Feedback time

Sad I had to stop working on my submission, I could have made the number nice and even for SP maps.

I played every level with Sonic alone, and am judging them on that. I am using a 1-10 system for my reviews. Consider 4 as ‘It’s just okay’ as a stage.
I will also give them a ‘speed’ rating, as to how good and fast the level felt, or how ‘bad fast’ it felt. If the rating has a S at the end, then I am considering the feeling of good speed as not being there, from poor to unbearable, rather than bad to good. If the rating has a F at the end, then it was TOO fast.

Another note is this is the order I played the stages in, this is not my ranking. The 1-10 system also does not 100% effect where they are on the ranking, but it's more a review on how the level stands on it's own.

SunCyclone, Wasteland Wilds: 6/10.
Speed rating: 4/10.
Flat… And a bit bland, has that ‘new mapper’ feel, but it was far from a bad stage. I appreciate the attempts at variety, but I do feel it could have benefitted from a tiny bit more focus into some of it’s variety. There’s also a few missed opportunities with some of it’s tricks, such as using the rising platforms to launch one’s self. Overall though, not bad.

PencilVoid, Cyan Heights: 3/10
Speed rating: 6F/10F
Mhhh… Not a fan of this one Mi Amigo. It’s soooooo small that I didn’t feel confident about a lot of my movement, and a lot of the level design is done in such a way that it’s easy to bypass it and ignore any challenge. It’s really claustrophobic, and while it’s clearly not a first rodeo, it’s not a good one either. It also ended up moving a bit too fast for my tastes, making me feel even less comfortable about even making a simple jump. Try to give more room to players!

Zaxel, Hall of Heroes: 6/10
Speed rating: 3/10
I like the ideas, I appreciate the decoration and amount of content… But I feel that there are still many ways to improve. I didn’t notice those flowers were enemies at first- probably should have tried to indicate that better- and there were also a few times I felt there was no way to dodge unless I knew what I was doing ahead of time.

HamSandwich, Valley Falls: 2/10
Speed rating: 7s/10s
Why. Why did you add a maze when the flow of the stage was on such a decent track? Why did you add an underwater maze with all air-bubbles placed inconsistently and away from view? wHY!? It’s also painfully obvious to me you didn’t even check some things about the maze, because an area I was clearly meant to spindash under was too small for me to do so, causing me to double-take and lose time and air, followed by a lost life. Not to mention the time I finally thought I found where to go, only to quickly realize I had fallen into a spike-pit that I had 0 way to know about before. What was an okay enough map was single-handedly ruined for me by a horrible maze. If I did not need to beat it to vote, I would have stopped playing at my second attempt, and I especially would have stopped after I doubled around and walked back to the entrance by mistake due to the bland and unrecognizable maze. Mazes in Sonic are inherently terrible and require good visual indicators of location to even begin to be good. Please never make a maze again unless you are certain a player can gather info from walking around, and build a map in their head.

Toby+PrionicTheWedgehog, Concordian Coast: 5/10
Speed rating: 5/10
Looked really pretty, and felt pretty nice to just flow on through. Biggest complaint was how short it was!

Radicalicious, Anteggctica: 5/10
Speed rating: 6/10
This one was enjoyable, rather pretty! I do feel it was a little bit too flat at times though, but it did have enough verticality for me to enjoy those ramps.

InferNor, Overgrown Heights: 6/10
Speed rating: 4/10
I love, love, LOVE the theme and décor! Bravo! I do feel some of the springs need far better adjustment, however. The angles some launched me were the opposite of good.

TrickyTex and Tatsuru, Snowflake Ridge: 5/10
Speed rating: 3/10
Very surprising, that is for sure! Pretty expansive, though having to collect so many gems kinda annoyed me a smidge, it’s personal preference there.

Kwiin and Failur.old, Metallic Madness Good Future: 6/10
Speed rating: 5/10
All I can truly say is; beautiful. Just beautiful.

Dead, Wild West: 8/10 [2nd Favorite]
Speed rating: 7/10
This zone flowed REALLY well- the music and level theme were lovely as well.

ManimiFire, Myriad Memories: 5/10
Speed rating: 3/10
Pretty interesting level, though the gargoyles really did kill the pace for me a bit, it was still a nice change of pace.

Twins’R’Awesome, Aqua Paradise: 7/10
Speed rating: 6/10
Pretty good use of water, and lovely use of textures make this a pretty enjoyable water stage.

Magma Falls: 4/10
Speed rating: 4/10
It was an alright enough level, nice enough décor. Some of the lava sections feel a little iffy to traverse, but overall, not bad.

Acstriker, Hectic Harbor: 7/10
Speed rating: 10/10
Hot damn, this map was just a constant flowing run. And it was fun as heck, but the incredibly short length keeps me from rating it higher overall. PERFECT flow, however!

Cst1229, Crystal Cave: 5/10
Speed rating: 4/10
While it started off very cramped and kinda annoying to run around in, the warp REALLY opened it up!
For ten seconds. The map is perfectly serviceable, however. And works well enough!

Roykirbs. Toffee Tor: 8/10 [3rd favorite]
Speed rating: 7/10
Well well well! This was honestly a pleasant run- Really fun, not much issue with slowing down or navigation period, good music and visuals, and even a neat take on the rolling rocks with them going down waterfalls! I do wish the concept was explored a bit more, but I really like what we got here and I think this was pretty spectacular!

Wasifboomz, Hypertower: 2/10
Speed rating: 6s/10s
I… Struggle to describe how awkward this zone is to play. It’s a really novel idea, ascending a large tower from both the inside and out, but the issue comes in that there’s not really any good flow to anything about the level. There was… Something going on for sure, and it feels reminiscent of final-demo to 2.0 levels of ambition at times, but it ends up falling flat at several points and ends with me being unsure where to go, what to do, or how to do it. I went up what looked like an alternate, more risky route in the final outside section, only to find it a dead end where I lost a life due to the floor falling. I had to go up a second time just to make sure. I think the intent was to jump around the glass by the spring, but that is not at all something a player will think to do with such an odd angle that shows no sign of the glass not encompassing the spring in it’s entirety. There’s effort and ambition here, but that’s all this is at the end of the day. Also, the music was… rather grating.

Akirahedgehog, Shadow of Atlantis: 7/10
Speed rating: 4/10
This was a rather pretty level, but it did feel a bit awkward here and there- Mostly, however, it was a nice water level!

Riolucariolu, Cluttered Caverns: 6/10
Speed rating: 5/10
There’s a shocking amount of pathways here- it’s never too confusing, however, and it does feel rather calm to run through. I had a pretty good time.

So2ro, Oasis Palace: 8/10
Speed rating: 8/10
Really lovely flow, really lovely design, and really lovely use of mechanics. Honestly, I enjoyed this level more than I expected!

LazyMK, Rustic Templar: 7/10
Speed rating: 6/10
Not much to say here- just a really solid level!
 
Well after playing some Battle I'll be giving my thoughts on these.

ARENA
Pipeline Panic - Due to the layout of the map I find combat tends to be too spread out at times but I do like the clever item spawner in the center, perhaps the map could focus around that more.

Mountainous Saloon - Surprisingly played much better than I expected for what is just a bar map. Certain areas of the map can feel a tad cramped but it's not a major issue. The upper area could have 1 or 2 more ways up though so it doesn't get ignored as much in Survival.

Gravity Station - The layout of this map is pretty good but I feel basic combat here suffers due to the low gravity of the map, however since it seems to be based around the usage of the magnet shield's homing ability it's not too bad. Unfortunely this means Fang gets left out but I think he can manage to hold his own well here with his gun since low gravity can give him easy slow targets.

Hidden Chamber - Much like most of the default arena maps for battle, I feel like this one is a tad too small and lacks height variation. Though the 2 polyobjects do add a risky outer area which makes the small size not as much of problem.

Symettri-Canyon - Sorta suffers from being pretty flat but that is somewhat alleviated by the middle moving platform and 2 upper platforms. Players can also use the cacti to avoid taking damage from others while still dishing it out with little penalty which you should probably look to avoid happening.

Arena Station - It's flat which makes it kinda uninteresting to play, but if you were going for a Final Destination feel I ain't stopping ya. Due to the simple nature of this map it should definitely not support the Control Point or Diamond modes. Additionally this could probably use a pit so you can't just sit at the edge of the arena.

Grassy Clearing - Whilst this is a nice recreation, it suffers the 2D map problem of Amy being able to spam tornado, would be less of an issue with more variable terrain.

