Level Design Contest - December Voting

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BlazeHedgehog said:
Map06 - 0/10: "ERROR: Not enough starts!"

You should not run through the levels in Single Player. In MAP06 there are 32 Deathmatch starts but no Player starts. Since you did not go through it in Match, you got that error. You cannot give a map a 0 as a score because it wouldn't load in Single Player! The wads are meant for Multiplayer! MAP06 works in Match, but it doesn't in Single Player. Please go into MAP06 in Match mode and look at it instead of giving the map a 0 because you couldn't get into it in the opposite mode it is meant for.
 
Don't worry about it. Those scores won't be counted.

Since some people apparently need a reminder, you have to play the maps, not just look at them. Walking around by yourself is equivalent to just looking.

For those who have slow connections, 56k modems seem to be able to play 4-5 player games fine as long as hardware compression is enabled. If you warn me in advance, I'll let you on my dedicated server.

But please. If you don't play (in match), don't rate.
 
Heh, I'll be honest: I thought Diamond Duel would do worse. The teleports seemed like a good idea at the time, but thinking about it, the underground area was kinda bad. Too cramped. I probably should just resize it to about three times it's size. The fences I used because I couldn't tell where one grass part ended and another began, so I put fences, because I thought they looked cooler than GFZGRASS. Oh well. As for the lag, didn't expect it would happen. Oh well, live and learn.
 
BlazeHedgehog said:
Also, while exploring the bigger maps, I ran in to this annoying error:

666rings.gif


:| ha ha, very funny.

That's a bug a441 intentionally put into the current 1.09 source tree to make sure testers are 'doing their job'. Personally, I'm against inserting intentional bugs.
 
You can work around the no SP starts bug by using "SPLITSCREEN; GAMETYPE MATCH".

IMO, instead of kicking you out of the game, it should find a random multiplayer start and place you there to avoid a crash, much like the game does vice versa in the case of a Match game. It should crash only if no starts exist whatsoever.

...oh, and a little arrow with the word "talking" showing up over somebody's head when they jab their talk button would be nice. How many times has Ritz gotten me when I'm talking? Or vice versa? Eh?
 
Shadow Hog said:
...oh, and a little arrow with the word "talking" showing up over somebody's head when they jab their talk button would be nice. How many times has Ritz gotten me when I'm talking? Or vice versa? Eh?

Now THAT would be a good idea.
 
Personally, I think some of the level concepts were really cool, and some of them especially, like Lunar Facility, would make for interesting SP levels. Course, nobody ever makes them anyhow, so... :?
 
I'm still not ready to give final ratings to the maps, so for discussion purposes, here are some comments on some of them:

MAP02, Sandy Beach Zone by Some guy:
I've finally gotten a chance to see the glitchy sector everyone's talking about, and I'm pretty sure it was like that in the version submitted to me. I'd have to check and make sure, though. (Can't now with the dedicated server running.)

MAP03, Diamond Duel Zone by Sonicandtails218:
I'm surprised the "fake fences" irritated everyone. To anyone who commented on the fences, why don't the fake walls around MAP90 in the main game annoy you too? They look like they'll stop you, but you can walk right past them into oblivion. That annoyed me and I got used to it, and so I wasn't surprised by the fences in this map either.

MAP04, Wrecked Satellite Zone by Shadow Hog:
What was the deal with the blue glass texture everywhere? That clashes horribly with the other walls. Actually, I didn't like the color scheme at all. Very flat level to the point of making Tails and Knuckles nearly worthless. Question mark monitors are too powerful.

MAP05, Meadow Conflict Zone by hotdog003:
How cheap is automatic infinity rail? Pretty darn cheap.

MAP06, Floating Factory by Firekid:
Cramped. Armageddon shield incredibly abusable.

MAP07, Sonichero's Palace Zone by Joe:
Too unconnected and long for a good match game. Maybe if the different pathways met up and looped around it could work better.

MAP08, Fluff Fight Zone by SRB2-Playah:
Framerate killer on the scale of Sun Shrine, and I'm not really sure why. Nothing in it seems that fancy.

MAP09, Lunar Facility Zone by FuriousFox:
Too flat on the inside, and too much stuff in the way of the view on the outside. Even though it's small, this was one of those "where the heck is everyone?!" maps.

