Official Level Design Contest - November Voting

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Mystic

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Time for the voting. We had 11 entries, and 1 disqualified, so that makes a full 10 entries this month. They are as follows:

MAP01: Nightmare Ring Zone by Mystic
MAP02: Food Fight Zone by Kristos
MAP03: Skyway Zone by Tets
MAP04: Techno Ruins by Digiku
MAP05: Sky High Zone by Eric`
MAP06: Dark Sewer Zone by NeoGenGamer/a441
MAP07: Nocturnal Clash Zone by FuriousFox
MAP08: Rainbow Stadium Zone by a441
MAP09: Tranquility Valley Zone by Digiku
MAP10: Green Hills Zone by Shadow

November Contest WAD: http://mystic.sepwich.com/nov_cont.zip

As a reminder, the voting will involve copying and pasting the level list below, and giving each stage a rating from 0-10, 10 being highest. You may not vote on your own stage. Voting will end on December 9th, 2003 at midnight UT (December 8th, 7 PM EST).

MAP01 - Nightmare Ring Zone:
MAP02 - Food Fight Zone:
MAP03 - Skyway Zone:
MAP04 - Techno Ruins:
MAP05 - Sky High Zone:
MAP06 - Dark Sewer Zone:
MAP07 - Nocturnal Clash Zone:
MAP08 - Rainbow Stadium Zone:
MAP09 - Tranquility Valley Zone:
MAP10 - Green Hills Zone:

May the best stage win.
 
Serves Techno Ruins Zone right to have the "Zone" stripped from it XD

And just, for the love of God, vote!
 
You should play every map multiple times before voting, and in netgames, not in single player or walking around by yourself. Remember, we're not just rating these maps on how pretty they are, but moreover, how well they play.
 
MAP01 - Nightmare Ring Zone: N/A
I'm curious to see what you people make of this, as it's obviously not an easy stage to navigate.

MAP02 - Food Fight Zone: 5
Pretty average all around. This stage needs easier methods of getting around. It's hard to get from point A to point B in this map, and it's kinda depressing, because it's neat. It also has WAY too many powerups and too few rings.

MAP03 - Skyway Zone: 8
I liked this one a lot. The problem is that the object placement needs work. I like a441's suggestion of using diagonal springs, and I'd also like to see some more interesting stuff on the top of the stage. The actual layout, however, is golden.

MAP04 - Techno Ruins: 8
Neat map. Very nice texturing added to a good layout adds a lot to this map, but what's with the upper monitor being a normal Liquid Shield and the easier to get to monitors being random respawn? Also, I think Rail is a bit much for the stage, with it's large open areas. If Automatic Explosion wasn't such a resource hog, I'd suggest it.

MAP05 - Sky High Zone: 1
Um...ugh. This map is basically unplayable because of one major oversight. Homing + Rail + Automatic + Infinity + Invincibility all in the same spot = retarded. Not to mention there are almost no rings and it's really easy to fall off. I found falling off to be a blessing to get me away from whoever happened to be the lucky bastard to get the powerups in the center first, who then proceeded to win because there wasn't anything the rest of us could do about it.

MAP06 - Dark Sewer Zone: 7
This map needs a shotgun SO bad. Anyhow...the cramped quarters made for a VERY interesting 6 player match (Read: Insane) that was both rediculous and fun at the same time. The rail and infinity are pretty much useless, though.

MAP07 - Nocturnal Clash Zone: 6
I liked this. Too many rings, obviously, but that worked to the level's advantage once the game actually started, because no one was having any trouble staying alive, despite the 5 players firing shots everywhere. The rail is kinda useless here, though. Also, the object placement could use some work...it would be nice to have many ways to get around the stage instead of the pool in the center.

MAP08 - Rainbow Stadium Zone: 9
Wow. My eyes burned upon load, but after about a minute, I was actually enjoying the bright and flashy color mayhem, and the layout is GREAT. I don't understand how the center red spring works, though, as flying through the ceiling makes no sense whatsoever. It's a minor flaw it what is otherwise a great map.

MAP09 - Tranquility Valley Zone: 6
It's hard for me to fault this map, as it's flat out gorgeous and a ton of effort was spent on it, but sadly, the fault here really isn't the map, it's the sheer idea of 2D deathmatch. We need to fix the camera so that you can actually see what you're shooting at in 2D mode. In the actual level's flaws, it's kinda easy to monopolize the powerups, and the damn Inferno Shield is just flagrantly wrong.

