Official Level Design Contest 2022: Round 1

Official Level Design Contest 2022: Round 1 1.1

As usual, I recorded a full playthrough of the OLDC. This one is split into 5 parts, and the playlist starts here -


Lots of good maps this round!
 
Ok, not really sure where to put this, but I've actually decided to vote this contest, thanks to the hub design that helps me decide a sequential order to do the levels in. Here's my thoughts on the levels.

NOTE: All levels were played as SA Sonic

Egg Machine Zone: I do appreciate how the level subtitle is done like an SA2-Sonic 06 Mission text, but tbh, it's a bit long, with my first run on Android clocking in at ~13 minutes and my second one on PC only a few minutes faster (Estimate about 9-10 minutes). The 2D section with the springs that launch you to different 'layers' was fun, though.

SunkSea X Zone: The first level I played on Android and the second I played on PC. I'm not a fan of most Sonic water levels to begin with due to a constant worry of drowning meaning I tend to hurry to the next source of air I can find, whether it be an air bubble or the water's surface, so this was no more than a decent level for me. The Lost World Wii U/PC grind rail stage music was fitting, though.

Yearning Yachtyard Zone: A good short level, but due to a personal flaw of my own self, I tend to not be very accepting of inspirational messages due to my own struggles with Autism and a patchy childhood making it far more difficult to grow up than it really should be, so it just felt like the post-level monologue dragged on. No offense meant to PhilJFou, it's 100% a me problem.

Enchanted Enclave: Currently my favorite of the levels I've played so far. The Rayman-esque exploration complete with Lums and a unique scoring system that applies to the end of act results combined with the unique Crawla variants meant I quite enjoyed this level.

Hell Coaster Zone Act 1: The fact I was in the middle of typing my opinions on Magma Laboratory Zone before remembering I had played this too is a bit worrying. SA-Sonic was able to lock-on to the orbiting bumpers, which proved to be both helpful and harmful at certain points, like being used as homing attack points to get across a gap in the 2D section for an example of the former, or homing onto a bumper when I had intended to do an air-dash to escape a ring of said orbiting bumpers for an example of the latter. The minecart segment was enjoyable, as it was meant to be part of the roller coaster the level is named for, though I had a Fire Shield for that segment in both runs that I would lose immediately after by falling into the instant-death lava.

Foliage Furnace Zone Act 2: I haven't played the Act 1's of the levels titled Act 2 here, or if I have, it's been too long to remember, but I did enjoy this level a bit. The DKC-barrel esque launchers felt a little underpowered at times and that one segment where you have to launch yourself at the right time to make it between two fast-moving walls, with a bottomless pit if you fail was a bit of a sticking point for me, however. It's been ages since I've played the Before/After the Sequel games, so I can't compare this to the original 2D level much, but I do think it captures the theme well enough, I suppose?

Magma Laboratory Zone: Eh...there seems to be very little direction at times, often causing me to run around a room trying to find the way forward, or possibly sequence breaking by throwing myself into environmental hazards because I believe I see a way forward through them. The final room before the end room is definitely the biggest offender, as even now, I have doubts that the platforms on the walls are the correct way to the end due to how much speed you have to build up to make it without a thok/jump dash and/or SA-Sonic's ability to grab the edge of platforms and hoist himself up.

Spiral Hill Pizza: Didn't bother finishing it due to the 90-second time limit to deliver pizzas and green arrows that are apparently both in the sky and hard to see in software mode, so idk if they're invisible in OpenGL or what because I turned on 3rd-Person Vertical Look in hopes of seeing them, but no dice. Plus I SIGSEGV'D on this level, so that didn't help its standing.

Festung oder so: A pretty creative level where you have to press 6 switches before the area fully collapses. Took me a few retries before I could find them all, but pulled it off.

Zaxel's Thunder Yard Zone Act 2: Waaaaay too busy, to the point that my PC (A decent Windows 11 PC with a relatively recent Core i3 and an nVidia GTX 1660 Super) ended up losing FPS during the level. Also, having Magnetic and Thunder Shields in the level only for them to be quickly taken away by mines that they attract is a dirty trick, even if the point is basically to make you go without any shields that protect against electricity-based damage.

Bitter Brink Zone: Definitely feels like a stage that's more suited to Modern Sonic, though I don't have him in my loaded mods, so will probably try him once I work up the motivation to add him to my mod load script. Definitely get the feeling I'd enjoy it even more with Modern though, so good stage.

Freezer Folley Zone: Christmas NiGHTS + Sweet Mountain = Good times.

