Sonic Robo Blast 2: The Bonus Levels (Alpha is here)

Eh.


That's really all I could say about it. There's a LOT of problems with this level that needs addressing before you go on repeating the same mistakes in your next level. For one, I was already having problems with long, tiny tunnels near the beginning of the level. If you're going to make a tunnel, please make them wide enough so that the camera/Sonic isn't constantly bumping into the walls. I bet that if you though about it, you could have turned it into something really interesting at the start. Personally, I would just completely reshape it and think of something else to make there, if I were you.

Next, came the non-existant thok barrier. You're going to need one in every level you make. This article should easily show you how to properly make one, but feel free to ask me questions if you aren't sure how to set it up:
http://wiki.srb2.org/wiki/Thok_barrier

Thirdly, the level itself. I don't know what you were thinking when you made Lava-textured block sectors, but it didn't really help the level theme at ALL. I thought you said you were going to put details in your level? I saw NONE. You lied to me. It was a total bland-fest, running forward to long stretches of "nothing" for a long time. Then there were the crawlas on every platform I sprang to. Then came the button hunt. Then you finished it off with even more springs and FOFs over a deathpit. Although I can see that you put a bit of effort into this, I really didn't have fun playing at all.

For a first level, it actually isn't too bad. If you like, I could point many of them out and tell you why they just don't work in a good level. But that's only if you feel this would be informative. I'm not going to waste my time explaining otherwise.

Well, you'll be pleased to know, that Act 2, is much more detailed, and that the whole lava block thing, was scrapped, they were supposed to represent, damaged caused by an eruption, also, when I add enemies, I'll make sure, not to put them in cheap locations, I intend to fix Act 1 a bit too, after I finish Act 2, it probably won't be halfway decent, until the third demo, since I won't need a month to finish Act 3, due to its mass shortitude, and as for the tight tunnel thing, I also stopped doing that too, and I started making Act 2, inside a thok barrier, something I should've done for Act 1, and more importantly, no more "nothing" sections, whether it be bridges, stairs, water, whatever, every area will have something, and by the way, thanks for your opinion Kuja, since you're a master level designer, in my book, it's good to have your feedback.

And now, back to progress, I only bump for weekly screenshots.

4/11/09: Got a lot higher up, on the midway section of my level, where the paths branch off, it has a ton of FOF's, but admittedly some low ceiling areas, but it's still unfinished, so I still might change some things up.

4/12/09: Finished the basic layout, for the middle area, with a couple minor technical flaws, such as a minor miscalculation on a side's length, and an FOF issue, but I'll devote all of tomorrow for debugging, and then, get working on the big wide open space area, stay tuned.

4/13/09: No level progress today, work continues tomorrow, with both debugging, and level design tomorrow, I'm bogged down with other projects I'm working on, as well as animating my avatar, to make it that much better, so, that's all the news I have for you.
Edit: Animated avatar idea, was canceled!!

4/14/09: The main path's, wide open area, is made, now I'm filling it with stuff, there is a software bug, due to large sectors, but I intend to fix that, I also did a bit of other debugging, for Act 2 as well.

4/15/09: No new progress today, since I'm low on ideas, for the main section, and am in the process of brainstorming, and I'm lazy, tired, and bogged down with spring allergies, progress resumes tomorrow, and the release date remains unchanged, since progress is going relatively well, despite delays, new screenshot on Friday, and that's it.

4/16/09: Originally I was going to go back and play some Sonic Unleashed missions I missed, but I decided against it, and instead to work on my level pack, I added a stone fortress on top of the hill, overlooking the massive chasm, two new enigmas level ideas, to the level select, and a mystic realm "inspired" archive feature, for those really bad unrealeasable levels.

New screenshot, in retrospect, I should've taken a level screenshot, from Act 2, but I instead decide to show you guys, just how much I stole from Mr. Geyer's level pack, the keen observer will notice the subtle tweaks.


For the unfinished level, Holy Labyrinth, for those who don't know, it's a floating puzzle level, with no scenery, and very bland looking level design, that takes about 2 minutes to finish, in its current state, and Christmas BGM, the same used for that snow level, in hyperknux's level pack.

Edit: This will be the first, of maybe five or so, old levels, I will be transplanting into this wad, by hand, to avoid, XWE errors, for the beta release.

I don't know why you are putting levels that are crappy on purpose in this, but at least you aren't abusing commas as much as you are in your post. (Really, I appreciate it.)

I still see some comma abuse (though not as much) and some unneeded commas.

Wow, you guys sure do care quite a bit about my grammar don't you? Fine, I'll work on it, since y'all seem to care so much about it. The levels are added, so you can play the craptacular levels, that I never got to release.

SWP (SRB2) said:

Wow, you guys sure do care quite a bit about my grammar don't you? Fine, I'll work on it, since y'all seem to care so much about it. The levels are added, so you can play the craptacular levels, that I never got to release.

Click to expand...

I usually don't care about grammar, but yours drives me mad like I never though grammar could. But thank you. I don't know if adding the craptacular levels is a good idea. Since you seem to think they are so bad (They might not be.) why not try to improve them?

SWP (SRB2) said:

Wow, you guys sure do care quite a bit about my grammar don't you?

Click to expand...

You honestly should have thought about this before joining a board full of grammar nazis. People who screw up their grammar drive us up a wall.

All right, I get the message. I'm not going to try to improve my levels, since again, they're archived. I'm just posting them, for all to see.

And, back to progress, again!!

4/18/09: Added another pillar of hardened rock, in the huge open area, of Act 2, which still suffers from big sectoritis.