MAP10 - Green Hills Zone: 5
Average. Looks horrid, but at least the stage isn't glitchy, and at least it has some gameplay opportunities to be had. Just make sure you've got a lot of people, it was straight out dull with 3 people, but with 5, it was actually kinda fun.

Overall, I was quite impressed with this month's submissions. Only one wasn't really playable, and the rest were at least average or above. Also, there was a ton of variety, thanks to new textures, low gravity, blinding color blocks, and 2D mode.

I can't wait for December's results.
 
I'm going to rate these in installments, since I've already played some of them enough to vote on, but not all.

MAP09: Tranquility Valley Zone by Digiku

This gets some definite points for the awesome decoration, nifty waterfalls and flowers and backgrounds, and of course it's the first decent 2D battle map ever. Layout was also pretty good. In fact, the whole level was very well-made, except for one abusable little thing that costs it several points: the Inferno Shield. With it, I was able to cover the entire floor of the level with fire several times. You know there's something wrong when I get nearly double Mystic's score (1500 to 800). At least make it deaf so I can't rely on it being there all the time. 7/10

MAP03: Skyway Zone by Tets

Skyway Zone is a beautiful level (excepting minor sky glitches) that could have played much better if the upper parts performed a more major role. As it stands, there's little reason to bother going there. The cost is great: wait for the plodding platforms to move up (time is points!). The reward is not: two randomly respawning monitors that are likely of little use, and a plot of empty space. It ends up mostly being a fight in the two long hallways, with occasional side trips to the lower waterfall; a real pity, because it could have been so much more. But it's still fun, and the scenery provides an excellent sense of place, something lacking in many other maps. All in all, a good level that unfortunately falls short of being a great level. 7/10

MAP05: Sky High Zone by Eric`

Much as I hate to be discouraging to a new level maker, there's no way to avoid saying it: This map totally sucks eggs. Let me be useful and explain why. First, the most immediately obvious problem, most of the map is completely devoid of rings. Second, the special rings all gathered in the center are way too close, way too easy to get, and make some combinations that should never be. Homing rail alone is an atrocity; infinite automatic homing rail is the most ludicrous and horrid weapon ever to plague SRB2 netplay since FIZ. Third, there are no deathmatch starts; everyone spawns, every time, in that one Player 1 Start right in the center. The layout of the platforms in the map doesn't look too bad, but I'll never know, I'm busy being shot with homing rail for eternity! 1/10

Summary of ratings for levels in this installment:
MAP03 - Skyway Zone: 7/10
MAP05 - Sky High Zone: 1/10
MAP09 - Tranquility Valley Zone: 7/10
 
Mystic said:
I like a441's suggestion of using diagonal springs [in Skyway Zone]
Thanks, but that was actually Shaflugi's suggestion, not mine.

[In Rainbow Stadium Zone,] I don't understand how the center red spring works, though, as flying through the ceiling makes no sense whatsoever.
It's made using the Platform, a 3D block you can jump up through. If you mean how is it realistic to jump through a ceiling, it's not. Neither are floating platforms, vertical water currents, or any number of other SRB2 features. Glad to hear you liked the layout.
 
MAP01 - Nightmare Ring Zone: 7
Fun. Very, very fun. A bit hard to navigate through, though, especially when I suck at vertical-based stages. The pits aren't much of a problem here :D.

MAP02 - Food Fight Zone: 6
Quite fun. This map holds quite a few places that build up adrenaline. However, two things dwindle this map into oblivion: concentration of rings, and immense amount of randomly placed deaf monitors. The rings being so concentrated to the "counter" and not being anywhere else could even be counted as a lack of rings, thus me having to search the monitors for rings. The monitors are so randomly placed that I came to dislike their purpose in this stage.

MAP03 - Skyway Zone: 7
Just as fun as MRZ, if not more. However, I'm a sucker for this stage's pits. The side landforms also seem a bit isolated in things. I do like how the tunnel ends in PITWALL. The center "hall" also provides much fun.

MAP04 - Techno Ruins: N/A
This was quite very fun. It seemed a bit cramped an areas, but I loved the textures. I should get the person who made this to teach me how to do this kind of stuff o_o *Ricochet*

MAP05 - Sky High Zone: 1
I had kicks when Mystic threw the Homing Rail rings. The platforms for this map seemed exceptionally small, and there were barely any rings at all! I'll also bother to mention that there are no Match starts. I'm being really mean here, but I can't think of anything else to say. I apologize.

