a bit too much I feel. Nobody wants to spend a lot of time dealing with these enemies in one room, and then go to next room and have to do the same thing again. One room even contains four Crawla Commanders as well as a Jetty-Syn Bomber. I'd recommend you remove some of these and instead use other types of enemies more often.
  • Why do you use such narrow yet tall doorways between each room? I'm not saying they're cramped at all (which is not actually a problem at all in the level), but most of the time it's not obvious they're doorways at all. The one between the first two rooms with Crawla Commanders near the start in particular was not easy to spot on my first playthrough, and so the enemies from the NEXT room were able to fly into the one I was in and take me by surprise.
  • You're a bit generous with lives throughout the level. Last time I played this I got at least 15 lives without effort. Extra lives are good as a hidden item, but most of the ones you've placed aren't especially hard to find. Maybe you could replace them with some of the other powerups available, such as Invincibility, Super Sneakers or any of the Shields.
  • That one room filled with both horizontal and vertical lasers is not good for the eyes. Either cut down on the lasers or split the number of them visible at once with walls or pillars.

Proud Sky Zone, by Nekoishi and [REDACTED]:
...I bet you're really *cough* proud *cough* of yourself (or yourselves) for making this. An obvious joke 2D level consisting of you falling slowly downwards onto a platform just to collect a star to finish the level? There is absolutely no reason why this should be anything but last place. There is not even much reason for making a review at all considering this level's nature.

Rant aside, switching to first person apparently crashes the game for some reason. Not sure what could be causing that... That said, I'm done here.
 
Last edited:
Wohoo! I can vote!

Sonic & Knuckles Robo Blast 2 & Knuckles Ft. Knuckles & Knuckles FlipGoop Station Demo > Sacred Woodland > Scarlet Lake > Technology Station > Proud Sky

Flipmeme Station & Knuckles, by me... & Knuckles

Time for the explanations...

For visuals... Well I can't say I haven't been warned by someone who tested this, my fault. However, I tried to make the level look like some old, gray abandonned space ship (original, huh?). I kinda succed in some way; abandonned places are rarely nice to look at.

For the lack of Sonic boss fight for Knuckles, I can begin with the fact that Knuckles has to lose the fight anyway, since both "storylines" happen at the exact same time. And I really didn't know how to put that in place, plus Knuckles' section is already as long as Sonic's with the boss fight (Not being good at the game), so I thought ending the level there would be understandable. Apparently not.

For cheap hazards, most times, it will just require you to use the InstaShield that is actually useful to take down the Uniduses.
Speaking of those two things, the exploding spikeballs came from the fact that I use S_RINGEXPLODE as deathstate, but forgot to change the painchance(?). ...And that was looking cool though, so I left it. And about the Z height thing, go blame the MobjCollide Hook that I realized, too late, wasn't checking for Z positions... ...wait what is this bullshit?

And about the memes... Blame me, totally, I'm an idiot ... & Knuckles.

I'm still really happy that this is getting nice reviews and ranking for most cases =)

Unrelated but, Zipper pls, rename it to "s_ugh.wad", it doesn't support Multiplayer lol

Framedrop Woodland, by HAPPYFOX

First of all, it's been really hard to decide between this level and Zipper's.

Damn this level was gorgeous! I'm absolutely amazed by what you have done visually wise! However this did come with some problems; and those really bugged my playthrough:

First of all, the fact that this level is gorgeous literally shot my framerate in the knees, I was at 10/35 FPS in the starting section! I know my toaster is complete bullshit though, so I'm not really counting this in my rating.

Second of all, the water rising sections. The first one was insanely hard; if you don't know exactly where to go, the pit WILL catch up, without forgetting those damned Gargoyles! Surprisingly enough, the water rising section at the end of the level was ridiculously easy compared to the right path's.

Finally, cheap hazards. Kinda completes the complaint about the gargoyles I said up there; the hazards are kind of annoying, and especially the robo hoods that become quickly erea deny devices by putting fire everywhere.

Aside of that, great work of yours!

SNES - Boo (red) Lake, by Zipper

I kinda liked the level and its gimmick.
The ghosts... that I'm gonna call Boos from now on were nicely introduced, not taking any damage from the player.
The true way to kill them was obvious, so not much complaint about this. However, those twos on that ledge are kinda pointless, I firstly thought I had to get them off there, but they apparently didn't count to open the door.

