Very happy to see my favorite level from SUBARASHII back as a standalone! Very few people make levels like these and it's a damn shame. Thanks for bringing this back.
 
The wad has been updated to v2.2 fixing the door skipping exploit.

Oh, I don't know if you're aware of this ancient Doom Engine trick, but the bars blocking the exit can be glided through. (I've yet to successfully glide through both sets of bars)

Look at this guy, finding bugs left and right! I don't wanna take my chances making the gap 31 wide and somehow having this still happen, so I put an invisible FOF between the bars.

This was my first time playing this, and wow. It's been a really long time since I've seen this type of exploration-based level, and it was amazing to play through it. As requested, have a video.

Super, SUPER appreciated! It was incredible to watch that - some stuff I thought was obvious totally wasn't, while some stuff that wasn't obvious you got first try. So far I didn't feel like you were TOTALLY lost at any point, though, so that was good. It also looked like you were too stubborn to look at the emblem hints for a good while :)

That said, the visuals overall do feel very final demo-era - is that what you were going for? This didn't bother me at all, but it does make the map feel out of place in today's environments.

You know, I've gotten that a lot! People have been saying that the level feels reminds them of 1.09.4-era design, but in a good way. I've been trying to figure out what this means, but I'm not quite sure yet...
 
If I had to guess, the 'good way' of the era's design it's reminding them of is how those maps had to do so much with so little. Nowadays we have slopes, FOFs, poly-objects, tons of gimmicks, updated graphics, countless enemies... A map in the old days had to try so hard to be different than all of the other maps out there. This one kinda reminds me of how empty some of those maps felt by comparison to the ones we have today, but it uses that to it's advantage.
 
Super, SUPER appreciated! It was incredible to watch that - some stuff I thought was obvious totally wasn't, while some stuff that wasn't obvious you got first try. So far I didn't feel like you were TOTALLY lost at any point, though, so that was good. It also looked like you were too stubborn to look at the emblem hints for a good while :)
Yeah, of course! Once I understood kind of the looping nature of the map it made more sense to me where everything was. I took the broken pipe section first which I think made it a little harder for me to get the layout initially as it involves a one-way drop. And yeah I was trying to avoid the emblem hints but it was getting late at night and I was tired lol. I think I would've been stuck on the zoomtube one for a long time without the hint for sure - that was one of my favorite ones, though! The only other hint I used was for the broken pipe, which jogged my memory - I noticed the other half of the pipe when I first got there but slipped and fell before I could check it out - losing my attraction shield in the process :(
 
As someone who really worked hard to speedrun Subarashii this version is throwing me a bit off but I am really liking this update! I still had a quick run through it so I will make a video later on this level for you to look at!
 
Oh, and if you’ve never played the SUGOI 2 version before, I have a bold request for you - please record your first playthrough and post the video here if that's possible for you.

Well, since you asked...

I never really played the full SUGOI trilogy, I played SUGOI 1 on a server, and bits and pieces of SUGOI 2 on one as well, never really got that far or played this level on it. I never touched SUGOI 3.
 

Thanks a lot!! I always thought that playing as Tails the first time through would screw someone up a whole lot more, but you seemed to get your bearings really quickly! You seemed to take quick note of exactly where everything was, and knew how to return there, which led to some hilarious moments where you turned back (or almost turned back) to go the long way back to the central area, rather than take the shortcut that just opened 30ft away :P

Even so, you completed the level rather quickly as tails, so that's a win in my book.

However, some of the physics puzzles were a little bit janky - the underwater fans in particular were very inconsistent. It was a little bit frustrating in that I knew what I had to do, but it felt like luck whether or not a particular jump would work out or not.

I agree and I've been thinking about this lately. I think a solution would be to flatten the surface of the water and strengthen the current a bit. I always loved the wavy-water effect (though attempting it with slopes was a nightmare I wasn't willing to subject myself to), but I think the problem happens where, when you're exiting the pool, you splash through a corner of another water sector and nearly get launched into space. If I remove the visual effect and make the top plane of the water flat, I think that would do it. It would make me sad to lose the dynamic look of the water, though...

Anyway, I've updated the wad to Version 2.3. The elevator in the intro of the secret level was not multiplayer-friendly. This has been fixed.
 
This was a really fun level! It took me a good while and a lot of climbing and gliding. I tried to do it as Sonic, but I found it much easier to play with Knuckles, and I'm so glad I did because of one particular moment in this video. You'll know it when you see it!
 
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Someone (kays?) linked me this thread on Discord a month or two ago, and getting back to you has been on my todo list since. I wrote this post 3 or 4 weeks ago, but I'd been delaying posting it until I had uploaded a live commentary playthrough of the stage.

That's still the plan, but I haven't done it yet. At this point, I just want to post this anyway. Maybe I'll have a video for you this weekend or next?


~ ~ ~ ~ ~

ICE said:
BlueZero4’s 1.09.4 maps. The atmosphere in those levels influences me to this day.
I feel honored. Thank you.

Oh, also: I went back and read through a couple of the old topics that you and I had both posted in (YEARS ago), and I feel ashamed about how abrasive I was in those days. My words to you were hurtful, and I need to apologize. Sorry.