MAP10, Thunder Citadel Zone by Mystic:
This feels too big and FPS-y, like something out of Counterstrike, not like an SRB2 map.

MAP13, Winter Valley Zone by Some guy:
I still hold that this is one of the two most fun maps in the contest, any difficulty moving around in the currents aside. The currents are only in a small part of the level.

MAP14, Barrel Barrage Zone by Blue_Blur:
You can't really blame the level designer for the misaligned barrel tops. After all, there is no align flats feature. On the other hand, I suppose under the "use what you have" doctrine, you could argue he should have not arranged the barrels like that in the first place.

MAP17, Emerald Beach Zone by Senku:
Looks simple and amateur-ish, but was actually a lot of fun. Shadow had a previous Emerald Beach conversion (it's from Sonic Battle, right?) but I don't think it was built as well.

MAP18, Illustrion Zone by Jason_the_Echidna:
Loads of fun. I'm surprised people actually hated this level. It's weird and different, but in an awesome way.

MAP22, Space Fight Zone by Some guy:
I must concur about the outside area being too large. The inside part is a lot better.

MAP23, MI by Some guy:
I thought this was cool when I first got it, but it really isn't playable. It's not just the destructive power of the turrets. The real problem is I can't find players, because there's so many rings and turret shots confusing my view.

I'll vote when I play some more and see if any of my opinions change.
 
By the way, the suggestions topic is not here, but the talking sprite is a bad idea because it will just make people talk more. It's a game, not a chat. If you have to type something, you go to a faraway corner and hope no one hits you, and if someone does, you were unlucky.

Otherwise, people talk too much and never get around to playing!
 
A few games have the nice feature of having a little talk box above any player who is typing. It doesn't prevent you from getting shot, so it still discourages typing, but it helps anyone who doesn't know whether the player is typing or standing still.

It's nice to be able to say "Nice shot." or something along those lines without the serious risk of getting shot while you're doing it.
 
Sometimes you cannot tell if somone is sniping or just standing, so that'd be a really useful feature.
 
I particularly hate when people hit you when it's blatantly obvious that you are standing still and not doing a damn thing. It's not an issue of people overusing the chat function, it's an issue of players being real jerks. I see it constantly, nearly every time I play.

As for your silly acronym, a441, I don't even know what the crap that means. I prefer to come across as understandable when I chat, not like I accidentally smashed my face on the keyboard and that came out. And "gg" is the lamest thing I've ever seen. =/
 
Wow. I'm surprised at how many maps this contest received, as the last official one only received three. I hope there will be just as many wads in next month's contest. Anyways, on to the judging.

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MAP01, Florid Crater Zone by FuriousFox: 7/10

This is a pretty enjoyable level. It is small for a Match level, but makes up for this with its layout. It's simplistic design adds a lot of fun into playing it, and it has a nice, easy theme. The rings can be easily abused, as either Tails or Knuckles can get an Auto ring, jump off that platform and hit a spring, go to the middle platform, and get an Infinate ring. Then, they hit a spring, sending them to the ledge, where they fire like madmans.

MAP02, Sandy Beach Zone by Some guy: 7/10

I love the theme you put on this level. It is a beach-themed level, which is something different. It is a bit big for a Match level, and the action is not usually spread out. There is a major glitch in the wad, where you sink under grass and there is a spring that has also sunk. It is pretty fun to play, but there should be more rings. Also, the teleporters are pretty annoying. The ring selection is pretty good, and it is quite varied.

MAP03, Diamond Duel Zone by Sonicandtails218: 5/10

It is hard to stay alive in this level with so many FOFs and pits. The fences look wierd on the grass floor, and do not block you from falling off, so I don't see their purpose. The transporters are a pain to hit, as you are almost always switched with someone who was flying over a pit. The area with the homing ring I thought was enjoyable, though it could be better. The choice of rings was pretty good, but nothing could help this wad from getting a low grade. The framerate is bad and has a bad layout.

MAP04, Wrecked Satellite Zone by Shadow Hog: 7/10

At first glance, the level looked really nice. When I started getting into it, I noticed that the pit is too close. You should have made it farther down, so you atleast have a chance as Tails and Knuckles to survive. The green area in the middle is ugly, and it is hard to get to the top area of the map.

