January/February 2011 Voting

[Fawfulfan]

Officially, aesthetics are supposed to take a back seat to gameplay. A level that plays epic and looks hideous should get a much, much higher score than a level that looks fantastic and is totally unplayable.

Of course, in practice, the look of a level has a great bearing on whether or not it plays well. Spherallic's point is that rating a level poorly on terms of ugliness alone isn't what the OLDC is supposed to encourage.

[MascaraSnake]

Originally Posted by Fawfulfan

SpiritCrusher's point is that rating a level poorly on terms of ugliness alone isn't what the OLDC is supposed to encourage.

*Spherallic's point. Spherallic said that ;)

Especially for multiplayer maps, aesthetics aren't all that important. For single player maps, that's a vastly different thing. Mystic probably disagrees with me on this, but I think that looks are an extremely factor to making an enjoyable single player map.

[Mystic]

Originally Posted by Charybdizs

What's that supposed to mean? Shouldn't the way a level looks be a major factor in the scores it receives?

Originally Posted by Mystic

Please be as unbiased as possible for the author or the look of the map. It's all about how good the map plays, nothing else.

Clearly someone didn't read the rules to voting, because it explicitly says you're wrong right there, thank you very much. Now obviously a map that looks good likely had more time and energy spent in creating it, which means it will be more LIKELY to play well, but that's not a hard and fast rule by a long shot, as many pretty maps are awful and vice versa.

tl;dr: This is a contest for level design, not level decoration. Looks do not count at all.

[Charybdizs]

Of course, I wasn't trying to say that looks is THE most major thing to consider, but I'd still consider it most after gameplay. I mean, the levels that always stick out to me most are the ones that are really unique in decoration, e.g. Clockwork Towers, Acid Plant, or, to be more recent, Damp Campus.

EDIT: Ninja'd by Mystic.

This is a contest for level design, not level decoration. Looks do not count at all.

Originally Posted by Spiritcrusher

Mystic probably disagrees with me on this

And there you go!

Hmm this talking has all given me an idea...

EDIT2:

Originally Posted by Mystic

Clearly someone didn't read the rules to voting

Actually I did read the rules to voting, multiple times. I don't know why I didn't notice something as quirky as that rule though.

[Zap610]

Originally Posted by Mystic

This is a contest for level design, not level decoration.

They are the same thing.

[Ultimate]

Finally, here are my reviews! Scores are based on Mystic’s 1-10 scale. I'm not a very experienced mapper, but I hope my reviews can contribute something to help each of you improve your maps.

Originally Posted by Mystic

Now obviously a map that looks good likely had more time and energy spent in creating it, which means it will be more LIKELY to play well, but that's not a hard and fast rule by a long shot, as many pretty maps are awful and vice versa.

tl;dr: This is a contest for level design, not level decoration. Looks do not count at all.

I tried my best to base my scores on this. I hope none of you find my scores too different from what you believe you should get.
10 - Epic
9 - Awesome
8 - Great
7 - Good
6 - Decent
5 - Average
4 - Mediocre
3 - Bad
2 - Awful
1 - Horrendous
0 - Unplayable
------
Wood Asleep by Internet Explorer - 4 (Mediocre)

Spoiler:

I have to say, this instant I started your level, I was 'hooked'. I was interested. It had a unique atmosphere, and I wanted to know what was going to happen next. The water level started rising, and I had this feeling of a "need to escape", which you created through the chilling mood, brought out by the environment, the textures, and the music.

I loved the little hidden rooms that you had in the next area. They were just a "little bonus" for exploring, which I always enjoy in maps. Next, I entered the forest area. At first I thought "this looks pretty neat" but I was soon lost with no direction about where to go. I tried going on several springs, one of them actually shot me directly into a wall, serving no purpose whatsoever. I felt like this area was "there just to be there". I didn't have a real sense of direction or purpose for the area.

However, if you were making this area in order to create a sense of "mystery", and the need to explore and find out what's going on - I can understand what you tried to do. If that was indeed your goal, it's overall not a bad setup, however, I think you should add more direction or hints to the area. Perhaps make several areas that stand out more. Make the water path lead you further in the map rather than just around the map. Make there be a reason to explore, give the player incentive.

The first time I hit the red spring leading to the end sign, I actually didn't even notice the end sign there. There was no real indication that the end of the level was in front of me. Although the spring was placed in a different location than the others, I wasn't sure if it was actually leading me somewhere. I felt that it could just be 'another' spring among many others. If you had made it more clear that the direction it moved me towards was the end of the map, I wouldn't have missed it the first time.

I really enjoyed your use of textures, and the atmosphere was great. It felt much different than a typical Sonic the Hedgehog map, but I didn't mind. It's an interesting idea, but I think you can improve it quite a bit from where it is now. Add more direction, and give the player incentive to search, like you did at the beginning of this map. I hope you continue this and improve it, I really want to give it a higher score than I did.

Colossal Castle Zone by Katmint - 3 (Bad) I'm sorry, I really want to give you a better score...please read my review

Spoiler:

Hm...I was kind of confused by your level. It's clear that you had a good idea of what you wanted your level's atmosphere to be like. You had a clear idea of a gimmick that you wanted to use. However, you have to keep in mind that the player has absolutely no information about how to navigate your level. For example, I think that the first door that was opened through a gargoyle box should have been the one right in front of the "switch area/hole". When I landed in there, I was sure the door was going to open up, but when it didn't, I was pretty confused. After about 3 minutes I finally realized that the door that opened was in a different location. Try to make sure that at all times the player knows where to go.

From here, I was able to solve the next puzzle and push the two gargoyles into the “switch hole”, grab the gargoyle box, and join the two gargoyles to open up the next door. However, I was once again confused. I thought this would open the door just in front and below this “switch hole”. However, it did not. Also, if I accidentally dropped a gargoyle or ran out of time with the gargoyle box, there was no way to continue except through death. I felt this was kind of unfair.

