SRB2: Chaotic Earth (v0.3.1)

Chaotic Chao presents...
SRB2: Chaotic Earth
Version 0.3.1

I bet you thought I was dead, didn't you? Ha...well, you should know by now how good Kart Krew is at playing dead.

UPDATE: So two things came to my attention: A) 0.3 had level header issues mainly regarding unlockables, and B) Zone 3 wasn't very fun, and I wasn't particularly proud of that. So, introducing v0.3.1, with a VASTLY improved Zone 3 and unlockables that work correctly! Please redownload on the off-chance you still have 0.3!

Anyway, on with the show!

Spoiler: Content

• Chaotic Earth is a level pack that currently has three Zones, each with three acts and a fourth boss act. Although the levels are short for the most part (every level can be beaten in under a minute and a half at least, if you know what you're doing), every single level is jam-packed with secrets, alternate paths, hidden rooms...all sorts of things to add replayability. For those of you who like to explore, this pack is for you...and for those of you who like a challenge, you won't be disappointed either! The game gets somewhat tough at Zone 3, and it'll only get harder and harder in later releases. As this level pack grows, you'd better bring your A-game, especially if you plan on blasting through rather than taking your time.
  
• None of the levels in the game contain any extra lives. Instead, your primary method of getting more lives will be your score. Every level is littered with 1,000 point monitors in plain sight and hidden 10,000 point monitors. Pop enough of these and you'll rack up lives like no tomorrow!
  
• I'm proud to say that this map pack is the first to utilize SRB2DVD's Special Stages. Three special stages are currently complete, and one entrance is hidden in a certain act of each of the first three Zones. Can you find and clear them all?
  
• There are a total of 142 emblems to collect in this demo, and you'll unlock extra bonus content for the first 100 (meaning getting all 142 won't get you anything - please note before you waste your time lol), giving you plenty to do!
  
• Last but not least, every main level in the game (and even some of the extra ones) supports not only coop, but also race and competition mode. With its abundance of item boxes and split paths, Chaotic Earth is perfect for the latter especially. Give it a try with friends!

Spoiler: History

So my old signature had a link to the 2.0 version of this saying it was "coming soon to 2.1." What I forgot to mention was that I meant "soon" by TD/Kart Krew standards, so I'm only just now releasing the next version despite it saying that for like a year or more. Whoops. Probably should've made that clear.

Anyway, I started this level pack forever ago...don't remember when exactly. But after the disaster that was ChaoticLevels which I made when I was a kid so cut me some slack, and the modest success that was Chaotic Kart, I decided to give single player levels a try, and I've spent countless hours fine-tuning them, perfecting them, trying to capture the vivid visions I had in my head...of course, I could only capture so much without slopes, so after finishing Zone 2 ages ago I sort of just stopped for like half a year until 2.1.whatever-version-had-slopes came out and I got drunk on mappping again until finally, the release that you see here now came to fruition. Honestly, if I had kept a stable work ethic I probably would've released this months ago, but oh well...it's here now, and that's what matters...!

Spoiler: Known Issues

SRB2DVD's special stages are somewhat problematic in multiplayer and in a few other ways. Nothing I can do about this until it's updated. For example:

• STK retain their differences in stats in Special Stages (Tails is slow, Knuckles has a lower jump), so keep this in mind.
• If playing as Sonic and Tails in SP, if Tails loses the Special Stage, you will also lose. So don't choose Sonic and Tails unless you plan on never playing a special stage.
• In a coop netgame, if the host loses the special stage, the script will break and every other player will stop running automatically. This can sometimes happen if somebody OTHER than the host loses, too (but rarely). I'd generally avoid cooping special stages unless you know what you're doing.
• The Special Stages are not designated as such in MainCFG via SStageStart because if you warp to them via a custom exit, beating them will infinitely warp you back to the special stage over and over again. This means that A) you won't see the SS results screen after beating a SS, and B) that you can retry a special stage as many times as you want when you lose it as long as you have enough lives.

Something else to note is that some characters that can't spin (Rosy's newest version in particular) can't do shit in most of these maps because of all the slopes. Please don't expect me to make things easier for them - bother the people who made the character wads instead and beg them to buff them with slopes in mind, because it'd be way too limiting for me otherwise.
Also, I couldn't figure out how to add custom title screen demos and forgot to ask how before releasing so just ignore them for now >_>

But you're probably too impatient for words, so here's pictures.