BATTLE
Glimmer Gulch - I made this :)

SSN's Picnic - Meadow Match 2. Really though I feel like this was just meant to be a silly map. If I have to give honest feedback the map is too flat and open (especially for arena/survival, infact the size is far too big for survival).

Peach Castle - A recreation of the castle grounds from SM64 with only a few differences, but it plays kind of decent. The fact this map scales players down however causes odd interactions.

BATTLECTF
Moonlight - This map plays very well, the usage of slopes here allows you to make some pretty interesting maneuvers. While I had concerns for the flag base the platforms to the side of it thankfully makes it not too easy to camp.

Jagged Creek - A nice and simple grassy CTF map. I like the way this plays but the diagonal springs in the middle make it easy for Amy to stall.

Serene Shore - I like the layout of this map but the slopey terrain can unexpectedly launch me as I'm running making it harder to react to attackers when I'm flag running. The side cave route entrance blends a little too much with the other walls, it took me a few games to even notice it was there. Also not a criticism but I think it could be interesting if the cave route was a back way into the enemy base rather than a side route.

Big Arch - I like the idea this goes for but the platforming could be made a little easier and/or you could add a lower safer route cause it can be a little too easy to fall off and lose the flag. From the rounds I played it seems a tad laggy in netgames too which further makes it difficult to play. Also probably not your fault but the swing chains would sometimes cause Amy to twinspin instead of launch making it unviable for her to use those.
 
So, I went through the single-player levels and went through the multiplayer ones a bit. Many of them I didn't go through to the end, but I will still somehow convey my impressions.

Metallic Madness Good Future -Looks good, it was fun and exciting to pass, but some Things on the map look scary.

Wild West - A good level with a good design. I especially liked the opening of the gate at the end.

Spyro Ripto Blast 2 - Although I myself am not familiar with the game about Spyro, but I was interested in collecting gems. But there were a few lags and it was not very good. But the level is interesting, I couldn't tear myself away.

Wasteland Wilds - Poor design and very easy passage.

Anteggtica - Boring! It's nothing personal!

Heroes Hall - I wasn't even halfway there, I was really scared of those plants that spit stones. I'm even afraid to go near them.

Oasis Palace - This is really good work. Good atmosphere, beautiful music, and easy to pass. But it's really not my favorite.

Concordian Coast - This is for fans of the simple. But I liked it.

Shadow of Atlantis - The standard water level, but I'm sure there are a lot of interesting things: I already realized this on one of the tasks. In my spare time, I'll try to complete the entire course.

Toffee Tor - Normal level, passed it and I liked it. Why some people don't like him, I don't understand.

Overgrown Heights - THE BEST LEVEL! This level really deserves to be in the vanilla version. It remains only to add custom enemies.

Crystal Cave - It was also so simple, but it didn't surprise me.

Rustic Templar - Good design, interesting options for passing, the atmosphere is wonderful. MK.exe we need to do our own levelpack, I'm serious. Each of its levels is a separate art form.

Think for yourself whether my reasoning is objective or not.
 
Acstriker, Hectic Harbor: 7/10
Speed rating: 10/10
Hot damn, this map was just a constant flowing run. And it was fun as heck, but the incredibly short length keeps me from rating it higher overall. PERFECT flow, however!
I addressed this in a previous post here but yes, basically I couldn't make the layout longer because of how I started working on it around a week before the deadline (and submitted at last time). However, I'm very glad that you liked it so much; and of course I will expand it in a future update!
 
Heres my feedback for...EVERYTHING. This isnt in any particular order

Antieggtica Zone - Radicalicious
My first thoughts were its pretty empty, some decorations such as CEZ trees didnt fit too well, maybe if it was recoloured or had snow it would of definitely fit in much better. The Size of the level isnt too big and the directioning was ok.

Metallic Madness Zone - Kwiin & failur.old
Visually this map looks amazing! although sense of scale though is too big, the additional lua script with the level that allows you to keep momentum, is a must in a level this big, If i didnt have that on it would make this level much slower and bigger. other than that its really good.

Concordian Coast Zone - Tobi & PronictheWedgehog
This map was cute. Even though it was cramped in some areas, it wasnt to the point that i was fighting with the camera to get a good angle to gauge my jumps. Some things to note; Some rings arent floating, fences arent solid and theres an abnormal amount of enemies in some spots. There was 1 section that had an arrow, i highly advise to remove that and try to change up that section so that its much clearer. Maybe make the left a high path and the Right a low path to clear up confusion when the paths intersect. Really neat regardless

Overgrown Heights Zone - InferNOr
There are so many decorative sprites, no wonder it may lag for other people. Please tone it down cos it also make it difficult to see where i am going. Rings are good for directioning which you did utilize but theres soooo many, tone that down too. Whilst i do like the colourmap, the repeated use of the green textures makes walls and floors blend abit too much which made it confusing.

Wasteland Wilds Zone - SunCyclone
It lives up to its name, Wasteland. Honestly, theres not much going in here, its pretty open and bland. The lifts were a nice touch to change up the game play, this should be used more often cos there is plenty of potential with the momentum you get from them.

Cyan Heights Zone - PencilVoid
Textures and visuals are simple but really nice, its like Hill top clone. The gliders could of been used more effectively, the level is extremely short and the gliders are about 4 seconds of gameplay. My major gripe is how small everything is and how i didnt have much space to move around. If it was bigger and longer it would of been a great addition.

Heroes Hall - Zaxel
Straight away, i noticed it was a button hunt. Luckily it wasnt too bad but the maze one, even if it wasnt difficult, still wasnt fun to do. Some textures blend in too easy in some area specify one section with elementals had an opening i didnt see since the textures used white brick walls... just like the rest of the room. I also felt like there were wayyy to many enemies in some areas making me avoid them.

Valley Falls Zone - Hamsandwich
It starts of really nicely with great fast paced platforming sections but then it gets bogged down with slower one and then a maze! This maze is bit more unnerving in due to the fact is underwater and you can get lost pretty easily. I'd recommend remove that section or reinvent it so its abit more creative. perhaps use seaweed things to determine the way out? other than that its a relatively relaxing level.

Oasis Palace Zone - So2ro
Another visually stunning and large [scale-wise] level!. Theres lots to do and i cans see multiple character paths which is a massive plus for replayablity. The tornado gimmick was really fun here too. Only issue being that most of the areas look the same which made me abit lost towards the end. Try to use different set pieces to make some areas stand out more than others.

Cluttered Cavern Zone 2 - Riolucariolu
Some areas looked really nice when entering, especially the room before the lava room. It did feel abit empty in the water room [blue walls and celling], specifically underwater. This had a similar issue to Overgrown towers in that it had abit too many rings. Other than that it was an okay level

Shadow of Atlantis Zone - akirahedgehog
Very unexpected level, In a good way. The attention to design on some set pieces is really cool. as if i was in Atlantis! There was some nice platforming challenges here and there too.

Hypertower Zone - WasifBoomz
Quite and interesting level indeed. The music was really unnerving for a precision sort of level. It sounds like you made it yourself but im unsure. I would opt to find a different song since it doesn't really sound dramatic, more or less like awkward midi. Enough on the music though, the level was pretty cramped in some areas and some fofs crumbled even though it was a completely different texture. Great job regardless!

Toffee Tor Zone 1 - RoyKirbs
Nice little level. The ideas with the rolling rock were really fun and fresh to see. Although the 1st room was abit confusing since its pretty open but there wasnt too much direcitoning help me were to go at first, Eventually i found my way around. Needless to say, it was really cool.

Crystal Cave Zone - CST1229
Quick and sweet. Im curious to see speedruns of this level. The textures while not intrusive were okay but they ended up feeling way to small. If it wasnt for the colour map, the textures would of drove me crazy. Another thing is that it feels really cramped and small, i kept hitting walls constantly when going down a hallway.

Hectic Harbor Zone - ACStriker
Pretty hectic indeed. I heard the words harbour and expected shipping containers and i wasnt disappointed but! It also doesnt feel like a harbour either, like wheres the water? where are the boats? The level does lack some directioning towards the end since its a large space, made me abit confused on where to head next on my first attempt.

Magma Falls Zone - RadicalChaos_6922
This was an ok level. the irregular sectors and size really make it feel rocky and immersive. I also liked what i will call 'Rolling rock Speed-bumps'. However the door that required you to stand at a monitor with no indication of where to go next was frustrating but to add salt to the wounds, you didnt add any checkpoints so one mess up and you start all over again. Also theres one pool of lava, which it liquid so you can fall in... with no spring!