It’s from here where I could no longer navigate the level. I got into the room with the giant table, found all the holes in the ground, found the armageddon shield…and then had no idea what to do. I had to use noclip to finish most of the rest of the stage. I felt that not every area in the map was “special”. I wanted each place to have its own reason for being there, and its own unique feel to it. I also did not enjoy the Brak Eggman very much ^^”

Regarding the atmosphere of the level, I felt that most of the textures you used worked well. There were only a couple textures that I thought were unfitting (the purple and red “carpet” on the stairs). I liked the idea of having a coliseum for a battle, but not Brak (as I stated before). I felt that a lot of the areas seemed empty, and could use more variety (sorry for being hypocritical here ^^”). This level did not feel at all like a Sonic game to me. Puzzles aren’t really what Sonic was about. HOWEVER, this is not classic Sonic, and SRB2 is indeed its own game. You have the right to make the level however you want. But I just wanted to bring that to your attention in case it wasn’t purposeful.

I think that if you give the player a better sense of direction and where to go, and make it so that gargoyles and gargoyle boxes can be recovered if lost – this level will improve quite a bit. It still won’t feel like a Sonic game, but if that’s not what you’re going for, then that’s fine. Try and make sure every single 32x32 square of your map has a reason for being there. “Why did I put this here? Is it special in its own way? Is it unique? What do I want the player to feel here? How can I create a sense of interest in the player? How can I make the player think ‘How do I get up there?’” Are all questions I try to ask myself when I made my map…I may be a very inexperienced mapper, but I know that asking questions like these surely can’t hurt. By just improving the player’s sense of direction in this map alone, my score would increase 1-2 points. I hope you find some kind of help through my review, and hope to see a new and improved version of your map in the future :P

Grassy Cliffs by NeroTheArmadillo - 4 (Mediocre) 3 (Bad) because no load in SRB2

Spoiler:

I saw that you said this is for SRB2 rpg? I guess it’s fitting for an rpg style map, but not so much a Sonic map. It was very short, very small, fairly empty, but pretty nicely decorated. There was only one path from what I could tell. The textures worked well. The music was a little awkward. The map overall left me slightly confused asking “why was it so short”? Ignoring the fact that I had to used DB to run it, I'll give it a mediocre score. It wasn't awful, but there wasn't much to do. It was just...not very captivating. Make it longer, more interesting, and have more paths to take :P

Windmill Hill Zone by Ultimate –

Spoiler:

I would score myself as a 4-5. I think I can improve a lot with details. I definitely need more texture variety. There are many graphical errors, and the second longer path is very empty. I personally feel that, for an opening level, the design itself is pretty nice in terms of gameplay and exploration. I tried to make each area interesting and unique. But, there is a long way to go before I can call this map finished.

Clockwork Grove by Thompson – 9 (Awesome)

Spoiler:

I loved your map. Everything about it was just so wonderful - The music, the atmosphere, the textures, the mood, the gameplay, the imagination - the overall sense of fun. Your map was very beautiful, and I was stunned from the very start all the way to the end. I have never been a fan of long maps, but my 25 minute playthrough felt like only 5 minutes – time just seemed to fly by (pun intended)! Almost every area had something new to offer, and the textures became more intense and decorative as the level went on. I loved how as the level progressed, more and more of those “floating lights” were to be seen. It’s such a simple thing to do, but it gave me a real sense of progression in the level. They also made the map look so colorful and lively.

There were so many things in your level that you must have had to work really hard to accomplish. The new enemies, things, and textures all worked beautifully. I loved the squishy spring thing, and the little green globs of goo that it would spit out! I even found that funny looking green apple/tomato thing! seed ^^
Throughout your whole level, I had a complete sense of direction on where I needed to go, without ever feeling restricted - except for one area. The only place I lost this sense was at the first gargoyle switch. I knew that it must have been opening a door somewhere, but it took me a while to notice that the checkered wall had opened up. I’m sure that there is a simple way to give a better idea of where to go here. Perhaps it was just me that got confused here.

I thought your placement of items worked really well. You make the player really work for extra lives! That’s something I appreciate. Getting up that waterfall wasn’t an easy task! You reward your players well for exploration. That’s another I love about your map! There was so much to explore, many paths to choose from, and yet it was all cohesive and easily understandable. Honestly, I cannot at this point imagine having more fun in a level than I had in yours, however, I am choosing not to give this 10 in the belief that there is still something even more that can be done. Wonderful job on your map. I’m so glad that I was able to play it. It was the most fun I’ve had in SRB2 in a while. It truly felt like a Sonic the Hedgehog game, all the while being its own unique experience. Thank you for your truly awesome map.

EDIT: I played through again and have a couple additional comments:

In this area, I thought that the small path to the right was an area would progress me further, or perhaps a secret area, since it wasn't direct. I later found out that it was a path to return here if you fall into the water while small. Maybe you can find a way to block off this entrance from here so that people won't make the same mistake I did :P


It took me a minute or two to figure out that I was supposed to go up here. The first time I hit the spring through the shrinker, I was facing the wrong direction and didn't see this path. If you are tiny and hit the spring, you don't go as high and are unable to see or get up here. Maybe somehow make it more obvious that there is a path above the shrinker.

I loved placing the seed into the hole thing! I completely missed this in my first two runthroughs, which is okay, because the other paths were just as fun! I loved how this path emphasized the theme of time, with the seed budding into a plant, and then into a tree. The purple plant spring was nice as well. I like how it kept you in your 'jump state' so that you could thok even after being bounced. I also loved just how completely different the paths to the end of the map were. It was like a whole different level. This made me love your map even more!

