July/August 2014 Voting

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Well I still think its pretty funny to break the game sometimes. I kind of have a natural habit of doing that. Also it shows how broken 2D mode is. In this stage when not playing as megaman you suffer from a low jump and high speed. In srb1 the jump is floaty and the slipperiness of sonic really glares, further showing that 2D mode is broken in some ways, but thou rant is for another time.
 
Gravity Garden > Phantom Gadget > Koopa Garrison > Cloud Convoy > Autumn Valley > Shadow Castle > Quickman

Short comments:
Cloud Convoy: Cool idea but confusing as heck.
Quickman: If I wanted to play this, I could've gotten the rom hack itself.
Autumn Valley: The textures hurt my eyes and also rather plain.
Gravity Garden: Awsum.
Koopa Garrison: Boy, do I hate your hazard placement.
Phantom Gadget: Some of the gimicks were cheap, but... I want more!
Shadow Castle: This is a joke, right?
 
Can I just say, the general attitude of "lol I could just play megaman itself" seems to be so widespread here regarding Quickman, I have to wonder if it's influencing the votes themselves as a major bias or not. "Dumbventure ...TOO!?" happens to be of the same nature, after all.

...Of course, I could just be worrying about nothing. If that's the case, ignore my post here. =P
 
Can I just say, the general attitude of "lol I could just play megaman itself" seems to be so widespread here regarding Quickman, I have to wonder if it's influencing the votes themselves as a major bias or not. "Dumbventure ...TOO!?" happens to be of the same nature, after all.

...Of course, I could just be worrying about nothing. If that's the case, ignore my post here. =P
The same could be said for Cloud Convoy "If I wanted to play that level I could've waited for Top Down" or some other stages and I think it's a bad thought, sure the level is difficult and something new, which some people might not like but last place ? Seriously ?
 
The same could be said for Cloud Convoy "If I wanted to play that level I could've waited for Top Down" or some other stages and I think it's a bad thought, sure the level is difficult and something new, which some people might not like but last place ? Seriously ?

I can only speak for myself, but I voted Quickman lowest because it was a flawed recreation of the Mega Man engine which was severely hampered by a non-static camera, had confusing and uninteresting visuals, and provided no entertainment value beyond the novelty of it all. It's still an impressive product that I give major kudos to just for originality and the amount of effort involved, but that didn't translate into me enjoying playing it.
 
Regardless, I still like it despite the cheapness. Ive never played an actual megaman game so im not really biased about it. Plus as I said, its fun to break the game at times.
 
Gravity Garden
Koopa Garrison
Quickman
Phantom Gadget
Cloud Convoy
Shadow Castle
Autumn Valley

I haven't been following the contest thread, so I went in to each of these levels not knowing what to expect. I liked all of the levels to some extent. I do have one piece that I want to voice for Phantom Gadget though, on the falling platform section I had no idea where I was supposed to go after reaching the top most platform, and you don't get a whole lot of time to stop and look around when the whole thing is about to collapse on you. I think that section would be improved if the hallway you were supposed to jump to was illuminated in someway, or just stood out more that it currently does.
 
I would have to agree despite not having the same experience. Perhaps to fit in with the atmosphere of the stage, make the hall have a flickering light.
 
Voting time again, I guess. I finished all the SP maps with each character (all the ones where you could choose a character).

1. Koopa Garrison Zone by Fawfulfan -> 10/10. This is the best Mario map ever created. Everything here is detailed and I had tons of fun exploring it and finding the secrets. Good job.

2. Phantom Gadget Zone by CoatRackb -> 9.7/10. I didn't know if this map or Koopa Garrison is the best. They are both very fun and detailed and I love the enemies and that floor with moving numbers in this one but I feel that it's just not that good. It's a very nice map and deserves the second place.

3. Gravity Garden Zone by EvilEnternity3000 -> 9/10. This was actually a very good map and it's really fun to mess around with the gravity. The map is visuslly incredible
and even if it's not hard at all, it's a good map. Well done.

4. Cloud Convoy Zone by toaster -> 8/10. Well, it is a brilliant idea but it doesn't work well in SRB2. It was fun when it wasan's frustrating, and I know that alot of work went into this but the highest I can give it is the fourth place.

