Secrets of the Emerald Temples (was PFZ) (scr_SotETv01) (Update 10/17/09)

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Do you have any suggestions about what I should do for the treetop sections? Also, I did use the old space countdown for the music because in my opinion it had an eerie swamplike feel.

Oh, I guess I just didn't hear it. I think you should change that track though, but if you want to keep it, that's fine too. Anyway, I think you could make the treetops less flat to make it seem like the trees are different sizes. You could also make small sections that rise that the player can go through and hide items or hidden areas within.
 
Update: 10/17/09

I'm still here, and the new version is out. I've been busy with school so I haven't much time to work on this. These are some changes, but before I list them, I'll take the time to reveal the name of the level pack. It is called Secrets of the Emerald Temples. It's the current name, but if anyone has any better ideas, I'm open for suggestions. There are seven main Zones with secret ones as well.

Zone List with # of Acts:
1. Pinewood Forest Zone (3)
2. Desolate Canyon Zone (3)
3. Neon Nightclub/Nightlife City Zone (3)
4. Aquatic Shock Zone (4)
5. Volcanic Bastion Zone (4)
6. Frozen Shores Zone (4)
7. ??? (5) (To be revealed later.)

PFZ1:
No Change

PFZ2:
There are only two temple switches now. The stage is too short for three.
One of the switches has been moved.
Music has been changed.

PFZ3:
Rings are now at ground level.
A new secret has been added (Somewhat).

ASZ1:
Many textures have been changed.
More enemies have been added. (Jet Jaws, Snailers, and Skims)
A new secret has been added.

ASZ2:
Ending has been changed. (No more flume maze.)
A new secret have been added.
Music has been changed.

ASZ4: (New!)
No changes since it's new, but might as well explain. ASZ3 is in progress (10% done), and Act 4 is the boss stage against the Sea Egg. There is a twist though. The Sea Egg is sometimes protected by the blue lasers in the room. Sonic, Tails, or Knuckles will have to jump at the right timing to avoid being hit. It's almost finished, but I do not know how to modify the boss so that the lasers go faster after six hits. Oh well. Hope you all enjoy the changes!

Note: ASZ is no longer a secret. You will go there after PFZ3.
 
OK, let's see:

PFZ1:
As you haven't changed anything, I'm gonna remind what I think should be fixed:
- Remove some scenery. There are many spots that are so full of scenery that the player can't look forward properly.
- Make the alternate paths a little more obvious. They are all somewhat out of sight and cannot be found without searching for them.
- Fix the roofs. You still haven't.
- Fix the spring section so that you don't have to press forward. It's frustrating to jump on the spring, miss and do it all over again.

PFZ2:
Hmm, I cannot remember anything that needs fixing, apart from the theme itself. I mean, slime in a forest? But that's your decision.

PFZ3:
Put some real rings in instead of only monitors. Otherwise solid.

ASZ1:
- It STILL looks like an over-dimensional bathroom. The textures are very repetitive and the water colour is off.
- When taking the alternate path at the beginning, you come into a room where you press a button and then jump upwards on the platforms. First, it's very cramped, so open it up a little; second, at the end you have to jump through a waterfall without knowing what's behind. If you mess up even slightly, you're dead. At least you should be, but the pit doesn't kill you.
-There are no rings at the beginning. If you fall into the water and hit a Skim, you're dead.
- It's VERY short. Short means "I completed it in less than a minute without even trying, even thjoguh it's the fourth zone.

ASZ2:
- All of it is very cramped. Narrow hallways etc. The part where you avoid lasers while running forward in a tiny corridor is particularly annoying.
- The part where you jump tiny platforms over a death pit is VERY cheap. This is never a good idea.
- The part at the end that got changed now consists of jumping platforms over a death pit WITH a current that drives you INTO the pit. I think it's pretty obvious how impossible this is.

ASZ4:
See PFZ3.
 
I've decided to scrap ASZ1 and start over, since no texture change can remove all of the blandness. I have some pictures of the new ASZ1.