MAP05, Meadow Conflict Zone by hotdog003: 8/10

This is a pretty good map. However, it is only fun when there are a few people. Too many people makes this map hard to play with. The gargoyles are funny, but they are unnecessary. There are too many special rings. 4 is good enough for 1 level.

MAP06, Floating Factory Zone by FireKid: -/10

I knew this map would turn out bad from the very beginning. I had it planned out to enter another wad instead of this one, but it could never be finished. I had to send this one in, even with all its errors. I'm sorry if you hated the wad, as it was never corrected to fix the people getting stuck in corners. It is hard to play with, so I appologize about that. I understand if the wad gets a 1 or 2.

MAP07, Sonichero's Palace Zone by Joe: 6/10

When I saw this map, my eyes were hurting very badly. I couldn't see anybody, and whenever I did, I had to squint so I don't loose conciousness. The neon colors could cause a seizure. It is a little large, and it makes people hard to find. It would have been a 7 or 8 if it had not had those textures.

MAP08, Fluff Fight Zone by SRB2-Playah: 7/10

I enjoyed this level. The textures used give a nice "fluffy" feeling that goes well with the design. I don't like that the Auto and Infinite rings can be easily abused, as all it takes is someone running through the middle to be an assasin to everyone by firing rapidly in every direction around the stage. The pit, I think, is too high up, so it is easy to fall in and kill yourself. The framerate also causes it to be easy to fall in the pit, as the rainbows are skinny.

MAP09, Lunar Facility Zone by FuriousFox: 9/10

This map is really fun to play with. It is almost perfect. I love the open feeling it has outside, and the closed-in feeling it has inside. The only part I didn't like about it is that the slime outside is an instant death. The theme is backed up wonderfully with FuriousFox's creative way of making the gravity heavier inside than out. The scenery is very pleasing, and it is so fun to play on. I could spend hours just running around it with someone else and I'd never get bored.

MAP10, Thunder Citadel Zone by Mystic: 10/10

This map is perhaps the greatest one I have ever played. Mystic had a stroke of perfection when creating it. I absolutely loved everything about it. I even loved the crushers. If timed correctly, they are no problem. The map has so many areas that please the eye, and you wouldn't wonder why. I played this map for more than an hour with FuriousFox, Mystic, and someone else that I cannot remember at the time, and I must say that this map ran smoothly. I did not encounter any framerate problems. The dining table room was the action area of the map. I seriously hope someone can take an idea from this wad and incorparate it into their wad. This map is true perfection.

MAP11, Verdant Valley Zone by Shuffle: 8/10

This map is very good. I think it is a bit bare on the FOF. You could add rings to fix that. The floor needs more obstacles. You just run right through and hit anyone that comes in your way. I thought the water on the edges of the floor was wierd as you did not fall through it. I'd advise making that water transparent and having the floor show through. It was fun going to the top and hitting people as they went up springs. I'd advise being able to see through the waterfall, as I had no idea anything was there until I saw someone go through it. It was satisfying in many ways, and I enjoyed it.

MAP12, Winter Wonderland by Snort: 6/10

It's too big. I couldn't find anybody in a five player netgame. It still has a semi-bad framerate despite your changes, although those helped a lot. The crushing floor area is too bare. It was pretty fun to jump into the teleporters, but you have no idea where you go.


MAP13, Winter Valley Zone by Some guy: 7/10

This map is pretty nice. The winter theme is backed up nicely by the scenery, and you put rings that cannot be used together in an abusing way. It is quite hard for Sonic here, as the current sweeps him away. It is hard for him to get to high ground. You support Knuckles quite well, but the falling water makes it impossible for him to climb up it. This level despises Tails, with Rail and Homing rings at your fingertips.

MAP14, Barrel Barrage Zone by Blue_Blur: 6/10

This map is good in a few ways but bad in many others. The Homing rings cause many sigsevs, but that's not your fault. The spaces between the blocks is a little cramped, so it's not easy to go through them. Some springs launch into areas that could easily reached by foot, and it causes you to be a huge target for homing rings. The turrets wipe you out when you're opponents. The layout is quite nice, and I enjoyed the little circles with monitors in them. Also, the level is not perfectly symmetrical, which is something that's always good.