Moving on to the Light power-up thingy... I was kinda happy to get this, like "Finally a way to kick their ghostly butts!" ...And kinda realized its point was just to get through the fat Boo locking the entrance to the next area. ...And then we never see it again.

Now the boss was... *drums* Touhou! ...Which I don't know a shit about.
It was overall good, don't have anything to complaint of aside of its ridiculously high ammount of hitpoints. Also I didn't get that red sphere thingy at the end.

...And about what I didn't like... well first of all, the visuals. While they're certainly miles ahead than my entry, they still looked pretty dull; Red and grey... Red and grey, that's all, and also, it was already said in other reviews, but I didn't really like the Boo busting section, it broke the flow I thought this level had, hopefully it was recovered later on with the Light gimmick. Speaking of which, the theme for it is catchy, I like it.

Keep up your amazing work!

Seizure Station, by XEFAGame

...I don't have much to say about this level, maybe because I quickly found it annoying; the crawla commanders are somehow placed in a worse way than Mystic Realm's Jetty Syns all over Aerial Garden. It had a lot of other problems, such at the seizure lazer corridor of DOOM! that I almost succed to get through without getting hit ... for the cost of my eyes. ...Also I didn't really like the music, to be honest. However, aside of being linear, the level was quite good.

I'm sure you can do a lot better, you've proven this with your amazing Sky Sanctuary map!

not-so-Proud airwalk freefall on a star, by Nekoishi and... [REDACTED]...?

Add the "I believe I can fly" song and you get yourself a worse meme than my Flipmeme Station. =)
This definetly deserves to win... or not.

I might upload videos kinda soon to let know how I played the levels.
 
For future reference, I added all the songs used in my level to my post. (Except for Pumpkin Hill, we all know what that is)
 
Reviews (finaly)

Proud Sky Zone by Nekoishi and [REDACTED]
Ummm? I belive I can fly? Or freefall?

Sonic & Knuckles Robo Blast 2 & Knuckles Ft Knuckles & Knuckles FlipgoopStation Demo by "Lat'"
This stage is well done on the most parts. The introduction to the new special moves and the flipgoop was well made and easy to understand. But that part after the water slide was not so easy to understand. I got lost several times and I would suggest to place here a sign that tells you to go down left as I missed this path at least 5 times until I saw it. The traps are pretty tricky in this stage and you allways need to watch out and keep your guard. I like it. The gimmick was used in many several ways and it was varied over the stage. The addition of the Knuckles path and the emblems gave the stage a higher replay value and aside from that the emblems are placed very well and are not that hard to find with the emblem hints. The knuckles boss was pretty amusing and reminds me of a mix of S3&K and Sonic Adventure. Also I'm disappointed that there was no Sonic boss for knuckles.
For the lack of Sonic boss fight for Knuckles, I can begin with the fact that Knuckles has to lose the fight anyway, since both "storylines" happen at the exact same time. And I really didn't know how to put that in place
Who tells you that it MUST be the same "storyline"? also the player can loose against Knuckles as Sonic and thus making the story of Sonic being killed by Knuckles possible.
plus Knuckles' section is already as long as Sonic's with the boss fight
On the other hand you are right the time emblem will be pretty much impossible for Knuckles. Overall it is a neat level with neat memes and a neat GFZ2.
Oh no!

Technology Station Zone by XEFAGame
Oh dear where to begin. Well I found my way quickly through the stage until I got to the first big room. And I ran arround for 10 minutes until I found out that I need to go left here. Yes a sign telling you to go left to the elevator would have spared 10 minutes for me searching the elevator to continue on the stage. Going on I came to the laser room wich was a nice idea but also an eyesore. At least make laser flashing slower but realy it allmost killed my eyes. The rest of the stage was okay. The enemy placement is monotonous. Try placing different enemies for more diversity. Also this stage itself is monotonous too. I know you can do good stages. You proved it with Sky Sanctuary and Crisis City (wich were obviously inspired by Sonic Generations) but this was disappointing. And even if those stages do not origin from your imagination, creating stages based on something you were inspired by is not a bad thing. You can take inspirations from other things and mix them with yours if this helps you creating a good stage.

Sacred Woodland Zone by HAPPYFOX
Aside from it's heavy lags I enjoyed this Stage. The visuals are good to look at and pretty much fits to a mystical forest. The gimmick of this stage was of course the invisible platforms. This was pretty neat and the Stage was also clear even if it had lots of different paths to go wich gave this stage a huge replay value. And I also like how all the paths are merging together again. Also this stage is not one of the easy kinds. It is tricky and challenging especialy when you play as Sonic and it might take several tries to beat it. But some sections got a little bit of a strugle due to framedrops. Next time don't place too many objects and the stage will play far more smoothly.