This new level will have:

-4 paths. One for each character and one for everyone.
-2D Mode on one of the paths
-Less blandness
-Recycled sections from the old ASZ1
-Secrets on all 4 paths.
-I do prefer narrow corridors over large wide areas. ASZ in general will have narrow corridors. Other levels will be wider.

Here are the pictures:

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The new beginning of the level

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Sonic's path is really the only one I've worked on so far. So far it has two main obstacles:

Obstacle #1 (see above picture): Upstream platforming. This picture was taken facing backwards.

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Obstacle #2: The Bobbing Blue Spring

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More Upstream platforming, but with lasers!

I've also worked on ASZ2 some more. These are some changes I made today:

-The death pits are now damage pits. It should be more fair now
-The platforms are now bigger in a certain area.
-The laser flume is bigger and a new secret has been added to it.
 
Pinewood Forest, Act 1
This is boring. Not exactly bad, but just...not fun. It's flat and empty for the most part. This is fairly linear, and I don't think I've seen any alternate paths or bonuses. The detail's somewhat decent, but I'd prefer it if you had the flats and sides of your bush FOFs matching. It's cramped when going up the river and going on the big tree, but much too wide when in the tunnel at the end. Make the water translucent so we can see what's below.

Pinewood Forest, Act 2
I don't like this Act. It's mostly cramped (especially on the bridge) and the gameplay's really nothing special. The Egg Guards are very annoying to deal with in the tight corners of this level, and there isn't much flow as to how you move from one place to another. I don't remember seeing many alternate paths, and I don't remember any bonuses. The bridge looked very neat, but outside of that, the level didn't look too nice.

Pinewood Forest, Act 3
I can't say much for this. Just an island with one tree surrounded by water. You fight the Egg Slimer, which is a very boring and monotonous process. I recommend using custom bosses or simply avoiding the idea altogether.

Aquatic Shock Zone, Act 1
This is really cramped, and the ledges are small. The low ceilings prevent you from seeing the crushers above you, resulting in unfair deaths. Falling into the water's nothing bad, because you can easily make your way back out with no punishment. The small size of the platforms makes jumping up the conveyor belts annoying, and their fast speed does as well. The path in the water at the start should be more noticeable, as it isn't a bonus or anything. The laser area on this path has the lasers moving too fast, and there's too many of them. I like the neat way the level ends, with four paths all meeting into one area and going into a hole.

Aquatic Shock Zone, Act 2
This level's extremely cramped. There's nothing pretty to look at, the flow is lousy, and the gimmicks are cheap, unfair, and unpredictable at points. The lasers move too fast and there's too many of them, and the small size makes them hard to avoid. The current rooms are neat, but I don't like the rest of the level. There's multiple paths, sure, but there's nothing interesting enough to take any of them. The size is just downright ridiculous, though. There's detail, but it looks ugly.

Aquatic Shock Zone, Act 3
A tiny room with the purple Eggman robot moving around and firing bullets. This is insanely monotonous and it doesn't take much skill other than jumping and then Thokking.

Overall, this mod isn't very nice. It's very cramped, the gimmicks and gameplay are either nonexistent or unfair, and there isn't much to look for after playing through this once. Make everything bigger, add some more interesting obstacles so they don't get repetitive, and add some more multiple paths. There isn't much detail to look at.

4/10
 
Pinewood Forest, Act 1
I don't think I've seen any alternate paths or bonuses.

Pinewood Forest, Act 2
I don't remember seeing many alternate paths, and I don't remember any bonuses. The bridge looked very neat, but outside of that, the level didn't look too nice.

Did you explore at all? For PFZ1, there are three main paths in the beginning of the level. two of them are obvious if you do a little exploring, but the third takes a bit more. Also, there are plenty of secrets and shortcuts distributed throughout the level.

As for PFZ2, while I agree with you that some secrets might be lacking, but there are at least four different combinations of pathways you can take to finish the level.