MAP06 - Dark Sewer Zone: 8
With the fun of MRZ and SZ (teehee), but without the problem of navigation and pits! I loved this map, especially the room accessable through the hallways (Not the one with the waterfall in the center). I did find a few blunders somewhere around, and OGL seems to render this map incorrectly at one area. Ah well.

MAP07 - Nocturnal Clash Zone: 6
The 0.6 polar opposite of SHZ. This one had too many rings. It was quite fun on the roads; it seemed like a chase/runaway when battling others on the same "road". The gardens were also a nice touch, as well as the different-shaped lampposts. I found it quite hard to reach the top of the buildings, though, and the immense amount of rings definately cost this stage a couple of points.

MAP08 - Rainbow Stadium Zone: 7
Although it had some fun to it, it was too spread out. I can't really explain how so it is; it's probably the open spaces. In OGL, it's really hard to determine what are the walls and what are floors, and also breaks in the walls, even in the brightest monitor setting (My default). The orange room and the red platforms seemed a bit cramped. I did like the Platform FOF bit, and Mystic's presence gave me quite some fun. Not the worst, but not the best either. You can do better than this, a441 :/

MAP09 - Tranquility Valley Zone: N/A
Very fun, but I agree, Inferno Shield is way too powerful here. Even I myself had my experience ruined with the touch of fire trails. Even then, rings shooting at me left and right was a cheerful delight.
Really, I question how much of a difference an absence of a dedicated Fire Shield box would make.

MAP10 - Green Hills Zone: 6
Not all that bad, but it has much to be desired. Most parts of the level seemed like an empty canyon, especially with the tall platforms. The explosion ring did pump a lot of life into this level, and the water not reaching the ground entirely? Although I know it's a blunder, I liked the touch it produced. I found it a bit hard to navigate to the higher parts of the stage, but I was partially thrilled.


All in all, I agree with Mystic; most of the level submissions were done above the abysmal level. I had lots of fun judging these, and I even agreed to lose my sleep over my first judging :P.
 
MAP01 - Nightmare Ring Zone: 8/10 This is easily my favorite level in the whole pack, because I can actually hit Mystic in it. That, and it's fun floating around avoiding rings. One improvement would be to make a bottomless pit in the outer area instead of the thok-barrier starting before it, but I know that sometimes causes problems with software.

MAP02 - Food Fight Zone: 7/10 This would probably be the most unique of them all. I had a tough time staying alive in this map because of the lack of rings. Otherwise, it was fun and just nice to look at.

MAP03 - Skyway Zone: Yeah. I'll be taking suggestions to improve it.

MAP04 - Techno Ruins: 7/10 Fun! Although I don't think the rail ring really fit in there properly. And the music definitely does not fit either.

MAP05 - Sky High Zone: 1/10 I feel bad reviewing this, but it must be done. Absolutely horrible. Research other wads and see how they work, that's how I started out.

MAP06 - Dark Sewer Zone: 6/10 Ack... confusing layout. And it seems too small, it's hard to avoid things. I do like the theme and, though it is confusing, the layout is well done.

MAP07 - Nocturnal Clash Zone: 6/10 To be perfectly honest, I couple minutes in I found myself waiting for the level to change. There's just nothing special about this level, it's boring. But the architecture itself is wonderful, a very well-built map. And when you look at it in WadAuthor it sort of looks like a PacMan level!

MAP08 - Rainbow Stadium Zone: 7/10 RARGHBLAH my eyes! This level is nice, although I found myself lost a couple of times due to the nature of the textures, specifically when I hit the spring in the center of the bottom of the map. I find this amusing coming from the guy who complained that it was hard to see in my Snow Hill wad ;p

MAP09 - Tranquility Valley Zone: 5/10 Bleah, I did not like this one. Not only do I utterly suck at two-dimensional match games, but there were loads of misaligned textures that just made it ugly in some places. Fortunately Techno Ruins makes up for this.

MAP10 - Green Hills Zone: Not bad at all for a first submission. This is your first, correct? I can't keep track of everyone these days, SRB2 WADding has become a lot more popular recently. I see no serious mistakes in here besides the ones every new person makes. One notable bug is that in the area with the cave you set the wall texture to below instead of main on the control sector, and you set main textures for the sector thus causing them to appear at the top of the level.

And that's that. a441, about my map, the floating platforms aren't the only way to get to the top of the waterfall.
 
I appreciate the feedback I have received on FFZ and enjoyed the other levels... Can't wait 'till the Dec contest is over! I also wonder why SDZ (Sandbox Duel Zone) was disqualified... :| This is my first time to make multiplayer wads...
 