5. Quickman by Zipper -> 7/10. I guess you achieved what you were aiming for in this map and I can't lie, it's really fun but why would you play a mod for SRB2 that makes it look almost exactly like Megaman when you can play the actual Megaman?

6. Shadow Castle Zone by Yacker and MudkipYeah! -> 6/10. Everybody here already said that it looks like it belongs to 1.09.4 so you don't need me to say it again.

7. Autumn Valley Zone by Root -> 4/10. This map is very short and it lacks visual detail like hell. Try a bit harder next time.

CTF:

1. Canceled Flight Zone by Fawfulfan -> 10/10. I actually love this map and how detailed it is. I don't care that the outside area is really big. It's just awesome.

2. Snowy Fortress Zone by BlasterGuy -> 7/10. It's quite short and there's nothing here special that makes you remember this map.

Match:

1. Fountain Hills Zone by blahblahbal -> 9/10. A pretty good map but you could use some more textures next time because it's simple and repetitive. Other that that good job.

2. Volcanic Cliffs Zone by BlasterGuy -> 8/10. It does it's job of being a Match map but there could have been a few more rooms and variation.

3. Collapsing Cavern Zone by Fawfulfan -> 7/10. It's a good idea with those platforms that raise up but those falling rocks are just useless. You can never even go past them and still be good. I don't know why but it feels a bit inferior to the others.
 
My votes (no votes on Multiplayer as I don't play that):

Koopa Garrison -> Gravity Garden -> Quickman -> Cloud Convoy -> Shadow Castle -> Phantom Gadget -> Autumn Valley

Reviews:

Cloud Convoy:
While the idea is neat, the graphics are nice and the amount of custom content impressive, this level really lost some of its potential fun with the controls. Design-wise it's really great, but I had a severe problem with depth here, the dropshadows helped, but weren't enough...
I liked the boss, but I had a bug where I died and defeated the boss at the same time in the pinch phase, sending me back to the checkpoint. Also, is it intentional that rings don't spawn in the pinch phase?

Quickman:
I have never played Megaman before due to my age (but I plan on doing so), so I can't make any comparisons.
The controls are very neat and I like how challenging the level design is, but, although I'm aware it's intentional because the old Megaman games were difficult too, I'm definitely not a fan of that pixel-prefect jump you have to do after the laser sequence. I ended up getting killed a lot of times there and due to time constraints wasn't able to finish the level. So I'm sorry if I missed some things, I won't rate you lower because of me failing.

Autumn Valley: The very simplistic artstyle is quite nice in my opinion. Otherwise though the level isn't really that exciting and the teleport was unnecessary.
Nothing too bad though.

Gravity Garden: Wow! Visually, this is an awesome level. And there are some very nice gameplay gimmicks too. The whole concept behind this map is awesome and there really were some nice puzzle elements in this level. One question though: Was this level made for Sonic and Tails only? I had some segments where I thought I was stuck due to Knuckles' jump height, thus switching to Sonic.

Koopa Garrison:
An extremely fun and visually appealing level. Some gimmicks were stretched out a bit too much (Thwomps), but apart from that I don't see anything significantly wrong with this level. Platforming at its best.

Phantom Gadget:
Again, superb visuals, creepy atmosphere aswell as a lot of cool custom content. I'm quite happy I played as Knuckles though as I can imagine I would'nt have been able to beat that last segment with Sonic.
I thought that the turrets didn't fit into the horror theme that much though. They made me get stressed, yes, but not in a scary way.
I'm generally not that of a horror fan, so the ranking is a lot of personal preference on my side here, the level is still pretty good.

Shadow Castle:
This level was confusing, but I think that was a bit intentional too.
Some of the platforming was tedious, but you had some nice gimmicks including the Heroes one. The music didn't fit that well but I liked it very much (name please?).
I'm not sure if I was too dumb again or not, but I think some of the gravity stuff can be broken by Knuckles, be careful there.
One thing you could improve on are the visuals, they're somewhat lacking.
The level might not be as well crafted as others in the contest, but I still had lots of fun going through it.