Scarlet Lake Zone by Zipper
It is a nice level with catchy music. I like the beginning where you walk through a fence. It feels like you enter something abandoned and unholy. A place where you should not go but you do. The stage plays pretty linear and has a little well thought gimmick: the ghosts. I also like that they get killed by light. But there are two things wich disturbed me. First: you cannot tell the difference between goop wich shoots you up and normal red waterfalls. So I jumped intentionally into this waterfall like that and fell down where I tried to lure the big ghost into the light. It didn't worked so I thought this big ghost is imune against that kind of light and I need to lighten up the room like before to kill him. But instead I had to kill those two small ghosts up there first so I kinda broke the system. Somehow I managed to progress further into the stage without acknowledging that I somehow killed the big one. Then I had met another biggie and I killed him with the normal light. I was kinda confused there. The second: The flashing white ball is anoying and I think it would be a better effect if the player would shine in a whitish tone like Super Sonic in a goldish tone. And I would also suggest to let the player loose the light ability when being hurt by a hazzard or enemy when shining white. The music is nice however. To the boss: It was fun and also creative. Also in his/her second phase you can see the goop in a pinkish red color. If you had applied this to all of the fountains players wouldn't get confused that easily. Speaking of that goop in the bossfight. I originally thought you need to avoid the explosions by going onto the ledges by using the fountains but you cannot access them. This leads to some luck based avoid skills as the boss can hit you while faling back down. And yet again nice music choice. Overall I enjoyed that level but the textures were a little bit too monotonous. Elsewise it is a nice level.
Aquatic Corridors Zone by *icefox*avp*
I like the idea of an completly underwater battlefield. It is like Azure Temple but only in match for some insane battles. I like the idea behind it but the frequent spawn of the elemental shields kinda repeal the purpose. It could have been a little bit bigger but the visuals and the skybox are well made. The item placement was good too. It feels like you are far under the ocean. It also reminds me of the v1.08 stage Submerged Sanctum, wich was also entirely underwater. I like that idea and this challenge so it is a well made map.

Final Destination Zone by Nekoishi
Despite this being a level design contest and this stage only being a single platform and has barely something to do with creativity it is hilarious to watch a load of players fighting each other on this pint-sized battlefield. And if someone goes super with an attraction shield..........
NExT!

Sunlit Wildlands Zone by Brawl
This stage is big... too big. It feels so empty. The items are spread out too much and finding them is just obnoxious. This stage is that big that the possibility of meeting another player is so very little. I like big battlefields for more than arround 8 players but this is just too large by any meanings. And it also has some weird graphical issues too.
Nameless Base Zone by Nekoishi
Again really small and nothing short of a joke level but again it is fun to watch players getting wrecked each other in the attempt of carrying the opponents flag to their own base. I just hope the next stage is bigger...

Rocky Caverns Zone by Brawl
When I said "I just hope the next stage is bigger" I did not expected this to happen. This stage is humongous and yet again feels empty. The verry same mistakes as in Sunlit Wildlands Zone with the exeption of graphic glitches. But the stage is asymmetrical now. Okay I admit: not every CTF stage must be symetrical but the flaw here is that both the red and the blue base are completely different and its harder to get to the blue flag as you need to use 2 yellow springs unlike in the red base where you only use one. Also this stage is that big that you overlook a lot of things. And carrying the flag to the own base takes forever.

Edit: For votes: https://mb.srb2.org/showpost.php?p=771587&postcount=6
 
Last edited:
Single Player:
1.Flipgoop Station
2.Scarlet Lake
3.Technology Station
4.Sacred Woodland
5.Proud Sky

Match:
1.Aquatic Corridors
2.Sunlit Wildlands
3.Final Destination (visually ugly, unclimbable walls, looks like it'd be annoying in an actual match)

CTF:
1.Nameless Base
2.Rocky Caverns (way too big with nothing to fill the empty spaces)
 
Last edited:
The future’s ours to take when we doubt everything; No … no turning back … now!

Single Player:
3.Final Destination (visually ugly, unclimbable walls, looks like it'd be annoying in an actual match)

While I can appreciate the comments about the ugliness, the unclimbable walls are on purpose. It wouldn't be fair if you could get a point lead and then just hang on to a wall for the rest of the game.