Aquatic Shock Zone, Act 1
This is really cramped, and the ledges are small. The low ceilings prevent you from seeing the crushers above you, resulting in unfair deaths. Falling into the water's nothing bad, because you can easily make your way back out with no punishment. The small size of the platforms makes jumping up the conveyor belts annoying, and their fast speed does as well. The path in the water at the start should be more noticeable, as it isn't a bonus or anything. The laser area on this path has the lasers moving too fast, and there's too many of them. I like the neat way the level ends, with four paths all meeting into one area and going into a hole.
This level is being redone. More room will be added. Refer to my last post for more details.

Aquatic Shock Zone, Act 2
This level's extremely cramped. There's nothing pretty to look at, the flow is lousy, and the gimmicks are cheap, unfair, and unpredictable at points. The lasers move too fast and there's too many of them, and the small size makes them hard to avoid. The current rooms are neat, but I don't like the rest of the level. There's multiple paths, sure, but there's nothing interesting enough to take any of them. The size is just downright ridiculous, though. There's detail, but it looks ugly.

I don't agree that the lasers move too fast. Sonic can easily run under the slow ones and spindash under the faster ones. In the section with four fast lasers, do a spindash and release as they enter the water and you'll clear all four without getting hit. The laser flume has been made bigger and the really fast laser has been slowed down. I tried to make the whole level bigger, but it only made it uglier. I will be adding some additional secrets to this level.

As for the boss stages, I have no clue how to do custom bosses, or custom characters at all for that matter. For now, I'll keep the boss stages as they are.
 
The problem is that ALL alternate paths in PFZ can only be found through exploring. If someone plays it for the first time, he won't notice any alternate path. You should make the splits more obvious, so that players actually can SEE where other paths are.

And about the narrow corridors: They're just too narrow. You can barely move without hitting a wall. Please make them wider in the new version.
 
I Really hate water of a color and falls of different colors, i can't see them

From the rest awesome
 
The problem is that ALL alternate paths in PFZ can only be found through exploring. If someone plays it for the first time, he won't notice any alternate path. You should make the splits more obvious, so that players actually can SEE where other paths are.

Actually, when I played the zone for the first time, I noticed the alternate routes right away. Most of them are easy to find if you just slow down and take a while to actually explore the level.
 
I have some more pictures of the new ASZ1. It's about 20-30% done, but I've started all three character-specific paths. I'm uploading these now because I want some input about gimmicks and level size. Well, here they are:

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The crushers are returning. Is this wide enough?

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I have a feeling that this is going to be considered unfair. There is a current going against you, too. Should I keep this?

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Anyone who played the old ASZ1 should recognize this room. I brought it back but now you go in reverse, and more lasers are added. Don't worry. That set of five right in front of Tails there is stationary. This is also a Tails only area.

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I've barely started Knuckles' path. The windows will be looking out onto a courtyard.

I also want some input about how to put more color in the level. I think part of the problem is how monochrome the level is.
 
Well, your texture choices are just ugly. They fit the theme, but they just don't look good. I don't really know what to do about this though.
 
Sorta Update 11/14/09

I have more screenshots of the new ASZ1, which I want to submit to the OLDC. This time, they're of the path anyone can take.

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You start with 2D, but not for long.

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I feel like this is overused, but it's in 2D this time. In the background is the Knuckles-only path.

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Green Water (Unregistered Trademark of the Aquatic Shock Energy Plant) is known to "steal" rings from anyone who enters it. It's mild compared to its cousin Red Water (not shown, but also an Unregistered Trademark of the Aquatic Shock Energy Plant) which is known to kill anyone on contact.

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These conveyor belts have seen better days, and they no longer serve any purpose...

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...except to crumble into the Green Water below.

Expect a real update soon (most likely around Thanksgiving), but as I said at the top of this post, this level is going to be submitted to the OLDC, so it won't be in the update. Also, the next release will be in zip format if I can find a way to make zip files (WinZip wants me to pay).
 
Please use .zip, not .rar.

EDIT: Scratch that, please get this into a .ZIP ASAP. Also, Windows has a "create zip file" under Right Click > New. From there you can move the WAD(s) into the file and send her out!

EDIT2: Fixed.
 
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