Chaos Cove Zone: When I started playing this level, I found it familiar, and eventually realized that it was a loose recreation of Treasure Trove Cove from Banjo-Kazooie made into a Treasure Hunting stage. Interestingly, the Chaos Emeralds can be found in this level along with the emerald shards, and they stay with you after you beat the level, meaning if you collect all 7 in this level, you could potentially cheese the other OLDC levels

Tarnished Ward: A Treasure Hunting level set in what looks to be a slums or homeless camp with all of the NPCs in the level looking miserable. Not really my thing, sadly, as I prefer more upbeat and hopeful media lately as opposed to bleak and depressing, due to the fact reality itself is currently a bleak and depressing setting.

Also, say there, Crawla, lemme get a Manilla Cheese Coke!
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Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. The HUB lacks a level select picture again!
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Guess I'm off to take one. Again.
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Ok, not really sure where to put this, but I've actually decided to vote this contest, thanks to the hub design that helps me decide a sequential order to do the levels in. Here's my thoughts on the levels.

NOTE: All levels were played as SA Sonic

Egg Machine Zone: I do appreciate how the level subtitle is done like an SA2-Sonic 06 Mission text, but tbh, it's a bit long, with my first run on Android clocking in at ~13 minutes and my second one on PC only a few minutes faster (Estimate about 9-10 minutes). The 2D section with the springs that launch you to different 'layers' was fun, though.

SunkSea X Zone: The first level I played on Android and the second I played on PC. I'm not a fan of most Sonic water levels to begin with due to a constant worry of drowning meaning I tend to hurry to the next source of air I can find, whether it be an air bubble or the water's surface, so this was no more than a decent level for me. The Lost World Wii U/PC grind rail stage music was fitting, though.

Yearning Yachtyard Zone: A good short level, but due to a personal flaw of my own self, I tend to not be very accepting of inspirational messages due to my own struggles with Autism and a patchy childhood making it far more difficult to grow up than it really should be, so it just felt like the post-level monologue dragged on. No offense meant to PhilJFou, it's 100% a me problem.

Enchanted Enclave: Currently my favorite of the levels I've played so far. The Rayman-esque exploration complete with Lums and a unique scoring system that applies to the end of act results combined with the unique Crawla variants meant I quite enjoyed this level.

Hell Coaster Zone Act 1: The fact I was in the middle of typing my opinions on Magma Laboratory Zone before remembering I had played this too is a bit worrying. SA-Sonic was able to lock-on to the orbiting bumpers, which proved to be both helpful and harmful at certain points, like being used as homing attack points to get across a gap in the 2D section for an example of the former, or homing onto a bumper when I had intended to do an air-dash to escape a ring of said orbiting bumpers for an example of the latter. The minecart segment was enjoyable, as it was meant to be part of the roller coaster the level is named for, though I had a Fire Shield for that segment in both runs that I would lose immediately after by falling into the instant-death lava.

Foliage Furnace Zone Act 2: I haven't played the Act 1's of the levels titled Act 2 here, or if I have, it's been too long to remember, but I did enjoy this level a bit. The DKC-barrel esque launchers felt a little underpowered at times and that one segment where you have to launch yourself at the right time to make it between two fast-moving walls, with a bottomless pit if you fail was a bit of a sticking point for me, however. It's been ages since I've played the Before/After the Sequel games, so I can't compare this to the original 2D level much, but I do think it captures the theme well enough, I suppose?

Magma Laboratory Zone: Eh...there seems to be very little direction at times, often causing me to run around a room trying to find the way forward, or possibly sequence breaking by throwing myself into environmental hazards because I believe I see a way forward through them. The final room before the end room is definitely the biggest offender, as even now, I have doubts that the platforms on the walls are the correct way to the end due to how much speed you have to build up to make it without a thok/jump dash and/or SA-Sonic's ability to grab the edge of platforms and hoist himself up.

Spiral Hill Pizza: Didn't bother finishing it due to the 90-second time limit to deliver pizzas and green arrows that are apparently both in the sky and hard to see in software mode, so idk if they're invisible in OpenGL or what because I turned on 3rd-Person Vertical Look in hopes of seeing them, but no dice. Plus I SIGSEGV'D on this level, so that didn't help its standing.

Festung oder so: A pretty creative level where you have to press 6 switches before the area fully collapses. Took me a few retries before I could find them all, but pulled it off.