Also note the map is supposed to switch everyone to Sonic on startup just because, but i fucked it up because it was the 2nd map i made.
 
3.Final Destination (visually ugly, unclimbable walls, looks like it'd be annoying in an actual match)

...By "it'd be annoying in an actual match", do you mean you haven't actually played the level in a Match game with people? IIRC you're supposed to play all multiplayer levels in actual multiplayer games before making your votes for them, though I can't seem to find any mention of this rule anywhere. Huh.
 
My video will be a while, but for now here are my votes:
Scarlet Lake Zone by Zipper
Sonic & Knuckles Robo Blast 2 & Knuckles Ft Knuckles & Knuckles FlipgoopStation Demo by "Lat'"
Sacred Woodland Zone by HAPPYFOX
Technology Station Zone by XEFAGame
Proud Sky Zone by Nekoishi and [REDACTED]

the first 3 levels are actually quite good so it was hard for me to choose.
 
Singleplayer

1st - Knuckles & Knuckles Robo Blast 2 & Knuckles ft. Knuckles & Knuckles 3D Blast Extreme: Knuckles Edition with Knuckles DLC & Knuckles + Knuckles 3 A.K.A. Flipgoop Station & Knuckles
Good one Lat.. You got a giggle out of me. I like the changes you applied. You made the level a little more bright, added some more texture variance, as well as made the Knuckles boss more interesting. Just because of the Knuckles boss, I played as Sonic this time. I still feel like there's way too much grey, but at least that's the theme for the level. (Oh, and Knuckles actually kind of dies now. With this weird up then down thing. You tried, I know.) Some parts of the stage were a little confusing to navigate, as well as finding the bubbles. There's not much to say other than what I said before when I tried it for you. It's still fun to play through, even though I tested it. It's fresh enough to at least surprise me a little. I also loved what you did to GFZ2. This level, however, it's simple. It plays fine, doesn't overdo its gimmick too much, and mixes it up. The fact that it's well playable sets it apart from the other four.

2nd - Sacred Woodland
The piranhas... they pop out of nowhere I swear!... This had a fantastic visual theme to it. Spooky forest, mythical enemies, and well-themed music to go along with it. (Fire Arrow Robo-Hoods, and the music point me back to Majora's Mask. Good days were had with that game) You really set a scene for the level without making the player completely freaked out. It actually gives a genuine haunted aura as you travel through the darkness, scavenging around for rings and making your way through the level. While this was very pretty to look at, I had many issues in finding the way through the level, and some parts were not friendly with Knuckles' jump height (Namely the mushrooms!) And the darkness obscured some enemies a little too well. But I can forgive this, because it had its moments where it shed light around the stage, giving the player a sense of direction through near darkness, and that's a good thing to have in a haunted level. The level was a little long, which started to wear down the gimmick after a while. (Maybe split this into two acts?) But it was still a fun experience nonetheless, with actually challenging areas. But be sure to bring a map of the... erm, map, if you plan to navigate it.

3rd - Scarlet Lake Zone
She pooped a bunny, how cute is that! I like this level's concept. Throws me back to that other Touhou themed map from the OLDC earlier. However, this level falls a bit short on that factor. There were a lot of instances where I had trouble finding my way. It was way too dark, and troublesome to find what was climbable and what wasn't. It was hard enough to get from room to room, let alone find Knuckles' path. For the most part, the Knuckles path was a decent experience (Except for the long one with ghosts, it felt thrown in there). I still like the overall design, and the boss fight was a good change from the norm. LIGHT POWER! That custom power-up was a swift addition. I really liked that, along with watching the ghosts wander away in fear. Still, it all starts to fall flat when the level is hard to navigate since everything looks the same.

4th - Technology Station Zone
Help me.. the music is killing me... I had 16 lives by the end of this map. There are way too many ring boxes AND life boxes scattered in obvious places. Placing too many valuable collectibles ruins the challenge for the player, because then they become technically invincible. There were two really big factors that really drove me down. First of all, the hazards. I liked the concept of weaving your way through lasers like a spy agent, but little save for the fact that most of these were there simply to exist to cause you trouble; there was nothing around to design them. Secondly, the texturing. I like how you put variance in the textures, but many spots had questionable texturing, as well as some unaligned. Before you move onto the next area, you should take a second look, and ask yourself "Does this look right? Are there things I can improve here?" before moving onto the next part of the stage. I also believe you could try and design your level around the hazards, so you can actually shape them to how you want them, instead of having to create long hallways for them in particular. This map does have a lot of long thin hallways dotted with rings. The overall layout was nice, and I could freely move around in most parts, defeating enemies. It still passes as a playable level. I also liked your choice of enemies! The Jettysyns mixed with either Sharps or Crawla commanders really kept me on my toes.

