Planet Icy Altair Level Pack Beta 2 released (scrm_PlanetIcyaltair.wad)

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Hyperknux

Hyperknux

The board's UK Ecologist
Heh, I bet some of you guys didn't see this coming. I am making a mod which works on v2.0

My username will be changing to Icy Altair soon, so that's who the person is. It is a level mod which has a new single player levels, and some other features including.

-7 levels in first beta, a full zone named Coral Cavern is the 1st stage in this series, 3 special stages, and 1 match level returning from Chaos Twilight which has been updated to work with 2.0
-2 of the emerald colours have changed. The weird purple emerald has been replaced with Yellow, and emerald 6 is now purple for both single player & multiplayer
-Emblems are added for the first 2 acts of Coral Cavern Only. But only act 1 & 2 levels get emblems.
-Act 3 acts are extended a little bit which contains a small level before reaching the boss.

Screenshots.

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2dqkao3&s=3

Part of Coral Cavern Act 1

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=1zn4rgi&s=3

The beginning area of Coral Cavern Act 2

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2hrh4ko&s=3

Sea Egg battle in Coral Cavern Act 3

Known Bugs & Issues

-Sometimes if you move right after you stop moving after a current, sometimes it may make you move off course in the 2D section. I am currently working on this. This applies for both acts.

-Sometimes if you die in the Boss area, and you go back in the 2D area, you can still stay in 2D in the boss level. This is currently being looked at.

-Occasionaly if you use a spring, and you go near a vine which is above another, you may get sucked onto that one. I am still currently looking at that.

SRB2FFH link to those who are having trouble with the attachment.

29/01/10

Well, Happy New year guys, and finally I have another beta of this mod out. I'm sorry I haven't done much over the time. I was originally meant to release this at christmas, but I had other stuff going on, my personal life mainly and I have been very busy. And on that moment, I'm going to say this now.

After the next OLDC is done, I will be having a break from this forum (in other words will be leaving for a while) because I have a ton of stuff going on in my personal life, social life is getting high, college life and I badly need a job. However, I will return every now & then to release a beta of my mod or something because I will still continue on that and you can catch me on youtube or srb2 netgames. I just got more busy and I'm slowly moving on in life. I *might* return in the summer, but it depends on what's going on in life.

So yeah with that out of the way, here is the 2nd beta of my mod.

What's new?

-A new zone is now in the mod. Aztec Jungle is now completed and in the mod.

-A new special stage added.

-Coral Cavern's texture set has been completely changed so it looks much better now.

-Coral Cavern's Boss has been edited and now more of a challenge than it was in the 1st release.

-The Axis & the camera problems have now been sorted out.

-2 wild bird SOC's have been made & now in AJZ. Credit goes to KO.T.E for helping fix it's moving problems.

-Some other fixing & general stuff has been done.

What is coming up for Beta 3?

-Sandy Tomb will be the next zone. It will be an outside & inside arid theme.

-Special Stages 5 & 6 should be done by the next beta. I was meant to get a 5th one done, but I just wanted to put them in the 3rd beta.

-More scenery SOC's will be made.

-A new map called Night Shrine which is a CTF map might make it in the mod. I have entered it into the OLDC to get some feedback on it.

-Other things when it comes into my mind.

With that, enjoy & feedback is appreciated.
 

Attachments

  • Planet Icy Altair Beta 2.zip
    1.1 MB · Views: 881
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I have played it, and it was awesome dude! you have used very well the new SRB2 things!

I would love it more if the act 1 and 2 have act 3´s architecture, because in 1 & 2 you are underwater all the time.

anyway, good job!
 
If this is a mod shouldn't it be under mods? But other than that I loved it. The whole under water thing is useally hard for some people but you made nice for anyone. Allthough there was 1 problem I had. In act 3 going into the boss It didn't change back to 3D, so I had to kill myself.
 
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Thanks for spotting that Jeck. I could of swore I fixed it before release as I encountered that one myself before I realised it. I better put that in the known issues bit. Also I done a mistake of having the special stages in level select.

STHE1230, I made it so you can experience underwater, and above water as you go through the zone. The main underwater bit is one of the small pathes & the boss area when the Sea Egg floods the room.

To those who have trouble downloading from the attachment, a SRB2FFH link is available on first post
 
The pack had it's ups and downs.

Good:
Good level design (3D)
Fair difficulty (Not too easy, but not cheap)
Great Visuals

Bad:
Boring, needless, and bug-prone 2D segments:

(Camera does the wall stick [123])
(A segment in act 2 being VERY easy to not go on the axis correctly, and be BEHIND or IN FRONT OF the Rings and Air [1]),
(the previously mentioned 2D boss)

Useless water gimmick (If air isn't an issue, what's the point of slowing me down?)
Pathetically easy boss (ESPECIALLY after 6 hits, when he does NOTHING.)


