[Level Pack] Abstraction Pack 3.8a

[Chaobrother]

The Abstraction Pack is a level pack containing 20 levels spread across 4 cups. These tracks occupy MAPGA-MAPGF, MAPGH-MAPGP, MAPZG-ZH and MAPZK-ZM. The maps also have Record Attack ghosts for practice. If some maps prove to be unsuitable for usage, use AbstractReduction.soc to trim this pack to down to 6 maps and hide the other ones. You are also able to use custom, external SOCs for this purpose (or any others), but you accept any risks for doing so.

Spoiler: Track Descriptions:

The Stargazer Cup is a set of difficult courses about staring into the night sky and ascending to space. The courses are based off of previous levels that I have made.

Overgrown Castle (Map GA): A miniaturized, theme park version of a castle overrun with weeds and gnarled roots. This 3-lap beginner course has consistent road widths and basic drifts. The only punishment for failure is the off-road. This course should take 2:15 to 2:30 to complete.

Midnight Caves (Map GB): Traverse a cave network which loops in on itself and the adjoining mountain sides. This 3-lap beginner/intermediate course has many turns and falls to look out for. This course should take 2:00 to 2:30 to complete.

Empty Sanctum (Map GC): A long abandoned sanctuary of mysterious purposes. Eggman has taken some claim to the areas he could reach. This 3-lap intermediate course has pitfalls and steep turns. Knowing about drift storage while airborne can save some time on this track. This track should take 2:30 to 2:45 to complete.

Bio Satellite (Map GD): A turbocharged orbital conservatory with lasers to carve the landscape and stop intruders. This 2-lap intermediate/expert course has some daring turns and drifts. The lasers will change your racing line both laps. There are 3 shortcuts in this stage, with 2 not being as obvious. This track should take 2:00 to 2:45 to complete.

Cosmic Rift (Map GE): The final course in the Stargazer Cup. Traverse solidified planetoid rings with nothing but boosters and signs to keep you company. This 3-lap expert course has no off-road nor walls to keep you safe. The road is consistent and somewhat wider to compensate. Break drifting may be needed for steep or tight turns. This track should take 2:00 to 3:00 to complete.

The Dreamweaver Cup is a set of courses about the fantastic realms available if the mind is allowed to wander. Even though it takes place after the Stargazer Cup, it is much easier than it.

Ethereal Crystal (Map GF): A set of landmasses in another plane of existence populated by mountains and floating objects made entirely of crystal. The trees in this realm are of an unknown nature and purpose. This 4-lap beginner/intermediate course has some pits and tight turns worry about, but it should be no challenge after Bio Satellite and Empty Sanctum. This course should take 1:50 to 2:20 to complete.

Sublime Bastion(Map GH): A pure realm of eternal festivities. The wide road and easy turns ensure anyone can join in on the fun. This course should take 1:45 to 2:00 to complete.

Sunken Remnant (Map GI): The underwater remains of a mystical palace. The glowing ley lines and the palace treasure somehow remain intact. Expect sharp turns and the possibility of off-road. This course should take around 1:30 to 1:50 to complete.

Harmony Villa (Map GJ): A peaceful villa with a well kept landscape. The only catch is that the buildings and landscape have no regards for proper direction. Due to the dream-like nature of the landscape, reverse gravity is needed for the most effective traversal. This course should take 1:50 – 2:00 to complete.

Fetid Citadel (Map GK): An otherworldly transition to the waking nightmare. Traverse a factory which seems to exist only to spread toxins to a faltering realm. This course should take around 2:05 to 2:30 to complete.

The Wanderer Cup is a set of course about tackling and overcoming the difficulties of reality despite visions of overwhelming hopelessness. This cup is intentionally more difficult than the Stargazer Cup while being more grounded in terms of gimmicks.

Forsaken Bog (MAPGL): A damp bog untouched by society and left to grow. The wide roads and offroad buffers make the stage easy to compete in. The only thing to look forward to is maddening hymn of the bog and eternal darkness if you fall off, however. This course should take 1:30 to 2:00 to complete.

Mundane Purification Zone (MAPGM): A water purification plant and adjoining dam. The calming stillness of the course contrasts with the wild turns it offers. This course should take 1:45 to 2:05 to complete.

Motherlode Canyon (MAPGN): A crystal mine inside a massive canyon. Lattice supports help to bridge the void. This course should take 1:50 to 2:20 to complete.

Evaluation Summit (MAPGO): Race along mountainside roads sectioned off for a karting event. This is a test of Kart Racing skills with no gimmicks to worry about. This course should take 2:00 to 2:30 to complete.

Malicious Metropolis (MAPGP): A perception of society that is nothing but sky high office spaces. Despite working hard and following orders, personal progress is never made. Will you reach out to the truth or succumb to this hopeless depiction of reality? This course should take 2:00 to 2:40 to complete.

The Ascension Cup Is a set of courses about abandoning preconceived notions of which limit oneself to embrace the wild realities born from attempting to reach a higher plane of existence. The difficulty of this cup will wildly vary as well as its theming.

Futuristic Boardwalk (MAPZG): Fun still exists with progression. Take a nice drive in this advanced beach town! Do mind the merry-go-round and tight corners, however. This course should take 1:40 to 2:10 to complete.

Forbidden Monolith(MAPZJ): An average archaeological dig in a canyon has uncovered fantastic ruins! Even though the inhabitants have long since passed, their achievements still breath radiant life in the night sky. This course should take 2:30 to 3:15 to complete.