Wonder Terrace Zone by BlazeFan1 – 6 (Decent) 7 (Good)

Spoiler:

I enjoyed your map. It was fun, and had a lot of variety in the environments. The details were nice and I always knew where to go. I thought the monochrome and the black and white rooms were really neat looking. This didn’t feel too much like “Sonic” to me, but it was fun nonetheless. It was its own experience. I thought some of your transitions to new areas were really nice (the spring in the water well was a pleasant surprise when I came up! I also enjoyed the transition to the water/ice area), but some could be improved with a few simple changes :P

I thought each area was unique and visually interesting. There was a good amount of detail in every area, but a few spots (inside the tree) could perhaps use a little bit more. There were only two places in your map that slightly bugged me. The first is the fire room. When playing as Sonic, without the windmill shield, I had to wait for literally about 3 minutes before a pattern of platforms came that would allow me to reach the first non-moving platform. Maybe I was just unlucky with the random pattern of platforms? The second area was the moving platform to the giant tree. It’s just a small thing, but I think if you the single platform into two platforms, with one starting at the top, and one at the bottom, players wouldn’t have to wait so long to begin moving to the top of the tree. The same thing could be done in the back.

I liked the little trick ending where the platform suddenly shot up. I liked your use of textures throughout the level. I think the music could use changing (although I did read that you will be changing it I think…). Oh, also, I thought that most of your extra life placements were good except for the one in the monochrome room. I felt that there wasn't enough of a risk of death to merit an extra life there, and the player didn't have to really work at all to get it. The other lives were a little more difficult to find or were near 'high death risk' areas. After typing all this I see no reason to give your level anything less than a 7 (Good). Score changed.

Splash Garden Zone Act 1 by Blade – 8 (Great)

Spoiler:

I’m sorry that your review is going to be a bit short, but I personally don’t have too much to offer for you. First off, I will say that I hate 2D in SRB2. However, let me counter that by saying for a 2D level, I believe you did just about everything right. The visuals were great, the enemies looked good. The design was nice. The textures worked well. Areas were unique throughout. The only negative thing was I felt like the map was a little too easy. I fell through a pit about 3-4 times in your stage and thought “oh shoot”, only to land on more ground below. I think perhaps dying would have been more enjoyable than living in this situation (strange isn’t it?). Also, the horizontal springs were a little buggy, but I'm not sure if that's fixable. Despite the fact that I hate 2D, for what your map is, I cannot give it any lower than an 8. Great job.

[Metal-Rawr]

Nonono you guys didn't get me, or didn't read the other half of my "Not cool!" post. I said the level looks like the bottom of the waterfall room in Jade Valley Zone (or whatever it's name is) copy pasted 4 times with red "caves" that transport you from one bottom of the waterfall room to another. It's not cool 'cause it's not original, IMO.

[MascaraSnake]

Introducing: my voting post. At least what I've done of it until now, the rest will be added when I've write them. Already reviewed levels are in italics. If I'm gonna do multiplayer depends on whether somebody actually hosts a netgame.

Score overview, for easy tallying:
Wood Asleep by Internet Explorer - 4/10
Colossal Castle Zone by Katmint - 3/10
Grassy Cliffs by NeroTheArmadillo - 0/10
Windmill Hill Zone by Ultimate - 5/10
Clockwork Grove Zone by Thompson - 8/10
Wonder Terrace Zone by BlazeFan1 - 5/10
Splash Garden Zone Act 1 by Blade - 6/10

Reviews:

Spoiler: Single Player

Wood Asleep by Internet Explorer - 4/10
Welcome to Hilarious Engrish Zone. At Hilarious Engrish Zone, you can enjoy pointless graphic and sound replacements that have nothing to do with the actual level, unfitting custom textures, a confusing maze and of course, a healthy dose of Engrish. And all that for just $5.99!

So yeah, I'm not funny, but neither is this level. I know what you tried to do here, but it didn't work for a number of reasons. BlueZero4 already told you that when you're focusing on atmosphere, you should be focusing on engaging surroundings and you should encourage exploration. Let me add that he knows what he's talking about when it comes to that. Play either Nuclear Sunset or Forever Forest, they should give you a hint at how the style you tried out here should be working. Sure, the visual style itself isn't too bad (and there are some neat colormap and lighting effects like the darkening exit sector), but that's doesn't help if half of your map repeats the same thing ad nauseam.

The problem here is that the whole forest section looks the same. It's just trees over and over and over and over. There aren't exactly too many things hidden here, and even if there were, I would hardly want to try to find them because I don't have any sense of direction. Of course, that also makes finding the exit quite hard, especially since it's tucked away behind a hedge of which I'd never know it's intangible if I hadn't accidentally stumbled through it. The river right next to it is pretty boring to fall into, because you can't escape and have to follow it to the end. I also found another path to the exit, but that was more by accident than anything else. I have no sense of direction when I play your map.

On the positive side, the indoor section wasn't too bad. I mean, the custom textures kinda irked me because they had a very different art style from regular SRB2, but they were pretty unique. The beginning room that you had to flood to break the window was pretty clever, and I liked the secrets in the building. Too bad that was over too soon. Three more things: The same brown texture that you used for the button appears again somewhere on the main path. Please, if you use one texture for a button or anything else that should stand out, don't use it for anything else. It confuses people. The second thing is that the colormap of the water appeared lighter to me than the colormap of the air. That's a bit unrealistic. At last, I want to be able to walk up stairs instead of jumping. Katmint made the same mistake.

The end result is a level that is quite interesting in the beginning, but becomes excessively dull pretty quickly. I wouldn't advise you to try and fix this level. It was more of an experiment, and although it was an interesting one, it ultimately failed. Making the player get lost will only make him lose interest. I hope you learned from it. With the knowledge you gained from this mistake, you can try your hand on something fresh and promising.

Colossal Castle Zone by Katmint - 3/10
The score is mostly for the effort. Playability or fun is something you have to hunt for in this map. While I appreciate long maps filled with gimmicks, not only do the gimmicks have to work (which they didn't), but the level must make an effort at incorporating them into something cohesive instead of lining them up one after the other (which it didn't). Maybe you hoped it wouldn't be obvious, but we can see that this map is a lazy excuse for all the cool gimmicks you thought up and not something that came from your heart, as they say. If you don't enjoy visual and architectural design, stop making single player maps. You can get away with it in multiplayer maps because you focus more on functionality than anything else there. But for single player maps, you need to put your soul into them.

