January/February 2015 Voting

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Quickmarisa > Sapphire Summit > Castle Rush

Kinda self explanatory ranking.

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Possibly make the bridge complete here so the player isn't essentially thrown into the death soup below, or change the death soup into painful soup you can escape out of.
 
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While I'm not saying that area is great, Jasper, it works fine as Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. It doesn't stop you on the stairs and after coming down you have enough time to react to the gap. You shouldn't play custom stages as a character those stages weren't designed for and expect it to work well in every situation. You especially shouldn't be doing OLDC judging with a custom character for exactly this reason.
 
obligatory review respond post
Sapphire Summit:6/10
I liked it but it was too short, also the end sign location isn't obvious enough.
I see. I'll put the end sign to a place where you can clearly see it.

Sapphire Summit Zone Act 1 by Savordez: 7/10

A nice, simple platforming level with plenty of exploration and alternate paths and decent use of the rope-hang and waterslide gimmicks. The layout is so open-ended that it gets a bit confusing at times, however - maybe shift the positions of the rings so they form more player-guiding trails?
I've got to admit the ring positions aren't the best; I just placed them everywhere. There are over 1000 rings in the level. You certainly can't say there's no reward for exploration!

My only complaint about it would maybe be the fact that the Checkpoints are broken (The second one was already activated when I came to it.). Other than that, there's nothing much to say actually. Keep up that good work =)
The first and second Signposts in the upper and lower paths have same angles. I dunno if that was a very excellent idea, though.

There is way too much detail in the floor, with tons of little gaps in the floor and sections with tons of different floor heights for no reason, particularly underwater.
Oi, I can see that. I guess I have this obsession for detail, since I wanted to make the underwater floor super rocky. >>

You introduce the rope pulleys but don't do much of anything with them, which is probably for the best as the rooms you use them in have rock textures that have the same colors as the ropes, making them hard to see.
And that's where act 2 comes in and saves the day! If I actually want to start working on it, that is
 
While I'm not saying that area is great, Jasper, it works fine as Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. It doesn't stop you on the stairs and after coming down you have enough time to react to the gap.

The first time it actually occured to me, I was using Sonic at the time and since he runs the fastest on foot I had little to no reaction time whatsoever. I wasn't thokking either~

But yeah, I do get what you mean with custom characters. Just because I couldn't complete a certain stage as Jasper or something doesn't mean I should judge it solely on that. Stages were definitely intended to be played with as STK (or in the case of Quickman, Marisa) since those are the official characters in the first place. I'm not really expecting any changes so myoriginalcharacter.png can play it better; rather, I wanted to make the criticism that there just isn't too much time to react there.

I'll remember to use one of the main cast when I'm recording animated gifs next time.
 
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Quickman 2: Slowlady > Sapphire Summit Zone Act 1 > (Shaped Mountainside by Kitoko) > Castle Rush Zone

QM2: solves everything wrong with the first one except for the slow movement of the player I AM A WITCH. a++ (also i got up to the boss first time woo)

SSZ1: Just... ends. When I thok into the exit sector by accident, thinking that would be where a monitor would be placed, there's something wrong with the flow of the map at that point. Nice otherwise, even if you don't do anything with the pulleys. (I like your texture choices especially.)

(SM: When a quarter of the main path can be completely cut out via a shortcut right next to the spawn point, your level is badly structured. Tons of greebles in the floor which make it next to impossible to manuver around. I'd also say it ends too soon, but I wasn't actually having any fun playing it, so. also random metal sonic what)

CRZ: You said this level is two years old and it shows. Heavily. Sorry, but there's not much more I can say about this one.
Thanks for participating, everyone! Sorry I couldn't make it in. Maybe I'll get my next map done over Easter. <3
 
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Oi, I can see that. I guess I have this obsession for detail, since I wanted to make the underwater floor super rocky.
The key when adding visual detail is to make sure that your visual detail doesn't get in the way of actually playing. It's best to keep the floor relatively clear of obstacles unless you're actually putting something there. Scenery on the walls, ceiling, and edges of the floor work best, keeping the area actually necessary for playing free of obstructions.
 
Castle Rush> Sapphire Summit> Quickman 2

Care to explain why you're putting your SP votes in this order? I notice this is the reverse of the order most users have voted for the SP division so far, and I'm puzzled as to whether you really think Castle Rush is the best or not. Just curious really.