5th - Proud Sky Zone
I... don't really have comments. Why make a level like this? This isn't amusing or fun. Maybe there's a joke in here that I don't get, but it doesn't feel very clever.

Match

1st - Aquatic Corridors Zone
This level actually has style put towards it. It has decent visuals, so you always know where you are, it's easy to spy around for things and venture. The only thing is, if you don't have one of the few conveniently placed elemental shields around the map, you're stuck grabbing air bubbles all day. This really disrupts the flow of match, and even gives players who happened to grab the shield a terribly big advantage. Match doesn't play well when everyone is grabbing air bubbles. If you really plan this to be an entirely underwater level, add some more areas with air pockets in them. It's simply hard to force a full-level hazard on a game mode like match. In a single-player level, perhaps. But not in this game mode, where the danger should be the opponent, more than anything. (This is the same reason I don't enjoy Infernal Cavern) The level is also quite small. The level may be filled with water and inhibit movement, but it's still very small. I can imagine this level falling apart under an 8-player limit. Some of the weapons are hard to find and in strange and easily forgettable places (Like the grenade panel) So when you really need the weapon, you have to think for a while just to go get it again. This shouldn't happen in a match level. But my statement still stands, this is a pretty level.

2nd - Sunlit Wildlands Zone
This level is way to big. It even takes Sonic ages just to get from one part of the level to another. It's very difficult to find other players, and the only practical way to get around the level is to change to tails, and spin, then fly. If you made the map a lot smaller than what it is, it would actually be a pretty decent map! Try scaling it down by 50% in the level editor, and see how it looks. Also, as with the premise of extraordinarily large levels, it was difficult to find the weapons. There was also the Rail panel, which is extremely easy for Tails and Knuckles to access, which let me snipe people with rails.. again, and again. There's no cover to hide yourself, and the largeness of the level doesn't help that either. I was able to keep up with and rail someone four times before I finally lost them. As Tails. I like the design you put into it though. Just be sure to play test it many times as well, and understand the game-play it poses. If you are still unsure, try asking a friend to help give you comments; it's a multiplayer level after all. There was also a recycler box sitting there that was ALWAYS a recycler box. As well as an invulnerability box. and a speed shoes box. And a ? box. they appeared to have been placed with reckless abandon. Please use these boxes very VERY carefully, as they are the most powerful monitors in match!

3rd - Final Destination Zone
Guys, you're doing this all wrong. Tails only. No item boxes. No special ring weapons. Final Destination. The sky. It's full of stars. You can read the wiki to find out how to make a sky wall and a sky floor. Also, the Rail panel is inaccessible to anyone who is not Tails, for some reason, while the ground is flooded with rings clinging to the floor. There shouldn't be ? boxes in match, they're too powerful, and they are positioned right on the edge, absolutely asking for lagging players to try to pop them and fall off the edge doing so. And Knuckles can't recover, because the entire perimeter of the stage is no-climb. If you read up the Wiki for documentation, you might find some interesting effects to use to improve the adaptation, like FOFs. (Trust me, you'll be glad you looked. and I'll personally give you a smile if you do.) Even then, like in the Super Smash Brothers series, this level is very cramped and very bland. I'm not going to be upset if you want to do this, but think about how it plays at least, and consider how an adaptation of the stage would work. Maybe you can improve the stage overall! One of the many things to consider when building a stage. It was a nice try, though. You can also expect the best player in the room to soon grab all the emeralds, so you might want to at least spread them out more so one player just can't barrage the middle and hog them all.

Capture the Flag

1st - Rocky Caverns Zone
This level is far too big! It takes decades to navigate, and again, the only way to cover some actual ground is to change to Tails and abuse spindash. There's too few rings, it's hard to find the weapon panels, and hard to find any boxes of some sort. (It took 20 minutes before me and my opponent actually found the Rail panel well disguised over a grey floor.) There's barely anything to look at, and the bases aren't even identical in shape. (The blue base has a nice handy defensive tower, while the red base does not) There's a lot of factors you need to consider when making a map for CTF, like game play, how the teams will navigate, where pinch points will occur, will both teams be able to get well-equipped with weapons... Oh, and the lava doesn't return the flag. you can fix that with a return flag sector type.