Let me lose a few words about the visuals first. They're not exactly the most important thing, but they can bump a map up from decent to remarkable. For the most part, yours were pretty basic and in the castle section, they were often downright ugly. BRICK2W was a bad choice, simply because it doesn't harmonize with the CEZ set which is clad in brown and gray. The red carpet should actually be a carpet, it looks strange when the whole floor is like that. The purple stairs made no sense at all, and your red version of the STONEW set looked pretty surrealistic, which is probably not what you intended. Another thing that made me cringe is how you often used a different texture and flat for the same platform. In most cases, if you can see both the sides and the top of a structure, they should look the same (or at least look they're made of the same fabric). There are a few exceptions like grass, but for the most part, you should stick to that rule. DMAFLAT7 and DMAWALL7 for example are a pretty bad mix, and anything mixed with STONEW is terrible by default. But of course, these are pretty small nitpicks.

The main problem is something else. Actually, it's threefold: There's no sense of direction, many gimmicks are confusing or simply suck, and the small size of the player makes everything twice as stretched-out and tedious. For a change, I played through the whole thing with regular scale, and apart from the parts which were obviously impossible with normal size, everything was far more enjoyable. I know this goes against the theme of the level (what with the thing being colossal and all that jazz), but that way, your map would have probably earned a 5. A huge improvement is that both the whole stage and individual sections are much shorter. Take for example the library. As small Sonic, that room is overwhelmingly huge and therefore takes ages to pass. As regular Sonic, it's over pretty quickly, even though it's still too tall. It also helps that when I'm bigger, I can skip most of these really tiny platforms you used in a few section. Those were incredibly annoying because you had to be so accurate, and the increased floatiness of smaller size made matters worse.

The sense of direction is harder to fix. You already know about the confusion the gargoyle puzzle generates, and I think somebody mentioned that it's really hard to find the exit of the dining room (I found it by chance). The library has this annoyingly big staircase (in general, cut out those staircases), which only serves to open a door to the dining room. At first, the player thinks: "Oh, that switch probably opened a new exit in that room.", but then he realizes there is no new exit and the whole button thing wasn't even relevant. Make the real exits of the library more obvious than the useless button back the an old part of the stage. Same thing with the other gargoyle puzzle, where the button that connects both rooms looks like it's mandatory to continue.

Some gimmicks are pretty terrible too. The gargoyle monitor of course is a mystery to everyone who didn't see it before, and even disregarding that, it's not exactly interesting. You could at least have done something cool with the newfound bouncyness of the player. But no, you only toyed with the fact that the player is now a pushable object and therefore triggers the appropriate linedef. Apart from the fact that the player doesn't know that he is pushable now - because nobody else is there to push - that's a wasted gimmick: You pop a monitor, drop into a hole, and a door opens. Woohoo, that's so much fun! And of course, pushing real gargoyles while you're a pushable yourself is fucking annoying, because you bounce off every time you push. Also, why do I have to pass the same obstacle for both gargoyles? And why does this whole puzzle takes so annoyingly long?

The next minute doesn't have much action apart from the confusion I described earlier. It becomes interesting again in that dungeon behind the library with these weird pillars that turn red and hurt the player. They make little sense to me (What exactly are they?), but they're sorta fun. The second gargoyle gimmick is just as wasted and even less intuitive than the other one. And of course, the player doesn't do much here. Then there are a few boring crushers and Brak Eggman... Wait, Brak Eggman? I don't deny that your idea is marvelous, but the execution is kinda problematic. First off, it's not really obvious that the boss is intangible. Therefore, it's not obvious either that you have to go up and press a button to continue. But I did have a lot of fun with that boss after I figured it out.

Then, more crushers and a really weird room with huge swinging spikeballs, a few smaller ones, incredibly stress-inducing Robo-Hoods, and ridiculously small pillars I have to jump over. A fake ending, a flood of Jetty-syns coupled with some more overly tiny platforms, resulting in tons of unfair deaths, a pretty unremarkable but okay indoor section with in-yer-face Vulture attacks and an outside section with falling logs that are curiously enough not used for anything. Well, one of them can crush me to death, but that's it. As you can see from my rushed descriptions, I pretty much lost all remaining nerve by this time because the level is so damn long. The boss is a piece of spam that I can simply outsmart by recollecting my rings every time. Then, no Egg Capsule and off we go.

As you can see, I'm not fond of much of your stage. There were a few enjoyable moments and a few boring but at least not actively bad ones, but there were also tons of rage-inducing awfulness. Please, try to take this advice and spend more time on your next level instead of churning out four half-assed maps for one contest.

Grassy Cliffs by NeroTheArmadillo - 0/10
Of course, I can't give you a point for a map that doesn't even load. But rest assured that if it did, I'd only give you one point anyway. It's not like what you made is even that bad, no, it's quite good for a first effort. The tendency to build small rooms connected by corridors is typical for a beginning mapper. As you continue, you need to find the confidence to stretch your rooms out without making them look empty. But for now, I can't tell you much else. After all, this is just 10 seconds of level and 20 seconds of boss fight. It's like playing a note and then asking me if I like the tune. Well, I dunno, gimme the whole thing in context and I'll tell you. In other words, make more than this, and I'll be able to award you more than one point (and make sure that the map works, so you don't lose that point as well).

Windmill Hill Zone by Ultimate - 5/10
Your concept is nice and you sure have mapping talent. The reason that this map can't get beyond average is that you don't have enough experience yet (and of course that the map is blatantly unfinished). Seeing as you submitted the map in this state because you wanted feedback, I'll not so much concentrate on my opinion of the map but rather on what you should focus on when improving it.

First, the openness. It really kills your level from a purely practical point of view. SRB2's rendering cannot handle maps that are this wide without screwing up. Additionally, it looks makes it look kinda weird, but we're touching another problem here: Your whole stage is designed around a huge pit. I get the impression that you're trying to make a three-dimensional 2D level, if you know what I mean. You only focus on the path that lies ahead of the player, and everything else surrounding that area is just dead space. That's not how SRB2 levels work. Exploration is a big part of this game, and there's only so much I can explore when 60% of the visible territory isn't even used. Even despite all the secrets you hid in your map, I pretty much always had a set path to follow. Sure, there were several paths, but I couldn't deviate from any of them to explore the surroundings, because there were no surroundings.