ICE said:
Oh, and if you’ve never played the SUGOI 2 version before, I have a bold request for you - please record your first playthrough and post the video here if that's possible for you.

Here's a link to a live commentary of my blind playthrough.
(still on my todo list, sorry)

ICE said:
On the chance that you played my few past levels, you’ll notice that they’re all incredibly linear and had little to no secrets. This one is the complete opposite!
I've been going back and forth on this, over the past week or two. (Well, longer ago now, because I delayed posting this for a while.)

Back in my day (ten years ago, wow!), the conversation about linearity was multiple paths versus one path. "Nonlinear" meant that you could choose which path you used through the level. I guess there was a stigma against putting all your level's content in a straight line (well, not literally straight).

When I replay my own Nuclear Sunset 1, I always play it three times, because I want to take each route once.

"Linearity" is really just a question of content model. How does the player interact with the level, and how much control do you have over that? Which direction does the player approach a room for the first time, and what does that view look like? How fast is the player moving when they reach a particular piece of the level (especially if they're playing Sonic)?

I recently went replayed my own pack, and I definitely didn't check out all the nooks and crannies. Linearity is a way of having mandatory tour stops. What are the important ideas, and which ideas are optional?

I'm writing this before having played your level, so this isn't a commentary on your specific design -- just some abstract musings.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Find below a few thoughts on the playlist you linked, which are hidden in spoiler tags because they have nothing to do with the rest of this thread:
ICE said:
This playlist I put together for the purpose of this post, especially the song Clocks by Coldplay: Abandoned Airbase Playlist
I've been listening to your playlist while typing out this post, and some of the novelty of the works has drained out over the past 20 minutes.

I admit that I don't listen to much Coldplay. Lemme add them to my Spotify favorites (which, for artists, is basically a "check out later" list).

I actually really like Solar Fields, but I only own one of his albums. If you've only been exposed to him through Mirror's Edge, his other work is good too. I've been shifting toward non-lyrical music over the past few years, and he's in a sweet spot of my genre interests.

Regarding Midnight City, I definitely do have a (different) soft spot for home-listening-oriented danceable pop. Have you heard of Feki? He's in a pretty similar spot of dance-influenced beats with a lot of reverb and liquid-smooth production.

You've also heard of Porter Robinson, right? His new singles are pretty killer, but I'm waiting for the full album before putting too much wear on the released songs.
but if glory makes you happy
why are you so broken up


I was once really into Kasbo's "Over You", but I listened to the song too much, and now I'm unfortunately sick of it.

Have you heard of Windsor Airlift? It started out as a post-rock band containing Adam Young (the man who would later go on to be Owl City) and a couple of his childhood friends. When Owl City took off, he left Windsor Airlift, and the two brother continued the project. Some of their early works bear his influence, and they have that strange sadness that his works ooze with. Windsor Airlift's entire discography bundle on Bandcamp is pretty cheap, so they were an easy purchase for me.

Adam Young later wrote a crudton of soundtrack-style albums and released them for free. I put them all into one big playlist. They're not as well-produced as his Owl City or Port Blue works, but they're pretty good.

Also, Shallou makes me cry.
 
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It took some months for me to check back here, and I was rewarded with an HOUR LONG VIDEO from BlueZero4? That's awesome!

I gotta say, you gave me heaps of good feedback. Since you talked through your thought process as you played it gave me that window into the player's mind that I was sorely needing. See, since I don't playtest much - preferring instead to say "K here's a completed level I think is dope, byeee" - I don't really course-correct as I go through the creation process. That's served me fine for the most part, but it is an error in thinking.

You've given me a lot of good ideas. Now that the official SUGOI trilogy port is underway, that may give me incentive to apply some of the suggestions you put in your video. Or it may not. I've been looking into game development with Unity so that's been eating up my scraps of free time lately... so it's kind of a toss up as to whether I want to divert my time into putting some final touches into the level.

I will say, though. Your observation that the level is more linear because the two paths are mandatory - I'd counter that by saying the copious secret areas fill in the gaps that optional paths fill in other levels ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯. I don't know if you'd agree with that paradigm.

In any case, thanks for the video. It is a wonderful gift.
 
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hey, since TehRealSalt announced the official ports of the Sugoi trilogy, you can ask to change the original version of the stage with this improved version
 
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If you do update Abandoned Airbase some more for the SUGOI trilogy release, best of luck.

I sent you a friend request on Discord, if you want direct access to me. I check Discord more often than SRB2MB. My username on Discord is weird (contains the word "milk").
 
I love this, its layout reminds me of some collect-a-thon games like SM64 or Banjo-Kazooie
 
I complete this level a year ago and I am completing it again now. This is some strange and "magical" level. It looks not to say that it is very good (some details can be corrected), but this level is very cool.

This level plays well with the player, if I may say so. This is a rather interesting and mysterious atmosphere. You don't need to run somewhere, kill badniks and complete the level. To begin with, you ask yourself "Where am I? Where should I go?", and then you start to run and explore the level. You no longer think that you are playing srb2. You are immersed in level.

Definitely one of the best levels and I'm happy to come back to it a year later and write this post.
 
bois I did it once again and it was as fun.. trying to get through this while forgeting a lot of the level was what made it fun plus SUGOI

srb20030.png
 

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