MAP15, Ruined Fortress Zone by SRB2-Playah: 8/10

I enjoyed this level quite a bit. The fountain in the middle is something different, but it is a good addition. I did not like how it is so easy to fall off the top of the castle, or that the water does not have a colormap, though. I thought it was a nice feature as a different way to the top of the castle is that if you roll under the castle and are sucked up by the fountain, it launches you through the hole in the ceiling. The combination of Auto and Infinite rings is never good, although people seldom got the Infinate ring, so it worked out well.

MAP16, Fusion Reef Zone by a441 & SSNTails: 7/10

I really liked this level. However, there are some problems with it. The special ring types can be tracked by one player so that they always get it if they know when they respawn. The bomb ring in the lava pit is pointless, as no one would risk their life to go down there. This level is the most loathing for Sonic that I have ever seen. There are no springs in the lava pits, so if you fall, you have to either get someone to hit you, or die and loose points you earned hitting people. The top of the building was quite bare, but that adds some fun as it can be used as an arena for people to battle in. The jumping flames slowed down this level, and were unnecessary. However, all in all, this level was built nicely and played smoothly.

MAP17, Emerald Beach Zone by Senku: 5/10

Wow. I didn't want to see this level again, but I guess fate really has a hating for me. I've seen it way too many times, both in the GameBoy Advance game and in SRB2. However, that won't affect my judging. The map is quite big, as it is an open field which has barely any obstacles. I know that this is okay in Sonic Battle, but more people play in SRB2 than in that game. The level had too many monitors, and if someone got a Attraction shield, they took all the rings and killed everyone. The same goes for a Fire shield. They'd create fire barriers that no one would suspect and hit them. I saw many people roll around the level with a fire shield on. The level is also easy to hit someone with an Armageddon shield, so that never is good. Other then that, it was a decent level, although I thought it was cool that it spelt "Sonic Battle" and "Emerald Beach" in the rings, although no one noticed it while they were battling on it.


MAP18, Illustrion Zone by Jason_the_Echidna: 3/10

I absolutely loathed this map. I don't usually give ratings under five, but I felt like this one deserved it. Congratulations. This wad is very annoying. It's hard to control your character when they're being sucked in by the current. The holes in the ground were very annoying, and there just were never enough springs to get out of that area. You did a good job on originality, but other than that this map is bad. The layout makes it impossible for any action to take place on the top area, and there isn't any action in the bottom area either, because people are being spun around in the water.

MAP19, Green Patch Zone by Linkman90: 8/10

I thought this map played good. There are too many rings on the sides. I think that it had a nice, light feeling that is fun to play with. It reminded me of Meadow Match, which is one of my favorite levels in SRB2. The map seems to play nicely, but is a little too big. However, it makes up for that with the open-air design. If this is a first wad, it is a very good one.



MAP20, Colorpool Arena by Ex_Sonic: 7/10

I liked this map a lot. The colorpools were something different, yet not something so different you'd become annoyed with them. The layout was simple, but that gave this wad the maximum effect. The level played as good as it looked. Sonic and Knuckles ruled the bottom area, while Tails and Knuckles ruled the top area. This wad is fun to play with other people, and can add some energy into your spirit once you come out of it.

MAP21, Ex Arena by Ex_Sonic: 7/10

The biggest problem with this map is its rings. You can run all around the wad, then jump down and hit some monitors that always contain shields, and you are all ready to hunt. If you get hit, you just come back to your trusty monitors to get some protection. The design gave something original, which I liked. The music fit with the level, and was something different other than the most used musics. It was annoying to get up on the


MAP22, Space Fight Zone by Some guy: 8/10

I like your design of this level. The space theme gives a lot of freedom, and the inside of the station is quite spacious also. I have a serious problem with the going from one area to the other. It is very hard to get to the space station from space and vice versa. The teleportation area does not ensure your travel from the station to space. The low gravity was high enough where you can't be killed in one hit from someone, which is always good. I enjoyed this level, even with its all its errors.