Spoiler: SPOILERS: List of Music

Lazy Shores
Act 1: Summers, Eternal Tourist Trap (EarthBound)
Act 2: Island Area (Kid Chameleon)
Act 3: Fiji, Philippines (TEKKEN 1 Arcade)
SS: Let's Play with a Rival! (Puyo Puyo!! 20th Anniversary) ("Rival Mode" from Puyo Puyo Sun)
Diamond Square
Act 1: [Techno '80] Water Melon Woman (Pop'n Music CS)
Act 2: Jazzy NYC '99 (Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike)
Act 3: Authentic Sky (TEKKEN 4)
SS: [Techno '80 REMIX] Water Melon Woman (Pop'n Music CS Best Hits!) (Pop'n Music CS)
CardSuit Complex
Act 1: [Funny] Pulse - Long Version (Pop'n Music Instrumental Best)
Act 2: Rescue Before Melting (Space Channel 5 p.2)
Act 3: Nebula Step (Puyo Puyo!! 20th Anniversary)
SS: Xiaoyu (Tekken Tag Tournament PS2)

Spoiler: BIG SPOILERS: Secret Levels

Bonus Example: Carbuncle (Puyo Puyo SUN)
GoldMine Mountain: Jake Marshall ~ The Detective from the Wild West (Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney)
Swingin' Spaceport: Report 1: Introducing Ulala!! (Space Channel 5)
Demo Shrine: Shrine (Shining Force II)

Shore Search: Beachcombing (MOTHER 3)
Deep Jungle: Jungle World (Super Monkey Ball)
Death Town: Vanished!? Napoleon (Pop'n Music GB)
Simple Track: Battle with a Flippant Foe (EarthBound Beginnings, Remix)
Knuckle Castle: Midnight Greenhouse (Knuckles' Chaotix)
Emerald Sea: Shipshape Aquarium ~ A Refreshing Sea (Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies)
Suspicious Pyramids: Pyramid Area (Kid Chameleon)
Seaside Snooze: Jun Kazama -Ecological Fighter- (Tekken 2 Arcade)
Hot Cave: Theme of Deku (Fighters Megamix)
Strange Base: Beginning of Life (beatmania 2ndMIX)

Super Sonic: Open Your Heart (Sonic Adventure)

Speed Up: Denise Marmalade Vs. Tron Bonne (The Misadventures of Tron Bonne)
Invincibility: All-Star Theme: Vyse - Sudden Storm (Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed) (Skies of Arcadia)
Stage Clear: Stage Clear (Sonic Adventure)

Last but not least, I want to thank everyone who helped me make this pack, particularly Lat for making the special stages, FuriousFox for the Casino Night bumpers and Carnival Night balloons that should really just be items in vanilla SRB2 already, and Iceman404 for pretty much being my only tester except for one netgame where I had like 5. And of course, I'd like to thank the Kart Krew for not complaining that I totally sto--er, reused textures from SRB2 Kart for Zone 3. Everywhere. And as long as I'm part of the Krew it probably won't be the last time I borrow textures either, lol

DROPBOX MIRROR

[FuriousFox]

Welcome to Releases!

[jiazji]

This Looks Really Cool!

[MarioFreak2001]

I can't wait to try this out with my brother!

[Chaotic Chao]

Updated the mod to 0.3.1, most importantly making Zone 3 a hell of a lot easier and more enjoyable, and fixing unlockables that weren't set up correctly.
EDIT: The attachment accidentally had an old version in it for a second there, replaced.

---------- Post added at 12:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:25 PM ----------

Necessary double post, but the goddamn balloon sprites were broken, so please redownload if you downloaded the pack before this post. This is the last mistake, I promise >_>
...That said, I'm not good at promises, so if anyone finds any other bugs, please let me know and I'll fix them as soon as I can.

[Chaotic Chao]

EDIT...AGAIN: Ooookay so apparently I can't lua right and beating any level instantly gave you all the emblems hidden in it. This is why I map and don't code, folks.
Anyway, that's fixed, and I playtested the version for like 30 minutes before updating it this time so I know there aren't any more issues...
Dropbox mirror is up to date in case the attachment is still uploading or isn't there.

["Lat'"]

So, after a playthrough of it, here's a quick review of what I experienced:

Lazy Shores... I don't have too much to say on that one, I like the beach level theme and how the level play for most of the part. I will say though, some slopes look really weird and/or are too steep, and also the whirlpool have particles going upwards, making you think that this should push you to the surface rather than dragging you down. You should maybe make that more clear.

Diamond Square was a fine city level, I don't have a lot to say about it either, and I don't recall having any blatant issue with it. Overall a zone I like the design of.

Cardsuit Complex was probably the best zone in terms of ideas and visuals, even the theme is something that is quite uncommon in SRB2. Although I enjoyed all acts, I will say that the end of act 3 is really unfair, the player basically has to put their luck rather than their skill to progress, and dying simply because you chose this door isn't really a great design choice. You should consider replacing that section. As a side note, the gimmick of the boss arena is quite interresting with the Egg Slimer, so kudos on that.