Basically, cut down on the air bubbles, do something with the boss so it's actually CHALLENGING, and fix or just outright ax the 2D segments, since they do nothing special and it's a needless gimmick.
 
Thanks for the feedback DOOD64, I am aware of the 2D bugs, it's because the sectors are too close, and I need to move them, if not make them smaller, and currently looking at it, the axis is a real pain, and I'm also looking at that. I'm not removing any air bubbles because if a water level is not done correctly, it can be insanely difficult, and I witnessed it in the past. As for the boss, that isn't being changed because the difficulty is perfect, but I may try and inrease the height a bit once Eggman is on the 6th hit. The 2D sections are part of the main design, so I'm keeping the 2D sections. The vertical air area may be changed for the next release.
 
Well, anyway...

Coral Cavern 1 & 2: 9,5/10: Excellent on both: There's always a nice scene no matter where you are and always plays well too.
Coral Cavern 3: 5/10: A disappointment, really. The boss is far more easier than it should be and the water isn't deep enough. The rest is good though...
 
SpiritCrusher Ninja'd me.

Thanks for feedback Brown. I didn't make it deep compared to DSZ's boss stage because I didn't want it to be at a ridiculous difficulty level especially for the first boss. I might make it a bit more deeper to make it challenging, but not too deep.
 
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Is this going to replace Chaos Twilight, or is it another mod you're working on besides Chaos Twilight?

I'm still downloading it, either way. :)
 
Review:
​
I didn't like this very much. Nothing outstanding, in my opinion. The tricks and techniques used in your two Acts weren't interesting and didn't seem to be used to their fullest.
One problem is the repetition. I seem to be passing the same areas over and over again. There's all these spiral climbs, current rooms, and 2D areas. The spiral climbs are tedious with nothing to spice them up; they broke the flow, too.
The current rooms don't have enough fast-paced action to make them fun. There's a good amount of them, so most of the time I just let the game play by itself.
The 2D areas are a big problem. You have to enter the area in a specific way, or else you die or mess something up. I've lost over five lives simply because your currents put me on the wrong axis (so I can't get air), or throw me off the stage altogether. Outside of the errors, the 2D sections just aren't fun. It's walking mostly, followed by a stop to get air.
The boss isn't interesting, either. The large rock formation in the foreground obstructs the camera at times, making it hard to see what you're doing. The boss is pretty easy, and I dislike how you made it on a 2D plane.
I like the decent amount of bonuses to find, but they aren't very hard to find.
Suggestions:
​
  • Use invisible FOFs to prevent the player from escaping 2D sections. The wall the currents push you to in 2D sections aren't obvious. If the player jumps or moves, they'd get pushed past the destination. Make the platforms in 2D sections thicker. It seems unnatural to have rectangular paths. The starts and endings are odd, too; they're unexpected and throw the player off. Or, better yet, remove the 2D areas altogether. They don't add any fun gameplay.
  • Remove the repetition. There's too many spiral rooms to climb, and too many currents and 2D sections.
  • Make the current areas more intense. They're pretty slow, and don't require much skill.
  • Add more land areas. It's boring to be in water for almost two entire Acts.
  • Use a more challenging boss. It may be the first Zone, but it shouldn't be a total pushover.

Overall, not bad, but not very good, either. It's an improvement over your previous creations, but it isn't notable.

5/10​
 
Who do you want to be, HyperKnux? Do you rate other people's levels because other people do it, or because you feel it's right? Will you say bad things about other people's levels while your own are in shambles? I know I'm a hypocrite as I say this because my own levels disappoint me, but I know when something's not right.

As I open the game, the first thing I notice is the gamedata that seems to be consistently implemented without any explanation. What's the point of a gamedata when you only have a single zone included?

The second thing I notice after loading up the map as Knux is how slow the water makes him. The water just kills any shot at being able to enjoy the level with Knuckles. So, I switched to Sonic.

Now, the first thing I notice is how much Sonic's thok makes the slow-down of the water unnoticeable. I felt hurt because the water suddenly became slapped-on and useless without any thought being paid to it's effects. Additionally, I remembered why I play Knuckles exclusively now, but that's another story.

After I get the character barrier over with, I have an initial shock because I finally have a level in front of me that came from HyperKnux which is visually pleasing. After I'm over that, the level really mushes together. The different areas are all using the same strategies to approach visual appear. That combined with the fact that I went in quite a few circles was rather frustrating.

The 2D section really ruined the experience for me. I hate being punished for things I didn't do. :(

By the time act 2 hit, I focused on the gameplay and couldn't find any. I felt like I was romping around the neighborhood without really being opposed. You should try your hand at (another) emerald hunt level.

Up to this point, you have been focusing on becoming better. Now you must become unique.
 
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