It was a CTF map, Kristos. I plan to rotate the gametypes of the contests around a bit, so it'll get it's time if you wait, or you can just release it now.

The current plan is to rotate them like so:

December: Single Player
January: Deathmatch/Chaos
February: Capture the Flag
March: Single Player
April: Deathmatch/Chaos
...
 
Not only do I utterly suck at two-dimensional match games, but there were loads of misaligned textures that just made it ugly in some places.

Deepsea rejected the editing of this map :P. Do you by any chance know how to align textures on FOFs? *Shot*
 
Doombuilder, Digi, Doombuilder. You can align textures in 3D with it. How do you think I made Skyway so pretty? :D
As for FOFs, I seriously doubt it will ever be possible to align textures on them.

Stupid typos... EDIT!
 
And you can also align textures with Wadauthor in a more rawer method too.
But Deep does it automatically! I'm a lazy ass :P
 
I've been thinking of ways to align textures on FOF lately, because I had an ugly map that badly needed the ability. It can probably be done, but the way of specifying alignments would undoubtedly be very hackish and tedious.
 
Have you tried scrolling the texture on the control sector's FOF linedef? What happens then?
 
I should probably vote so here goes I guess:

MAP01 - Nightmare Ring Zone: 7/10 This map was very well done, even though I myself wasn't having much luck! ^_^` I don't know about anyone else, but besides an easier method of obtaining rings I couldn't find anything wrong with it. (Brownie Points for NGG ^_^ j/k)

MAP02 - Food Fight Zone: 5/10 Now this is orignal! However, originality alone doesn't bring home the trophy ^_^` A large level needs needs a large amount of things. All the rings were basically in one place and the monitors weren't placed very well, in my opinion. The design is right on, except for that one spring that's supposed to spring you up "through" the counter....either that hole's not big enough or the whole idea just needs to be done differently...^_^``

MAP03 - Skyway Zone: 7/10 I loved the design of this map, but it just doesn't seem like everybody's gonna wanna run and spring up to the other parts of the levels that often. However, this level is still good!

MAP04 - Techno Ruins: 8/10 This level was gorgeous! I should have Digi make ME some custom graphics ^_^ Besides the look, the feel of the level was also pretty nice, but the weapons seemed a little out of place.
Also, that liquid shield really doesn't serve that important of a purpose in this level, as you probably won't spend much time running around in the water....like I did ^_^

MAP05 - Sky High Zone: 1/10 Uh....well, hmm....I.....I will have to agree with everything everybody else says about your level......

MAP06 - Dark Sewer Zone: 10/10!! *beaned by a441* OW! I know I know, I can't vote for my own map! Geez....but if you liked it, then I don't need to vote for it, huh? ^_^

MAP07 - Nocturnal Clash Zone: 4/10 The scenery is a nice touch and there's plenty of rings. But to me it feels unfinished...there's a lone monitor on one of the rooftops, and many places where you could have put things but didn't. It could have been a great map in my honest opinion...

MAP08 - Rainbow Stadium Zone: 8/10 I had to wait for the sight to return to my eyes before typing this review @_@`...this level has excellent design to it, but the colors appeared to blend in at certain places, making it awfully hard to determine where to go. Never underestimate the power of bright colors on your final score ^_^```

MAP09 - Tranquility Valley Zone: 7/10 I don't know about anybody else, but I had fun! (One of those Inferno Shields was me ^_^) A 2d map doesn't really make a good DM map, but with a little work one could be done quite nicely. At least in the area of beauty it needs no work! ^_^

MAP10 - Green Hills Zone: 4/10 Big....I mean BIG. This isn't Green Hills Zone, this is Green Mountain Zone ^_^ You could tell that effort was put into making this map good, but it didn't help. It's just way to spread out. That one small hole in one of the "hills," it's ceiling was way too low in my opinion.....as far as design and playbility go, it's mediocre.

Now to work on another level......knowing me, for about 3 months ^_^``
 
MAP01: Nightmare Ring Zone by Mystic

I played an early beta test of this map and hated it because it was too dark to see anything and too hard to navigate. Well, turns out it was actually just the darkness that was a problem. After the second test, which was brighter, the map started to grow on me. If there are any substantial changes in this version from the second test, I didn't notice them, but it's really a great map now that I can see what I'm doing. Unique gameplay, interesting and complex layout... the only bad thing about it, besides the name being cheesy, is how hard it can be to land on some of the upper platforms when jumps/springs go slightly too high. That and hitting the bottoms of platforms while jumping were annoying. Otherwise an excellent map. 9/10