Other people already mentioned the problem with the texturing, but I wanna address one specific problem with it: The GHZ texture set has this grass growing down the side of the platforms. You used it in numerous spots, but other platforms lack them, for example the bridges in the last area of the shorter path. One problem with that is visibility, because a platform without any type of grass border easily blends in with the surroundings. That effect is especially pronounced in your map because every huge wall has the same texture. Another thing is that it looks unrealistic to have grass without borders. It looks like the grass is an ultra-thin stripe attached to the top of a piece of rock instead of something that's growing out of it. Of course, the most obvious problem with your texturing is that there is no contrast, making it hard for the player to see certain things.

The windmill gimmick and well as that other wind thing that I didn't really understand were pretty cool and you introduced them really well too. You already know that some parts are lacking in content. Overall, the problem with this map was not so much the gameplay that you filled your paths with, it was more about how little there was of it and how little there was aside from it. I'd advise you to rebuild this map from scratch. You can use the same ideas, and you can probably copy a lot of stuff verbatim, but I don't think you'll be able to make the level less open by tweaking what you currently have. Reorganize the parts you have into a more structured form, and make sure you add a bunch of stuff that makes the player go out of their way.

A few small things I noticed: None of the water has a colormap, which is never a good idea. If you press left, right or back at the big windmill in the beginning, you land in the pit. Oh, and in the room with the zig-zag bridges at the end, the spring chain was kinda useless.

Splash Garden Zone Act 1 by Blade - 6/10
Again, BZ4 hit the nail on the head. Yes, this is competent. Yes, this is kinda enjoyable. But you can do so much more than waste your time with something so insubstantial, and the fact that you bothered to make this disappoints me. Okay, so most of it was apparently created a year ago, but I hope you're not gonna make something like this again. You have so many more plans for your pack, but it seems to me like you're hesitating to map them out.

Your map is supposed to be original, but it's really not. There's literally nothing in this map that I haven't seen in S1, S2 or S3&K. The sideways springs were badly drawn and they didn't work correctly when you ran into them, which ruined the gimmick with the two springs that push the player back and forth (not like that was a particularly good gimmick). But what irked me the most about them is how you used them. Finishing a platforming section only to be pushed back to the beginning by some sideways spring that I didn't expect is annoying. The one right before the end sign was even hidden behind a tree. Some of the enemies were also badly placed. I frequently ran into spring robots before I saw them or was hit by missiles that came from off-screen. Yes, the classic games do that too, but I find that really annoying there as well.

There were some alternate paths with power-up items that gave the level some badly needed replay value. But what annoyed me about them was that some of those tiny square blocks looked like they were leaning on the wall, but when I jumped too far, there was a large enough gap to fall down. It's not a problem that there are gaps between the blocks and the wall, it's just that I can't see gap before I jump on them. Speaking of those blocks, I really didn't this lake section where I had to jump across several of them. They're so freakishly tiny that it's hard not to overshoot, and if you fall down, you have to do it all over again. I'm not gonna say much about the fake slope and the stolen zoom tube. Both are cool in the classic games, but in SRB2, they can't be replicated to a point where they are as much fun. The slope was so weak that I almost didn't notice it (and if you made it stronger, the missing slope physics would become apparent) and the zoom tube looked terrible and didn't really speed me up the way the original one does.

On the plus side, the visuals were nice, the aforementioned alternate paths made the level a bit more interesting, the large ring at the end was kinda cool, the enemies are good per se even if the placement was sometimes lacking, and the main path, while not remarkable, is fun to play through. The level is not bad, but there's not enough in it to hold my interest when I compare it to a full-blown 3D level (even one that doesn't have many obstacles, like Sapphire Coast). That extra dimension is really missing when it comes to exploration. And of course, you fell into the typical 2D mode trap: The player isn't able to see in front of him, but you sometimes required him to do just that.

[sphere]

SINGLE PLAYER


Wood Asleep - 2/10
Aside from the truckload of unnecessary custom music and graphic files, this level just doesn’t have anything going for it. The beginning looked and played decently enough, a tad boring and gray maybe, but the outside area… well, let’s just say that I’ve never seen such a dull, boring, large and featureless area in any SRB2 level ever created. Sure, it didn’t look bad (aside from the absolutely gigantic slime trails) and it had a lot of atmosphere, but there wasn’t anything to do aside from getting lost and finding the exit by randomly running around.

Oh, and your custom textures weren’t implemented correctly.


Colossal Castle - 4/10
Unlike most people here, I actually got quite a lot of enjoyment out of this level. Sure, it was about 4 times as long as it should be, but I enjoyed playing through this, really!

But it does have a lot of flaws, so I can see why people dislike this level so much. First of all, stair jumping is incredibly tedious and boring. I know that you’re trying to give the player the illusion of thinking that they’re small, but it’s not an excuse for simply boring level design. Second, the gargoyle monitors were completely new to me, so I had no clue as to what they did. Really, turning the player into a pushable object is just weird. The next room features a door that doesn’t open up, even after you press the button. I first restarted the stage about 3 times after deciding that it’s broken, and then I discovered that it actually opened up a door at the beginning of the stage, instead of the door that is visible from the gargoyle hole. Maybe add a sound effect when you trigger the door, so that players won’t be tricked into believing that the level is broken?

After that, I spent about 5 minutes trying to figure out what to do in the dining hall. Eventually I noticed floor crumbling below me, and then I noticed the non-obvious cracks in the floor. And then, I need to find the correct one that leads on to the next area. Yay. Then I get presented by a suspiciously maze-like library that luckily doesn’t take that long to figure out, followed by a star post and some more weird gargoyle monitor puzzle action, this time not even giving any clue to tell you that you need to be a pushable object to get teleported to the other side of the mirror!

