Official Level Design Contest Voting: July/August 2008

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SRB2WikiSonicMaster said:
Yo, Glaber:

- Hold Spin Dash
- Hold Forward
- Release Spin Dash
- Immediately Jump
- Thok

That's how you clear the huge gap. It's a technique that everyone SHOULD know...>_>
In my opinion, good levels simply do not use this as the only way to get somewhere important as Sonic.

SRB2WikiSonicMaster said:
I just apologized to fawfulfan in PM to fix my wrongs; you're right, it's not my job to tell him that.
Besides. It's not like 6 is a bad score.
 
Honestly, I just wanna stop discussing that.

I would have given GS Scrap Brain 3 a final 3/10, but the fact of the matter is, is that he didn't make that stage; Sega did. Why, Glaber? I wanted you to work on Medivo Act 1.
 
Well...I only have seen SonicMaster and Glaber knowing about the teleports in Combination Zone...The rest...I haven't.
 
glaber said:
Match:
MAPA1 - Combination Zone by Superusuario (3/10)
There was too much space and the transzition was bad. (Teleports?)
Did you not read this?
 
I have only played through these levels once each, but I have ideas on what I will score some of them. It does seem that a majority of the levels are too big and too open. I think I need to give that a syndrome name... I'll come up with it when I actually do the scores (coming soon, BTW).
 
How about coming up with names for things that aren't a contrived effort to insult various users. The only reason "glaber syndrome" stuck is because he KEEPS DOING IT.
 
Maby we need more games actually hosting the pack? I'd host If I could get on the other side of my firewall.
 
I can host, but not until after I finish schoolwork for the day. How would 4 o'clock pacific time (7:00 PM east coast) tonight work for you guys?
 
Starting with single player...

Scrap Brain Zone by Glaber: 3/10
Okay, so there is some quality to this level, but at this point you should know by now that 2D mazes are just not popular anymore; Sega can have them. Another problem was that your placement of the springs wasn't very good. I found myself being stuck for a while when the springs were in the very middle and I was trying to get to a door. You've had worse levels, though.

Poison Palace Zone by SonicMaster: 8/10
I cleared it as Tails... I got pretty close as Sonic, and I realized then that it's definitely playable as Sonic and Knux (though it seems that Knuckles has the real challenge). Who cares if some of the gimmicks are similar to those in other levels--you chose some good ones. That's all I ask.

Waterfall Town Zone by superusuario: 0/10
I can see that no real effort was put into this; 1.) it's too big and too open and 2.) it doesn't seem finished. Sorry, but this isn't going to work.

CTF levels coming now.

Cylindrical Mine Zone by SonicMaster: 5/10
This is a pretty good level... except for the fact that it's too big and too open, AND it has rail rings when you approach the sniper cliff. I can see how that problem can be reduced, but the level would need to be played with eight or more people to be really effective.

Tubelectric CTF Zone by Glaber: 6/10
I don't have the same problems with the Zoom Tubes as other people. I do have a problem with the Glaber Syndrome tunnels (not all of them have it, BTW). The weapons were placed far enough apart, but then again, you have two random monitors close to each other on both sides. Maybe you left one on each side in there by mistake, or maybe you meant for them to be ring monitors, but whatever the case, that mistake hurt your score. It is filled with plenty of stuff, so that keeps it from being too big and too open.

Circuit levels judged here...

Los Pants Gehts Zone by SonicMaster: 7/10
In all honesty, this was made four teh Qwertyu. No thok festival here, and there was a good enough flow to the level so that you didn't get stuck too often. Can't think of any real constructive criticism, so that's all I say.

Medivo Nights Circuit Zone by Glaber 4/10
We have ourselves a drillfest here, but at least it's better than a previous stage you made... (don't ask me to specify; you know what I'm talking about, Glaber) I did think that there were too many emblems, which eggs on the drillfest. (emphasis on egg ^_^)

I don't have enough time for the match levels today, so I'll probably do that tomorrow.
 