Aqua Paradise Zone - Twins'R'Awesome
Another visually stunning level! The set-pieces were great and the transition from the top to the bottom was almost seamless! One big glaring issue i occurred is level load up, Now when a level loads it shouldn't take too long but this took a good 10 seconds to load up. I gonig to assume you used PNG textures since that makes level loading longer so i would recommend to convert them so it loads up nice a quick. other than that it was really cool!

Myrid Memories Zone - ManimiFire
Not much of a puzzle person but this was really nice to go through. Some areas were REALLY dark making me confused on where to go next but other than that its a good 'brain teaser' and a good sort of pace breaker

Wild West Zone - Dead
I was expecting a full blown ACZ clone but it was more than that. Dunno why there is deep sea ruins in the wild west but i like it!. The attention on the switch presses are really good. the delay and sound cues really make it believable. REAL nice

Snowflake Ridge - TrickyTex & Tatsuru
Amazing level!. It really made me felt like it was an actual Mod rather than a level. The requirement of 400 gems was a bit high and felt abit tedious. Other than that it was a really cool experience and i wouldn't mind to see a full blown mod out of this. Good job guys!
Spiral Cavern Zone - Su_per
This is a simple looking match map but it was really fun and hectic with a small number of players. If there was more than 4 players it would be utter chaos. If you improve on the visuals and maybe add more areas i think it would be even better.

Crystalline Heights Zone - Revan
An absolutely stunning looking map. Though it may lag in some spots i really enjoyed playing on it. I really like that areas look different from one to the other. My only major issue is that its REAL big! This slowed down the pace of the game so much. I can totally see this working for 6+ players but in my sessions it was uncommon to find lots of battles going on which is a shame.

Disco Town Zone - Trege
I loved the small details in this town! the cars driving by, the subway system and the beach. Yet again this had a similar issue with Crystalline heights were the zone was really big so it made it difficult to find anyone to attack.
HYDROWING ZONE - JABSphere94
At first it was a confusing map but i really liked the ideas here, like the mandatory magnetic shield spring thing and the slope thing near the end. it had the music to show for too. Although as i said it was confusing at first, especially where you drop into the abyss to get to the bottom half, i thought it was a death pit. Also the music slaps, im going to need to know what that is please.

Haptic Caverns Zone - PencilVoid
Not too sure how to word it but it was a odd course. There was alot to do which is fine but directioning in some areas such as the bumpers under that huge fof(?) didnt feel right. Like the opening was really small so i wasnt sure if that was the intended path. Also the last part with the bouncy floor could of been moved back in the level so that the last section doesn't feel too punishing if you mess it up.

Greenflower Canyon Zone - Kwiin & Frostiikin
This was a pretty fun level to go though. i liked going down the 1st slope but the gradient on some of the sloping was so extreme i and and my friends got sling-shotted off the course into the pit due to the steepness of the slope. Also that pit fall is really long. There are some places where it was confusing to go next too. other than that its fun to go though.
Glimmer Gulch Zone - happyalm
I really enjoyed this one, there's plenty of spots and the ACZ theme which i adore. Although some areas have little to no decoration, just all level layout which is still fine. I noticed a slope near the middle where it is hard for a sonic player to normally get up unless they spindash, i wish this slope was raised up since the next best thing for a sonic player is to detour around to the tornados to get up there.

SSN's Picnic - Zolton
I also enjoyed this too its simple, Small yet familiar. The picnic decoration was really nice too. I loved having to duke out a control point in a picnic basket. Only thing that bothered me is that the floor in the skybox doesn't connect with the actual death pit.

Peach Castle Zone - ACStriker
Now this was a great remake! Perfect for battle and Arena too, the simple palette textures really work well here too. I did find it odd how some objects are so big compared to the level. Fun nonetheless!
Moonlight Zone - Krabs
Visuals once again look fabulous and the overall flow of the level was really good and straight forward. Scale was perfect too. Kinda interesting in how this fairs in OG CTF since i think it would work just as well.

Jagged Creek Zone - RoyKirbs
Honestly this reminds me of Sapphire falls CTF so much but much more compact. It has some great ideas but im not a huge fan of the big pool of water in the middle since it slows down flow.

Serene Shore Zone - Krabs
This again looked great and plays pretty well too. I really like the outside section although the Cavern section whilst pretty, can make it hard to see and it feels too big. The outside geometry feels too condensed with sectors which makes it tricky to traverse with the flag. Still a great level though.

Big Arch - Kwiin
The small scale of a map is nice to see from your self but the FPS dips i got as well as my friends made it off putting. I tried offline to see if i drop any frames but nada. The lack of platforms or anywhere to stand for 2 seconds really makes it hard for sonic players to get around, plus they're incredibly vulnerable here. Other than that it looks really cool. as if you are in a gladiator ring based on the skybox details.
Pipeline Panic Zone - RoyKirbs
This was nice and chaotic in a 4 player server. The visuals were good and worked really well with the level. No glaring issues here.

Mountainous Saloon Zone - InferNOr
Ah yes! Brawling out in a Saloon, just cos some nerd looked at you funny. I really like the attention to detail to make it feel like a saloon. I know Arena maps are meant to be small but it was pretty cramped at the top section making it tricky to move the camera around. I would go into 1st person to avoid that but i wish i didn't need to do that.

Gravity Station Zone - Krabs
Visually? this looks fantastic. The slight low gravity did take a bit getting used to but after some trial and error it flows really well. I did get flung off the stage due to some slopes causing me to fall into the pit. if there was more floor i would feel a little safer to attack.

Hidden Chamber Zone - Krabs
Whilst not as visually impressive as Gravity Station, it definitely doesn't fall too short on visuals. The small space that we had to play on was pretty unnerving but the addition of the polyobject was great, perfect to catch some air after a tense smackdown.

Symmetri-Canyon Zone - PapsTheEchidna121
Super simple and small. Even though there is a small amount of cacti it really does fill up the space but i really wish you added more to the level since it felt bland and two dimensional. Maybe add some additional platforms at the top to have more air battles.

Arena Station - Latius
This was rather interesting, i was expecting it to be a floating area with a pit but there isn't a pit. When i testing with my friends, sonic was the main choice and they just dominated as sonic. Metal could do something but you need to be in dash mode.

Grassy Clearing - Apollyon
Oh nice! a Shovel knight inspired stage! This visually is really cool and with 4 people is super chaotic. I do wish it was a bit larger vertically since Amys tornados can just sweep the whole stage.
 
Thank you for the feedback and I agree. The openness makes Tails & Knuckles very overpowered. I have some creative ideas on how to fix that in a future update.

I'm glad I went and played through all of the SP stages again, because I had somehow missed yours on my first go around. Seems there's a bias against water themed levels, but Shadow of Atlantis was one of my favorites, with an awesome skybox and tons of cool set pieces. It's just oozing with creativity. Of course, no level is perfect. One thing I'm noticing is that even my favorite stages have their setbacks. Of course that would be the case. Nothing submitted here will be polished to perfection. The biggest problem I had with it was the lack of direction it would sometimes have. Like, I wouldn't be sure where I was supposed to go. I played it as Knuckles, so I managed. I'll have to try it again with Sonic to see if that affects my opinion, but honestly, very well done.

But sadly, your level has bees in it, so that's an F for you.

(Kidding.)
 
So i'm just gonna drop my sparknotes in here, in alphabetical order, which are basically my initial reactions to things in each singleplayer level as I played. In a couple of cases, my notes were a bit too vitriolic in hindsight for me to be comfortable with publicly posting, so in those cases, i'll just give a really brief tl;dr instead of the actual notes.

Anteggtica
Aqua Paradise
Cluttered Cavern
Concordian Coast
Crystal Cave
Cyan Heights
Hectic Harbor
Heroes Hall

Hypertower: (I have nothing to say about this stage)

Magma Falls
Metallic Madness Good Future
Myriad Memories
Oasis Palace
Overgrown Heights
Rustic Templar
Shadow of Atlantis

Snowflake Ridge: (dont put open-air hive elementals in a stage with mandatory springs or ERZ fans, especially ones that are near deathpits)

Toffee Tor

Valley Falls: (the first half is a wonderful sonic level, the second half is not; what happened?? did map development get handed off to someone else halfway through or something??)

Wasteland Wilds

Wild West
 
We have updated the single player map pack.