Flesh Paradise (MAPZK): An ever-expanding flesh castle born from the failures and self-destructive desires of all living beings. The castle and surrounding area appears as a dream fulfilling paradise free from the woes of the outside to the weak-willed and hopeless. The stronger willed will see its true form as a slow growing apocalypse bent on enveloping all living creatures into its fold. Regardless of appearances, all will meet the same fate. This 2 lap track should take 2:00 to 2:30 to complete.

Because of the body horror aspects of this stage KL_Abs-ParadiseIllusion has been added as a supplemental upload. This script will replace all flesh textures and disable all dynamic slopes in the stage. Use the NetVar paradiseillusion to toggle the look of the stage. The encore mode will be the opposite form of the default, rather than a color remapping. Make sure to load this script after abstraction pack for the proper thumbnail and encore palette!

Flesh Eden (MAP ZL): Atop Flesh Paradise is a mutated flesh mage with a SPB core lodged inside of her. She wants to spread her magical flesh over the world to cease the ills and burdens all life faces. She will stop at nothing to achieve this goal, going as far as to use her "Ascended" humans to stop you. Defeat her quickly to save the world! The boss can take about 1:50 - 2:10 to defeat with perfect execution. You have a hard limit of 4:30, where not even the defeat of the flesh mage will stop the spread of Flesh Paradise. On failure the stage will exit.

Map Hell
Cosmic Rift Classic (MAP ZM): A much more direct translation of the stage which inspired Cosmic Rift. The original circuit stage was modified to include slopes and be more compatible with Kart. Most set-pieces are close to their original location. While this stage shares the theme of Cosmic Rift the road is wider and there is space debris to wall you off from the vacuum of space. This 5-lap course should take 1:35 to 2:00 to complete.

Spoiler: Course Backgrounds:

All tracks retain their names from their parent releases.

Overgrown Castle is based off a map made for SUGOI.

Midnight Caves is based off of an entry for SRB2’s 2014 May/June Official Level Design Contest.

Empty Sanctum is based off a NiGHTS map made for SUBARASHII. Flats and textures for this course are taken from the FreeDoom Texture Pack for SRB2

Bio Satellite is based off of Bio Satellite and Egg Lasershow from KIMOKAWAIII. This map was first one made and inspired the rest of the cup when I realized that some elements copied from the source levels would make for good track elements when slightly modified.

Cosmic Rift is based off a circuit map made for SRB2 v1.90.4. An update for the map was made for SRB2 v2.0, but never released due to waning interest in the circuit game type.

Ethereal Crystal is an original track inspired by Noaru Valley, from the PlayStation 1 RPG Legend of Legaia. The map was made much more colorful and landmasses other than hexagonal crystal were added to make the track interesting and better to play on.

Sublime Bastion, Sunken Remnant, Futuristic Boardwalk Zone,Forbidden Monolith Zone and Mundane Purification Zone are original levels.

Harmony Villa takes inspiration from Mystic Forest and Soft Museum from NiGHTS into Dreams.

Fetid Citadel takes inspiration from the levels in the Dreamweaver’s World and Gnasty Gnorc’s stage from Spyro the Dragon. Elements from Dark Passage are the most prevalent.

Forsaken Bog is based off of D00D64’s GALF LEGACY and zxyspku’s Angel Arrow Zone’s design philosophies. The theming is original.


Motherlode Canyon is based off a rushed and oversized entry for SRB2’s 2015 March-June Contest. The stage offered things like rope hangs and polyobjects, but other gimmicks like a Metal Sonic Race available on not dying once before a certain point, door puzzles, and alternate paths were dummied out before release. The original Motherlode Canyon was much more of an Arid Canyon knockoff. I wanted this variant to standout compared to ACZ and Canyon Rush.

Evaluation Summit is an original level. The name is coincidentally synonymous with Trial Mountain from the Gran Turismo series.

Malicious Metropolis takes inspiration from Magatsu Inaba from Persona 4. Several design cues were taken from Lat''s Midnight Channel and Mayonaka Mk.II tracks. The skybox used in this stage is free to use and modify, as long as credit is given.

Flesh Paradise was intended to be the last track of the Wanderer Cup back when the cup's theme was feelings of hopelessness brought on by failure leading to self-destructive escape. The theming of the cup has changed to a more optimistic exploring and facing the difficulties/potential the real world has to offer. Forsaken Bog and Malicious Metropolis are remnants of the more negative cup theming.

Flesh Eden was intended to be the "Final Boss" of Abstraction Pack. It was intended to be the HELL MAP of the Wanderer Cup, with Flesh Paradise serving as the final level of the Wanderer Cup when Evaluation Summit was not planned for the cup. Flesh Eden is the name of the location, rather than the flesh mage being named Eden. The seraphic gate is independent of Flesh Eden and Flesh Paradise. Perhaps it will serve a greater purpose in the future?

Spoiler: Change Log:

Spoiler: v3.6

General:

• Added Forbidden Monolith to the Ascension Cup. Because of this Flesh Paradise and Futuristic Boardwalk Zone are no longer extra maps. They are The new cup's FINAL and 1st track, respectively.

Forsaken Bog:

• The bog is a touch more forgiving.
• Removed a fence and widened the road near before the final stretch of road. It was doing more harm than good.
• Some of trees in the skybox now properly meet in OpenGL.
• Fixed the sides of the starting log rendering improperly in OpenGL.

Evaluation Summit:

• Prevented a cheeky shortcut.
• Thickened the finish line.

