Greenflower Sunset Zone by Fawfulfan - 7/10
I playtested this a lot for you around a month ago or so. So obviously, all my major qualms with it are already fixed (although I'm not sure if there even were any) and you know my general assessment of your level already. The platforming, although generic, is solid, and lots of secret items and a few small gimmicks keep the map fresh. It just so happened that we could both agree on which rooms are awesome and which ones are padding, so I don't think I need to go into much detail. You achieved the goal you set out to do, and I hope you learned a thing or two about multi-leveled path layouts, architecture and visual design along the way. Also, BZ4 seemed to love some parts of this level, and that alone should make you proud. I have a feeling you'll find that Tortured Planet has gone as far as it can soon.
Flower Cave Zone by Miles Knuckle Power - 2/10
I hate giving out scores for maps like this. Like with your previous single player creation, I'm puzzled why you actually submitted it. If you're too lazy to make a full-flegded map for the SP division, nobody forces you to half-ass something. The single room was pretty ugly and low-detailed (although it could have been much worse) and most of the hiding spots were either out in the open or hidden in nonsensical places. The pool with the falling rocks was especially annoying.
Sparkling Icecap Zone by Thompson - 10/10
EDIT: You know what? Screw this. You get a 10 anyway. Ignore the babbling about "almost perfect" below. It's not perfect, but I don't care. Oh, and since you're fixing this up after the contest, be sure to read what Mystic said about consistency.
I'm terribly sorry. I can't give this a 10. It's almost there, but a few rather major problems keep me from giving this a perfect score even if it otherwise blew me away. However, rest assured that none of these problems were lag-related. I played this level in 1680x1050 resolution, and I did get slight lag in places, but these were generally low-action spots. And if the lag had been heavier, I'd have lowered my resolution. Really, I don't see lag being a problem for anyone unless your machine is so shitty that it can't run this level on 640x480, in which case you can't really blame the map. That doesn't mean I'd say no to framerate fixes though.
Your problems were of a different nature. The first is intuitiveness. For me, figuring out one of your more complicated puzzles on my own is enough by itself, but other players become annoyed if they can't figure out what's going on in ample time. You tried to solve this problem with Cut-Away Views, but it's not entirely gone yet. There are two rooms that can still be very hard to understand, and those are the centerpiece of the puzzle path (with the stalactites) and the snowflake room. Others might also add the room with the two gargoyles, but I found that one easy enough.
The stalactite room is problematic for numerous reasons. It's easy enough to figure out that I need to trigger the falling stalactites after I've seen the Cut-Away View, but neither is it really obvious that I can use them as stepping stones nor does the exit they lead to stand out clearly. That problem could be solved through effective texturing. Draw attention to what's important with colors that stand out and make everything else take a backseat. The platform that I need to jump on to use the stepping stones for example should stand out among the others. Whatever parts of the room aren't as important should be in the background and inobtrusively textured. At first, I thought the frozen fountains were the actual path because the platform for the stepping stones connects to it. Separate these two elements and let the fountains stay in the background.
But the real problem comes afterwards. The small climb to the button is too cramped and has an unnecessary path split midway through. One direction leads to the button, the other back into the main room. To progress, players need to go to the button first, so presenting them with a path choice at this point is confusing. Why would you give the player a choice if there's no real choice to make? I know that there are rings that lead the player to the button, but it still confused me at first because I thought the other path might lead to a secret or something. You can imagine how annoyed I was to find myself back in the main room. Please revamp that section so that the path split is gone and I return to the main room after pressing the button.
It's also not entirely obvious where I should go after the button is pressed. The Cut-Away View shows a section of the map that the player has never seen before unless he looked for it on purpose. My first reaction after seeing it was: "Ah, so it activates a fountain. But where on earth is that fountain supposed to be located?" That outside section needs to be more visible beforehand. Ideally, you would force the player to go through it before pressing the button so that he discovers the broken fountain. Essentially, this whole room and everything that belongs to it need some revamping to be more intuitive. It's one of the major frustration sources in your map.
