[Circuit]Speedy Ruins

So I decided to make a new map that isnt another Match map.

And so here it is! A Small, Tactical and Rewarding Circuit map. I tried to make this map less of a 'Thokfest'.

[Prime 2.0]

Tactical and rewarding certainly seems about right. The short detours and dead ends with useful items like the whirlwind shield make me stop and think for a moment. On the other hand, most of the super ring monitors are not much use in time-only race, which is the form this map supports. As decoration they still contribute, though.

A good, short length with lots of stuff packed in. Excellent use of slopes both for gameplay and aesthetics - the stretch of intact ruins around the corner of the first starpost were particularly beautiful, and made excellent use of the custom textures to sell the feel of a weathered stone structure.

The shallow pool of water made for a good designated "penalty" area, which was clear to understand, but not uninteresting to look at considering the decorations such as fish you added. The inclusion of a ring box at the end of it made for an interesting risk/reward mechanic, as the water surface's effect on vertical momentum potentially makes landing on the monitor directly a minor shortcut from jumping up the ledges to the top. Continuing to use this to communicate that an area is somewhere you won't die, but don't want to fall in to either would be fruitful for future maps where the theme permits, I believe.

Frequent use of gentle down-hill slopes before ledges that have to be jumped over was a creative way of dis-incentivizing blazing forward at top speed all the time, though I note that in some cases just jumping early enough can allow the player to not have to interact with the mechanic, even as Sonic. Downhill in general, particularly after the quarter-pipe, seems to be an effective way of making a thok feel out of control if used imprecisely.

Midway through and shown in the screenshots is a a dramatic quarter-pipe slope; while 2.2 has this mostly dealt with, currently jumps from such steep inclines can be a bit iffy, but when it works correctly this provides an excellent setpiece along with the high path that is only accessible by superbly launching from the quarter-pipe. Though you made a goal of not making this map a thok-fest, you clearly did not neglect making interesting things for a skilled Sonic player to do.

An excellent level. Welcome to Releases!

[Golden Shine]

Y'know, if Circuit didn't get kicked off SRB2, I'd have happily suggested this to be included with the official tracks! It's short, but sweet and very detailed. You did an incredible job. Race may never be truly balanced character-wise, even in a stage that clearly tries to be like this one.....but god is it fun.

The only two nitpicks I have are that you can accidentally skip the third checkpost by flying over the deathpit, and it looks like you can roll under that wooden obstacle right afterwards, but you actually can't.

[MK.exe]

Originally Posted by Golden Shine

The only two nitpicks I have are that you can accidentally skip the third checkpost by flying over the deathpit, and it looks like you can roll under that wooden obstacle right afterwards, but you actually can't.

I did that on purpose for the 3rd check point, just to keep it balanced i mean there is a raised sector justifying where you should go though.

As for the wood hurdle, i wanted to originally make it so that you could either roll or jump over the hurdle but to reduced the momentum of sonic players i decided to make it jump only.... i mean there is a arrow pointing up to tell you to jump but yeah. Lol

[Simon_T]

This reminds me of Regal Ruin from Sonic R
PD: You should remove that obstacle at the finish line with the blue springs, it's a little awkward :T