Anyhow, I'll go ahead and post my votes already:

Quickman 2 > Sapphire Summit Zone Act 1 > Castle Rush Zone

Reviews will probably come later...
 
PRIME

YOU FUCKASS

YOU REMOVED THE EXTRA GAMETYPES FROM FLIPSIDE STATION'S HEADER

HOW COULD YOUUUUUUUUUU

Anyway, voting. "Review will come later" is my favorite meme. Starting with CTF 'cus it's where I entered and also nobody's voted for it yet.

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Single Player
Quickman 2 by Zipper
Sapphire Summit Zone Act 1 by Savordez
Castle Rush Zone by Knux576
(What a coincidence! They were listed in the same order I'm rating them.)

Shaped Mountainside by Kitoko - G
A pretty cute little introductory map! I particularly like how halfway through you can get up to higher ground and head back to the beginning for more secrets. I will say, though, that the map's a bit small and short, and a bit more in the way of branching paths might be nice to see, but I disagree with the notion that this map needs remade entirely. Maybe a simple movement gimmick would make the map more interesting? I do also think that, while GFZROCK is a good texture to help aid in new players' perception of movement, it does get a bit monotonous from time to time. Can't wait to see what act 2 brings, though!



Quickman 2 by Zipper - ?+
Giving this a letter grade is hard because it's not standard SRB2 at all. It's executed what it's going for very well; aside from a few layering issues with the water, it's a very consistent 2D with no .5 platformer, and the boss was quite fun once I figured out how to not die every time. The only issues I had were technical; sometimes weapons would seem to not respond like they should. The map was also a bit difficult, and PLEASE USE MORE CHECKPOINTS but otherwise I had fun.

For posterity, I'll plug the TAS I did of this.



Sapphire Summit Zone Act 1 by Savordez - B
I love exploration and finding little secrets, and this map has a lot to offer in that department. Doing a bunch of sick jumps to get to a high-up ledge as Sonic and finding an emblem specifically designated to him was quite a treat. The map also looked fairly nice, though I think a skybox with water going to the horizon would've been killer to see. The rough ground underwater didn't bug me like it bugs other people, but I can see where their complaints would come from.

Most of the issues are technical things; putting the end in a small alcove makes it hard to see, pity shields should be the only shield type you use if you use it (though I believe exceptions can be made in some circumstances..), and your enemy selection needs to be more focused and less "let's put everything in the map". Go for a soft limit of three different types. It would've also been nice to see some more creative use of the role pulleys, but coming up with that shit's tricky even for me. (And I'm supposed to be making ACZ2... :c)



Castle Rush Zone by Knux576 - D
Prepare for a lot of textual shouting.

BRIGHTNESS. Both paths had a section that was so dark, I couldn't see where I was supposed to go. Can we stop using "pitch-black" as a gimmick unless the punctuation is "with small lights to guide the player"?

ENEMY USE. I saw probably every single one in the game. You've got Snailers floating in the air, Sharps and BASHes, and the standard Crawlas and Buzzes that it seems like every level is required by law to have.

...Actually, I'm out of things to shout about. I've got plenty to complain about still, though. For one, a lot of the map was really, really bland. Like, worse than Mystic Realm. You had single flat sectors with CEZROCK or something stupid like that, creating hallways of mush that oftentimes also wound up cramped. I can at least appreciate the life and whirlwind shield alcove for existing, but it's so incredibly cramped I felt like the hallway was just going to taper to a point. There were little bits I liked, like the room with the gargoyle puzzle, but most of the map was just corridor after corridor after narrow valley.

Also, this path merge sucks. You could do a band-aid solution by ending the staircase around a quarter-turn earlier, but that won't change how awful walking up small steep stairs is.

Capture the Flag
Flipside Station Zone by RedEnchilada
Thunder Tower Zone by Zipper

Flipside Station Zone by RedEnchilada - brak++
This was a silly idea I came up with about having a CTF map that's symmetrical across the Z axis instead of how maps always do it across the X or Y axes. It caused a lot of mechanical issues! Namely, how to make the flips work (hopefully they turned out semi-decent), but more importantly how to make the flags work. Unfortunately, the flag spawning mechanism doesn't like reverse gravity! Interested parties should open the map and check out the solution I used. (It's still not perfect, unfortunately; teams can return their flags infinitely by standing on the flag pillar.) I also decided to have a few spots of what I'd like to call "equally broken" symmetry; where the map's slightly different based on your side but still works pretty much the same or gives the same advantage. (The most obvious are the pillars with ring boxes on them in the center of the map.)