In conclusion this was a great contest, no bad levels aswell as a lot of innovative stuff and mostly nice visuals I'm looking forward to the next one.
 
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These contests are getting more interesting each time. Here's my votes!

Single Player
Koopa Garrison Zone by Fawfulfan
Gravity Garden Zone by EvilEnternity3000
Quickman by Zipper
Phantom Gadget Zone by CoatRack
Cloud Convoy Zone by toaster
Shadow Castle Zone by Yacker and MudkipYeah!
Autumn Valley Zone by Root


Koopa Garrison Zone by Fawfulfan - 9.5/10
+Really cool gimmicks
+Nice use of visuals in actual leveldesign
+Could be up there with official Mario levels.
-Though the level looks huge, the actual areas you walk around in are rather cramped.

Gravity Garden Zone by EvilEnternity3000 - 8.5/10
+Really dig the alternate paths.
+Gravity gimmick was neatly done.
+Oooo look at da pwetty
-A bit too much "filler" where nothing interesting happens.

Bug: Spindashing full-speed at the start of the level ignores the sector trigger that's supposed to open the door.

Quickman by Zipper - 7.8/10
+Enemies do exactly what you'd expect them to do, even if you've never played a Megaman game, making it easy to react to them.
+Megaman physics and controls are done pretty accurately for an SRB2 edit, and are really responsive.
+I honestly didn't ever expect to see something like Quickman done in SRB2, and so much better than the original game he was from too.
-The level is loaded with instakills, but yet there's no checkpoints. I know it's standard Megaman fare, but this is still SRB2.
-There's a few too many sudden cheap shots.


Phantom Gadget Zone by CoatRack - 7.5/10
+Custom enemies help make this feel fresh.
+Very atmospheric level with some great visual tricks.
-The level is too dark to react to a lot of what the level throws at you. Taking your time is not an option because of how often you'll find yourself getting shot at.

Cloud Convoy Zone by toaster - 7/10
+One of the best bosses made for SRB2.
+It looks very familiar and natural.
-Awkward controls, and it's frustating to fight enemies in this perspective, even with the homing attack. Platforming to save your life is even worse.
-I realized much too late the pedestal with a deathlaser was a button. Maybe make it more obvious it's a button and you need to press it to not die. I thought I had to do a section without the plane....must've been Sonic 4 whispering lies into my head.

Shadow Castle Zone by Yacker and MudkipYeah! - 6/10
+Good level pacing
+Does what it's supposed to do without many issues.
-The level feels really plain at times.
-2 seconds 2D section is confusing and pointless.

Autumn Valley Zone by Root - 4/10
+Even if it's not that impressive, there's nothing terribly wrong with the level
+Simple custom graphics blend in with simple leveldesign suprisingly well.
-How about at least 1 checkpoint?
-Really short, really basic.
-Alternate path is a nice idea, but was awkward in execution.

Match
Collapsing Cavern Zone by Fawfulfan
Fountain Hills Zone by blahblahbal
Volcanic Cliffs Zone by BlasterGuy


Collapsing Cavern Zone by Fawfulfan - 7.5/10
+I absolutely love the gimmick of the stage, and would enjoy seeing more of this in a more advanced state.
-Everything blends in way too much with the samey textures.
-It takes much too long to find players in this map unless you have 8 or more.(especially when the stage has collapsed alot)

Fountain Hills Zone by blahblahbal - 6.5/10
+Lots of space to run around.
+The ground's not too cluttered, and open enough to easily find players.
-Make some rock formations or something, the walls are too boring to deserve being so big.
-Don't be afraid to put weapons in places where they're immediatly visible.
-The map seems a little minimalistic.

Volcanic Cliffs Zone by BlasterGuy - 4/10
+ Easy to play even when you don't have many players.
- Really monotone map.
- There's almost nothing usefull to fight with on the main arena, thus fights never last long there before players flee to the tops again.(Bad weapon placement)
- Much too vertical map, with campy awkward battles on the mountaintops.

