It's not pretentious, and didn't intend to make it seem that way. I was referring to the fact that my levels do not follow the standard srb2 formula way of mapping at all.
Of course they don't, because no such formula
exists. Even the vanilla 2.0 levels feature drastically different design styles, with stages like Greenflower Zone, Deep Sea Zone, Castle Eggman 1, and Egg Rock Zone banding together to make a thoroughly incohesive experience. There's nothing that markedly different about your levels, besides the fact that you put a lot more time into packing their architecture with good content than most do.
A coop game in this pack would look like this: One player does all the work while everybody else stands around and waits. Rinse and repeat in every single room... ...This is a level pack whose entire appeal is based around things that would disappear or become entirely pointless in coop. Sure, it would be technically possible to add coop compatibility without harming the single player experience, but is it worth the effort for something that simply won't be any fun at all?
I can just picture it:
<Nev3r> Hurry and platform up the stupid tower and press that button, Boinciel.
<Boinciel> I'm trying, but I can't figure out the way up :(
<Nev3r> Well
hurry the fuck up and figure it out, I'm getting bored here waiting for you.
Just joking, that would never happen. :p
I'm not sure what sort of co-op games you've played, but I think your statement here is missing something, and that something is to account for the joy of exploring together. When you say that the
entire appeal is around things that wouldn't work in co-op, you're flat out wrong. In between those gimmicks,
a few of which may not be co-op compatible by default, there is lots of exploring, platforming, and badnik popping to be done. If these things carry no basic appeal as you say, then by your standards they're just useless padding and should be removed anyways.
And on top of that there are sections like the hangable BASHs in Twilight Isle or the avalanche chase in Sparkling Icecap that would have to be completely skippable in order to work in coop.
You can't compare this to Chaos Domain, where only a few segments need to be modified for coop compatibility.
Actually, Chaos Domain is the perfect example! I'm thinking of the Nightmare Pass part. I completed this co-op, because we both entered it together, and worked through the level as it collapsed around us. In any discussion about co-op, you can't forget about the "All players" sector effect, which makes timing the entrance of all players into any limited gimmick a snap!
Lastly, saying Thompson's levels are almost entirely made up of such gimmicks is a gross exaggeration. Twilight Isles being the best example, wasn't a large part of that platforming or pushable puzzles? I remember parts like the waterskipping challenge, and the raising water puzzle, and the gargoyle puzzles in the tree. The gliders at the end make a perfect example of how easy a co-op bypass is.
You see, in a true game focused on playing -together-, the players would glide off as a group, but for anyone who died and got left behind, a simple teleporter would pop up to the next area, the moment the collapsing sequence had blocked the way. This applies to the avalanche, and really any other such gimmick too. It's really as simple as that