Also, this map supports every gametype! They got pulled from the header but you can still trigger a map end scenario no matter what gametype you boot it in. (Personally, I think the map turned out better as a Circuit map than a CTF map. lmao)



Thunder Tower Zone by Zipper - B+ (maybe A-?)
When I played this in the test netgame, the only parts that really annoyed me were the invisible walls. Those got fixed in the version in the pack, so I can't really say much else about this map. All I really have an issue with at this point is the use of blue springs inside the bases. Overall though, the map is very good and very fun, and I hope it wins. I particularly enjoy how it makes it challenging for Sonic to move around without being annoying.
 
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brb countering Red's votes

CTF:

Thunder Tower > Flipside Station

Single Player:

Quickman 2:Marisa After: It's a Wonderful Lifebar > Sapphire Summit 1 > Castle Rush

Will write proper reviews when PC is back from repairs.

Match:
???????
 
Multiplayer reviews

OOOOOOO CTF Reviews!!

FlipSide Station > Thunder Tower

So I'll admit it, this was pretty hard to decide which one would "win" as those maps were all amazing.

Flipside Station by RedEnchilada
So let's say that the first time I played through it, I didn't know what exactly was happening when I jumped in those gravity reverse things. I firstly thought this was a teleporter (seriously)... and you know what, that's first person's fault. Anyway, the level itself is really interresting and changes a lot from old generic CTF maps that are just horizontally symetrical, here we have something vertically symetrical. I didn't really get the use of those tunnels that you have to blast the entrance with explosives weapon tough. Oh also as you mentionned in your own post, flags are broken. But the level itself plays nice and has a lot of free space even if it's inside something. Also I enjoyed the Skybox.
Also make this map a circuit!

Thunder Tower by Zipper
The level is really nice and all, while it's just another CTF map. There's really nothing to say about the level design which is pretty good. I liked the visuals and the skybox too, even if the last has its textures wayyy tooooo bigggg... Just look at that giant computer wooooooowwwwwwwwww!
Also, I'm not sure I am supposed to be able to stand HERE.


And I'm not forgetting about the only match map...

Forest Isle, by ThatSrb2DUDE
So, I don't think the map was built for vanilla SRB2 itself, but rather for SkyWars (correct me if I'm wrong.) It has a lot of vertical space that Sonic won't be able to reach directly for some, he has to use springs, which gives a slight advantages to Tails and Knux. And that's here it gets interresting because the fact that Sonic has mostly to stay on the "first floor" to keep its speed good enough gives Tails and Knux a chance to actually not getting totally rapped... which happens in most other match stages. The bad thing about this map is that it really lacks visuals and decoration (flowers... grass leges...) while it has a good geography. For instance "the beach" part is so... bland... There's nothing other than water and some rings...
 
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The map also looked fairly nice, though I think a skybox with water going to the horizon would've been killer to see.
247eaae2b9.png
i tried

and your enemy selection needs to be more focused and less "let's put everything in the map". Go for a soft limit of three different types.
But the level has three types of enemies (if you don't count SDURFs :p).
 
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Almost forgot about this and I should've dealt with this earlier.

***Single-Player***
Quickman 2 > Sapphire Summit Zone Act 1 > Castle Rush Zone

Multiplayer maps perhaps later if my internet is actually stable. Not a lot of time left now that I think about it.
 
Not enough time left to make actual reviews, so I'll just leave my votes here :

Singleplayer Quickman 2 > Sapphire Summit Act 1 > Castle Rush > (Shaped Mountainside)
 
The voting deadline is in 90 minutes, so if you're planning to vote, now is the time. The deadline is strict and if you vote at 7:01 PM EDT you will not be counted.
 
Match: Forest Isle (duh)
CTF:Thunder Tower > Flipside Station.

CTF reviews (all I can say about forest isle is.. I liked its openness I guess)
Thunder Tower: 7/10
The skybox was cool and I liked the outside area, but the way outside of a base was a bit unobvious.

Flipside Station:6.5/10
I liked the concept on this, but the layout is a bit confusing, I ended up back at the flag on the base I was trying to leave a few times before I found the exit.
 
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