MAP23, MI by Some guy: 4/10

At first I thought that this map was absolutely horrible. It was so hard to not get hit, and it was hard to aim at people with all the rings. You have to keep moving, and that is never something someone wants to do. However, as I started to play into it more, I found out it is quite satisfying when you see an opponent being hit by a turret, and you stalk them and kill them. It is not as unplayable as some people had said. I know it is not a good level to play Match with, but it is quite satisfying none of the less.

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23 maps is incredibly good for a contest. I can't wait until next month, when we'll see how many wads are in its contest and if there are any really good ones in it. The average for this contest from my ratings was a 6. That is good. Keep up the good work, wadders.
 
a441 said:
Don't worry about it. Those scores won't be counted.

Since some people apparently need a reminder, you have to play the maps, not just look at them. Walking around by yourself is equivalent to just looking.

For those who have slow connections, 56k modems seem to be able to play 4-5 player games fine as long as hardware compression is enabled. If you warn me in advance, I'll let you on my dedicated server.

But please. If you don't play (in match), don't rate.

Oh bite me. I have at least a right to voice my opinion and I specifically said, "don't count my votes if you don't want". You don't have to be a jerk about it.

I did try to at least start them up in match (so I wouldn't have to quit out and use -warp each time to get to the next map) but for some reason they weren't showing up during the "pick a map" thing when starting a server.

I would've played them with everybody else, but I never saw a game start up for me to join. So, I couldn't rate them properly. Enough said.

MAP10, Thunder Citadel Zone by Mystic:
This feels too big and FPS-y, like something out of Counterstrike, not like an SRB2 map.

Standard counterstrike maps have crushers, floating platforms and sewers you can only spindash in to? ;P

By the way, the suggestions topic is not here, but the talking sprite is a bad idea because it will just make people talk more. It's a game, not a chat. If you have to type something, you go to a faraway corner and hope no one hits you, and if someone does, you were unlucky.

Otherwise, people talk too much and never get around to playing!

This is yet another one of those "standard features for this type of game" sorts of things. Quake 3 Arena, Unreal Tournament, they all have ways of telling when a player is typing. (Quake 3 has a little
dotdotdot.gif
icon above the player's head while they type, and UT has an actual "This player is speaking" animation where they hold their headset and move their mouth)

Half-Life, while not a standard feature, has many server-side mods that "detect" when players are typing and make them temporarily invincible (generally, "Chat Protection" is enabled if you don't move while looking at a nearby wall for more than two or three seconds, and it wears off the moment you hit enter).

Go on then, shoot it down, because SRB2 isn't an arena deathmatch game blahblahblah
 
I did try to at least start them up in match (so I wouldn't have to quit out and use -warp each time to get to the next map) but for some reason they weren't showing up during the "pick a map" thing when starting a server.
then just use the map map console command.
 
You cannot do that in single player, though I think you can if you use the FISHBAKE code dealy.
 
BlazeHedgehog said:
I would've played them with everybody else, but I never saw a game start up for me to join. So, I couldn't rate them properly. Enough said.
Where've you been? a441's had a dedicated server up for nearly two days now. Go check out the topic he made about it for the IP.

Just a warning, though: It's laggy. As heck. We don't know why, it just is.
 
Zash said:
I did try to at least start them up in match (so I wouldn't have to quit out and use -warp each time to get to the next map) but for some reason they weren't showing up during the "pick a map" thing when starting a server.
then just use the map map console command.

Indeed, as Shaf said, trying to change maps like that via the console results in:

"This is not a singleplayer map!"

Where've you been? a441's had a dedicated server up for nearly two days now. Go check out the topic he made about it for the IP.

Just a warning, though: It's laggy. As heck. We don't know why, it just is.

Me? I wander to-and-fro away from this place and back again, so I tend to miss certain topics. It's kind of annoying, really, and I can't imagine it's any easier on the staff that one of their texture artists seems to suddenly forget he's working on SRB2 and go on to work on something else for four months.

It's especially terrible now, though. I have so much to be doing right now, have had so much to do since October, and I've just kind of sat around on my arse and not really done any of it. It's worrying, because honestly, it feels like no matter how hard I try to "get in to the groove", I just can't focus.

But this is not the topic for that discussion.
 
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