Sonic Dies Of Ultraviolet Radiation
(and othius writes an essay by accident)
Hey, for your first map this is a great start, you have a pretty solid understanding of how slopes interact with the player, and building around SRB2's scale.
I have a few pieces of criticism: I wrote Pros and Cons here. Keep in mind that the cons are here to help you improve issues I ran across.
---Gameplay Critique---
+Pros:
The slope gameplay here is great! Your level is fun on a movement perspective alone, I had lots of fun jumping off uneven terrain, running up platforms, and rolling up and down and all around. From a foundational basis your level has a great flow to it.
-Cons: (I know I wrote a LOT here, trust me I still enjoyed your map regardless :P)
I found there isn't much to do in this map. Lots of various paths I could go down but ultimately the gameplay or the setpieces weren't that varied. I think the root of this issue is that there's nothing about the obstacles that really pressures the player. The light can only be entered for a fraction of the second, and it didn't end up being in my way much at all during the duration of the map.
The only badniks placed down are, as I like to put it, fodder enemies. They don't have any attack action, their only threat is accidentally running into them while they're moseying around like zombies, and they're only there to be killed en masse.
The failing with these obstacles is that they don't change the gameplay flow of the level much from if there were no obstacles at all. I think if the light ended up being in the path for longer, so that the player has to think about how to spend as little time in it as possible, and if you added enemies that have attack actions to pressure the player, this level would be a lot more interesting to run through.
The underwater sections need much more love. I fell into the water by accident and it took me so long to exit it that it would've been significantly faster to just restart the stage from my last checkpoint. There's a lot of potential to make exhilarating underwater paths, underwater areas that also use the light gimmicks, as well as clever secrets that just don't exist currently. It's a vast water wasteland littered with enemies that I had to thok through aimlessly hoping that I don't drown. I eventually found three very hidden springs.
---Visual Critique---
+Pros:
Incredibly solid use of SRB2's vanilla cave textures. You have a really neat color and texture palette going on. You've built up a very good and interesting aesthetic that gives your stage an identity. I particularly liked the contrast and the vibes of the wooden platforms across the gloomy cavern backdrop. The concept of ACZ2 styled walkways but deep underground is super interesting. The purple light obstacles add a needed contrast in hue, and the final outdoor ends the stage on a very high note, as well as signifying a progression (potentially an act 2??)
-Cons :
This level needs some ceiling variation! This might sound really strange, but here's a Pro Mapping Tip: If you add as much height variation and decoration to your ceilings as you do your floors, your level will immediately start to look more fleshed out and developed. It's a difference like night and day. Remember: when looking over a room, 30% of your screen is filled by walls and ceilings, so don't forget about them!
That light has TOO much contrast, it actually hurts my eyes (it's way brighter than the gifs in your thread) especially within the context of the dark cave. This could be alleviated with a glow effect, although that would require a lot of extra sectors. It would be neat polish but ultimately not necessary. On that note, there could be a lot more sections of light and dark to help vary the visuals, it can get a bit monotone at places.
...And with that all out of the way,
Welcome to Releases!
