BronsoKip
Member
1. Alabaster Fountain Zone
2. Foliage Furnace Zone
3. Shadow of Aztlan Zone
4. Galactic Facility Zone
5. Fatal Factory Zone
6. Gate Garden Zone
7. Emerald Aether Zone
8. Pagoda Park
9. Overgrown Heights Zone 2
10. Hakuryu Dojo
11. Dark Marsh
12. Knothole Coast Zone
13. Azlant Ruin Zone
14. Aquatic Port Zone
15. Square City Zone
This OLDC was awesome, and I had a lot of fun with all of the levels! I'm really sorry that I didn't end up finishing all the reviews. I want to finish them eventually... I'm just putting would I have written down so far since it's the deadline for voting, and I'm extra sorry if I haven't written anything about your level yet, and I'll try to sometime but just know that I liked it. Also sorry that they're hard to read but I hope they can be helpful. Great job everyone :)
Aquatic Port Zone by WasifBoomz
Foliage Furnace Zone by Kwiin and Kanna
Azlant Ruin Zone by Gambit
Gate Garden Zone by Ruberjig
Pagoda Park Zone by Rogerregorroger
Galactic Facility Zone by Mondongo
Fatal Factory Zone by Kuba11
Emerald Aether Zone by Krabs
Shadow of Aztlan Zone by akirahedgehog
Square City Zone by Riolucariolu
2. Foliage Furnace Zone
3. Shadow of Aztlan Zone
4. Galactic Facility Zone
5. Fatal Factory Zone
6. Gate Garden Zone
7. Emerald Aether Zone
8. Pagoda Park
9. Overgrown Heights Zone 2
10. Hakuryu Dojo
11. Dark Marsh
12. Knothole Coast Zone
13. Azlant Ruin Zone
14. Aquatic Port Zone
15. Square City Zone
This OLDC was awesome, and I had a lot of fun with all of the levels! I'm really sorry that I didn't end up finishing all the reviews. I want to finish them eventually... I'm just putting would I have written down so far since it's the deadline for voting, and I'm extra sorry if I haven't written anything about your level yet, and I'll try to sometime but just know that I liked it. Also sorry that they're hard to read but I hope they can be helpful. Great job everyone :)
Aquatic Port Zone by WasifBoomz
Wow, the improvement from your last level is honestly impressive, and I was impressed how much more polished the level felt as a whole. I had a lot of fun with the level in the beginning sections, but later on, even though the puzzles had very unique and interesting concepts, I don’t think that they communicated to the player well enough what the player was supposed to do or where they were supposed to go, leading to frustration that brought down my enjoyment, which I’ll explain. Once I got past my initial frustrations of being confused on where to go, I ended up overall having a lot of fun on repeat playthroughs with this map.
Starting with first impressions, I totally dig the theming and how there’s water behind glass for the walls, which adds a nice atmosphere. This is a small nitpick, but personally I dislike how there’s water the player has to go through water that’s completely opaque, and I feel it would be easier on the eyes if it was transparent like other water in the level.
Further in the level, I like the part with the moving polyobject platform and the turrets. I have no idea how you made it work, but it’s awesome how the pop-up turrets move with you, and it’s definitely a cool idea. It’s just too bad that the turrets won’t hit the player if they stand still, so the player doesn’t have to do anything. I think that obstacles like the gargoyles used in Azure Temple Zone would be better suited here, or to have the pop-up turrets’ bullets somehow move with the platform so that the player would have to interact with them, and could pose more of a challenge. The polyobject is very neat though.
Next, I really, really like the orange pipes section, and how Sonic and Metal have to spin under them, Amy and Fang have to jump over them, and Tails and Knuckles get to choose. It’s awesome! It was just the right length to be interesting without overstaying its welcome. Having different characters going through the same area in different ways like this is something I really like to see in levels, and wish I saw more often, and it was well done here and fun.