The other source of frustration is the snowflake room. You tried to fix it by adding the arrow, but wouldn't it be more elegant to hide the other exit until the lava starts to rise and then draw immediate attention to it (by putting it right in front of the player's nose, for example)? Apart from the initial confusion over which path to take, I think most people simply didn't have enough time to find the right way and figure out how to get there in the given time. Instead, they hesitated and went back up where they came from. Make the escape path much more obvious and maybe consider making the lava solid instead of fake slime. At least that would lead to less deaths for players who can't figure it out quickly enough.
The second problem is tediousness. It becomes obvious whenever platforming rooms become so complex that falling down becomes a terrible punishment because you have to repeat a large part of the map. The issue is most pressing in the centerpiece of the platforming path (with the snowflake bridges or whatever those were) and to a lesser extent, the room with the rope pulleys and the room with the two gargoyles. Unfortunately, I don't have much of an idea how to fix these. The third problem (arguably the smallest) is formula. I've been climbing to the tops of rooms, pressing buttons and putting gargoyles in convenient places for three maps of yours now. the centerpiece of the platforming path for example feels very similar to the room where you open the door in Clockwork Grove. Don't overdo these kinds of things or they'll become stale.
Two minor design qualms come to mind: One would be in the centerpiece of the platforming path. At one point, where both sub-paths rejoin, you enter a very cramped and narrow cave. Maybe there wasn't any space left because of the level architecture, but if you can, make it spacier. Also, there still are too many enemies in some places, especially the bigger rooms. My advice would be to leave more complex rooms without any enemies at all and only use them in the smaller parts in-between. Otherwise, they can make an already frustrating section hell for some. And maybe I need to say it again: You don't need Crawlas, especially not now that you added Minuses. I know you're a fan of variety, but unlike the other two enemies, Crawlas aren't as much an actual threat here as they are filler items. They don't add anything to the level and especially the red variety feels pretty out of place visually.
But now all I did was complain. Let me dedicate a small paragraph to express how much I love this map. You really made the theme of the map come alive through the use of all the complex ice melting and freezing gimmicks, most of which weren't only fun to play through, but they made sense physically and were awesome eye candy. The freezing river and the huge snowflake especially caught my eye. But there was so much more: The spindash-to-lower blocks and the endless snow slide from Ice Cap Zone, the claustrophobic chase at the end, the penguin enemies that at one point actually perform endless sliding loops etc etc etc. I could go on for ages, but you know what I want to say. This map is awesome. And it's almost perfect. Almost, for now.
Frozen Hillside Zone Act 1 by Blade - 10/10
Mystic summed it up perfectly. The way you used the thick snow is a textbook example of how one should build up a gimmick across the course of the level. I can't get over how cleverly designed the section with the two cliffs is. It forces the player to think about the mechanics of the snow in such a way that afterwards you can be sure he understood it. Then you go on to make slightly more complex stuff with it (with hopefully more complex stuff following in act 2). I also got over my dislike for the recolored Sapphire Falls textures. They look pretty awesome actually. And so does Scizor's custom texture, even if the style doesn't quite fit in with the rest. A perfect map.
And I know that this discussion is over, but let me clarify what I think BlueZero4 meant when he said "this map is perfect, and that's bad". What he meant was that you were so focused on doing everything right by the book that you didn't pour your soul into it like Thompson did (and BlueZero4 always does). I don't think that's pretentious, I just so happen to think that Frozen Hillside has a lot of soul poured into it. It's just not as deliberately "artsy" as other maps.
Stronghold Forest Zone Act 1 by KO.T.E - 7/10
Just like Frozen Hillside and Sparkling Icecap are polar opposites, this is the opposite of Greenflower Sunset. That one was all platforming, no gimmicks, this one is all gimmicks, no platforming. Of course, I'm exaggerating a bit: This map has some platforming and Fawfulfan's map has a few gimmicks. But the balance is off in both cases. Your map is still good as your score reflects, because the gimmicks are usually entertaining and the level is solidly built. But I still feel there are too many flat corridors and too few instances where you actually need to jump. Granted, it was worse in the beta version you gave me. I like how you now need to jump over the big fence instead of swinging, for example. You also added a few more sections that require actual platforming, although most of them are pretty uninspired (and eased off by springs). Still, it could be more.