Malicious Metropolis:

• Thickened the finish line to prevent phasing past it at speed.
• Added some contrasting textures to the final stretch of pavement to make the cliffs less blind.
• Fixed a missing texture.

Flesh Eden:

• The Seraphic Gate's glorious wings will now properly render in OpenGL.
• The boss now exits the level on failure rather than restarting for server stability/netgame environment.

Spoiler: v3.5a

Flesh Paradise:

• Removed dripping water in the meat mode of the stage as they were causing desyncs for midgame joiners.
• Fixed regal walls near the start of the map.
• Altered respawns in the moving meat tunnel so a player will not spawn from the ceiling.

Flesh Eden:

• Changed the stage from 0 to 1 lap. This will resolve crashes and unintended behavior with mods which use lap count such as Daytona Mod and TSR. The boss is is exactly the same.
• Changed prompts from csay to cecho, to remove console warnings.
• The boss intro will now play for everyone on the map.

Spoiler: v3.5

• Flesh Paradise has been added. When a new cup, tentatively named the Ascension Cup, gets released it and Futuristic Boardwalk will be added to it.
• Because of the body horror aspects of Flesh Paradise KL_Abs-ParadiseIllusion has been added as a supplemental upload. This script will replace all flesh textures and disable all dynamic slopes in the stage. Use the NetVar paradiseillusion to toggle the look of the stage. The encore mode will be the opposite form of the default, rather than a color remapping.
• As a bit of housekeeping: I am fine with external SOCs/Mods which modify/send to hell/banish my maps or otherwise change them, as long as the base mod is not touched. You accept any and all consequences if you modify my mod in such a manner.

Cosmic Rift:

• Thrown items such as orbinauts and jawz should no longer phase through the road.

Sublime Bastion:

• Fixed an incorrectly set death pit

Flesh Eden:

• Fixed the stage not restarting properly on failure.
• Added a Record Attack ghost.

Spoiler: v3.4

• Moved the map slots of the extra maps to an unused slot range to prevent conflicts with SFA Simple Map 1 and Ivo Industries. This should also prevent potential future conflicts with Ivo Industries. This will also serve for futureproofing for the levels yet to be added.

• Futuristic Boardwalk moved from U0 to ZG.
• Motherlode Canyon moved from U1 to ZH. It will move back to GN at some point in the future.
• Flesh Eden moved from U5 to ZL.
• Cosmic Rift Classic moved from U7 to ZM.

• Motherlode Canyon had its waypoints parameterized for potentially better tracking.
• Futuristic Boardwalk had a texture issue with the glowing hexagon texture fixed. The game would crash if you loaded Slipgate Cup V1.3 before Abstraction Pack.

Spoiler: v3.3

General:

• Flesh Eden (MAP U5) is a Hell boss fight released last patch.
• Motherlode Canyon was temporarily moved from MAPGN to MAPU1 to prevent conflicts with 765 Stadium. Try out 765 Stadium (and the rest of CTAP) if you haven't already!

Flesh Eden:

• Fixed the boss crashing dedicated servers on defeat.
• Paths were slightly adjusted so that Kartmp's "Hard Sneakers" is now compatible with the boss
• A portal opens at the seraphic gate to give a rough estimate for how long a path is open.
• Path 3 should no longer randomly dissapear if path 3 is picked again on the last hit.
• Some walls were added to the blind turns.
• Changed the thing number of the thunder shield spawner from 2278 to 3339 to prevent conflicts with Wind Tunnel's Quad Damage.
• Removed redundant sign states and declarations.

Futuristic Boardwalk:

• Changed the normally solid hexagon fence texture to something shorter, to indicate that it can be passed through.

Spoiler: v3.2

General:

• Futuristic Boardwalk Zone has been added as Abstraction Pack EXTRA. If a new cup is made it will be added to that new cup.
• Cosmic Rift Classic was moved from MAPGU to MAPU7. Its map slot was chosen at a time where I thought I would fill most of the Gs and not for continuity reasons.

Mundane Purification Zone:

• The supports holding the platform near the start of the map were reduced in size.
• Walls were added to the narrow walkways before the sloped U-Turn
• Timers were added to the alternating sloped platforms.
• The polyobjects were have a slightly smaller span.

Evaluation Summit:

• A minor checkpoint issue was resolved.

Motherlode Canyon:

• Some glass was made solid.

Spoiler: v3.1

General:

• Death planes were added/modified in several tracks to prevent exploits. This affects Forsaken Bog, Mundane Purification Zone, Motherlode Canyon, and Harmony Villa.

Cosmic Rift:

• The shortcut is now properly blocked so it is absolutely not possible to do with a perfect boost on the first lap.
• The shortcut now properly opens when the first player starts lap 2 rather than when everyone starts lap 2.

Fetid Citadel:

• An unintentional shortcut has now been made official via firewall.

Motherlode Canyon:

• Mine carts should no longer take you outside the planes of reality.
• A set of rocks can no longer be used for a highly unlikely shortcut.
• You should now properly “exit” the track even if a SPB hits you.

Spoiler: v3

General:

• 4 New Maps: Forsaken Bog, Mundane Purification Zone, Motherlode Canyon, and Evaluation Summit have been added as the Wanderer Cup. They do have encore changes and staff replays.
• Several Time attack records have been updated and improved upon.
• Malicious Metropolis has moved from Dreamweaver Cup Bonus to Wanderer Cup Final.
  All maps after Ethereal Crystal have moved one slot down to prevent conflicts with minenice’s battle map The Reef .

Harmony Villa:

• It is now “possible” to dodge the SPB on the blue U-turn. I would still recommend going the normal path if one is after you, however.
• Added more fencing at the start.