Finally! More votes! And lol, I've gotten exclusively fives for Cylindrical Mine. No one commented on the fact that you can be at your own base and approach the opposing base going either direction. D: That was the idea of the stage.

EDIT: X_X We have quite a few "not rated yet" votes, still.
 
Well, here are the match maps:

Combination Zone by superusuario: 0/10
Booooring. Again, no effort was put into the level. Too big, too open; I found ring placement to be a little erratic. The springs in the techno part FAILED to get you to the skinny towers. It was as if you made mistakes and did not go back to fix them. Just too many things wrong with the level.

Sky Island Zone by Roy Kirby: 4/10
Auto-fail does not get you anywhere. Both rings can be grabbed by only a few seconds apart. Besides that, the level seems to be giving Sonic and Tails players an advantage. (Knuxes are out of luck.) If I were doing this level, I would have added FOFs to block the way between the weapon rings; that move would also make it less open.

Moon Milkshake Zone by SonicMaster: 2/10
Well, not going to work this time. Wait, brb....... Lower gravity and ridiculous heights do not a good level make. Wise you would be too remember that better levels you have made. (Yoda, have you been writing my comments while I was gone? Back to me!) *reads* He's right, you know. Too big and too open again. This is the fourth level so far with that. Come on, people!

Factory Zone by Chaos: 6/10
Pretty good. Tall, but I feel that's okay here. Plenty of goodies to look for. Sniper bomb is just fine here. Beware the elevator...

Nightopean Casino by Kuja: 1/10
This one's WAY too big--not to mention the lag that can come from that--and with rail rings and high platforms, that's a problem. Outside the casino, it's cool, although at one time, when I tried to spring out of the fountain, it sigsegv'd; it was a one time thing, though. Off the record, nice design.

Awesome by Torgo: 0/10
O NOEZ! TORGO BROT BACK TEH SMILEHS!! You did make a fatal error, though. Basically, there's nothing here to work with except a single platform and a few rings in the level. That's it.

Hidden Palace Zone by Knockout the Echidna: 5/10
Sure, you put in lots of stuff, but it's still just too big. Minor issue, but there is REDWALL in the ceiling where the random monitior is. Sniper bomb in open spaces makes it worse, but at least it has some quality.

HaiFF Zone by DarkWarrior: 6/10
Hai... Mystic. *shot* This is actually a good joke level. Plenty of room to work with, good weapon rings, and it has interesting paths, too. Good job.

Okay, SonicMaster, I will do comments for 39/0. Please listen no matter how brutal I get; remember, you asked for them!

39 Divided by 0: i/-0... Just kidding, it's 7/10
Uh, wait a minute, this one's good. It has the right amount of challenges, you can get to every part of the level, and the modest bomb ring does wonders when fired at the right place. It's as if it's a piece of Subspace.

Wow, if Furious Fox hadn't goofed up, I would be giving SonicMaster the high score in the Match division. As it is, I decided to give a joke level a tie for first with Chaos's level.

Overall, the contest has it's high notes, but the majority had some very big levels. Scale it down, plz!
 
Waterfall Town - 2/10 Playable

There really wasn't much to see here and a lot of the stuff looked like copy and paste of what were already very simplistic sector design. Aside from that it was big, open, and very nonspecific about where the exit sign was. It wasn't broken and I don't remember seeing many glitches... there was just no effort.