After a basic crusher maze and a tiny spike checkerboard area, I- BRAK EGGMAN FIGHT GOGOGO! But suddenly, the missiles don’t hurt him and there’s no obvious way to get on top of his head! What to do now? Well, I won’t spoil it, but after that there are some basic platforming sections and a secret room that’s way too easy to find.

Suddenly, the level goes all NAGZ! And it looks quite good compared to what I saw before in this level. It even plays sort of well too! But then, upgraded Eggmobile time! Sadly, without a fancy ending or an Egg Capsule.
And one final thing: being scaled is quite annoying, as it makes mouselook more responsive than it should be ):


Grassy Cliffs - 0/10
Unplayable: crash on level load. Then I loaded it up in SRB2DB and all I found was a small-scaled, boring level. And I guess it’s obvious that there’s something wrong when the Eggmobile fight takes longer than the level itself.


Windmill Hill - 5/10
Okay, if it weren’t for the high exploration level and the windmill gimmick, this stage would have gotten a 3 from me: the main/bottom/whatever path is simply that boring. I could count the amount of times I jumped on one hand, and it doesn’t help that the level is really short.

The windmill gimmick, sadly enough, has absolutely no clue to show that it’s there. When I first played this level, I noticed no other paths aside from the aforementioned ‘main path’, and I was going to actually rate this level a 3. Only by accident I figured out that the upward currents were actually there, and that’s where the stage became more fun to me. Trying to get to seemingly out-of-reach platforms (like the one at the start), trying to explore every single nook and cranny, it was all much more fun than simply following the path.

I guess that makes it a GFZ2-esque stage (your stage even has GFZ2 music!): Sort of boring and short when trying to follow the path, but much more fun and rewarding when taking the time to explore everything. And I really like stages with that design, I prefer them over fun to play but secret-less maps. One thing I suggest is the usage of the higher resolution GHZ textures: the current ones are quite ugly.


Clockwork Grove - 8/10
And here comes Thompson again, making the best map of the single player division once again. Give others a chance too ):

But seriously, there’s almost nothing wrong with this level! Well, aside from the fact that it might be a little too long for its own good the first time, and that it might look a little too cluttered at points (mostly because of those wisp-things), and that it might be slightly too unclear on where to go sometimes. Otherwise, it’s quality material. Good job, Thompson :)


Wonder Terrace - 7/10
Wow, this stage is much more fun than I expected it to be! (based on your previous efforts :P) I really liked each individual theme, most gimmicks were quite clever, and the music was pretty nice. However, the level doesn’t look that good sometimes, for example the final area could do with some less clashing textures. Not all gimmicks are executed that well, particularly the turret lift that sometimes made it hard to see the turrets in question, and the moving platforms around the giant tree that took way too long. Oh, and some items are too easy to get (1-ups in castle and tree area, for example), but otherwise this is a really solidly built and fun level.


Splash Garden - 5/10
I’m sorry Blade, how awesome this stage might be, and how awesome this stage may look with my help of course :’), I just can’t stand 2D mode. It has nothing to do with your stage, aside from the god-awful annoying Buzz Bombers with way too accurate aim, but 2D mode’s just too awful to me to get any enjoyment out of any stage designed in it. That doesn’t mean that this stage sucks, in fact, this is and will possibly remain the best 2D stage ever for a long time. Just remove the fake slope physics, they are dumb, and please remove the ring box at the start: it’s lethal :<


MATCH


Cold Cavern - 2/10
1. Stay in the center
2. Regain your rings when hit
3. ???
4. Profit!
And that’s really all there is to this level. Also symmetry, lack of random monitors and even lack of some weapon panels.


Zoom Ship Zone – 3/10
Nice concept... it’s a pity that the stage itself is quite hard to navigate and such a mess. Death pits and hazards all over the place, and not a lot more to comment on otherwise.


Rush Flower Zone - 5/10
I like the layout, nice and simple, but this is indeed obviously a rush job, looking at the item placement and the visuals :P It’s still the best match map this contest though.


CTF and Race reviews coming later... maybe.

[Metal-Rawr]

Oh yeah, Katmint, just another comment on your map...
Why overpower enemies?
Seriously, the Vultures strike too quickly, the Jetty-Syns rise higher than usual while floating so it's hard to use the spindash-jump trick to destroy them. Oh and I don't think I've mentioned it, but in the NAGZ part outside there's a whole bunch of Jetty Syns, and the Nuke Monitor to destroy them is... After some small pillars which you need focus to do correctly, and the spam of Jetty- Syn's not helping my focus.

[MascaraSnake]

Originally Posted by Metal-Rawr

Why overpower enemies?
Seriously, the Vultures strike too quickly, the Jetty-Syns rise higher than usual while floating so it's hard to use the spindash-jump trick to destroy them.

That happens because everything is scaled down by half in this map. So the player and the enemies are only half as big, but the enemies more with the same pattern as if they were big. Probably not intended, but it could have been sorta fixed.

[Ultimate]

Originally Posted by SpiritCrusher

Spoiler:

Windmill Hill Zone by Ultimate - 5/10
Your concept is nice and you sure have mapping talent. The reason that this map can't get beyond average is that you don't have enough experience yet (and of course that the map is blatantly unfinished). Seeing as you submitted the map in this state because you wanted feedback, I'll not so much concentrate on my opinion of the map but rather on what you should focus on when improving it.

First, the openness. It really kills your level from a purely practical point of view. SRB2's rendering cannot handle maps that are this wide without screwing up. Additionally, it looks makes it look kinda weird, but we're touching another problem here: Your whole stage is designed around a huge pit. I get the impression that you're trying to make a three-dimensional 2D level, if you know what I mean. You only focus on the path that lies ahead of the player, and everything else surrounding that area is just dead space. That's not how SRB2 levels work. Exploration is a big part of this game, and there's only so much I can explore when 60% of the visible territory isn't even used. Even despite all the secrets you hid in your map, I pretty much always had a set path to follow. Sure, there were several paths, but I couldn't deviate from any of them to explore the surroundings, because there were no surroundings.