Cosmic Rift:

• Unnerfed the shortcut. It is still impossible to do with a perfect start.
• Reduced the steepness of the steep slope. It is still possible to skip it entirely.

Malicious Metropolis:

• The majority of MC Roaming Shadows have been replaced with Malicious Metropolis Roaming Shadows. They move the same but have a much smaller hit box and only spin you out on collision.
• Added Arrows and glowing midtextures to the sneaker panels near the start of the track.
• Added an item set to the first park shortcut.
• Made the second park shortcut more difficult to do sneakerless and buffed the other paths.

Spoiler: v2.5

General:

• Malicious Metropolis has been added as MAPGK as a Dreamweaver Cup Bonus map. If a new cup gets made it will move to that new cup.
• I’ve noticed from general feedback that a majority of stages in this pack are unsuitable for netgames either due to track quality, or difficulty. As such, AbstractReduction.soc was made to move these stages to MAP HELL and package the remaining stages into the Abstraction Cup. The stages that are in the Abstraction Cup are: Sublime Bastion, Sunken Remnant, Malicious Metropolis, and Cosmic Rift. This SOC has no reflection on how I feel about the stages.

Overgrown Castle:

• Added boosters if you fall off the diamond shaped road.
• Changed the end of lap shortcut to improve consistency.

Empty Sanctum:

• Added boosters to the outer edge of the sloped cavern area.

Bio Satellite:

• All attack lasers have been changed to translucent FoFs, to make the stage more accessible to those who have epilepsy or are sensitive to flashing lights. The only laser which remains is the one in Egg Lasershow’s arena, which is subject to change.
• The first shortcut is less punishing if you get knocked into it without a boost item.

Cosmic Rift:

• The shortcut at the start has been nerfed. It now saves 2-5 seconds, down from 10 seconds.
• Occ-san-geen was modified to remove the ~15 seconds of silence at the end of the song.
• Death planes were redone in the middle section. This should make death more reasonable.
• The bright green drift indicator on the steep U-Turn no longer has physics. This makes dodging the SPB and the approach of the U-Turn much easier.

Ethereal Crystal:

• The circuit finish line no longer extends to the ceiling; work harder for your shortcut. It may get removed in a future patch.

Sublime Bastion:

• Added 3 more items per item set to accommodate for the wide road.
• A lap can now be completed with shrink.

Sunken Remnant:

• Added a (slightly hidden) alternate means to reach the sandy area with sneaker panels.
• The middle path near the end of the lap no longer has invisible springs. They were a remnant from before the stage was sunken.

Harmony Villa:

• Added glass and moved items closer to the center in the mirror room.
• Added some fencing; some fencing is left open to ensure you can get back on track if you get knocked out.
• Added boosters to the normal gravity section at the start of the second lap. This path is still inferior by about 10 seconds during a race. I will have to find a better means to balance the paths in a future patch.

Fetid Citadel

• Added some signs.
• Added midtextures to some areas to indicate unsafe drops.

Spoiler: v2.4

General:

• Death planes that could be unintentionally hit from underneath have been made solid on the underside to prevent this. This affects Sublime Bastion and Midnight Caves.

Empty Sanctum:

• Adjusted a small step near the start of the course to prevent bumping into it.
• Fixed (again) a soft-lock in the sloped cave area.

Bio Satellite:

• Adjusted the skybox. It looks about the same in both rendering modes, but it will no longer cause frame rate drops on weaker machines or on higher resolutions.
• Added a fence.

Cosmic Rift:

• Adjusted the glue near the start of the race. It is now less punishing if a player drives into the first half of it without a boost item.

Sunken Remnant:

• Properly added giant bubbles to indicate the downwards current (Thing type 2220)

Harmony Villa:

• Added some blocking to the start of the race. It is still possible to drive back on course if you get knocked out of bounds.
• Fixed a gravity issue near the end of the lap.
• Added a barrier in the forest area to prevent being knocked out of reverse gravity.

Spoiler: v2.3

General:

• MAPGU – Cosmic Rift Classic was introduced as a Hell map in the last patch. Try it out if you haven’t already.
• Improved all RA times for the Stargazer Cup.

Overgrown Castle:

• Added a shortcut.
• Added a tree on the upwards spiral to reduce the chance of going down it.

Midnight Caves:

• Removed an exploit.
• Added a shortcut.

Empty Sanctum.

• Redid the starting room of the map for easier navigation.
• Connected the ramp near the first item set to the upwards waterfall spiral.
• Extended the distance between the U-turn and straightaways to allow for better turn anticipation.

Bio Satellite:

• Added decoration.
• Replaced the S-turn after the corkscrew with a straightaway.
• Moved the first item halfway up the laser lanes. The challenge should be the lasers, not opponents.

Cosmic Rift:

• The entire map now has players at 93% of the normal size. This will make the track easier at the expense of making it ~10 seconds longer.
• Added arrows and a subtle drift marker to the steep slope.
• Added a shortcut marker near the start of the map.

Ethereal Crystal:

• Extended the finish line boundary.

Sunken Remnant:

• Added bubbles.
• The downwards current near the end of the map should be more hazardous.

Fetid Citadel:

• Adjusted midtexture decals to reduce Z-fighting in OpenGL.

Spoiler: v2.2

General:

• Each map has now been tested with grow. Of them, Fetid Citadel and Empty Sanctum had issues preventing lap completion. These issues are now resolved.