MAP02: Food Fight Zone by Kristos

Before launching into prose form, I'll give a breakdown of my thoughts on this map:
Concept/Theme - Excellent
Graphics/Decoration - Excellent
Floor Layout - Good
Thing Layout - Poor
Unfortunately, the thing layout tends to be the most important aspect of match levels, and while I enjoy looking at this map, I can't say I enjoy actually playing it. As Digiku noted, the rings are much too scarce and the monitors all over the place do little to make up for it. Furthermore, the springs are intensely aggravating to use to get anywhere, especially the red springs behind the counter and the yellow springs in front of the stools. Improve navigation and thing layouts and this would be a lot better. 4/10

MAP04: Techno Ruins by Digiku
Techno Ruins loses a point right off the bat for making me wait to get the contest wad. No, not really. Seriously, the new textures added some great spice to the map, and the graphics and decoration were excellent, as they always are with Digi's maps. The layout, however, left much to be desired.

The basic formula (big center room, hallways around the outside) is a successful one. However, the missing bridges on two sides did the map a great disfavour by reducing the floor space and increasing players' chances of falling in the water and having to get back out, something Sonic cannot do quickly. Especially bad were the yellow springs to the hallways on each of these sides. If I hit one and let go of the controls, it doesn't send me far enough and I fall into the water. If I keep moving forward the whole time, I collide with the wall and sometimes hit the other yellow spring going back. So I have to be moving forward only for part of my bounce -- bothersome and unnatural.

I also don't like the crumbling platforms. They annoy me and add no value to the level. Additionally, some of them fall two at a time (what's with that?). As other reviewers have noted, the environmental shield in the top center served no real purpose; a useful bonus item there, like another weapon ring (infinity, maybe?) would've been nice. Overall, another map that looks far better than it plays. 6/10

MAP06: Dark Sewer Zone by NeoGenGamer/a441
Yes, I can't rate this one. I'd like to point out that despite my name appearing in the byline, I did a very small percentage of the work on this map. Basically, all I did design-wise was to add and rearrange a few things because NGG didn't have time to do it. The only change I made to the layout was to lower a platform so Sonic could reach everything. As such, I think I should have the right to say, even though it won't count towards the contest results, that this map rocks.

MAP07: Nocturnal Clash Zone by FuriousFox
When I briefly glanced at the contest maps in WadAuthor before playing them, my first thought when I saw NCZ was, "Cool, someone made a Pac-Man level!" It's out of character for me to say this, but the rings actually number a bit too many. The building tops, on the other hand, are mostly barren and could have stood to have a few more rings on them. It was Not Good to have only one way up to the building tops; additional springs around the outside would have been nice. And like everyone's been saying, the map is way too dark. I can't have fun if I can't find my way around. On the good side, the ground layout is well done, and the use of scenery is great. It's mostly because of the darkness and the near-empty rooftops that I don't give this a better score. 5/10

MAP08: Rainbow Stadium Zone by a441
No, I can't vote on this one either, so I'll provide some comments instead. Many people have said that it's hard to tell what's a floor and what's a wall, etc. They are right, and it's a consequence of using the theme I chose to use, but in my tests, I didn't think it was bad enough that gameplay would be damaged in any nonnegligible way. Parts of the map show up much better in software render mode than OpenGL (I jokingly called it my revenge on OpenGL users, since they have an advantage in almost every other map), particularly in the yellow and orange rooms. Everyone seems to like the design, from what I've heard.

MAP10: Green Hills Zone by Shadow
Shadow didn't get to finish this one because he was making it so close to the deadline and suddenly had to leave. For this reason, we're left with several unfortunate glitches and an unpolished, unfinished-looking map. The graphics are pretty ho-hum. The layout is nice when you get up into the high hills, though there ought to be more ways to get up from the bottom, especially considering how easy it can be to fall. Gameplay depends a lot on the number of players. With three players it was boring; with five it was kind of fun, despite its flaws. I hope I'll get to see a finished version of this sometime, one that isn't so rushed. 3/10

Summary of scores given in this installment:
MAP01 - Nightmare Ring Zone: 9
MAP02 - Food Fight Zone: 4
MAP04 - Techno Ruins: 6
MAP06 - Dark Sewer Zone: n/a
MAP07 - Nocturnal Clash Zone: 5
MAP08 - Rainbow Stadium Zone: n/a
MAP10 - Green Hills Zone: 3
 
Seriously, the new textures added some great spice to the map, and the graphics and decoration were excellent, as they always are with Digi's maps.

Heh, I was always known much better as a decorator than a gameplay designer :P
 
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