- Fixed Wild West and Myriad Memories missing their emblem definitions
- Fixed SKY100 (used in Anteggtica) being overwritten by an unused Metallic Madness texture
- Converted Heroes Hall and Aqua Paradise's png textures to doom graphics
- Removed the unused music tracks from Metallic Madness
- All flats should now render correctly in OpenGL

See the opening post to get the update.
 
Here's what I'm putting in the voting section.


1. Hypertower Zone - I made this.
2. Aqua Paradise Zone - Really fun, tons of unique level design, a nice challenge, but many frame rate dips, even on a powerful PC.
3. Snowflake Ridge Zone - I just liked the level design, the UI, but it was a but confusing, I assume this is inspired by Spyro.
4. Overgrown Heights Zone - The level is fun, open, but it does drag, I found floating spikes with the boxes, and it has questionable checkpoints, otherwise, I love the way the water is used.
5. Heroes Hall Zone - Certainly interesting and well-made, but it drags on incredibly long and it's hard to find the right way to the end.
6. Metallic Madness Zone - The first half is really good, but the second feels a little lazy, although I like the ending area. The textures are nice but they don't blend with the SRB2 visuals.
7. Rustic Templar Zone - I love the use of slopes, and the level design is nice but it feels a bit awkward.
8. Valley Falls Zone - This is fine. It's incredibly basic, but looks pretty, but some sections are frustrating.
9. Shadow of Atlantis Zone - Gorgeous, fun to navigate, but frustrating.
10. Concordian Coast Zone - Nice, but pretty forgetable. Feels like most beach levels, but I do like the effects at the end.
11. Oasis Palace Zone - Decent, but I can't tell different parts of the level apart. I also noticed missing textures.
12. Anteggtica Zone - The level is pretty fun to traverse, but it feels sorta empty.
13. Tofee Tor Zone - I got lost, but the level looks gorgeous and the slopes are fun.
14. Cluttered Cavern Zone - It was fine as a water level, but when it became a fire level... UUUUUGHHHH.
15. Hectic Harbor Zone - This was very standard, but I didn't hate it.
16. Wasteland Wilds Zone - Similar to Anteggtica Zone, but I also felt as if knowing where to go was difficult.
17. Crystal Cave Zone - Sort of cramped and confusing, but it's not bad.
18. Cyan Heights Zone - Incredibly cramped and a little frustrating, but I do like the weird bird things.
19. Myriad Memories - The gargoyles were confusing and the level took a whopping 11 minutes.
20. Wild West Zone - I couldn't finish this level, but I liked the minecart sections.
21. Magma Falls Zone - I... I couldn't even finish this, I couldn't find the ending.
 
While I played through the single-player levels I used a plain-text file to record my feedback, and ultimately my ranking. I've already copy-pasted the contents of the file into my voting submission, but I might as well make my decisions public. (Keep in mind that I played and voted before the bugfix update, although I knew it was coming and what it included, so I tried to exclude those factors from my ranking choices.)

NerfPlayeR135's Feedback for OLDC 2020

{Preliminary Notes}
-I always use OpenGL for gameplay; if I saw something that could be a rendering error I momentarily switched to Software to confirm it
-I only tested each level with Tails (because I kinda suck at this game)
-I always play in first-person unless something requires me to switch to third-person (for example, some of the pulleys in Arid Canyon block the player's view in first-person)
-I tend to nitpick more than I praise
-I did not attempt to collect all emblems or perform any Record Attack runs

(01)[Snowflake Ridge]
-This level is absolutely epic. I've never played a Spyro game before, but this makes me want to pick up a copy of the Reignited Trilogy ASAP.
-Visuals are astounding
-Gems aren't taken away upon death, which is a nice quality-of-life feature I didn't expect
-Despite being sieged with enemies at all times, the collect-a-thon gameplay and generous damage system made the added challenge fun instead of frustrating
-Signposts still reset the timer to when they were activated upon death, leading to abnormally low in-game times (and thus, undeserved high time bonuses)
-If an entire Spyro Ripto Blast mod is being worked on, I'll definitely want to see the finished product

(02)[Wild West]
-This level cleverly combines assets from vanilla SRB2 to create its own identity
-Presentation is amazing
-Minecarts are utilized well and create natural-feeling path splits
-Level flow and design are superb

(03)[Oasis Palace]
-Visuals are amazing
-Level flows very well
-Texture clipping is present in a few places
-There might be too many BASHes

(04)[Toffee Tor 1]
-Visuals are very well done
-Great reinterpretation of an existing gimmick
-The level seems to suffer from a case of "more enemies = more difficulty" syndrome, despite there being a variety of badniks
-The level flows very well

(05)[Shadow of Atlantis]
-No custom music (although I did not find whatever easter egg the people on Discord were talking about)
-The statue at the start looks amazing
-The custom texture work in the dry areas is impressive, but the usage of vanilla textures in the underwater areas isn't done all that well
-The level layout is rather confusing, at least for a high-mobility character
-I did not see the ending coming at all; well done on that

(06)[Aqua Paradise]
-The level seems to have rather troubling framerate issues, with lag spikes occurring alarmingly frequently in OpenGL; some of these lag spikes can last for five seconds or more. Software mode also experiences lag spikes, although the frequency and intensity are toned down. Fortunately, these framerate issues are easily fixed, as I learned on Discord, and the creator is happy to do so.
-The appearance is well done
-The level has good flow and is well designed

(07)[Concordian Coast]
-Exclusive usage of MIDI music creates a small lag spike at the end of powerup music, 1-up jingles, etc. if OGG and MIDI music are both enabled due to how the sound engine handles switching music file types
-The visuals are beautiful; the lake full of fish is a clever idea, and the fake godrays covering the signpost are rather unique
-Warning signs placed before potentially dangerous areas are a nice touch
-The level seems to suffer from a minor case of "more enemies = more difficulty" syndrome, despite there being a variety of badniks

(08)[Metallic Madness 1]
-Textures are all unscaled (some textures are clearly larger or smaller than others), leading to odd and conflicting visuals; this mostly just makes the whole level appear blocky due to the sheer size of most of the textures
-The large windows make no sound upon being destroyed
-Incorrectly renders in OpenGL (large outdoor areas do not all render at once due to culling)
-Framerate issues in Software mode (the same areas experience massive drops in framerate due to their sheer size)
-The level flows very well and is well designed

(09)[Rustic Templar]
-Some springs don't appear to be able to propel the player to their intended destinations
-Presentation is well done
-Level flows decently, but has some questionable design decisions

(10)[Myriad Memories]
-The concept is interesting
-The level in general may be a bit too dark
-Level design is decent

(11)[Heroes Hall]
-Flower enemies provide no audio feedback upon defeat, plus they self-resurrect a short time after defeat without warning, and they fire projectiles at you if you're too close. They're basically invincible turrets, and they're everywhere. Not fun. At least make it possible to destroy them for good.
-One-eyed bat enemies also have no audio feedback upon being hit, and take a rather excessive three hits to destroy; the Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past death sound is a nice touch though
-Incorrectly renders in OpenGL (certain floor textures such as the grass used in outdoor areas are pitch-black); in Software the presentation is well done, though
-The class trials are a clever idea, although sadly I'm not familiar with the source material at all
-The level has a good flow to it

(12)[Valley Falls]
-Non-transparent deep water in at least one place
-Exclusive usage of MIDI music creates a small lag spike at the end of powerup music, 1-up jingles, etc. if OGG and MIDI music are both enabled due to how the sound engine handles switching music file types
-Level flows rather well, although the geometry is a bit basic
-Some of the rings in the 2D section cannot be collected because they are outside the playable area

(13)[Hectic Harbor]
-One spring in a room with three red Crawlas and a Deton is not powerful enough to propel the player to its intended destination
-The choice of music seems rather questionable for a game that is normally family-friendly
-Textures are missing in some places
-Enemies seem to be placed randomly in some areas, not taking into account their strength, weaknesses, or ideal locations; Detons especially seem to be in areas without enough cover or warning to avoid them
-The "Exit" texture is of rather low quality; the variety of textures used for the containers keeps the place from being bland, though
-The presence of Emerald Tokens in a level where all the Chaos Emeralds can be collected is an odd choice; perhaps replace them with 1-ups or other powerups?