Sadly, the tall square room with the damaging floor further on is where the level starts to dip in enjoyment for me, because this is where it started being hard for me to understand where to go: the main problem I have with the level. It took me a while to figure out that breaking the platform let the water fall onto the damaging floor, cooling it and making a bridge to the way forward. I thought the way forward was up above since I climbed up there, and I bounced on the yellow spring looking for a way forward until the platform respawned and I got stuck up there. A way that could make it easier to understand how to proceed would be to have the platform with the yellow spring disappear/break/move out of the way, so that the player falls straight onto the cooled floor.
The puzzle room with the moving blocks I also had trouble understanding what I was supposed to do, and again, where I was supposed to go. I saw that the platforms moved up and down with the buttons, but I thought that Sonic had to go up them, and it wasn’t until I saw your post on the forums that Sonic can go under them. Similarly to how I didn’t expect the water to cool the floor, I didn’t expect there to be an entrance underneath the block because the entrance can’t be seen from the button that opens it.
This pop-up turret placement is unfair, because the player can’t see it. Not only is it hard to see through the goop, but it’s also blocked by the star post. Because they can’t see it, players won’t think to dodge it, and the first time I got hit by it, I thought for a sec it was the goop that hurt me since I didn’t notice the pop-up turret. Hazards should always be telegraphed by being able to be seen or heard before getting to them so that the player will know to avoid them. If the star post was moved and there was an entrance in the goop to see the pop-up turret, it would be less frustrating and more fair.
After that, the life on the ceiling was a very cool usage of risk vs reward, although the player can get crushed unfairly by it if they stand in the middle of the platform because there is no way to know that it’s coming. One way to fix this issue would be to have a hole in the middle of the platform to prevent the player from standing where they could get crushed.
In the other path that’s below the moving blocks where the player has to spin under to get to, the puzzle with the buttons that can change between water and goop is really cool. Although, it has the same problem as other parts of the level where it’s not clear where to go. When I was trying to solve it, I didn’t realize there were holes in the glass at all until I fell through it. After water fills the glass, it becomes really hard to see that there are gaps in the glass to get through. This could be fixed very easily by outlining them with an easy to see color, and I think outlining the holes in the glass with orange pipes would do nicely to draw attention to the holes to let the player know they are there. This will let them think “oh I need to set the right liquid so I go through the holes in the glass.” I also think that the room could be more readable if the way forward was more easily seeable through the glass, so that the player will see the way forward, and know they have to solve the puzzle to get to it.
Overall, I think this level would be a lot more fun if it was easier to see the goal of each puzzle room to understand what to work towards. Other than my initial frustrations of not knowing what to do, I thought there was a lot to like about the level overall, and nice work.
WasifBoomz, I hope you decide to keep making levels, because I’d love to see more of your creative ideas and see how your levels continue to improve.
Starting with first impressions, I totally dig the theming and how there’s water behind glass for the walls, which adds a nice atmosphere. This is a small nitpick, but personally I dislike how there’s water the player has to go through water that’s completely opaque, and I feel it would be easier on the eyes if it was transparent like other water in the level.
Further in the level, I like the part with the moving polyobject platform and the turrets. I have no idea how you made it work, but it’s awesome how the pop-up turrets move with you, and it’s definitely a cool idea. It’s just too bad that the turrets won’t hit the player if they stand still, so the player doesn’t have to do anything. I think that obstacles like the gargoyles used in Azure Temple Zone would be better suited here, or to have the pop-up turrets’ bullets somehow move with the platform so that the player would have to interact with them, and could pose more of a challenge. The polyobject is very neat though.
Next, I really, really like the orange pipes section, and how Sonic and Metal have to spin under them, Amy and Fang have to jump over them, and Tails and Knuckles get to choose. It’s awesome! It was just the right length to be interesting without overstaying its welcome. Having different characters going through the same area in different ways like this is something I really like to see in levels, and wish I saw more often, and it was well done here and fun.
Sadly, the tall square room with the damaging floor further on is where the level starts to dip in enjoyment for me, because this is where it started being hard for me to understand where to go: the main problem I have with the level. It took me a while to figure out that breaking the platform let the water fall onto the damaging floor, cooling it and making a bridge to the way forward. I thought the way forward was up above since I climbed up there, and I bounced on the yellow spring looking for a way forward until the platform respawned and I got stuck up there. A way that could make it easier to understand how to proceed would be to have the platform with the yellow spring disappear/break/move out of the way, so that the player falls straight onto the cooled floor.
