September/October 2009 Voting

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Icicle Warehouse Zone by Glaber - 4/10
I didn't really like this. The textures were well placed, but the music didn't really fit, though. The rings were clumped up in a strange way, and the weapon ring ammo is too close together.
When you have a small selection of snow music, you use what sounds best.
 
Specially considering custom material (music, textures and mobjs) are not allowed in multiplayer submissions as far as I know. For me, the music fit very well and I'd make same choice too.

EDIT:

I'd like to leave my "preliminary" comment about Glaber's match map. I dare to say his map is among the best match maps in this OLDC. Nothing perfect or special, but it's pretty decent.

That's all.
 
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I'd like to leave my "preliminary" comment about Glaber's match map. I dare to say his map is among the best match maps in this OLDC. Nothing perfect or special, but it's pretty decent.
Despite the horrible weapon distribution? I mean, the layout is quite nice, I admit, but the weapon system was just a failed experiment.
 
How exciting. My first critique of these contests. If I largely parrot what has already been said, please pardon me.

Gothic Gardens Zone - 3/10 - There's amazingly little scenery in what is supposed to be a garden. Instead, we have vast expanses of insta-kill slime (I always hate that) and thick slabs of monolithic grey castles. The beginning felt underwhelming (though walking precariously on that winding platform shortly afterwards gave me the slightest sense of vertigo). Dropping down from the first drained slime pit is risky, because there's a chance you just might fall into one of the shallow puddles of slime below. Your zoom tubes malfunctioned twice, once requiring me to spin dash while inside them, and once inexplicably sending me back to the previous room. The final platforming section felt more frustrating than challenging, and finally completing the level was anti-climatic ("Fall in this pit. Oh, hey! You win!"). The platforming throughout has serviceable, but I always felt like more emphasis was placed in defeating/dodging enemies. And I only counted a single, dull branching path during my run-through.

Graceful Coast Zone - 7/10 - Man alive, the visuals and music of zone were superby done! It's refreshing to see a zone that brings the player to a whole bunch of little distinct locales, as opposed to one large overarching theme. Your level design and jumping puzzles were awesome (though it does tend to be hampered by enemies, especially Buzzes), and have actually made me excited for a 2D stage! Congrats! Three bits of criticism, though. First and foremost, the decision to limit your time in the zone to six minutes was a boneheaded move, plain and simple. Everything in the stage, from the laid-back music, to the gorgous landmarks and the Emerald hunt (a great idea, btw) clashes with that damn time limit! Get rid of it and let the player explore Graceful Coast as his or her leisure. Second, some of the advancement puzzles, especially in giant rock-fountain room, were hard to solve. I honestly solved that particular one by accident. Again, the issue is less the puzzles themselves and more that you must solve them within the time limit, making the player desperate and frantic in what is supposed to be a rather tranquil zone. Finally, I really did expect a fight with Dr. Eggman at the end. The ending as it is (find a end-level sign in a small cave) is a bit underwhelming, especially compared to the rest of the zone.
 
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Well, I haven't played the Race maps in a netgame yet, so I can't vote, but I think by far Egg Flower is much better than Frostbite Peak.

Frostbite Peak is gorgeous, but the layout has so many turns that I'm always afraid of getting lost. That, and the ability to be punished by moving down tiers rather than dying is not something I'm liking QUITE yet.

Egg Flower, on the other hand, is pretty much ugly as sin and looks like a beginner's map, but some of the gimmicks are spectacular. The first set of crushers is the best I've ever seen in a race level, where there's always an opening, just the time that it's open is kinda random. The three crusher row needs a bit of work but is OK. The Space Countdown is actually quite cool but it needs something more. This could pass as an official level with some more polish (and a huge visual makeover =P).
 