Midnight Caves:

• The fences which were added last update are now actually solid.
• Orbinauts can now climb a rock bridge onto a stump.

Cosmic Rift:

• The song credit has been updated. The full details of the song credit change are in the MAINCFG.
• A death plane has been adjusted.
• Cosmic Rift has been added to Map HELL.

Ethereal Crystal:

• The map is flatter overall. While the change is cosmetic only, it should help alleviate some issues with blind turns.

Harmony Villa:

• The spawning boosters should now work properly. They will now spawn 2 seconds after first place starts lap 2 rather than 2 seconds after everyone finishing lap 1.

Spoiler: v2.1

General:

• Miscellaneous graphical fixes and additions and OpenGL optimizations have been made to most levels.
• End Signs were added to all of the Dreamweaver Cup.
• Cup ends now lead to EVALUATION.

Empty Sanctum:

• Spawn traps in the upwards waterfall section were resolved.

Cosmic Rift:

• A death pit near the banked turn has been lowered.
• You can no longer skip the tall slope by going underneath the adjacent platform. Here is some advice if you experience difficulty at that section: when you start to slowdown after the boost, begin drifting or drift near the end of the sneaker panels. With great skill you can skip the slope entirely by slip-tiding on the sneaker panels.

Harmony Villa:

• Thrown items now work as expected in reverse gravity.
• Sneaker panels will spawn after the first lap in the normal gravity section. It is still slower than staying in reverse gravity, however.

Fetid Citadel:

• Reduced and denoted glue.

Spoiler: v2

General:

• 4 new maps: Sublime Bastion, Sunken Remnant, Harmony Villa, and Fetid Citadel have been added. They do have encore changes and staff replays.
• Ethereal Crystal has moved from Stargazer Cup BONUS to Dreamweaver Cup 1.
• Because of the large update the Stargazer Cup is now part of the Abstraction Pack.

Overgrown Castle.

• The level’s music has increased in volume after converting it to .ogg. If there is a way to increase the in-game volume of .spc files, please let me know.
• Star posts have been added to the beginning and end of the path split.

Empty Sanctum:

• The barriers on the edges of the first waterfall cavern have been made more consistent. The best way to approach it is still to take a sharp turn by drifting in midair.
• The sloped outdoor U-turn now has a buffer of off-road before the pit.
• The pillars near the end of the track have been adjusted so that drift timings are less tight.

Bio Satellite:

• The warning signs at the start have been made twice as wide.
• Reduced glue.
• The corkscrew shortcut should now be possible for most weight classes. With vanilla characters, Knuckles will be able to execute it perfectly, Tails and Eggman will undershoot it, Sonic and Metal Sonic may hit the wall and plummet or with much more precise timing execute it perfectly. Metal Sonic can also overshoot it.
• The ramp after the corkscrew has been adjusted for more success after respawning.

Spoiler: v1.1

Cosmic Rift:

• Spawn traps near the end of the track have been fixed.
• A low wall has been added to the first hairpin of the track.

Ethereal Crystal:

• Thickened the death barrier near the half-pipe.

Spoiler: v1

General:

• A new track, Ethereal Crystal has been added as the Cup’s bonus track. If I make another cup or a large map pack, this track will move to another cup.
• Devtimes in record attack have improved somewhat. Thanks to the dedicated speed runners and people who are able to beat me in net-games for showing me how to play my maps better!
• Checkpoint issues in Midnight Caves, Empty Sanctum, Bio Satellite, and Cosmic Rift have been resolved.
• The Cup is no longer in beta.

Overgrown Castle:

• An alternate path has been made more accessible.
• Flags and other decorations have been added.
• The level select picture has been updated.

Midnight caves:

• The arrow signs are now 4 times as large.
• Rocks have been added to the end of first turn.
• Minor details have been added.

Empty Sanctum:

• You are less likely to be wedged in the end of the half pipe turn.

Bio Satellite:

• A set of yellow springs have been replaced with a ramp.
• The corkscrew shortcut is more difficult to execute.
• The S-turn had its first half revamped and should be less awkward to navigate.

Cosmic rift:

• The hairpin turn shortcut is no longer possible with a perfect start.
• The upward turn is now a banked slope for better visibility.
• More planetoids have been added.

Spoiler: b1.3

General:

• All tracks now have encore pallets.
• Dev times are now included. They are meant to be expert level and there aren’t any medals for beating them.

Cosmic Rift:

• A turn and booster have been adjusted.
• Immediate desyncs when replaying ghosts has been fixed.
• The course is now 3 laps.

Spoiler: b1.2

Overgrown Castle:

• The mini-map has been updated.

Bio Satellite:

• The mini-map has been updated.
• It should no longer be possible to repeatedly spawn over a pit by going under a bridge.

Cosmic Rift:

• The mini-map has been enlarged and updated.
• Several steep slopes and tight turns have been alleviated.
• Some course skips have been removed.
• The course is somewhat more detailed.

Spoiler: b1.1

General:

• The cup is now compressed via PK3.
• Song credits are now added.
• Slope physics have been removed from some unneeded areas.
• Arrows have been added in some more areas.

Overgrown Castle:

• The course is somewhat more detailed.

Midnight Caves:

• Fencing and advance warning is now given for the sharp waterfall turn.
• The waterfall at that sharp turn no longer has current.
• The fence texture has changed to better contrast with the environment.