Zaxel's Thunder Yard Zone Act 2: Waaaaay too busy, to the point that my PC (A decent Windows 11 PC with a relatively recent Core i3 and an nVidia GTX 1660 Super) ended up losing FPS during the level. Also, having Magnetic and Thunder Shields in the level only for them to be quickly taken away by mines that they attract is a dirty trick, even if the point is basically to make you go without any shields that protect against electricity-based damage.

Bitter Brink Zone: Definitely feels like a stage that's more suited to Modern Sonic, though I don't have him in my loaded mods, so will probably try him once I work up the motivation to add him to my mod load script. Definitely get the feeling I'd enjoy it even more with Modern though, so good stage.

Freezer Folley Zone: Christmas NiGHTS + Sweet Mountain = Good times.

Chaos Cove Zone: When I started playing this level, I found it familiar, and eventually realized that it was a loose recreation of Treasure Trove Cove from Banjo-Kazooie made into a Treasure Hunting stage. Interestingly, the Chaos Emeralds can be found in this level along with the emerald shards, and they stay with you after you beat the level, meaning if you collect all 7 in this level, you could potentially cheese the other OLDC levels

Tarnished Ward: A Treasure Hunting level set in what looks to be a slums or homeless camp with all of the NPCs in the level looking miserable. Not really my thing, sadly, as I prefer more upbeat and hopeful media lately as opposed to bleak and depressing, due to the fact reality itself is currently a bleak and depressing setting.

Also, say there, Crawla, lemme get a Manilla Cheese Coke!View attachment 72272
You should create a thread in the oldc voting subforum and write your votes there I believe:
 
also I think the voting helper is borked (Singleplayer is fine tho)
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NONE of these are entries into this OLDC. In fact I think that was from the previous OLDC!
 
Tarnish Ward has both a time and a ring emblem but i can't seem to be able to pick that map in the record attack menu :/
 
After several replays and collecting some emblems from new OLDC levels, I can write my opinion about (almost) every map.
I also arranged the levels in the order of my voting so that it was immediately clear which level I considered the best for myself.
Let's begin.

1. Enchanted Enclave by Vixuzen
Another nice Rayman-ish level from Vixuzen, although I didn't see anything special in this level before, but after replaying, this level impressed me enough.
First thing I notice is time of day system and in each time of day level has different music, which is very cool.
Second thing is this level has 2 goal posts. Well, yeah, ofc some previous levels from others also had several goal posts, but in this level you get emblem for each goal post, but that's not all, moving on to the third thing.
Third thing is emblems itself, I really like these emblems with new challenges such as TA for each Goal Post or 0 Score Challenge.
Overall, this level is kinda impressive.

2. Tarnish Ward by Princess Plushima
One of most creative Emerald Hunt levels I ever seen ngl. I really like this kinda dark aesthetic with some funnies. although I don't really like how this map is really WIDE, but even with that, this map is still enjoyable, thanks to some interesting gimmicks and kinda pretty visual.

3. Magma Laboratory Zone by RoyKirbs
It's fine 2.1-ish Lava-themic level, even though this level is also very WIDE and kinda empty (Like Digital DeLuche). I like some new gimmicks from this map, some of these are really interesting and kinda fresh. So, yeah, nothing more to say about that level, that's just okay level to me.

4. Foliage Furnace Zone, Act 2 by Othius, Kanna, & Spectorious
I really liked previous Act 1 from Autumn OLDC 2020 - It's medium-size level with simple gimmicks, level design and visual style, but Act 2 is uh...
Idk, okay?
Well, the main big problem of that map I think is this level veryyy laggyyy (even in OGL wth), say anything (even about my BBZ lol), but this really spoil my impressions to this level, platforming with new gimmicks becomes very uncomfortable, so yeah.
Anyway, I like how platforming and some gimmicks is done, if it didn't lag, then it would all be very exciting to play.
Also, this slope fetish reached to maximum. Don't get it me wrong, I don't really that much hater of slopes, after all, I like Lucid Landscape, for example. Another thing is all these high slopes in semi-technical level sometimes seems really weird to me, especially in the end of the level or some weird looking archs to me. I think that will be really better if in next Othius levels slopes would be a little less please?
And this level is also really wide LOL.

5. Freezer Folley Zone by Fav
This level is also okay, it has average level design and visual style, new gimmick is okay. So yeah, nothing more to say tbh.

6. Festung Oder So by The Shadow
Just small level with not so hard button challenge, also WIDE and empty and Meh visual style, also nothing more to say.