(14)[Overgrown Heights]
-Appearance is absolutely superb
-One set of springs that must be used to escape a pit of water if you fall in is placed directly under a bridge, requiring midair movement to return to dry land
-One set of speed boosters is set up to send you straight into a nearby wall, making them pointless
-Has a few instances of broken geometry, creating visible holes in the level (Example: the start of the downstream river section has some alcoves off to the sides that likely weren't meant to be accessible, but many characters can access them anyway and discover geometry that broke due to issues with the logs on the floor)
-There are some serious difficulty issues, the most obvious being the absolutely humongous amount of rings the player is given - I ended the level with nearly 1200 of the things! The first half of the level simply feeds you rings while offering very little resistance. The second half does the same in regards to the rings, but the difficulty increases massively, with large groups of high-tier enemies such as Dragonbombers and Spincushions fighting you every step of the way, and the platforming challenges becoming more complex and deadly (i.e. the water gets replaced with pits) as well.

(15)[Cluttered Cavern 2]
-Texture variety could use some work
-Level layout is a little confusing
-Overall rather mediocre

(16)[Anteggtica 1]
-I'm not completely sure what this level is going for; the way it's set up confuses me. It appears to be a boss level at first from the way it prepares you, with a couple 1-ups, a couple shields, and four ring boxes scattered about as you go through some easy, non-lethal platforming challenges without any enemies to speak of. Then you reach a long, curving, upwards path that leads to an encounter with five BASHes... that you can skip entirely by just touching the signpost in the cave nearby. It's anticlimactic, to say the least, and it left me feeling rather disappointed. At least the appearance of the level was well done - I especially liked the golf-style stripes on the curved path.

(17)[Crystal Cave]
-The texture used for a teleport spotlight is completely solid, making it look like a wall
-Lack of texture variety; seeing the same yellow and blue crystal block wall for pretty much the whole level hurts the eyes
-Upon using the first teleporter or respawning at the starpost next to it, you are immediately faced with a group of Buzzes with little time to prepare
-The level is a bit short
-The level flows well

(18)[Wasteland Wilds]
-The level's appearance could use a major overhaul; the same texture is used for pretty much every wall and floor, although at least there are different textures used for indoor and outdoor areas
-The "paths" provided for Fang and Amy are shortcuts rather than areas where their particular skills come in handy; there's little incentive to take them if given a choice
-One Dragonbomber (the flying wyrm enemy that drops bombs) is placed too far up for spin jump characters to reach and defeat
-The level flows decently

(19)[Magma Falls]
-No custom music
-Many textures, especially those on fans, are misaligned
-Rollout Rocks seem to be implemented rather badly. Lava is considered a liquid by Rollout Rocks, which will slowly rise to the surface of a body of lava if they enter one horizontally. Because of this, the humps of lava present throughout the level have to be navigated at a very low speed while riding Rollout Rocks because otherwise, the Rocks will move straight through them and get the player damaged by lava. There also seem to be a few puzzles involving Rollout Rocks that expect the rocks to move up walls that are too high for them to climb, although I might not be seeing the proper solutions.
-No checkpoints - I died at the very end of the level when I tried to navigate a lava hump with too much speed and got sent right back to the start
-Level design can be questionable at times, especially where Rollout Rocks are concerned
-Appearance is decent

(20)[Cyan Heights]
-Incorrectly renders in OpenGL (the skybox walls in the outdoor sections do not prevent other parts of the level from loading in and becoming visible)
-There are some places where a character without enough upwards mobility can be unable to return to the level proper and must jump into a pit or select Retry in the menu to start over. A good example would be the platform with three rings and a red Crawla that hovers just above a pit in the main outdoor area.
-The design of the level in general seems rather haphazard and unintuitive - it feels like obstacles may have been placed randomly, and the level in general is very short. A good example would be the final room with the signpost: you have the option of simply jumping down and ending the level right away instead of using the hang glider, which is an interesting gimmick that has a lot more potential than shown here.
-The level's appearance is unique, harkening back to the 8-bit Sonic titles

(21)[Hypertower]
-The music sounds like it was put together randomly, with no flow or cohesion, and grates the ears as a result
-Bland visuals, with very little variety in textures
-The zoom tube doesn't seem to be configured properly, sending the player to seemingly random points on the map before arriving at the destination
-Large, empty outdoor space with only four ring boxes and a 1-up to incentivize exploration; very little decorations whatsoever
-The end of the 2D section has a spring intended to send you forward, but it triggers too early and sends you into the nearby corner instead
-Annoying enemy placement
-A very blatant, very badly done warp
-Final teleporter looks like a bright white button
-Horrible level design, with far too many breakaway floors
 
Arena
Hidden Chamber Zone by Krabs - I think this one turned out to be more fun than gravity station, since the polyobjects create really tense little mini-fights off on the side.
Gravity Station Zone by Krabs - I'm just happy with how this one turned out - the attraction shields effectively reduce the amount of camping that the map's size and low gravity would normally cause
Pipeline Panic Zone by RoyKirbs - Just really solid all around, although kind of basic in its layout and lacking death pits or hazards. When the camera gets stuck behind the midtexture windows, it is really hard to see what's going on.
Mountainous Saloon Zone by InferNOr - Really nice visuals, but there are a few awkward and cramped areas that aren't well suited to battle. Would have loved to be able to take the fight outdoors on some floating platforms or something, since I spent a lot of my time going through the windows for fun.
Symmetri-Canyon Zone by PapsTheEchidna121 - The upper platforms create really defensive / campy play, and I wish the map had slopes in it. Still pretty fun.
Grassy Clearing by Apollyon - It's way too small for arena, and there are no death pits. This would probably be suited to 1v1 netgames. Minus points for being a port.
Arena Station by Latius - Same problem as grassy clearing, with the added problem of there being too many item spawns.

CP
Glimmer Gulch Zone by happyalm - Although there are a few areas that feel kind of flat, and some of the CPs are a bit too easy to camp the top of using tails, this map feels right at home in battle. It's just the right size, too. Would love to see an improved version with more detailed visuals and less big, flat sectors.
SSN's Picnic by Zolton - For a meme map this is actually pretty fun - the red checkers hurt my eyes, though. Once again, flat ground hurts this map except way more than alm's.
Peach Castle Zone by ACStriker - Has some invisible walls caused by sector-related errors, and the player shrink causes some odd things to happen. Minus points for being a port, despite the technical achievement.

Battle CTF
Moonlight Zone by Krabs - I think this beats out serene shore due to its layout being easier to learn and the terrain just being more fun to move around in. I also prefer how the visuals turned out on this map.
Serene Shore Zone by Krabs - I'm proud of how the dark areas look with the torches, although I noticed many players ignore the cave area because it's a bit too hidden. The halfpipe flag base design worked great, too.
Jagged Creek Zone by RoyKirbs - Love the flag base design here - if this map had a slight redesign to its center area to be less wide open and have less punishing water, it would be top notch.
Big Arch by Kwiin - I can tell the design of this map is really well thought out and elaborate, but it's simply too difficult to traverse in a hectic game of CTF, especially with netgame input delay and constant FPS drops.
 
How do I vote for a map I like?
As mentioned in the rules, the actual voting process will be done in the Contest Voting subforum, where you will create a thread to list your votes. To vote on a division: Play all of its maps, form opinions on them, then rate them from your favorite to least favorite. If you have submitted a map, you HAVE to rate it highest for that division.
This information is in the post at the beginning of the thread.
 
This seems to be your first level, so what I can offer as advice is to be more mindful of your geometry towards the textures you choose.
By the way this wasn't my first level. GSFZ4 was. (this was my second though)

This level also lacks FOFs altogether where it could pretty much have them so it seems to me that you haven't tried including them...
I do know how to make FOFs. The reason I didn't include a bunch of FOFs is because for me they're a bit tiring to set up, with the control sectors and unique tags.
However the level did include FOFs, although it was just a few (I only remember 1 that was in the section before the teleporter)
 
Right, here are my reviews for the Single Player division. To keep my votes hidden until the results are revealed, I reviewed these stages in a random order. These same reviews will also be in my voting thread, reordered based on my votes. All stages were played as Sonic.

Valley Falls Zone (Hamsandwich)
Good lord, this is just sad. The stage starts out with so much promise, then completely incinerates said promise with an underwater maze. Underwater mazes are one of the worst level design choices you can pull off in SRB2. It wasn’t fun in Sonic’s Nightmare, and it isn’t fun here. Then later, you have two boring 2D sections with broken transitions, often causing you to be on the wrong plane to grab rings, or worse, air bubbles. The 2D sections are also home to some very cheap death pits which aggravated me a lot. I’m sorry, but this stage just isn’t fun.