The puzzle room with the moving blocks I also had trouble understanding what I was supposed to do, and again, where I was supposed to go. I saw that the platforms moved up and down with the buttons, but I thought that Sonic had to go up them, and it wasn’t until I saw your post on the forums that Sonic can go under them. Similarly to how I didn’t expect the water to cool the floor, I didn’t expect there to be an entrance underneath the block because the entrance can’t be seen from the button that opens it.
This pop-up turret placement is unfair, because the player can’t see it. Not only is it hard to see through the goop, but it’s also blocked by the star post. Because they can’t see it, players won’t think to dodge it, and the first time I got hit by it, I thought for a sec it was the goop that hurt me since I didn’t notice the pop-up turret. Hazards should always be telegraphed by being able to be seen or heard before getting to them so that the player will know to avoid them. If the star post was moved and there was an entrance in the goop to see the pop-up turret, it would be less frustrating and more fair.
After that, the life on the ceiling was a very cool usage of risk vs reward, although the player can get crushed unfairly by it if they stand in the middle of the platform because there is no way to know that it’s coming. One way to fix this issue would be to have a hole in the middle of the platform to prevent the player from standing where they could get crushed.
In the other path that’s below the moving blocks where the player has to spin under to get to, the puzzle with the buttons that can change between water and goop is really cool. Although, it has the same problem as other parts of the level where it’s not clear where to go. When I was trying to solve it, I didn’t realize there were holes in the glass at all until I fell through it. After water fills the glass, it becomes really hard to see that there are gaps in the glass to get through. This could be fixed very easily by outlining them with an easy to see color, and I think outlining the holes in the glass with orange pipes would do nicely to draw attention to the holes to let the player know they are there. This will let them think “oh I need to set the right liquid so I go through the holes in the glass.” I also think that the room could be more readable if the way forward was more easily seeable through the glass, so that the player will see the way forward, and know they have to solve the puzzle to get to it.
Overall, I think this level would be a lot more fun if it was easier to see the goal of each puzzle room to understand what to work towards. Other than my initial frustrations of not knowing what to do, I thought there was a lot to like about the level overall, and nice work.
WasifBoomz, I hope you decide to keep making levels, because I’d love to see more of your creative ideas and see how your levels continue to improve.
Foliage Furnace Zone by Kwiin and Kanna
From what I can remember of playing Sonic After the Sequel as a kid, Foliage Furnace Zone was definitely one of my favorite levels, so I was super excited to see in discord previews that you guys were working on this for SRB2 for the OLDC. And man did you do the original justice.
First off... wow. This level is absolutely gorgeous. The textures are beautiful, and the level geometry is also really pretty to look at. I loved the usage of polyobjects, especially the part where they spin and go upwards, giving a view of the lovely skybox (one of my favorite skyboxes I’ve seen in this game no doubt). I thought the platforms coming in and out of the molten copper really was cool and I also really liked the part where there was a high route with difficult to stay on polyobjects, and a lower route if the player falls off. As a whole, I really enjoyed this stage, and any nitpicks I have to say about it are just small nitpicks, but in an attempt to be helpful, here are some parts that I didn’t like as much as the rest of the stage.
Personally, I don’t really like the steam jets, because to me, the speed of them suggested to me that you can go fast running up them, but if the player does that, they might walk through and fall to their death which can be frustrating. If you wanted to have the player slow down to go up them, I wonder if it would be more clear to slow down if the steam jets went off slower. Otherwise, if you didn’t plan for the player to slow down to hit the steam jet, I feel that it would be better to have the steam jet always hit the player regardless if there’s steam coming out or not using a custom object if possible (but I do like how the steam and sound effects are currently visually! It conveys to me a bit of a sense of urgency which is cool).