Empty Sanctum:

• The course is more detailed.
• The map has been changed to reflect closed gaps.
• The start of the map should have better visibility.
• The sloped U-Turn has been flattened and replaced with a staircase.
• The first waterfall cavern now has barriers on the outer edge of the platforms.
• The sloped outdoor U-Turn is much smoother.
• The second waterfall cavern has had a gap bridged and (hopefully) a spawn trap has been removed.
• A sky conflict (notably with Adventure Acre Zone) has been resolved.

Bio Satellite:

• Laser timings have been made fairer.
• It should no longer be possible to die on the first straightaway of the course. A barrier was added to the outer edge and if you spin out, you will reach the top of the incline with no further damage.
• The end of the second straightaway now has some extra ground to drive on if you were unable to avoid the end via the turns or the middle path.
• The corkscrew now has some added arrows.
• The S-turn is much more lenient. It is now less steep; glass barriers have been added to the inside edges and most of the springs bridging the curves have been removed.

Cosmic Rift:

• Spawn traps have hopefully been reduced.
• Some checkpoint skips were resolved.
• The first steep slope no longer has a checkpoint.

b1 - Original release.

Spoiler: Custom Things

You are free to use these custom things with credit given.

• Thing type 2220 - Invisible Giant Bubble Spawner
• Thing type 2221 - Lit Lamppost
• Thing type 2222 - Colorable SD2 Sign
• Thing type 2236 - Colorable Honeybee Industry Arrow
• Thing type 2223 - Colorable Crimson Core Sign
• Thing type 2241 - Colorable SD2 Invincibility Warning
• Thing type 2270 – MM Roaming Shadow.
• Thing type 3339 - Thunder Shield Spawner. The item spawner template is part of Community Resources.
• Thing type 3341 - Flesh Paradise Bush Tree
• Thing type 3344 - Flesh Paradise Flower

Please do not use these custom things in your maps.

• Thing type 3340 - Eden Core

 

[D00D64]

OOh, a cup! Don't see those often enough! It's welcome to releases, but I'd like to discuss the maps a little bit too...

Overgrown Castle - I really enjoyed this one, but I don't have much else to say on it. I do like how the big trunks on the turns can be cut by boosting where its sloped down.

Midnight Caves - My only real issue here is that one turn before the waterfall you drive through. Despite the signs, I always seem to pass it. Also, any reason why the waterfall in question needed to force you back? I know there's a boost pad right there, but the waterfall didn't need to do this.

Empty Sanctum - The respawn for this turn right here felt really awkward to me, and I felt some jumps had me hesitating just a hair too long on how to approach the next turn, leading to some falls, and maybe some arrows could alleviate that? Could just be me.

Bio Satellite - Oh wow, that is quite the difficulty spike. The laser beams should have less active frames at the end, its just too small of a difference between the different blasts. I also found myself falling off a lot of the turns more often too, like over here where the first time I took it, I just drove off. I also feel that the respawn for this S turn over here is very harsh for how far back you go if you mess up, which I did multiple times on my first lap. Finally, the sneaker shortcut that takes you to a set of springs, I ended up going right past all of them the first time I took it and flung right into the pit. Might wanna place more and clump them closer together.

Cosmic Rift - And after the last map, we actually have an easier one, but still remaining more difficult than the first 3, and rightfully so. My only real issue here is the big sudden decline here followed up by the turns. It just feels so sharp and always caches me off guard. Instead of one sharp drop, the peak of the drop should have a curved slope to it to ease you in a bit, I keep thinking I clipped through the road you see as you descend, or something. I also feel the sudden sharp slope issue makes the following ascending slopes a bit hard to see the turns for too, but that could just be me.

Overall, I still say I enjoyed this pack, even if a bit unpolished and in need of some visual bump up (like with Cosmic Rift) You still did good work!

 

[LunarRay]

I found a respawn trap in Empty Sanctum.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKYbQneYBrc

 

[Chaobrother]

Thanks for everyone’s feedback! The Stargazer Cup has been updated to b1.1. This minor update should hopefully reduce the Hell-tier difficulty of the original release, while keeping the intended challenge.
Edit: The Stargazer Cup has been updated to Beta 1.2. This update primarily fixes major issues with Cosmic Rift.
The change log is in the original post.

 

[Chaobrother]

Beta 1.3 has been released. Dev times, Encore pallets, and more changes to Cosmic Rift come with this update.

 

[Chaobrother]

The Stargazer Cup is now out of beta. A new track has been added and several game play changes have been made. I thank everyone who has given me feedback about the cup. If there is something that has been missed, feel free to let me know!

 

[Chaobrother]

The Stargazer Cup has been updated to resolve the spawn traps in Cosmic Rift. Check the change log for more details.

 

[VGBoy]

The volume for the music on Overgrown Castle is too low compared to the other tracks.
That's really the only complaint I have since I haven't had a chance to test the maps in multiplayer.

 

[Chaobrother]

The Stargazer Cup has gotten a huge upgrade! And with that, it is now known as the Abstraction Pack. 4 new levels have been added to make the Dreamweaver Cup, with Ethereal Crystal being moved to serve as the first level in the cup. Beyond that there several quality of life changes to the Stargazer Cup. Check the change log for details.

 

[Ashnal]

I have mixed feelings about this pack. Most of it is quite good, so if I don't list a course here that means I think it's good. But I have a few issues with a couple tracks.

Empty Sanctum:
I want to like this track since it has a decent environment, but there are turns that are too sharp to avoid walls at speed, some steps where they feel out of place, as well as the boosting over springs and islands part that is a little too hard. My entire group of 8 people always wants to skip this one :(

Cosmic Rift:
I get that this map is supposed to be hard, but the only way I could make it completable for most of my group was by reducing the scale by 10%. There needs to be more room on the track for less than perfect corners and avoiding obstacles. It feels like a time trial single player map, not a multiplayer race map.