Scrap Brain 1 - 3/10 Poor

So I was amittedly kind of intrigued by these one-way, two-way doors until I started playing through it a little more. The entire thing was a vertical maze with so few enemies or items I needn't bother mentioning them. The scenery was just plain boring. I assume you understand perfectly well everything thats wrong with it, and probably expected it going in. I think you have proved time and time again that ports almost never work and this isn't an exception. (and neither is MKB in the vanilla game either imho)

Poison Palace - 8/10 Terrific

I went into this level remembering your past levels and expecting something similar. While as others have already noted it does seem to draw slightly from pre-established themes, this one is not only the best I've seen you make, but also one of the best contests map I've seen this year. (then again that isn't too impressive given the fact that the quality ranges so much)

  • Appearance/Aesthetics:

    True to its name, the theme seems to be a cross between a chemical based level and AGZ/DSZ-esque ruins. The sky doesn't really add to the theme though, and it was jarring to see it coming into the level. However it produced a nice contrast with the browns and greens of the rest of the level and custom skies are hard to come by. These are the same DSZ we've been seeing over and OVER and OVER AGAIN since AGZ surfaced but everything works and it was quite refreshing to see the purple stuff against it. Also while there was still some instances of the square-by-square, room-by-room gameplay of AGZ levels, it was integrated well enough for me not to feel the need to make any complaints regarding it and the centerpiece was very well used by the multiple paths and tiers of the level.

    There were some issues I did have however with the level. First the walls that Knux can climb are very inconsistent, and aside from the gameplay issues that come of it, it is very bothersome when playing as Knuckles. Additionally I felt that no-climb was a slightly cheap way to provide a challenge for Knux, but I'll touch on that in the gameplay section. Basically if you don't want Knuckles to climb the wall to its top, it may be as simple as a decorative overhanging ledge around the outside that Knuckles can't climb over (which has been the approach used by S3K and it works quite well I think). Aerial Garden also employed a pretty effective approach by establishing that the glossed over tiles could not be climbed while everything else could be. Additionally you did do some tihngs to help with the pitfalls, some of which were good and others were bad... I loved the use of the current in the huge jump... even if it didn't help the area any, but the mid-air teleport preventing me from falling into the earlier area was unnatural. Like the no-climb walls, there should at least have been some indications and more likely than not they didn't need to be there.

    With regards to the scenery it is pretty much sufficient all the way through. I like my levels a little bit heavy on the scenery and minor details, but I think yours looked really good despite all of that. (my favorite level had plenty of detail but it was very sloppy in a ton of places) Additionally there were all the little linedef effects I can always expect to see from you. They are always a nice touch and I can be certain to see them in your next contribution.

    Gameplay/Gimmicks:

    In most places it maintained a good balance in that it was challenging without cheap. This is unfortunately not the case with the obnoxious jump midway through the level. The fact that you had to explain a specific technique to even clear it should send out a red flag. I'm not against implementing advanced techniques like spin-thok, crawla hopping, and the like, but they should be used for secrets and not for level progression.

    Sonic was probably the best experience through the level. It was diverse enough to keep me busy but I wasn't forever falling in pits. Knuckles however was crippled by his inability to climb, and the fact that his glide seldom proves effective. This is supposed to be his main advantage and making it impossible for him to do so doesn't seem like the right way to keep it from being abusive. Other ways would be to use some Knux only walls to direct him to other paths and detours so he would be able to have a personalized experience in some places where you could provide difficulty in a way that doesn't cripple him. The Tails only path was quite well done, aside from the first area, however using his flight that way got boring and repetitive because there wasn't enough REAL platforming mixed in there. Furthermore I felt kind of isolated from the rest of the level and although Tails was treated to his own path, it was his and only his path for half of the level.

    Regarding the gimmicks I quite liked the conveyor belt and this is the first time I can remember seeing the space countdown used properly. However I found a waterslide while trying to noclip Blaze *cough* out of Tails' path into the main part of the level and I do feel that it has really been overused lately. I don't want to see another waterslide until I play Deep Sea Zone; this may be bias, but in all honesty it doesn't even fit with the theme of the level. Outside a tidbit of decoration there was no water anywhere else in the level, I didn't see the whole path leading to it, but if the water was emphasized enough there it should have at least been shown to exist in some of the other areas. It won't count against you, but it was one of my gripes.

Can't comment on the MP stages because by the time I'll be able to use netplay it will be past the deadline.
 
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