2nd - Nameless Base zone
Oh, hey look, it's Sonic Doom 2 This level is far too small. It's very easy to get from one base to the other, and there's no place to take a break. There's bound to be rings flying everywhere, and the Rail panel is also out of reach to Sonic normally. (Unless you're smart and know how to spindash and hop on a dime) With a well-made spindash, anyone can get from one flag to the other instantly. This is terribly unfair. There is a big difference between Doom maps and SRB2 maps because of the speeds characters move at and the dynamic abilities. There's no real design to hang on here, and the rocks just make the level hard to navigate overall.
 
Last edited:
Not content to live this way; being led by the blind

... and the Rail panel is also out of reach to Sonic normally.

This is completely intentional and won't be changed. I plan on making this a running thing in any future maps I end up making.
 
Single Player:
1.Flipgoop Station
2.Sacred Woodland
3.Scarlet Lake
4.Technology Station
5.Proud Sky
 
All right, time to make my mark on history,

Sacred Woodland Zone > Scarlet Lake Zone > Flipgoop Station > Technology Station > Proud Sky Zone

And under this little thing is why...

Sacred Woodland Zone by HAPPYFOX
This level is quite gorgeous looking and probably the only level which I replayed gladly to explore more routes, rather than having a route locked to a character. The gimmicks are well made, the visuals are very pretty and music still gives me the chills, like in its original source.
I'm not personally fond of either crushers or gargoyle pushing, both of which were present a lot in the level. I got crushed very frequently in the second half of the level. The invisible platforms confused me a bunch, not just by their vagueness but also how they were or were not used later on in the level. The water rising part on the right path is also incredibly hard and unforgiving, you can't just throw a player into a room with no clear way out and expect them to jump like crazy. Still, very good level.

Scarlet Lake Zone by Zipper
Through the entire level, I had a feeling I'm not getting a reference. It had its moments, my favourites being introduction of Tails and Sonic to killing the enemies and the Light power's music for all the characters. It was also odd to see kool-aid that doesn't hurt Sonic for a change.
That is, when I figured out what I'm supposed to do. First, slamming a player into a solid waterfall wasn't too nice, second, having to kill all ghosts wasn't too clear to me. A bigger issue I had was the boss, against which it seemed the most effective strategy was "run into it like an idiot until it turns into a demon", then "stand still until the boss gets down, then run into it like an idiot". Personally, I could live without that part altogether.

Flipgoop Station by "Lat'"
It's one thing to have a level named after a gimmick, and it's a good thing here, the gimmick is actually pretty creative, especially in the parts where you're forced not to jump. The different routes were also nice, especially with the Knuckles one explaining why Sonic has to go the way he does. I suggest you hold onto the concept of the goop and use it in the future as well.
That's mostly because it didn't feel like it was used to its full potential. Most of the time, it felt more as if you could swap it out for reverse gravity button and have the same effect. The layout can get a little confusing thanks to the visuals and backtracking, I swear my reaction to entering several new rooms was "Oh god, I'm here again?". Also, the Knuckles route could be made a little clearer, I got my first game over there, trying to glide over what I was supposed to climb on, because the pillars went down instead of up now. Also, they say a repeated joke isn't funny. I would very much agree in this case.

Technology Station Zone by XEFAGame
Technology is right! This level was full of various mechanical-looking weird things that absolutely made its name true.
Unfortunately, you need to work on the actual level side more. It was full of long streches of nothing, rooms that, while good looking, had no purpose and rooms that just made my eyes bleed, like the one with tons and tons of red lasers. Don't get me wrong, it's got potential, but it absolutely needs better layout.

Proud Sky Zone by Nekoishi and [REDACTED]
I would absolutely love to see this get a chance at getting into the game, but oh well...
 
Sonic & Knuckles Robo Blast 2 & Knuckles Ft Knuckles & Knuckles FlipgoopStation Demo > Scarlet Lake Zone > Sacred Woodland Zone > Technology Station Zone > Proud Sky Zone

I'd have tied SLZ and SWZ if I could. Really hard to choose between them.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Who is viewing this thread (Total: 2, Members: 0, Guests: 2)

Back
Top