Anteggtica Zone Act 1 (Radicalicious)
The presentation of this stage is amazing, even more so after the issue with its sky being replaced with an unused Metallic Madness graphic was fixed. In particular, the curved slope right before the goal is my personal favourite design choice in the stage. Unfortunately, the gameplay of the stage leaves a lot to be desired. There’s barely any challenge in the stage, you just blaze through it. Items are almost non-existent, with me only being able to find two shields, four ring boxes and an extra life. Even worse, you’re mixing the Pity Shield with other shield types, which is a really bad call as there is no reason to take the Pity Shield over a different shield, especially when the Pity Shield is placed AFTER the Elemental one, and those four ring boxes are the ONLY rings in the entire stage, giving you the Perfect Bonus at a rather sad 40 rings. Also, that music is really ear grating, definitely swap it out for something else. Overall, this stage has a lot of potential, but you need to work really hard on its design, otherwise it’s going to continue falling short in so many areas.

Cyan Heights Zone (PencilVoid)
Um…where’s the stage? All I see is a goalpost. But anyway, sarcasm aside, this stage is way too short. Being able to clock the stage in under 1 minute every time is rather unacceptable except for very rare exceptions. On top of that, you need to work on your spatial awareness, as the stage is so cramped, you barely give the player any space to move about. The only positive I see for this level is that you based it on Sky High Zone from 8-bit Sonic 2, which doesn’t get much attention these days. (Though, that might be because everyone hated it because of the hang glider.)

Rustic Templar Zone (MK.exe)
This stage is amazing. Varied texturing throughout that doesn’t stray from the theme, clever use of sand mechanics, plenty of secrets to encourage exploration, paths for Amy and Fang are accounted for, and the stage’s length is perfect. Not too short, and doesn’t overstay its welcome. One criticism I have is that towards the end of the stage, there’s a blue spring up to a ledge that only launches you high enough if you hit it with Amy’s hammer. That is fine, and in fact encouraged. However, there’s no tell that it is intended for Amy. I recommend putting spikes around it as an indicator, since Amy can break those. This was the final stage I got to before completing all the stages, and my word, what a finish!

Crystal Cave Zone (CST1229)
Unimaginative name aside (Seriously, PMD2 and Sonic and the Black Knight also have stages titled “Crystal Cave”), basing a stage on the 16-Bit Sonic 1 Special Stage graphics is a novel concept. Unfortunately the execution needs some serious work. The stage is a bit too cramped, which breaks the flow and makes the Speed Shoes useless. The stage could also do with some extra length, as it ends before it really has a chance to take off. (Kind of like a Sonic Forces stage). Imho, a good stage length is anywhere between 2 and 7 minutes. Also, why is there a Star Post right before the goal? I know Hill Top Zone Act 1 also did that, but in 16-bit Sonic 2, Star Posts also allowed access to the Special Stages. Here, they’re just checkpoints, so chucking one in right at the end seems rather pointless to me. My final criticism is that using the crystal barrier graphics as pegged midtextures throws me off constantly, as I have to keep remembering they’re not actually there from a gameplay perspective. I keep trying to jump over them. And don’t worry, I didn’t knock any points off because of the name. This is the Official Level Design Contest after all, not the Official Level Naming Contest!

Concordian Coast Zone (Ktoby and Pronicthewedgehog)
This level certainly lives up to its name. It’s over way too quick. Also, the difficulty is rather unbalanced. Most of the stage is really easy, but you have a tricky platforming section over brambles early on, and on the path split, the left path is an easy straight shot to the goal, while the right path has the only death pit in the stage. Really pretty beach level, though.

Wild West Zone (Dead)
Curious case for me on this one, since it shares an acronym with my stage (WWZ). But yours is so much better. A fun jaunt through an Arid Canyon that focuses more on the “Arid” aspect over the “Canyon” one, a distinction that I really do like. My only real gripe with it is that it uses DSZ-style ruins, particularly late in the stage. Unless temple ruins are part of some lesser-known aspect of the actual Wild West that I’m not aware of (I’m not American, so I can’t tell for sure), this completely breaks the theming, which ruins the feeling for me. What’s interesting to me is that I think this is the only stage in the pack that uses minecarts. You’d think with them being new to 2.2, they’d be used a lot more.

Toffee Tor Zone Act 1 (RoyKirbs)
I love this stage. It’s not very challenging, but I don’t care about difficulty or even length (despite what I said about 2-7 minute stages in Crystal Cave’s review), if the stage is a fun time from beginning to end, which Toffee Tor definitely is. There isn’t much to note in particular, since it’s your typical Green Hill-style stage, but one standout aspect is how you handled the Rollout Rocks. I think this is the only time I’ve seen them being used on water to access additional paths, and you also made them completely optional, so if you’d rather ignore them and just run through the stage more traditionally (like me), you can do that. I love that you give the player that option. Giving players choice like that is a major plus in my book. Aside from that, nothing else to say, just (robo) blast through, have a good old-fashioned good time!

Wasteland Wilds Zone (SunCyclone) (OWN ENTRY)
Well, there’s no point reviewing my own stage, is there? Instead, how about a random piece of trivia from the stage’s development? The stage’s music track comes from the stage Amp Plains in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky. However, I was originally going to use the remix that Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon used for its Electric Wasteland stage. The Super version did fit within the 3MB limit, but I swapped it out for the Explorers original late in development to get the file size down even further, as well as to better accommodate the Far Amp Plains theme should I make an Act 2, as Super doesn’t have a Far Amp Plains remix. The Super version of the track can also be a bit ear-grating with some of its high notes, in my opinion.

Cluttered Cavern Zone Act 2 (Riolucariolu)
This is a high promise stage that ruins it later on, but nowhere near as bad as Valley Falls in that regard. This time, it’s the abrupt transition from water cavern to a lava stage. The two themes do not work together, and on top of that, using multiple liquid types (standard water and lava in this case) is usually a bad idea. I also get performance issues upon reaching that part of the stage, likely caused by the ridiculous amount of sprite-based fire hazards in that one single room. Also, why the 2.1 Techno Hill Zone Act 1 background? I don’t see any justification for this stage having a factory in the background. There’s also an emblem in the fire section that doesn’t work, and fencing that doesn’t actually block the player. Short and to the point, the fire section of this stage needs to be completely scrapped, and replaced with more water cavern.

Hectic Harbor Zone (ACStriker)
You openly admitted that this stage is a last-minute rush job, and for a last-minute rush job, this stage is surprisingly well made, with a good amount of paths and challenges. However, there are two things about this stage that I absolutely hate: Detons and Emerald Hunting. Detons are a serious annoyance if you’re not careful with their placement, which you clearly weren’t in this case. I also cannot stand stages that hide the Chaos Emeralds in them. If I want to collect the Chaos Emeralds, I want to collect them the traditional way, using Emerald Tokens and the Special Stages, NOT go on a painstaking hunt through a single map in a desperate attempt to pad out the stage time, especially when I have 19 other stages to cover (I don’t really need to play through my own map, do I?). I did encounter the Cyan Chaos Emerald on some of my runs, but I refused to collect it every time, as I am NOT going Emerald Hunting in this stage. If you want to hide something for the player to collect, use emblems instead.

Snowflake Ridge (TrickyTex and Tatsuru)
Before the pack was released, this was the most hotly anticipated stage, and for good reason, being a gameplay conversion based on the PS1 Spyro the Dragon games. And I will say, this stage completely nails what it was going for. The level design, gem collecting mechanics, the usage of Sparx the Dragonfly, functioning exactly as he did in Spyro 2, and Dr. Tapeworm’s original composition all perfectly capture the feeling of playing those three classic games. Not only that, but requiring the player to collect 400 of the 600 gems in the stage to open the door to the goal is a genius move, ensuring the player plays the stage like a Spyro stage and not a Sonic one, while also covering for the fact that this game doesn’t comfortably accommodate a certain money-hungry bear we all know and hate (Looking at you, Moneybags!). However, there are a couple issues. One is the implementation of the Superflame Powerup. Here, all it does is allow you to go into the damaging water (which in itself is another neat callback to the classic Spyro games, especially Spyro 1) and the chimney. This is not intuitive, and can easily confuse players, even those who did play the classic Spyro Games. It really should have been an Invincibility Powerup (which did exist in Spyro 2 and 3, by the way). The other issue is that the stage is unfairly hard, and for one reason: I do not recall any stage in the classic Spyro trilogy where Spyro was constantly heckled by bees. The Bumblebores are best used to encourage players to speed through stages, rather then add challenge to stages where you have to cover a large amount of ground. You really need to rethink your enemy choices on this one.