Egg Flower, on the other hand, is pretty much ugly as sin and looks like a beginner's map, but some of the gimmicks are spectacular. The first set of crushers is the best I've ever seen in a race level, where there's always an opening, just the time that it's open is kinda random. The three crusher row needs a bit of work but is OK. The Space Countdown is actually quite cool but it needs something more. This could pass as an official level with some more polish (and a huge visual makeover =P).
Surprisingly enough, Egg Flower is only like my 5th map that is actually playable, and the first one that actually seemed to have any quality whatsoever.
I mainly entered OLDC for feedback, and because I didn't see any other maps in the circuit division.(The fact that there was another race map was a surprise to me) But I always knew that my map was never good enough to actually earn an OLDC win, but I thought it might have a chance to steal one.
And even if it does somehow beat RedEchidna's map (with the recent onslaught of 1s from D00D64 and Kyasarin, I would be shocked), I still think it isn't a great map or good by normal standards, but a good map for a beginner.

Anyway, I plan to eventually re-release this with out the flower part, (unless I make a GFZ texture that is metal-like) and add a gimmick or two, and (If I can ever figure out how) synchronize some crushers better.
 
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I'm afraid that I will be UNABLE to vote on Multiplayer maps, not just in this contest, but in any contest.
 
Because..? Does it have to do with what Kirlia's doing with Sonic and co. in your avatar :(

No, no, and AGAIN, no. Chaotic Doomsday has NOTHING to do with this. (Aside from the fact that Gothic Isle Zone 1 will be a part of it when I get it right.) It's actually because FuriousFox clearly said:
"Votes where the voter obviously did not play the level in its intended gametype, or where the voter did not play the multiplayer maps with other real players will be discarded."

I find it almost IMPOSSIBLE to secure a netgame with the OLDC WAD loaded, AND I have no IRL friends to do it in Splitscreen. So, basically, I can only play the multiplayer levels by myself.

What on EARTH made you think that KRILIA, of all things, would have anything to do with this?
 
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I hosted an OLDC netgame the day the wad came out. I guess I can host another one tomorrow for last minute voters, though.
 
I think Kaysakado also hosts OLDC netgames. I also joined a netgame that just happened to have the multiplayer maps (the host was a bit of a jerk, though :\ ).

Anyway, moving on to my own judging! It has been far too long, but this is the first 2.0 contest, so I really should vote in such an auspicious occasion, right?

Single Player naoz, multiplayer later. (hopefully)

Single Player:

Graceful Coast Zone by DOOD64: 3/10
The reason I gave this a low score is due to the fact that Sonic can't jump high enough to reach the roof of the room with the rocks over geysers, i.e. it's unplayable as Sonic. Too bad, I liked the rest of the level, although WombatWarlord made a few good points; the time limit and lack of a boss would have still hampered the level.

Gothic Gardens Zone, Act 1 by VX501: 4/10
Here's my question: Where were the gargoyles?
The sudden change to the 2-D area threw me off and caused a good share of cheap deaths, especially since the row of red springs isn't placed very well. Also, minor thing, but tokens should usually be a little bit more out of your path than the one placed after the first checkpoint; I'm letting that slide because you have to defeat enemies to get it, but just be careful of that next time.

Magma Core Zone, Act 2 by Blade: 8/10
Looks like you took full advantage of the new enemies introduced in 2.0, even throwing in a few of your own. Lots of interesting twists and turns, plus you even put in some awesome ACZ gimmicks and molded them to fit the volcanic theme. Excellent, as usual!

Refurbished Gadgetry Zone by SonicMaster: 8/10
Most of this level is quite similar to ERZ1, but the big difference is that there is now a whole path for reverse gravity and a whole path for normal gravity. This idea helped you to put two alternate paths in the same space. Very clever of you! Also, great job on the ERZ2-ish current area. Any chance you could expand on this?

Single Player Overall: 5.75/10
I actually thought there would be more Single Player maps than this... Oh well, there's a whole bunch of Match/CTF maps waiting for my critique of how well they use the new system.

I need more netgames before I do multiplayer judging, so I hope I can find Furious Fox's server during that time.
 
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Sonic can't jump high enough to reach the roof of the room with the rocks over geysers, i.e. it's unplayable as Sonic. Too bad, I liked the rest of the level, although WombatWarlord made a few good points; the time limit and lack of a boss would have still hampered the level.

It is possible to get up there as Sonic, and there IS a boss. But you need 50 rings and 6 of the emeralds to get there (the room has the 7th, and all 7 are needed to use the other teleport to the boss). Stupid idea, I know.
 
Those complaining about the music of Icicle warehouse. What music that's already in SRB2 would be a better choice? Don't just say it's bad, suggest a replacement.