Other people already mentioned the problem with the texturing, but I wanna address one specific problem with it: The GHZ texture set has this grass growing down the side of the platforms. You used it in numerous spots, but other platforms lack them, for example the bridges in the last area of the shorter path. One problem with that is visibility, because a platform without any type of grass border easily blends in with the surroundings. That effect is especially pronounced in your map because every huge wall has the same texture. Another thing is that it looks unrealistic to have grass without borders. It looks like the grass is an ultra-thin stripe attached to the top of a piece of rock instead of something that's growing out of it. Of course, the most obvous problem with your texturing is that there is no contrast, making it hard for the player to see certain things.

The windmill gimmick and well as that other wind thing that I didn't really understand were pretty cool and you introduced them really well too. You already know that some parts are lacking in content. Overall, the problem with this map was not so much the gameplay that you filled your paths with, it was more about how little there was of it and how little there was aside from it. I'd advise you to rebuild this map from scratch. You can use the same ideas, and you can probably copy a lot of stuff verbatim, but I don't think you'll be able to make the level less open by tweaking what you currently have. Reorganize the parts you have into a more structured form, and make sure you add a bunch of stuff that makes the player go out of their way.

A few small things I noticed: None of the water has a colormap, which is never a good idea. If you press left, right or back at the big windwill in the beginning, you land in the pit. Oh, and in the room with the zig-zag bridges at the end, the spring chain was kinda useless.

Thank you very much for the review! I can safely say that so far your review has helped me the most.

Regarding the openness of the map, until I read your post, I was planning on keeping it open and over a death pit. However, after reading what you had to say, I'm definitely and finally going to move away from the deathpit level setup. After I decided this, I was really unsure how to build my map around a non-deathpit scenario, but all of a sudden, some pretty neat ideas popped up in my head. I think it will definitely be a pretty big transition, but hopefully I'll be able to make it work.

I know exactly what you mean with the 2D level in a 3D setting. Especially after playing Thompson's level, I noticed this so much more in my own map. I tried to counter this with several secrets, but that's not really enough. The openness was originally there to give a feeling of the ability to explore freely, but in the end it caused more restriction than freedom. I'll try to find a way to make the wind noticeable as well, and find a way to improve the textures. Thanks again for your review! It really helped a lot!

Originally Posted by Spherallic

Trying to get to seemingly out-of-reach platforms (like the one at the start), trying to explore every single nook and cranny, it was all much more fun than simply following the path.

I guess that makes it a GFZ2-esque stage (your stage even has GFZ2 music!): Sort of boring and short when trying to follow the path, but much more fun and rewarding when taking the time to explore everything. And I really like stages with that design, I prefer them over fun to play but secret-less maps.

Yes! This is exactly what I was going for! To make the player wonder how to get to the seemingly out-of-reach platforms and experience the fun in exploration. I am hoping to refine this map while keeping these same traits, except enhancing them and making them more fully integrated throughout every portion of the map.

[SRB2PlayerFan]

The levels seem rather hard due to the fact that some people rushed their level-making progresses.

My votes:
Match:

Cold Cavern:
1/10

What I say: This level is too symmetrical and would not be good for a King of the Hill map because:

1. The middle area is too low.
2. The map is a circle.
3. There must be traps in a level to prevent other players from getting to the top of the hill.

Zoom Ship:
7/10

What I say: This map might just be the next Flying Battery Zone. There's holes in the floor, making the level more challenging, but there's not enough ERZ and Doomship textures to make this a ship, but still, the level is great.


Rush Flower:
6/10

Quote: This has to be the most saddest attempt yet. Out of all the OLDC levels I've seen, they were made in 3 days or less, but this level was made in 3 hours. The GFZ theme is excellent.



CTF:


Damp Campus:
8/10

Quote: This level is in the form of a campus found at colleges and/or universities. The level is like a football game between the Blue and Red teams, except you take flags from the opposing team's base and you try to score a touchdown, and the library is where all the things happen, take the flag and then bolt immediately!



Cold Sea:
1/10

Quote: This map has got to be one of the worst CTF levels ever seen. The level layout for the CTF bases is too big, and it's easy for Tails or Knuckles players to easily fly to the opposite bases and take the flags while the Sonic players have to jump from sector to sector instead of falling into the water and taking a very cold bath.


Volcanic Shelter:
5/10

Quote: This level layout appears to be a good one, but the area's partially dark and the players can't see where they're going.


Misty Mire:
3/10

Quote: This level seems particulary difficult due to the fact that there's a big gaping hole full of qucksand that can kill you if you don't get out on time.



Race


Sparkling Abyss
4/10

Quote: There is nothing "sparkling" about this level. This level is bound to have players move their cameras down to see if they landed on a platform, and when you go inside the wall, there's a "rainbow" colormap inside there. It should be on the outside instead of inside, and whenever you spindash in the "rainbow" colormap, your thokking sprite will be white.


Acid Valley
7/10


Quote: This level is particulary hard, making this level an anti-thokfest due to the fact that there's acid on some portions of the level. The acid in the holes is too transparent, but players can still see them.



I found some of the maps interesting, and the others not so interesting.

[Charybdizs]

Originally Posted by SRB2PlayerFan

Quote: This level seems particulary difficult due to the fact that there's a big gaping hole full of qucksand that can kill you if you don't get out on time.

O M G Why didn't I catch that in testing? I can't believe it! That kind of ruins the main gimmick of the map!

EDIT: Working on scores, should have the multiplayer ones in some time tomorrow most likely.

[Mr. Mystery]

tl;dr: I realize the shorter deadline in February sneaks up on people, but outside CTF the theme of this contest is "There is, like, nothing here".

== MATCH ==

Cold Cavern by jloy1 - 2/10
- 1 pity point for the occasional amusement of playing with noobs who don't get the objective and waiting to see how long before they figure out what's going on
- A cute concept applied within a map that almost might as well be empty. Try again.