Hypertower Zone (WasifBoomz)
No. Just no. There’s so much wrong with this stage that it isn’t even funny. Right off the bat, the player’s ears are butchered by the horrible MIDI you picked out. The platforming section that kicks the stage off lacks direction, the platforms are too small, and there’s a nonsensical zoom tube reminiscent of the one in Garanz Site Act 16 from SUGOI. Just like Valley Falls, you have 3D/2D transitions that are completely broken, though this time they don’t send you on the wrong plane, at least, and your 2D section is even more pointless and boring. Then there’s wacky, random teleports. You go into a small, wooden hallway, and you’re teleported to another one that leads into the next section. Thing is, the teleport spits you out facing the wrong direction, so all you see when you come out is a wooden wall. Then, we have a platforming section over a death pit, with barely any ground to stand on, a non-intuitive jump round a glass barrier, and you put Golden Speed Shoes in this, which is most likely going to get the player killed. Then one final platforming section that STILL lacks direction, and after another wacky, random teleport (What, stitching two sectors together isn’t good enough for you?), the stage ends. If all that wasn’t bad enough, the stage is crammed with collapsing platforms, some of which have item monitors on them, and NONE of these collapsing platforms have any indication that they will collapse, which is a massive negative mark in my eyes.

Myriad Memories (ManimiFire)
Not fun. Four creative, but equally boring challenges that you can do in any order. But some of them are standouts, and not in a good way. One is the gargoyle pushing. I never liked the gargoyle pushing in older versions of Deep Sea Zone, and you didn’t handle it any better. In fact, I think this is worse than the old Deep Sea Zone puzzles, as you have the player jump through one gargoyle door to open up a hidden passage to a second gargoyle used to open the second gargoyle door, but you can barely see that passage, which easily leads to players getting stuck. Then you have the player push three gargoyles to open a third door, one of which requires a memory puzzle, which has no place in a Sonic game, and can easily be overcome by just taking the hits that come with wrong answers (three wrong answers and you have the right one), and another that requires using a pulley that acts completely differently to all the other pulleys in the stage. Speaking of pulleys, the other major problem is in the climbing section that uses those pulleys. There’s a mandatory set of springs you need to bounce on to progress, but the room is so dark, you can barely see them. I will ONLY EVER play SRB2 in Software Mode, and I couldn’t progress until someone pointed those springs out, and I turned the brightness up to the maximum setting. A stage must be optimised for both renderers if you want to be successful in SRB2 level design, and if a stage’s brightness ever goes below 180, you need to fix that. Yeah, I probably won’t be playing this stage ever again after the contest is over.

Shadow of Atlantis Zone (akirahedgehog)
This stage makes me sad. Presentation-wise, you nailed the feeling of exploring the famous sunken city this stage is named after perfectly. The skybox in particular impressed me a lot. Unfortunately, the level design is terrible in comparison. The stage primarily revolves around a single underwater section that you traverse multiple times to reach the goal. Problem is, these sections are far too open and lack any direction, especially when you can barely see or find air bubbles to keep yourself alive. It’s similar to Valley Falls’ underwater maze problem, only not as extreme. What is unacceptable however, is the act of falling back down into earlier sections of the stage, especially when it takes you back to BEFORE your last checkpoint, and on top of that, there’s the aforementioned underwater timer. Also, was that wall made of Columns jewels really necessary? Great concept and visual execution, horrible gameplay execution.

Magma Falls Zone (RadicalChaos_6922)
I am seriously disappointed in this stage. One of my biggest complaints with the new Red Volcano Zone Act 1 is that it doesn’t utilise its new jungle aspects to their full potential, so when I saw the visuals for this stage, I was hoping this would satisfy that. It did not. Why are the ledges, steps, etc. so jagged? That’s a lot of unnecessary linedefs that put unnecessary load on SRB2. Your implementation of the Rollout Rocks is sloppy, having the player jump over lava humps and land back on the rock, which is borderline impossible to do. It’s better to A: Take the lower path early on instead of the upper path, B: Take a hit and just rush through the final section with your invincibility frames, and C: Play as Fang, who can just harmlessly tail bounce over the lava. At one point, you have a door, and a sector that opens it. Thing is, there is NOTHING that clues the player in that this sector opens the door, as there’s no button or other feedback, and the door cannot be seen from the sector in question. The biggest problem? NO CHECKPOINTS. No matter where you are, one death and you’re back at the start. That is appalling in any Single Player stage, even more so in a stage as frustrating as this one. Everything else about the stage just isn’t memorable. This needs to be either reworked extensively or scrapped.

Overgrown Heights Zone (InferNOr)
This stage is certainly overgrown, not by the foliage, but the rings. There are far too many in the stage. When I first played the stage, I died several times, but I was able to hit the 200 ring mark on every single life due to the sheer number of rings on the main path alone, so my life count just kept climbing. There are several other issues with the stage: sections are too open, usually with only one way forward, usually a red spring. But with how large these rooms are, you can barely notice them. On the subject of springs, some of them are placed at awkward angles, requiring some skilled work with the arrow keys and camera controls, otherwise you are not clearing this stage. The enemy placement needs some serious work, too. In particular, there’s a waterfall climbing section which is made frustratingly hard with the inclusion of a Dragonbomber. Sometimes, a SECOND Dragonbomber will also join the “fun”, which pretty much guarantees being sent back to the last Star Post. Yes, there’s a Star Post at the bottom of the waterfall, but you placed it on the rocks leading out of the water, so nobody is going to see it when they first reach the obstacle. The stage is also too long, and overstays its welcome by at least a few minutes. I recommend splitting this stage into two acts, and making it into a full zone. Aside from these complaints, it is still a pretty fun stage, and definitely a good use of Red Volcano Zone Act 1’s new jungle assets.

Heroes Hall (Zaxel)
I’m noticing a trend in this contest. Many of the stages have fantastic visuals, but comparatively bad level design. This stage is no exception. The biggest problem with the stage is the inclusion of button hunts, a mechanic loathed by SRB2 players as far back as the Demo iterations of Castle Eggman Zone, and still not a good design choice for a Sonic stage even now. What really infuriated me was a teleporter to a mechanical section, which is incredibly inconsistent with the stage’s theme, and a frustrating slog through a hedge maze with the player constantly under Robo Hood attack. Even the invincibility section isn’t fun, due to it using Lance-a-Bots, which take 2 hits to destroy. And, of course, the level drags on and on and on, greatly overstaying its welcome. While there are some nice level design choices in this stage, such as the inclusion of a custom hazard (I treat the projectile-firing plants as hazards rather than enemies, since you can’t kill them), the bad design choices outweigh the good ones, and make me not want to play this stage again. Is this stage a reference to something? Because if it is, I don’t get it.

Aqua Paradise Zone (Twins’R’Awesome)
This stage worried me. I’m a paranoid guy, and seeing those load times made me want to not play the stage again after my initial clear. Luckily, I heard it was getting fixed in good time, and won’t hold that against you here. Just make sure to convert your PNGs to Doom graphics before submitting next time. Anyway, as for your stage, this is probably my favourite water ruins level I’ve seen for SRB2 so far, which is impressive as I hate water ruins stages. The only gripes I can see with the stage are A: The stage lacks direction, I’ve ended up going backwards along the stage several times, and have even gone onto a route clearly intended for Amy and Metal Sonic from both ends, and B: Too many rings. If you place that many rings into a stage, you make it too easy to gain extra lives from them. I also noticed that the final room of the stage is unnecessarily large, and is next to empty, aside from a landslide of rings and a Score Monitor bonanza behind the goal, which I think is a seriously missed opportunity. However, I really like the level design of this stage’s underwater sections, and I love to just go for casual runs through the stage every so often.

Oasis Palace Zone (So2ro)
This stage looks amazing, but that does come at the cost of awkward design choices. One is the fact that your sandfalls are just painted on. Though, I do understand why you did that: you don’t want players breaking segments of the level by jumping up those sandfalls using the quicksand mechanics. But think of how much more fun your stage would be with the added routes that such sandfalls can provide. Clever use of those sandfalls can be quite useful to creating a truly memorable desert stage. This is also another stage that lacks direction. I’m the kind of guy who prefers to just go for it and traverse the stage, and not have to stop and look around trying to find the right way to go, which is made harder by your usage of Arid Canyon Zone whirlwinds, and most of the time, I’m completely wrong, as evidenced by the third already-activated Star Post I come across. This stage is also a bit long for my liking, though it thankfully does end before I get bored.