Harmony Villa:
Cool concept, but something about the way the track plays while upside down had three of my friends saying they felt ill while playing it. not sure how to fix this one :(

Now some good stuff:
Bio Satellite is great fun. It was alright in its first iteration, but it got quite a bit better when you removed the bumpers and added a few walls to the S curve, love the shortcut built into it.

Fetid Citadel is also pretty fun. Though there is a sharp cliff near the finish in a sharp corner that feels kinda bad. Otherwise, great map.

Sunken Remnant is also fun. Not too fancy, but all around good.

As a note, we always play on Hard speed with 6-8 players, if that makes a difference.

 

[Chaobrother]

The Abstraction Pack has been updated. This patch provides miscellaneous graphical fixes to most levels and fixes major issues with Empty Sanctum and Harmony Villa. Check the change log for details.

 

[Chaobrother]

The Abstraction Pack has been updated. The focus of this patch is each stage’s interaction with growth, among miscellaneous changes.

 

[Chaobrother]

The Abstraction Pack has been updated. The focus of this patch was removing some of the rough edges with the Stargazer Cup.

 

[AirFox]

This weirdness in Harmony Villa

 

[Chaobrother]

The Abstraction Pack has been updated. This patch focuses on minor fixes and optimization to Bio Satellite. Check the change log for details.

 

[Gunla]

I'm trying to actually provide some more serious feedback with some maps from now on. I do like lots of your maps conceptually but I wanted to note these two in particular that I have a few issues with:

Bio Satellite:

• 
  My largest issue with the map happens to be the lasers, but not exactly for the reason you’d think; while it’s more of a heavily specific issue I would like to respectfully request that the flashing visuals be changed. Such a hard change from the yellow to the flashing red can be fairly painful on the eyes and it’s enough to give myself headaches. I think it’s a good mechanic (and maybe could be added into the spiral in a sense!) but I think it should change from a visual standpoint.

Cosmic Rift

• 
  The cut at the beginning is fairly easy to land with a sneaker, but it’s extremely strong and acts on the level of an ultra shortcut like the one in Chao Circuit 1. I’d honestly say to remove it or adjust the main path in a way that there’s not such a strict timesave as I’ve seen several races where a player who is racing with no real errors in 1st loses because of a cut like this.

• 
  I think the upwards U-Turn near the end of the path should be lowered. The skip required to avoid an SPB there is fairly high in terms of difficulty, and getting hit there results in an excessive punish. An alternative suggestion is to put boosters down and widen the path a bit.

I understand these arguments are a bit subjective, but I at least wanted to put them out there.

 

[Gunla]

As promised, more feedback. This feedback is much more focused upon specific aspects of maps that I think might harm flow a bit rather than general things overall. I think a lot of them are pretty close to being really solid but have some contentious points to them. I’ll start from the top - I will not be covering Cosmic Rift or Bio Satellite though. For testing, tracks were played on Normal and Hard. All gifs are shown from Normal speed.

General note I recommend for your maps, but I feel several of your maps could benefit from midtextures (IE: the translucent lights) on your sneaker panels to make it easier to discern them (though Sunken Remnant already does this!).

Spoiler: Overgrown Castle

Overgrown Castle

• I would add an arrow to the hedge right here in this screenshot for additional pointing.
• The cut here really doesn’t require much assistance and saves a bit of time compared to the normal path at minimal cost. I’d say perhaps move the itemset to be just at the end of the normal (left path) so that there is some risk in taking it/an actual cost.
• This section near the end of the map is a diamond shape with two paths that are slowly falling. I think as a whole it doesn’t have a ton interesting to it, but falling on the sides is really detrimental. Two suggestions to bring here:
• Add a raised platform of red springs in the middle and maybe add some sneaker panels to the sides to balance it out.
  [*]Make the hard sides of this section (the areas that touch the walls) something like water or a straight killplane. There’s not a huge loss if you fall since you spawn next to a sneaker panel.
• At the end of the map, there is the spring cut (gif included of me trying to do it one-handed for whatever reason). It’s worth noting that half of the springs here basically require you to make a bit of a juke to not get hit by the wall; I’d suggest either lowering the mountain here to make it possible for any section to take it, or remove the sections where it’s not possible to take it while going mostly straight.

Spoiler: Midnight Caves

Midnight Caves

• To reiterate on the midtextures, I think this map would benefit from them a lot. There’s a lot of areas where there seems to be blind turns/inclines that are too sharp, such as this one, where you cannot see where the sneaker panels are right before you could hit them.
• Whilst a bit more subjective, I don’t think I’m terribly keen on the water covering up this section of the map when it’s a fairly constricted section - it’s very easy to make a mine there. Part of me would suggest using a more translucent texture if possible since it’s a bit difficult to see when a mine is actually present or some other trap since they blend in with the dark textures.
• I would greatly increase the cluster of items here to match later sections of the map. It’s also worth noting that you happen to have another set of items extremely close to it on the main track just ahead, in which I’d suggest moving it a bit forward and removing the last set of items on the track by placing them around this area in the map.
• To go over the last screencap I posted, I don’t think the fencing here should be as limited as it is right now. As it stands this section is fairly tight and can get littered with traps, and a player might fall get overly punished through stun and falling down as is.
• I would greatly suggest decreasing the overall incline in this section to reduce this from being a bit of a blind turn or include a larger downwards signpost just before it to indicate to someone there is a steep drop.