Zoom Ship Zone by Katmint - 3/10
- An even better concept that fails for the same reason as above: no execution
- Seriously, apply the outdoor area's features on a map that doesn't play like a fraction of a beta
- BTW, in Mystic's game, it was funny - in a kind of hollywood suspense way - to see everybody disappear from the outdoor area, and head below deck to discover almost everybody else in the game piled into one dead end going ballistic on each other...just in time for them to all come rushing out.

Rush Flower Zone by KO.T.E - 5/10
- By the standard of "2 hours before the deadline on a whim", not bad. Otherwise, an utterly average map that wasn't much fun
- That is, unless you're like Mystic who is a f'ing beast at pummeling people with bounce rings:



== CTF ==
Disclaimer: I only got to play these maps with a decent number of people once.

Damp Campus Zone by Fawfulfan - 7/10
- Though Mystic may have a point about having to patrol base to keep enemy campers out, that should not be a necessity for a CTF stage to not be prone to long stalemates in medium-size netgames. More importantly, happen to recall frequently entering the red base to find about 3 or 4 teammates already lying in wait behind the flag most of the time...and I suspect Mystic didn't notice because we were on his team :o
- The base camping can maybe be toned down from "nuisance" levels by shifting back the pedestal the flag is on so it's against the wall. But take into account that you can still hide beside the doorway in there and having the bomb ring in such close proximity to that may make it cheap.
- As for the rest of the map, kill the rain (very laggy) and tone down the number of dead end nooks & crannies to stash yourself in as they are all over the place. The rest is solid and fun, just quite problematic in the bases.

Cold Sea Zone by Katmint - 7/10
- Suprisingly quite entertaining for a map so flat and flooded with rings. The latter problem needs the most attention
- The flag pedestals need to be placed indoors for cover from the opposite base - perhaps place some windows (to escape/shoot through), but the flag spot itself shouldn't be easily snipeable from across the stage. And try to make it more immedeately obvious that Knux can't climb the sides of the bases :p

Volcanic Shelter Zone by Kuba11 - 7/10
- Pretty good overall
- In spite of the obstacles, you can still get to either base fastest just by barrelling straight down the middle. Though this does leave you liable to get shot a lot, it leaves the other paths frequently ignored. I might suggest curving the shape of the map (ala Icicle Falls) to fix this.
- Bases are a mess to navigate for both sides, so the team rings don't help much. Clean it up; also the lavafall at the back of the bases (behind the flag) doesn't inflict damage

Misty Mire Zone by Charybdizs - 2/10
- A couple of pity points for the map being enjoyable in spite of it being unfinishable. Besides that problem though, the map is messy:
- I find the pedestal climb back to base to be excessively torturous for the flag carrier. If there's any lag, it's easy to fall down, and the enemy can rush you so incredibly easily in that spot. Come up with something a little less brutal.
- There are no team rings
- Placing two SRMs within reach of each other in the mire is prolly not a good idea
- Try making something more out of that dead end with the rail
- I noticed this little crevice in the wall down in the mire:



It could be easy to mistake that for a way out when it actually leads straight to bottomless doom.

== CIRCUIT ==

Sparkling Abyss Zone by Katmint - 4/10
- Ok, so it's a tech demo, but um, you kind of have to try harder than this for a contest entry

Acid Valley Zone by Miles Knuckle Power - 1/10
- 1/3rd draconian hazards, 1/3rd ponderously long zoom tube intestine trip, 1/3rd filler
- Besides playability (barely), there is no redeeming value to this worth speaking of
- Why did THIS awful map get a custom level select pic? :(

----------------

Won't be voting on SP as usual, but Thompson, a few issues with Clockwork Grove:



This spot is extremely difficult to pass in XSRB2, because shrunken characters can't defeat normal-sized enemies - you just bounce off if you spin into them. So you have to take a hit on purpose, run through and then hope you can jump to the ledge before you get trapped by bouncing on the Skims. (Thokking characters can get out of it, but others may not be so lucky.)

There also needs to be a star post before going into the shrunken area, as it is really really irritating having to do over that climb up beforehand if you die. In fact, put some platforms in those areas or something that you can catch yourself on, so that falling doesn't always mean trekking alllllll the way back up.

[Thompson]

Originally Posted by Mr. Mystery

This spot is extremely difficult to pass in XSRB2

I didn't really make it supportable for XSRB2, since it's not an exe that everyone uses.

Originally Posted by Mr. Mystery

There also needs to be a star post before going into the shrunken area, as it is really really irritating having to do over that climb up beforehand if you die.

I understand this problem. I thought it would be frustrating and stressful with the climb, so I did add one there while this zone was in editing, but took out that checkpoint because of a linedef executor problem, or of various reasons... that I know, but not sure how to evaluate clearly why I took it out. What I'm going to do is, add a checkpoint there again and observe the problem I was having, and then I'll edit this post later today to figure out why, because im not really sure at this moment...

I was thinking about adding platforms to where if the player attempts and fails to climb the area, but due to Tails' extremely long flight tics, Tails could climb up without even having to plant the seed, and then the whole growing tree gimmick will stop resuming to make sense.

[Internet Explorer]

By Mr. Mystery
- 1/3rd draconian hazards, 1/3rd ponderously long zoom tube intestine trip, 1/3rd filler
- Besides playability (barely), there is no redeeming value to this worth speaking of
- Why did THIS awful map get a custom level select pic? :(

I disagree. Zoom tube take certainly a little while, but keep in mind that the races are simple. For example, look at Race Alley. I don't think that he has received criticism since it is simple.

[Fawfulfan]

There's a line between "simple" and "hideous and dull". That zoom tube falls squarely into the second category.

[Kim the Fox!!!]

How much time do I have to vote? I've been SOOOO much time offline, then I want to vote and I'm a bit lost.

[Dage4 EX]

Judging will end March 14, 2011 at 7 PM local time in the eastern time zone of the United States. Like the entry deadline, this counts the United States's daylight savings time between March and November. Votes submitted after this time by the forum timestamp will NOT be counted in the average, so if you want to be counted, don't vote at the last minute. After the deadline, the scores will be then averaged, and the person with the highest score in each division is the winner.


Thats when it ends.

I just copy and paste to replay bar below.