Here in this part, (https://imgur.com/I3NR3hR) if the player presses nothing when getting sent on this spring, they will overshoot the rock they’re supposed to land on and land awkwardly in between a steep slope and the rock, where Amy and Fang will be forced to come down and try the spring again. I’m not necessarily saying that springs should always send the player exactly where they’re supposed to land with no input because sometimes that’s boring that might not always be what you’re going for, but I’m just not sure that it’s telegraphed enough to the player that they need to hold backwards, so I would make the player’s trajectory aimed to land on the rock. Also I think that if the player doesn’t hold anything while launching off a spring, they should be sent somewhere that isn’t as awkward and flow breaking as in between a steep slope and a rock.
Next, I think that it’s generally best to avoid having the exit of two alternate paths directly facing each other, because the player might enter backwards into the path they didn’t take, thinking it’s the way forward. (https://imgur.com/IOOsNVx) It’s not really a directional issue here because of how they both end with checkpoints, but if the player goes up to it, the checkpoint makes them stop and think “Oh I’m going the wrong way,” and turn around to find a different way--so they probably won’t go backwards and get lost, but it’s a little bit awkward and maybe a little unpolished? I remember that Metallic Madness Zone also used checkpoints of the same sequence at the end of a path split to tell the player which directions not to go. This works, but a more elegant solution than just ending with checkpoints, or what could compliment in addition to checkpoints would be to have the level geometry try to direct the player to be less likely (or sometimes even impossible) to even try to go down the other route in the first place. The guiding blue path on the ground in a Y shape already does this well, particularly coming from the right side, but in my opinion it alone isn’t enough, especially if the player is coming from the side with the rock you jump on where they might jump over it. One example that might add to the readability of the correct direction to go would be to have a wall in between the two route exits so that the exits don’t face each other with a direct line of sight connecting them. The vanilla levels often use different vertical height for the exits of alternate paths alongside positioning them so that the right way is directly forward, where the player would have to turn around backwards to go backwards through the other alternate path. I think it would be cool to see path splits converging more like in vanilla levels for the way forward to be more instantly readable.
Lastly at the end, the awesome big slope at the end is really fun as a spin character because you can spin to gain a lot of speed. Having to weave between the blue crabs if you launch off the ramp is also neat, and how exhilarating the ramp is I think is a great way to end off the level on a high note. However, Amy and Fang sadly don’t get to join in on the speed that was so cool as a spinner, and they have to walk down, which is a good 6 seconds that isn’t very engaging, so rather than a grand finale, it’s a bit of a low point in the level for them. Walking down it makes me think “This was designed to spin down wasn’t it.” This might be a little bit hard to make engaging for them, and I think that the best solution would be to have the big slope be inaccessible completely to Amy and Fang and have them take a different route altogether similar to Deep Sea Zone 2’s big slope, because such a big slope just isn’t suited for them. If that isn’t possible, I think adding a golden speed shoes monitor might help give Amy and Fang the speed that I think you wanted out of this section, but even then it is still a little slow. But like I said, it’s just Amy and Fang that the slope isn’t cool as, and as a character who can spin it’s awesome.
Ending my thoughts, I really like the shortcuts in this level, which are both challenging and satisfying to pull off. Please check out my epic gamer speedrun: (https://imgur.com/b0iSpot)
[Although you’re probably going to patch that hole in the railing huh :’). That would probably be for the best, and I like that there are nearby speed shoes you can detour to take to be able to get over the railing if it’s patched. Or maybe there can be a visible hole in the railing; I doubt anyone would walk off it thinking it’s the way forward since it’s clearly a place they just came from, but it’s up to you two].
These points didn’t really detract from my enjoyment of the level, because of how great the stage as a whole is. You said in the beginning that you want to improve, and I can’t wait to see what you both make next!