Spoiler: Empty Sanctum

Empty Sanctum

• While I appreciate that some railing was added here in a patch to reduce falls (I think? Maybe it was that way from the start?), I think this turn is still too jarring from the previous section and still too tight to allow for almost too easy mine setups. I’d suggest that this section just be changed to be a slightly larger arc that goes around the other section as there’s a lot of empty room over it.
• While a small suggestion, there’s not much of a benefit for taking a wider turn here. Perhaps include a sneaker panel on the outside to allow for characters who cannot quickly take such close turns to have a boost?
• The statue area near the end of the map here is fairly imposing and can create situations with some statblocks where you get awkward turns. I’d suggest slightly reducing the size of the platform the statue is standing on.
• Getting hit by one of the walls here is very detrimental and makes the section a bit wieldy as a whole. I’d suggest adding some sneaker panels adjacent to the walls to better indicate and reward you for taking the correct measures, and maybe slightly reduce the length of the walls to slightly reduce the difficulty.

Spoiler: Ethereal Crystal

Ethereal Crystal

• This incline at the start is fairly large and feels reminiscent of Grand Metropolis’s. I’d suggest lowering it to make it a bit less extreme of a camera jump.
• While I think this turn is fairly well telegraphed, I think it may flow a bit better if the turn itself (or the inside of the turn area) is made deeper. Similar could be said for the turn after.
• To better improve the flow of this section at the end, and perhaps to remove the large yet inconsistent supercut, I have two suggestions:
• Add boosters to the sides of some of the sections, much like Blizzard Peaks does.
  [*]Add fencing to the outside of it to prevent too much OOB action.

Spoiler: Sublime Bastion

Sublime Bastion

• Much less to discuss on this map since I think it’s actually pretty solid. This jump over here is a bit wieldy since you have to basically drift store around, but I think it’d flow better if there was a red spring just like the jump that follows after.
• Though in general, I’d say add around like 1.25x the amount of items that are currently in the clusters to the existing ones. They’re not too scattered, but probably could be a bit less scattered.

Spoiler: Sunken Remnant

Sunken Remnant

• I think this lap is fairly solid on the main road - though it was only until I actually did this more serious review that I realized there’s actually a large outside offroad section with a ton of sneaker panels! I don’t think this is strong telegraphed and I don’t think there’s a ton of incentive to take it. I think it may be interesting to maybe let someone exit from around here and maybe put like a hard offroad -> red spring platform like Barkpack's Coral Cave to make it through here.
• On discussion of alternate pathways, the area here with the spring kind of sends someone into a wall sometimes due to the angle. It’s fairly risky as it and skips out on an item box so I think maybe changing it to a red spring and cutting it off earlier might be helpful; to reduce it from being a strong end of lap cut, perhaps balance this out by adding a sneaker panel just below it for the main path to take.

Spoiler: Harmony Villa

Harmony Villa

• This path starts you off at a reduced speed even if you’re coming off of a boost, which makes it unsuitable for traveling with an SPB. The length of the path also makes avoiding mines here nearly impossible; I would increase the width of this section.
• I’d say add a sign here to indicate the next couple of turns. The gaps are accomodating, but it is a bit wieldy nonetheless.
• The geometry here is fairly constricting and can lead to nearly unavoidable mines. I’d smooth this out to be a general single-line wall.
• This section with the mirrors is pretty cool, though part of me feels it might be helpful if it is possible to indicate where the walls are (perhaps a translucent mirror-esque filter if possible?
• Continuing on with that section, I’d move the items just a hair closer to the center; they’re very difficult to get without colliding with the wall. If anything, I’d say even consider replacing these with sneaker panels.
• I’ve heard some complaints about this section and how it doesn’t feel as well indicated turns wise. I think it might be better to indicate that instead of a left turn that this is more akin to a straight U-turn.
• While I appreciate the separate paths at the end (left path taken in the gif above) - the left path appears to be generally slower. I’d add an additional sneaker panel somewhere to assist the gap, as doing a few control-styled runs (RA, but not in RA) whilst comparing lap 2 to lap 3 (left path and right path) - the left path was usually faster by a few or so seconds whilst using a 7,7 character. I'm aware of the additional booster on the bottom path, though honestly this could be a really subjective point.
• I’m no course visual expert, but I think it may be good to add a fence here since this looks kind of jarring.

Spoiler: Fetid Citadel

Fetid Citadel

• I’d say add a right facing arrow here to better indicate where a player should go, and a left pointer arrow here.
• About this section - I think it’s fairly tight of a turn as is, so I’d maybe reduce the sharpness of the turns. I’ve heard this is a bit more of a contested area since it’s also REALLY constrictive and can result in some nigh unavoidable mines - this was very noticeable on hard speed.
• Similarly to what I said about Sunken Remnant; while this jump is not too wieldy, I think it may flow better with a red spring instead of a hard jump.

I hope this feedback proves suitable and I nonetheless look forward to your future content.

 

[Chaobrother]

Thanks for your feedback Gunla, and anyone else who has sent me any.
The Abstraction Pack has been updated. This update focuses on quality of life changes for most stages, a new stage, and introduces a SOC which may be suitable for larger netgames.

 

[Chaobrother]

The Abstraction Pack has gotten 4 new levels! These levels make the Wanderer Cup; Malicious Metropolis now serves as the final track in this cup. There are some quality of life changes to parts of the Abstraction Pack.

 

[Chaobrother]

The Abstraction pack has been updated. This is a minor patch which fixes some exploits and other bugs.