The bonus stages are sadly something I didn't enjoy. In fact, I've only played the first threes before telling myself that I didn't want to play these anymore. They don't really feel like Bonus Stages in the way that the emerald hunting is a bit tedious at times, and that you don't seem to get much of a reward out of these stages aside of maybe 1up(s) that you can get quite easily in the regular levels if you spend some time looking around for the score monitors that are scattered everywhere anyway.

Now the Special Stages: I have to say, that's the part I was the most excited for, and indeed the part I had the most fun in for the levelpack. The special stages are really hard though, I don't know if it's my way of playing them or if they're meant to be that hard, but I utterly failed Special Stage 1 the first time. And it took me several tries to get SS2 & 3 right. Especially because the default 60 seconds time limit is... quite short. I would suggest either modifying the default time limit for the time being (because there's no better DVDSS script, blame me), or adding a bit more time UFOs here and there to aid the player. But these were overall pretty damn fun, and really nice looking, especially the 3rd one!

So, yeah, a solid level pack start, and I hope to see more!

[Chaotic Chao]

Originally Posted by "Lat'"

The bonus stages are sadly something I didn't enjoy. In fact, I've only played the first threes before telling myself that I didn't want to play these anymore. They don't really feel like Bonus Stages in the way that the emerald hunting is a bit tedious at times, and that you don't seem to get much of a reward out of these stages aside of maybe 1up(s) that you can get quite easily in the regular levels if you spend some time looking around for the score monitors that are scattered everywhere anyway.

The elsewhere levels are mostly just extra side content to give the pack more variety (and fun fact, most of them in this release are just reused maps from Chaoticlevels - see outdated releases - when I was a lot younger, but edited to suck slightly less). Unless you're trying to 100% for some reason, they're entirely optional, but they reward you with more ways to get emblems at least since you're rewarded with one just for playing them, and they all have record attack emblems to get too.
Also, there are 2D and NiGHTS elsewhere levels too for those who enjoy those modes, not just emerald hunting (though most of them are emerald hunts in this demo, yes - this won't be the case in the future though).

Also, the end of CardSuit 3 isn't just guesswork - how it works is, Jokers are bad, A's are good, Q's are the best, J's are dangerous. It's meant to mirror how safe the cards have generally been in the level up to that point, and the first two path splits give you hints so you can figure out the last two for yourself. Personally I really like the idea and don't really want to change it (especially since that section already replaced another ending idea I had that nobody liked).

But anyway, thanks for the input! I'm glad you liked the special stages, and yes, they're meant to be that hard since you can A) retry them as long as you have lives, and B) can practice them in Record Attack. Didn't want being super to be too easy, heh.

[Sapheros]

This review isn't gonna have any actual point because my PC is just a little too toaster for this level pack.

First Run (Co-op): Besides getting lost in about... Every level, I enjoyed the visuals, the interesting branching pathways and the amount of weird challenges the levels forced me through. The few elsewheres I discovered were pretty neat even though Emerald hunting with the Sonic is uh... A definite challenge...

Second Run (Co-op, tried to find more secrets): The elsewheres are weird and out of place but interesting. More emerald hunts, a NiGHTS Stage with 2 mares, and an underwater 2D level... Not bad!

Third Run (Co-op, desperately trying to get special stages): Your hints are terrible... "and one entrance is hidden in a certain act of each of the first three Zones." This is really vague, even for new players, I no doubt, got lost falling through every hole in the last area of your "certain act" of Zone 1.
Speaking of problems, I shrugged it off constantly, but I began to notice that in the *really* open areas I was hit with some decent FPS lag, losing about 5-10 frames when rendering in areas like the near end of Lazy Shores Act 1 and most of act 2. This complaint as I've discussed beforehand is due to my PC not being capable of handling environments like this. However I do want to acknowledge that really open spaces with a ton of busy linedefs/FOFs can drop frames in general. I would advise that this thread should have a "high-end" warning for this mod. I mean when more levels in your mod give me more frame drops than what Seraphic Skylands and my Oceanic Cove port could do, it really warrants it in my opinion.

All in all, it's a quality mod with a tons of open spaces, hard to tell but really "out of the way" secrets, ridiculously explorative level design, a great amount of assets put in beautiful execution, definitely one of the harder mods out there. If you play this, I highly recommend to keep a positive mindset while getting lost or finding the special stages, it'll be an interesting challenge...

[Chaotic Chao]

Hmm...cutting down on the trees in Lazy Shores would probably help with the lag, since each one is made of several joined FOFs...my PC's pretty good and Lazy Shores even gives me frame drops sometimes (though very minor ones which is why I probably didn't notice).
As for the vagueness of the Special Stage locations, that's 100% intentional (though Zone 1's SS should probably be easier to find since it's the first, yeah). Finding entirely unique stages and going super sonic are both pretty big rewards deserving of a tough challenge, I think.

Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed it, and there'll be more where that came from! Won't say much, but Zone 4's already in the works.