First off... wow. This level is absolutely gorgeous. The textures are beautiful, and the level geometry is also really pretty to look at. I loved the usage of polyobjects, especially the part where they spin and go upwards, giving a view of the lovely skybox (one of my favorite skyboxes I’ve seen in this game no doubt). I thought the platforms coming in and out of the molten copper really was cool and I also really liked the part where there was a high route with difficult to stay on polyobjects, and a lower route if the player falls off. As a whole, I really enjoyed this stage, and any nitpicks I have to say about it are just small nitpicks, but in an attempt to be helpful, here are some parts that I didn’t like as much as the rest of the stage.
Personally, I don’t really like the steam jets, because to me, the speed of them suggested to me that you can go fast running up them, but if the player does that, they might walk through and fall to their death which can be frustrating. If you wanted to have the player slow down to go up them, I wonder if it would be more clear to slow down if the steam jets went off slower. Otherwise, if you didn’t plan for the player to slow down to hit the steam jet, I feel that it would be better to have the steam jet always hit the player regardless if there’s steam coming out or not using a custom object if possible (but I do like how the steam and sound effects are currently visually! It conveys to me a bit of a sense of urgency which is cool).
Here in this part, (https://imgur.com/I3NR3hR) if the player presses nothing when getting sent on this spring, they will overshoot the rock they’re supposed to land on and land awkwardly in between a steep slope and the rock, where Amy and Fang will be forced to come down and try the spring again. I’m not necessarily saying that springs should always send the player exactly where they’re supposed to land with no input because sometimes that’s boring that might not always be what you’re going for, but I’m just not sure that it’s telegraphed enough to the player that they need to hold backwards, so I would make the player’s trajectory aimed to land on the rock. Also I think that if the player doesn’t hold anything while launching off a spring, they should be sent somewhere that isn’t as awkward and flow breaking as in between a steep slope and a rock.
Next, I think that it’s generally best to avoid having the exit of two alternate paths directly facing each other, because the player might enter backwards into the path they didn’t take, thinking it’s the way forward. (https://imgur.com/IOOsNVx) It’s not really a directional issue here because of how they both end with checkpoints, but if the player goes up to it, the checkpoint makes them stop and think “Oh I’m going the wrong way,” and turn around to find a different way--so they probably won’t go backwards and get lost, but it’s a little bit awkward and maybe a little unpolished? I remember that Metallic Madness Zone also used checkpoints of the same sequence at the end of a path split to tell the player which directions not to go. This works, but a more elegant solution than just ending with checkpoints, or what could compliment in addition to checkpoints would be to have the level geometry try to direct the player to be less likely (or sometimes even impossible) to even try to go down the other route in the first place. The guiding blue path on the ground in a Y shape already does this well, particularly coming from the right side, but in my opinion it alone isn’t enough, especially if the player is coming from the side with the rock you jump on where they might jump over it. One example that might add to the readability of the correct direction to go would be to have a wall in between the two route exits so that the exits don’t face each other with a direct line of sight connecting them. The vanilla levels often use different vertical height for the exits of alternate paths alongside positioning them so that the right way is directly forward, where the player would have to turn around backwards to go backwards through the other alternate path. I think it would be cool to see path splits converging more like in vanilla levels for the way forward to be more instantly readable.
Lastly at the end, the awesome big slope at the end is really fun as a spin character because you can spin to gain a lot of speed. Having to weave between the blue crabs if you launch off the ramp is also neat, and how exhilarating the ramp is I think is a great way to end off the level on a high note. However, Amy and Fang sadly don’t get to join in on the speed that was so cool as a spinner, and they have to walk down, which is a good 6 seconds that isn’t very engaging, so rather than a grand finale, it’s a bit of a low point in the level for them. Walking down it makes me think “This was designed to spin down wasn’t it.” This might be a little bit hard to make engaging for them, and I think that the best solution would be to have the big slope be inaccessible completely to Amy and Fang and have them take a different route altogether similar to Deep Sea Zone 2’s big slope, because such a big slope just isn’t suited for them. If that isn’t possible, I think adding a golden speed shoes monitor might help give Amy and Fang the speed that I think you wanted out of this section, but even then it is still a little slow. But like I said, it’s just Amy and Fang that the slope isn’t cool as, and as a character who can spin it’s awesome.