Still, that's not my only issue. The real problem is what Mystic said. Introduce your gimmicks. The bouncy floors are both located on optional paths, so depending on which path you took, your first encounter with them might be over the oil pit. And that section is pretty hardcore. Even if you took the upper path at the beginning, the gimmick isn't really introduced properly. What you should is add a small and easy section with bouncy floors at the beginning of the level before the path splits. Make it really easy, with no hazardous penalty for failure and most importantly no double-net construction that bounces you back down if you go too far. That should help introduce the gimmick.
There are a few other minor problems. Firstly, the cannonball shooters never hit me. In fact, I don't think they can even reach me when I'm next to the button. You might want to rework that section so your gimmick doesn't go to waste. The way the paths rejoin at the end is not optimal. Depending on your angle, you might confuse the ending of the other path for another route. Lastly, your custom enemy has too many annoying sound effects and probably a too large seeing distance. Make it only charge when you're really near to it.
Otherwise, a nice map. Just introduce your gimmicks better and try to force the player to jump a bit more often and it will be great. When I compare this to the first incarnation of this zone, you've really come a long way in making the locations of your map memorable. And the gimmicks are just simply better in general.
White Mountain Zone by Kuba11 - 0/10
I've seen some people commend you on the nice details. Apparently any random formation of tiny rocks with different clashing colors counts as "nice details" among some. Well, I think it looks awful. In other news, this level is awfully cramped and/or hard to navigate because of all the lava falls and tiny platforms, has no ideas aside from lava everywhere and button pressing, has an out-of-place static rope hang that doesn't even look like one, and doesn't have an exit. Unplayable is unplayable, therefore you get a 0, disqualified or not. With a working exit, I would have given this a 2 or a 3 because it was functional and had a good amount of secrets. I appreciate your effort, which is must certainly noticeable, but you more or less produced a train wreck.
Waterway Ruin Zone Act 1 by Chrome - 6/10
Please, please, please pay closer attention to the contest rules, it's really unfortunate to have your map disqualified for something like this. I guarantee you it would have made for some serious competition in your division. This review will be pretty long, because your map possesses an unfortunate combination of attributes: It's fairly long, complex and flawed. At first I wanted to trash this level and give it a 3, but then I played it a few more times, found all the paths, discovered that some things I blamed you for were actually my fault, and grew to love the architecture. The score I wanted to give you gradually increased until I explored everything and it stopped at 6. That's as far as I'm willing to go, because the flaws that made me hate it at first are still there. I'll do this review room-by-room style so I can make sure I don't miss anything of importance. Your map is brought down by numerous small flaws instead a few big ones, so behold the massive wall of text ahead.
The first room looks like the ending of that one zone you made a while back, right? Is this supposed to be part of a level pack? Anyway, I have a problem with this room and the one that follows after the follow-the-lights staircase: Where are the power-up items? Especially the second room has these pillars in it that could be well used for a power-up or something. It's a pity if you design a room like this and then don't give the player any reason to explore it. The next room (which I think is very clever by the way) has a path split, so let's concentrate on the path that you reach by jumping over the taps first.
The next room with the moving cylinders has a good idea, but there are some problems in the execution. First off, there are no rings after the Star Post. Can you imagine how frustrating it is if you die, respawn there and die to the shots of the next Snailer available? Please put a few rings there. The other problem here is that the moving cylinders aren't synchronized in any way, so you might have to wait a while until they're in such a position that you can jump across. That's pretty boring. Adjust their movements so that I can jump across at any time. Another thing that bugged me was how the water in the broken tube doesn't have a current. As long as it isn't so fast that you can't get to the shield anymore, I see no problem with applying one.