7. Egg Machine Zone by nickls2002
I kinda like new theme and aesthetic of this map, but level design is... 50/50. One thing is really some interesting platforming sections, that I like. Another thing is really some bad platforming sections such as some 2D sections and one laser section.
Can't say this is bad level at all, but some sections spoil the impression.

8. Yearning Yachtyard Zone by PhilJFou/ChaRG
Another WIDE generic level, Can't say that I doesn't enjoy at all, but still.

9. SunkSea X Zone by Nuhu64
Also fine map with kinda cool aesthetic, but this texture chaos omg. You need to learn how to decently select textures for the level of a certain theme.

10. Chaos Cove Zone by glaber
Again, WIDE, empty and laggy, can't say this is really interesting stage, especially when level is huge and without hints. So yeah, time to complete the level is more random. I think if this size of this map will be reduced, that would be better.

11. Bitter Brink Zone by MarbleCheese
First thing I can say already is I don't like 2D section at all - it's buggy and uninterested. Overall - also generic fine level ig.

12. Zaxel's Thunder Yard Zone, Act 2 by Zaxel Katsugyo
WIDE
map and HUGE pixels on textures, which I don't like at all. Plus, again, level is long and throughout the entire playthrough, there are practically no interesting gimmicks of any kind, so that it would not be so boring.

13. Hell Coaster Zone, Act 1 by Voidy2246
Totally texture chaos and mess, even through, platforming is still kinda interesting, but long 2D section spoils impression again, so yeah.

14. Spiral Hill Pizza by Rogerregorroger
Tbh, I don't really get it what I should to do in this level, plus I'm not very interested in what exactly I should do among a bunch of text, especially after all the experience in this mappack.

Overall:
It's really strange to me how many levels are quite wide, have a lot of slopes and objects, which causes lag so much. Ofc, my BBZ from OLDC 2021 R2 is also huge, don't argue with that, but atleast I don't use slopes that much, as other levels. I really wish to play some new 2.0-ish or 2.1-ish levels in new OLDC/ULDC/Any other level pack. I really kinda tired of these high sloped wide levels with 1 or 2 paths as maximum. Yes, I know that there are such levels for 2.2, but they are few or I have played enough of them.
For me, this is the most mediocre OLDC I ever played.
 
Well, the main big problem of that map I think is this level veryyy laggyyy (even in OGL wth), say anything (even about my BBZ lol), but this really spoil my impressions to this level, platforming with new gimmicks becomes very uncomfortable, so yeah.
Man, I wish anyone I sent playtest versions out to for the past month would have told me this.

The level doesn't lag for me.

I sent out multiple playtest versions to a ton of people, though, and received minimal feedback. Nobody ever mentioned lag.
Now the OLDC has released, and everybody is telling me how unplayably laggy it is, and I have no idea how I could have known.
 
Man, I wish anyone I sent playtest versions out to for the past month would have told me this.

The level doesn't lag for me.

I sent out multiple playtest versions to a ton of people, though, and received minimal feedback. Nobody ever mentioned lag.
Now the OLDC has released, and everybody is telling me how unplayably laggy it is, and I have no idea how I could have known.
Well, I (and some people from RU community) can test your next levels, if you want lol.
 
With regards to Chaos Cove being wide, I did that on purpose to challenge myself to make a stage that was wide (internally it was a challenge to make a big level) because my past stages (re:early 1.09.4 and 2.0 eras) had issues with being too narrow.

As for the Lag, I didn't get any when I was testing, nor was any lag reported back to be during the play test phase of the OLDC pack.
 
I'll be hosting a multiplayer server for OLDC SP maps to see how they fare in an online environment.
It will be using the comment addon found here: https://mb.srb2.org/addons/feedback...h-spots-in-your-map-like-in-mario-maker.1904/
Please refer to it on how to use the comment and death files I will be providing every so often in here.

It goes by the name of "OLDC Summer 2022 R1 !comment", it will be in the standard room until the OLDC rooms open up.
Happy mapping! :wonderful:
:threat:
 
It's really strange to me how many levels are quite wide, have a lot of slopes and objects,
A believe a good rationale for heavy slope use is because the original Sonic games (including some of the newer ones) had them heavily featured as well (which combined with the physics was a key thing separating the character from the ones made by Nintendo).

As for wide levels, I am curious to know what meets that threshold. Levels too narrow essentially brings the classic 'Doom Engine' corridor look which is not ideal for character platformers (that is unless you heavily confine the playable area like in Crash Bandicoot games). In my book, allowing players to distract themselves with exploring is fine as long as you utilize ways to point out the correct path (such as landmarks).
 

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