I think a better idea is to just replace the star post with the player starts. The current start is just a return path anyway.
The opening of the level is already a bit disorienting. I think starting the player where I put the star post would be even worse haha. I may just delete the starpost altogether.
Okay, I have a big wedding to attend tomorrow so no map updates or level reviews, hence I'm posting these level feedbacks as a 2-in-1. I have to get up early and I stayed up way too late doing this btw so be grateful!
Plastic Factory Zone
This one was a bit of a weird one. It's got that unsettling new-mapper-feel, but not all the way... Steel Titanium, I think you're in level designer puberty. You're on your way up, though, so that's good! The music for the zone is actually a metaphor for how this level makes you feel. It starts nice and promising and then keeps taking wild turns into wacko-town. The best part was probably the opening, where the textures mesh nicely and the theme is preserved. Things get a little bit problematic when you enter the factory, however. Here are my notes on the level:
-Lots of clashing textures, especially brown ceiling and orange/red checkered floors.
-Rings should really be in clumps instead of spread thin and even across the entire floor. Think chocolate chip cookie instead of a thin layer of nutella on toast, if that makes any sort of sense.
-The wintery theme kind of gets lost once you enter the factory. There should be more wintery stuff/areas in there. Maybe add more of those present/springs, since those made me smile :)
-The tunneling enemies in the toilets were surprising and fun, I gasped and then laughed when it hit me, but maybe there should only be 1 so that the surprise is greater.
-Is the glass piston room supposed to be inescapable as sonic? I got trapped in there and couldn't even properly kill myself because there's an invisible wall preventing it for some bizarre reason.
-There are enemies facing wrong way in the room after the teleport
-There's a room where you're platforming atop conveyor belt platforms, but the conveyor belts aren't actually running. You just proved in the room before this that you know how to make conveyor FOF's, why didn't you use them in the room that would actually benefit from them??
That's all I can think of for now. I like how the player returns to the opening of the factory through the glass bridges! On the whole, I think the level mostly suffers from awkwardly-shaped level architecture. Some hallways are needlessly tall, others are needlessly long, lots of linedefs are skewed at small but uncomfortable angles, and lots of sectors look like they were drawn haphazardly without any regard to flat or texture alignment. These issues aren't so bad in outdoor areas, but stick out like a turd in a bowl of milk when you're making straight-edged blocky man-made structures like factories. I wish you took the snowy opening area and made the rest of the level in that style. My suggestion to you is to make your next map an outdoor level.
Palace Peaks Zone
Awesome level! I know this is going to be one of my favorite levels in this whole shebang, if anything because of that one hidden emblem area (you know which one, GamingReloaded)! You've got a great skybox and a good use of slopes. The level is also polished to a spit-shine. The level design intrigued me enough to open it up in ZB after playing it a few times and I can see you do that super-round-sector thing. Only the most OCD of level designers do that! Here are my notes on the level:
-Great use of overlapping pathways, andFOF's,
sloped FOF's at that. Man, those are a pain in the ass! And you got really good at using them!
-Indoor areas feel a little one-note, and I think it's because I didn't see any lighting variation throughout the whole level. This made the visuals feel kinda flat and unnatural because we expect indoor areas to be darker than outdoor areas unless it's nighttime.
-Why is it so laggy??
-The bouncy clouds were my favorite part of the level, but they're way to hard to distinguish from the skybox! I don't know how you can fix this, but it definitely needs fixing.
-Good use of flying enemies, for once I'm not being chased by an entire truckload of them when I reach the end of a room.
-This is kind of a weird note, but it seems like you're good at squeezing a lot of gameplay out of relatively small areas for SRB2. This is good and bad, because the level is cleverly designed such that every corner is being used, but sometimes things can get a little cramped.
-That was the most satisfying nuke shield ever. Bravo!
Good job on this level. It was unique, a good length, challenging, and pretty. You should make more levels!!!
Now, I sleep. G'night everyone!