Speaking of tubes: I know that tubes are narrow, but at least after the point where I fall down for the first time, you should widen the whole thing a bit so I can navigate easier. After the tube and after I hop over the broken cylinder, I need to do an unexpected left turn to enter the next room. Could you put some rings there to make it more obvious please? Then, after the rising and falling platforms, another tube. This time it has even more tight turns and even a stupid branch in the middle of it that only confuses players. Please, make these things wider or at least straightforward. In fact, the whole fan section that follows afterward is too cramped as well. Not to mention that the first fan doesn't work. Also, the part with the fan tubes with crushers is pretty annoying and tedious. It's not much of a challenge as long as you stay on the edges. Cut this section out. Also, please cut out the unexpected death pit in the fan room. I don't have any more complaints until the point where the paths rejoin (even if the gimmicks in this section are pretty old and tired), so let's go back to the beginning...
...and fall into the current. We're now back at the outside, and I'm immediately puzzled that despite there being a building to the left of the room, I don't see any traces of it. Wouldn't it look nicer if I could see the building from there, maybe with some windows or a gallery or other nice architecture? Anyway, after this room and another follow-the-lights corridor (with another unexpected turn at the end), we get to the absolute worst part of this level. This is the path I took at first and that gave me a bad impression. The room is terrible because the dark floors that were previously safe are now bottomless pits. He's right. Remove this room without afterthought.
Then, path split. I'll do the one that you enter below the broken cylinder tube first. Why are there two exits to the room below the net if they're functionally identical. It only serves to make the current tunnel look weird. After that, the second really really terrible room in this map: The one with the crushers that seemingly come from nowhere. Either scrap this whole section completely or do the following: 1. Make the whole underwater passage much less cramped. 2. Don't put quite as many fish. 3. Make the crushers move continuously and without pause. 4. Make sure the player can easily see the crushers AT ALL TIMES. If you can't achieve that, scrap this section.
The other path. Ugh again. Remember when Mystic said "Then there are crushing platforms with no warning, and those same crushing platforms lead out of the room. "? Just now, while writing this review, did I notice that he meant this part. On my first playthrough I was stuck here exactly because I jumped off the last crumbling platform immediately for fear of being crushed. After that, I was trapped. Again, scrap this room without afterthought. The paths come together in an unfortunate way, making it unclear where I should go next. The best fix would probably be to put the Star Post in the darker corridor.
Oh no, not another dark corridor that suddenly turns into a death pit. maybe this idea is salvageable if you make the pit sections not quite as dark as the safe corridors so you can actually see the death pits. And now we're back to zero again, because this path now rejoins with the other major one. Let me clarify something right there. The other path would have gotten you a 7. This path (with both branches) would have gotten you a 3. Together, it's a 5, and I'm willing to give one more point for the competent beginning and ending sections.
Not that they're really anything special. The "crumbling floor in a water tube" gimmick doesn't make much logical sense, but at least the final jump is pretty interesting. Then there's another broken water tube and I always enjoy these. So there, take your 6 and be grateful. ;) If you fix up some things, cut some of the really awful shit and replace it with good new content, I could easily see this rise as high as an 8. If you can think of some really good new gimmicks for the obligatory replacement rooms and maybe try to make some sections a little less sparse-looking, maybe even higher.
Jadeflower Zone Act 3 by blahblahbal - 3/10
You finally got a sense of scale. That's a big success. You also got a sense of visual design, as apparent in the grass-themed path (the lava path is pretty bare-boned though). You also got a sense of flow, even though you overdid it to the point where I don't even need to jump anymore. What you lack is enough ideas to actually make a map. Many parts appear empty, probably because you couldn't think of anything to put there. In fact, the whole level feels like you didn't have much of a clue what you wanted to put in it. You should probably stick with Match levels for a little while longer, because there you can put your sense of scale, flow and visual design to good use without needing so many gameplay ideas. Unless you suddenly become a fountain of inspiration, your single player levels will remain solidly crafted bores. However, what you can learn from this map is: a. less (or at least shorter) empty corridors; b. give all parts of your map the same visual care; c. Don't put exit signs in abrupt places; d. give your lava lava damage.