Metallic Madness Zone Act 1 Good Future (Kwiin and failur.old)
Here we have the poster boy for unused content breaking the contest rules. Seriously, you really should have double-checked what was actually in your WAD or PK3 before you submitted it. I was really tempted to dock places on my ranking for that, but against my principles, I won’t. But anyway, on to the stage. Well, it’s certainly a pretty stage, which fits with the Sonic CD Good Future the stage is based on. Unfortunately, this design choice also makes the stage too easy, as to keep with how Good Futures appeared in Sonic CD, there are no badniks in the stage. Also, I don’t think you can fall off the stage, as every time I seemingly did, an updraft would keep Sonic aloft for as long as I needed to reach safe ground. These two choices make for very little challenge in the stage, and at some point the stage just felt like mindless running. It can also be confusing as to which way to go to progress with the stage, which seems to be a trend this contest. What this stage excels in however, are its setpieces. Throughout the entire stage are well-constructed setpieces that make this stage one of the best looking stages in the entire pack. Unfortunately, said setpieces don’t contribute much to the gameplay, which is a seriously missed opportunity. It also loses originality points due to being based on a stage from another Sonic game. Definitely a fun stage though, just double check your submissions if you enter OLDCs again.
 
I also cannot stand stages that hide the Chaos Emeralds in them. If I want to collect the Chaos Emeralds, I want to collect them the traditional way, using Emerald Tokens and the Special Stages, NOT go on a painstaking hunt through a single map in a desperate attempt to pad out the stage time, especially when I have 19 other stages to cover (I don’t really need to play through my own map, do I?). I did encounter the Cyan Chaos Emerald on some of my runs, but I refused to collect it every time, as I am NOT going Emerald Hunting in this stage. If you want to hide something for the player to collect, use emblems instead.
While that does sound harsh, I can understand how emeralds in a stage is rather...sloppy; in fact I'd have preferred to use emblems (though would have worked much better on what I wanted to be a bigger level in exploration) but since that involved SOC and didn't have time for that, I just slapped those in due to, as you said, a "desperate attempt to pad out the stage time" (because it was lol). On that matter you can be thankful that my original idea for the quick emerald slapping didn't work and I got rid of it: the exit was originally going to be locked behind an emerald door...but I tested it as fast as I could and since it was not doing anything at all, I just got rid of the door.

Also, not too long after the OLDC was finally made avaliable, I was wondering about what would be the side effects of having emeralds when you could already collect them in others levels through special stages. In any case, emeralds will be replaced with emblems (with some relocations of course) in the map's future update. Thanks for being sincere though!
 
I, for one, appreciate there being a level that makes collecting emeralds much easier. It makes it so I don't have to do the special stages every single time I want Super form. In the context of the OLDC, it's convenient.
 
My vote I'ts for Metallic Madness

My vote I'ts for Metallic Madness Good Future by Kwiin & Kanna:
I like Sonic CD and I Don't Known Someone has did a Sonic CD-like level

---------- Post added at 12:55 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:53 AM ----------

My vote I'ts for Metallic Madness Good Future
 
My vote I'ts for Metallic Madness Good Future by Kwiin & Kanna:
I like Sonic CD and I Don't Known Someone has did a Sonic CD-like level

---------- Post added at 12:55 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:53 AM ----------

My vote I'ts for Metallic Madness Good Future
When you vote you have to do a whole list
aka `1st place > 2nd place > 3rd place > etc....` until you list all of the maps.
You don't just pick your favorite and only your favorite, lol.
You also gotta put your votes in the voting subforum and not in here, or it will not be counted.
 
Results My

I shall resume by giving GLORY POINTS>>> HOHOHOOO
Take it easy, its with sincerity! Its for SP levels
Keep in mind, im an Explorative Player, so ill take more time to clear levels because im walking around and trying to find hidden stuffs, colecting items and other stuffs...ill like larger levels!

Valley Falls: 0
(Cool Music) +50POINTS
(Beautiful) +50POINTS
(Common PowerUp Usage) +10POINTS
(Spacious) +20POINTS
(Bad 2D usage) -30POINTS
(Annoying Underwater Maze) -100POINTS

Cyan Heights: 120
(Cool Music) +50POINTS
(Very Beautiful) +70POINTS
(Custom Stuff) +20POINTS
(Too Short Level) -20POINTS

Rustic Templar: 150
(Awesome Music) +70POINTS
(Cool Design) +50POINTS
(Spacious) +20POINTS
(Common PowerUp Usage) +10POINTS

Concordian Cast: 140
(Cool Music) +50POINTS
(Beautiful) +50POINTS
(Simplicity) +20POINTS
(Nice PowerUp Usage) +20POINTS

Anteggtica : 30
(Retro Style Music) +60POINTS
(Common PowerUp Usage) +10POINTS
(Too Short Level) -20POINTS
(Emptyness) -20POINTS

Overgrown Heights: 230
(Awesome Music) +70POINTS
(Very Beautiful) +70POINTS
(Cool Design) +50POINTS
(Nice PowerUp Usage) +20POINTS
(Spacious) +20POINTS

Snowflake Ridge: 240
(Cool Music) +50POINTS
(Beautiful) +50POINTS
(Cool Design) +50POINTS
(Awesome Custom Stuff) +100POINTS
(Laggy) -10POINTS

Metallic Madness: 420
(Awesome Music) +70POINTS
(Retro Style Level) +60POINTS
(Very Beautiful) +70POINTS
(Awesome Design) +150POINTS
(Awesome PowerUp Usage) +50POINTS
(Spacious) +20POINTS

Wild West: 210
(Awesome Music) +70POINTS
(Cool Design) +50POINTS
(Spacious) +20POINTS
(Good Minecart Usage) +30POINTS
(Good For Explorer Players) +20POINTS
(Nice PowerUp Usage) +20POINTS

Myriad Memories: 160
(Cool Music) +50POINTS
(Simplicity) +20POINTS
(Intresting Level) +50POINTS
(Defiant) +20POINTS
(Custom Stuff) +20POINTS

Aqua Paradise: 370
(Awesome Music) +70POINTS
(Retro Style Level) +60POINTS
(Very Beautiful) +70POINTS
(Awesome Design) +150POINTS
(Nice PowerUp Usage) +20POINTS
(Nice Water Level) +20POINTS
(Trap Cave) -20POINTS

Magma Falls: 60
(Spacious) +20POINTS
(Confusing) -20POINTS
(Simplicity) +20POINTS
(Defiant) +20POINTS

Hectic Harbor: 160
(Cool Music) +50POINTS
(Funny Level) +40POINTS
(Common PowerUp Usage) +10POINTS
(Good For Explorer Players) +20POINTS
(Spacious) +20POINTS
(Simplicity) +20POINTS
(Emeralds!!!) +20POINTS
(Random Texures) -20POINTS

Crystal Cave: 100
(Relaxing Music) +50POINTS
(Very Beautiful) +70POINTS
(Simplicity) +20POINTS
(Too Short Level) -20POINTS
(Strange Level Design) -20POINTS

Toffee Tor: 200
(Amazing Music) +60POINTS
(Funny Level) +40POINTS
(Cool Design) +50POINTS
(Common PowerUp Usage) +10POINTS
(Good For Explorer Players) +20POINTS
(Spacious) +20POINTS

Hypertower: 10
(Courage) +10POINTS
(Bad Midi Music) -10POINTS
(Strange Level Design) -20POINTS
(Common PowerUp Usage) +10POINTS
(Intresting 2D usage) +20POINTS
(Bad Enemies Placement) -20POINTS
(Defiant) +20POINTS

Shadow Of Atlantis: 235
(Very Beautiful) +70POINTS
(Cool Design) +50POINTS
(Easter Eggs) +25POINTS
(Simplicity) +20POINTS
(Nice Water Level) +20POINTS
(Intresting Level) +50POINTS

Oasis Palace: 150
(Cool Music) +50POINTS
(Simplicity) +20POINTS
(Cool Design) +50POINTS
(Common PowerUp Usage) +10POINTS
(Spacious) +20POINTS

Wasteland Wilds: 100
(Cool Music) +50POINTS
(Good For Runner Players) +20POINTS
(Simplicity) +20POINTS
(Common PowerUp Usage) +10POINTS
(Spacious) +20POINTS
(Emptyness) -20POINTS

Cluttered Cavern 2: 110
(Cool Music) +50POINTS
(Good For Runner Players) +20POINTS
(Spacious) +20POINTS
(Defiant) +20POINTS

Heroes Hall: 99999999999999999999 Just kidding... thats mine bro,
I'm not good at self-assessment hehe
 

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