Capture The Flag
Canceled Flight Zone by Fawfulfan
Snowy Fortress Zone by BlasterGuy


Canceled Flight Zone by Fawfulfan - 7/10
+Love the novelty of playing on an airport that actually resembles an airport.
+Some clever ideas for strategies actually work, like the conveyor belts.
-The textures made me a little nauseous at high speeds, and are often poorly placed or used.
-Lots of said ideas don't work at ALL, making a ton of areas pointless.
-The stage is more of a novelty than a proper CTF stage.

Snowy Fortress Zone by BlasterGuy - 5/10
+
Bases themselves are worked out nicely.
-There are NO rings outside of the bases.
-Becomes very campy for item placement reasons, and the fact there's no alternate routes to the bases.
 
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Quickman > Gravity Garden > Cloud Convoy > Koopa Garrison > Phantom Gadget > Shadow Castle > Autumn Valley

Well reap my body with a bloody rake, right guys?

Reviews will come later.
 
Ehh What ever...
Coop:
1. Koopa Garrison
2. Cloud Convoy
3. Gravity Garden
4. Phantom Gadget
5. Quickman
6. Shadow Castle
7. Autumn Valley

Match:
1. Collapsing Cavern
2. Fountain Hill
3. Volcanic Cliffs

CTF:
1. Cancelled flight
2. Snowy Fortress

Those are my votes...
 
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Honestly, I think Phantom Gadget would make a pretty good Dark City Zone Act 2, like Eggman's abandoned factory in it. but that's just my opinion, but here are my single player votes.

10/10:Gravity Garden: I tried OpenGL and it worked fine.
7/10:Cloud Convoy: I never finished the boss, but still innovative.
6/10:Koopa Garrison: Just figured out what to do a few hours ago.
8/10:Phantom Gadget: Spooky Scary Robotic Skeletons!
6/10:Quickman: I like Megaman lol.
5/10:Shadow Castle: I thought it was like Mario in Smash Bros, not too bad and not too good.
0/10:Autumn Valley: Looked like srb1, and was bare and had poor level design. Reminded me of Srb2 0.1

Moderator Notice:
Invalid vote
 
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The voting system is no longer based on a X/10 scale (and hasn't been for a while). Read the original post for instructions on how the new system works.
 
Nooooo I was looking forward to the bimonthly SpiritCrusher rant. Oh well...
I'll probably write my reviews when I'm back. The contest will be over by that point, but I already put in my votes, so it doesn't matter.

Do I really rant that much?
 
Cloud Convoy Zone (Video) > Gravity Garden Zone (Video) > Quickman (Video) > Koopa Garrison Zone (Video) > Phantom Gadget (Video) > Shadow Castle Zone (Video) > Autumn Valley Zone (Video)

Koopa Garrison Zone by Fawfulfan

This level is pretty cool, one of the best Mario levels yet. The secret in there also made me chuckle.

Cloud Convoy Zone by toaster

Dayum toaster, you've really topped your previous levels with this one. The top-down perspective really adds a unique experience to the level, and that boss is just great.

Quickman by Zipper

Despite what everyone else may say, I really like this level. It's quite impressive how you've managed to create a Megaman level and a Megaman to go with it. Although it is quite hard in places, and those lasers trap you in some areas.

Autumn Valley Zone by Root

Well, the custom textures are really cute and all, but the level itself just doesn't deliver at all. Its very short, and the textures are overused in some places like the cave at the end.

Phantom Gadget Zone by CoatRack

Hello, what is this? No seriously, what is this I can't see shit. This level here is a remnant of the Amateur Level Design Contest, which had a 'spooky' theme, which I feel doesn't fit SRB2 that much. While the spooky part was executed well and the threadmills were pretty cool, the darkness made it impossible for me to fully appreciate the level.

Shadow Castle Zone by Yacker and MudkipYeah!

This level feels like a Hang Castle ripoff, what with the gravity warps and all. Unfortunately, this level is not even close in quality to Hang Castle, and there is alot of empty space where nothing is really happening.

Gravity Garden Zone by EvilEnternity3000

The gravity hoops turned out great, and it's quite interesting to jump into the water when upside down.
 
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Getting my SP vote out before I forget, reviews to come later.

Gravity Garden > Phantom Gadget > Koopa Garrison > Cloud Convoy > Shadow Castle > Quickman > Autumn Valley
 
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