And to be honest I figured you'd rather hear this opposed to Icecap zone
 
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Circuit

MAPR1 - Frostbite Peak Zone by RedEchidna: 4/10
Made of "Oy!"

I have an impression you were afraid that people would thok crazily, so you made it "fairly" cramped. A certain amount of "crampness" is good, but I think you exaggerated a bit. You created some stairs with too small and too narrows steps (e.g. near Sector #79 - the "S-like" stair is unnecessary). Wider paths, more spaced steps with 48-64FU height would hold Sonic players without breaking the flow. See Race Alley Zone to perceive how a curved stair and steps were cleverly used.

Needs some texture variation, specially to make the paths more visible. I'd like to navigate without worrying to fall into a blind deathpit. I need to see clearly the cliffs and ledges: I prefer to blame my blatant incompetence as player, not the level designer.

Still about bad visibility (critical point): the rock with row of yellow springs (sector 30), it's almost impossible to see the its steps. Make them visible and bigger. Frankly, I'd prefer a better solution/concept instead.

Red arrows around the Sector #58 is confusing. They show their back when I'm coming in, and pointing to the wall when I'm seeing them (and again, falling into death pit).


MAPR2 - Egg Flower Zone by Mach: 7/10
Made of "Ugly FUN"

Heck, Eggman needs badly a landscape designer.

I have to say I enjoyed a lot this map; obstacles were well explored and well applied. I played it as Sonic and as Tails in netgames, even with few C-lag I managed to finish twice or three times the circuit and I even earned the 1st place once.

I loved the map's difficult curve and how the obstacle were laid out... Variety and clever repetition of obstacles (for instance: the 3 rows of FOF-crushes gave me the clear impression the path is getting hard; besides, they impress me) were the strong points of the map. Rooms are clearly distinguishable from each other and easy to figure out what each character should do to dodge obstacles.

The major problems: 1) The part around Finish line looks unpolished and badly conceived. Height steps vary unnecessarily. Looks like a huge and empty room with a huge "finish-line-wall".

2) GFZ texture set and ERZ texture set aren't blending well. Is it possible to use both themes in a single map? Yes, but I advise: it's hard. Textures must be used in a way they don't look they were used randomly, but they are there for a purpose. THZ1 is a good sample.

The map deserves 7/10, in my opinion, because it worked very well, has a good concept and it's clear what you're proposing and has a considerable replay value. I consider level design as utilitarian art: first, it should work well as designed; later, the aesthetics.
 
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Alright, I'll start off with single player levels.
(These levels are played as Sonic.)

Graceful Coast Zone: 6/10
PROS:
-Very nice scenery.
-Had a decent time playing it.
-Good music overall.

CONS:
-Very short.
-Gets confusing at first, especially the geyser part.

Gothic Gardens Zone: 5/10
I didn't really have much to say about this one...
PROS:
-The platforming played out well.

CONS:
-The appearence of the level seemed a bit too modern.
-Some of the platforms were a bit small, if an enemy would hit you, you can easily fall into the pit and die.
-Pretty cramped in some spots.

Refurbished Gadgetry Zone: NONE. 9/10
For some reason when I load the file VIA the console, it says the file is loaded. Then when I start the game it just plays the normal levels. A little help here?
This one is the best out of all levels in my opinion.
PROS:
-I love the whole "options of how to pass" thing with the gravity switching.
-Had lots of fun playing.
-Music is awesome.

CONS:
-Lack of enemies.

Magma Core Zone: 7/10
PROS:
-Fairly nice scenery,
-Is enjoyable to play most of the time other then the cons.
-The whole "lava-flooding-up-and-having-to-hurry" part was neat.

CONS:
-The difficulty abruptly shoots way up throughout the second half of the level.
-The flame throwing badnik...things... are broken, and very annoying.
 
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Refurbished Gadgetry Zone: NONE.
For some reason when I load the file VIA the console, it says the file is loaded. Then when I start the game it just plays the normal levels. A little help here?

That's because RGZ replaces MAP06-Techno Hill Act 3. If you've unlockes Level Select either through getting all Emblems or have a complete save file with a character, you should've seen it.
 
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