4/19/09: Added more pillars of hard rock, and made it to the third starpost, with level design, the main path is about 65% finished, the side path, is about 5% finished, and after they reach 100%, I take about a month to do a better job of object placement, work on Act 3's cutscene, and quite possibly, some kind of preview, or maybe not, depends on whether I feel like it or not.
Edit: Also, take keen notice, of the newly placed download link, in all its newly placedness!!

4/20/09: No, I won't be doing anything special regarding the pack, for 420, I was thinking about it, but decided against it, I added more rocks, and am making the weak bridge pathway, out of the open area, but am throwing in a little something nasty, for you potential speed runners.

4/21/09: Made the four "surrounding" pillars, of the open area, as well as very long bridge sections, for two reasons, the falling bridges would take forever to make, in a giant area, and it would undoubtedly cause lag, so I decided to have at least one stable path, in Act 2.

4/22/09: Added the waterfall area, towards the end of the level, didn't add the top area to it yet though, I'm also running into a problem, with my water sector's colormaps, not showing up, I'll inquire about that later.

4/23/09: Progress today, was virtually nonexistent, but I did add the edges to the waterfall room, and some torches, and I considering adding some water gushers, which will be a feature of Lambent Labyrinth, to account for the water, but I'm undecided at the moment, what to do, so I decided to wait until tomorrow, to make up my mind.

A topic bump, which means, it's new screenshot day!!


I removed the hud for no apparent reason, but I didn't feel like fixing it. This is the wide open area, of Act 2. Just past this, is the end of the level. What secrets lie past here, only time will tell.

Also, there wasn't any actual progress today. I got busy, editing YouTube videos, writing my book, and so on, so I never got around to it. Progress continues tomorrow, as I learn to reprioritize.

Writing a book? Ouch.

The screenshot looks flat and bland, but I think I see more bridges in the distance of that picture. It could be made into something more interesting.

This has potential, but it's incredibly glitchy. Fix it up, makes sure those glitches are ironed out.

Also, PLEASE stop double and triple posting, it's really...annoying. D:
The edit button is your friend.

To Jellybones: The actually interesting parts, are out of camera range.
To Shrike: The double posting is to bump the topic, to keep people checking this wad out. The Glitches will be ironed out eventually.

4/25/09: No progress made today, I was busy filming, and editing YouTube videos, and writing, and it's late now. Real progress continues tomorrow, as I will put it higher up on my priority list, from now on.

4/26/09: I don't like saying this, but I didn't get a chance to work on my level today, I was busy with life, and was busy giving my sister time to do what she does on here, I intend to work hard this next week, making up for lost time, to meet the deadline, since the main path, is almost finished.

4/28/09: No progress yesterday, since, well, life got in the way, I did add some torches, to the waterfall area, and am working on an epic preview area, for my next level, in Act 2, it may seem random, when you guys play through it, but it's actually there for a reason, you'll find out soon enough.

4/29/09: Putting the finishing touches, on the end of Act 2's main path, I'm almost done, and will be starting, or rather continuing, work on the main path, tomorrow, or the next day.

5/3/09: Basically, life has gotten in the way for the last couple days, that combined with my own laziness, hence the lack of screenshot on Friday, I intend to continue where I left off, tomorrow, and to kick it into overdrive, to finish Act 2 in a month, so I don't need to push it back, also I'm giving you guys two screenshots tomorrow to atone for my lateness, and I intend to be finished with the main path tomorrow, but you'll see for yourself tomorrow, with the screenshots.
Edit: Also I solved the invisible water issue, but it glows a bright blue now, but I still intend to debug the water in Act 1, with the blue water, because it's still better than being invisible.

Two new screenshots, progress is back with a vengeance, and I'm not done working today, the release date remains unchanged, and here are two reasons why, that's the case.


Some of that "obscured camera" area.


The glowing water phenomenon, in all it's blue "glory".

I think the first picture abuses the MM9 and/or MMA texture.

I think this has potential. Keep working at it. Needs a tad more variation in textures.

If no one's checking out the topic, don't keep bumping it. :/
Get some more progress done, instead of telling us every single step, then bump it or something, but please stop triple and double posting.

Fine, I won't bump unnecessarily, but I will for weekly screenshots, but nothing else, and progress is definitely picking up speed.

5/5/09: Main path is just about finished, except for items, and a few "surprises", I'll throw in later, less than a month to go, before the beta release. (Also note there is texture variation, like in Act 1)

5/6/09: Main path is really finished, except for the addons, and work has shifted to the side path, which is just starting to take shape.

5/7/09: Added more to the epic sidepath, included a flooded section, to serve as a "precursor" to Lambent Labyrinth, which will be your standard issue flooded mine, underground ruins level.

5/9/09: No progress, for the last couple days, and sadly due to many small delays like this, the release date for the beta is pushed back to 6/9/09, and the release date for the gamma release is 7/11/09, yeah, as you can tell I'm going to fully follow the greek alphabet, with this one.

5/11/09: Progress has picked up, and will be rapid this week, so the side path gets finished by the 26th, which is what I'm looking at, and despite being three days late, here's screenshots, with a bonus one, for being late.


The toxic pit of doom, which is the same fuel as in the torches, and what it looks like, when it isn't burning.


An underwater adventure, through some underwater ruins, that are underwater, a precursor to Lambent Labyrinth.

You should definitely change the colormap on that picture. It is WAY too saturated in blue. I also don't get why the floor is magically not blue either.

I don't know either, but I have an idea how to fix it. I'm also using the standard #0000FFJ color map, but it's transparent.

5/12/09: Added another section, of underwater wetness, before eventually resurfacing, that's somewhat precarious.