Ending my thoughts, I really like the shortcuts in this level, which are both challenging and satisfying to pull off. Please check out my epic gamer speedrun: (https://imgur.com/b0iSpot)
[Although you’re probably going to patch that hole in the railing huh :’). That would probably be for the best, and I like that there are nearby speed shoes you can detour to take to be able to get over the railing if it’s patched. Or maybe there can be a visible hole in the railing; I doubt anyone would walk off it thinking it’s the way forward since it’s clearly a place they just came from, but it’s up to you two].
These points didn’t really detract from my enjoyment of the level, because of how great the stage as a whole is. You said in the beginning that you want to improve, and I can’t wait to see what you both make next!
Azlant Ruin Zone by Gambit
The slope at the start is a cool beginning, and I like the atmosphere that the skybox and music give off. Also, the starting room is really pretty and gives off a great first impression.
In the left path, it took me a while to figure out that the elevator was an elevator. I thought that all the rings and the armageddon shield looked more enticing than the elevator (which I thought was just decoration), so I went past the elevator, and then it took me like 30 seconds to walk onto the elevator after that. I think putting some rings on the elevator would make it more likely to be walked on. Also, I know the second collapsed pillar and a trail of rings does point towards the elevator, but I think the combination of the empty space, all the visible goodies, and the first pillar pointing towards the armageddon shield makes the armageddon shield look more like the way forward than the elevator does.
In the right path I really enjoyed jumping from the bars you hang from. I think you did a great job in making the paths equal lengths in the bottom area. Sorry for mentioning the high path because I think you said you didn’t like it, but the path above the ramp is hardly a path, it just skips half of the level, and then the player will probably go hit the checkpoint backwards into the path merge area, and then they get to take their pick of which path they get to go backwards in.
Next, I also think you already know this but the path merge is confusing. It’s really easy to go down backwards through other paths, so I would add doors to them.
Also, I really like the shortcut on the left path with the spinning spike balls, and I like Amy and Fang can take it too if they get the water shield, which I thought was cool. I also liked how Amy and Fang have a path.
Also, the boss arena where you fight metal sonic is one of my favorite arenas in the game, because it’s high up with a pretty view, and is overall climactic and epic.
Overall, the map has some navigational issues when the paths merge but has great visuals and atmosphere. Not really related to the map itself but it’s also an impressive time crunch. The map turned out pretty good and I like it a lot. Nice work!
In the left path, it took me a while to figure out that the elevator was an elevator. I thought that all the rings and the armageddon shield looked more enticing than the elevator (which I thought was just decoration), so I went past the elevator, and then it took me like 30 seconds to walk onto the elevator after that. I think putting some rings on the elevator would make it more likely to be walked on. Also, I know the second collapsed pillar and a trail of rings does point towards the elevator, but I think the combination of the empty space, all the visible goodies, and the first pillar pointing towards the armageddon shield makes the armageddon shield look more like the way forward than the elevator does.
In the right path I really enjoyed jumping from the bars you hang from. I think you did a great job in making the paths equal lengths in the bottom area. Sorry for mentioning the high path because I think you said you didn’t like it, but the path above the ramp is hardly a path, it just skips half of the level, and then the player will probably go hit the checkpoint backwards into the path merge area, and then they get to take their pick of which path they get to go backwards in.
Next, I also think you already know this but the path merge is confusing. It’s really easy to go down backwards through other paths, so I would add doors to them.
Also, I really like the shortcut on the left path with the spinning spike balls, and I like Amy and Fang can take it too if they get the water shield, which I thought was cool. I also liked how Amy and Fang have a path.
Also, the boss arena where you fight metal sonic is one of my favorite arenas in the game, because it’s high up with a pretty view, and is overall climactic and epic.
Overall, the map has some navigational issues when the paths merge but has great visuals and atmosphere. Not really related to the map itself but it’s also an impressive time crunch. The map turned out pretty good and I like it a lot. Nice work!
Gate Garden Zone by Ruberjig
I really like the feeling of the level and I love all the paths to explore.
The heavy unclimbable walls I don’t like too much, because I think it takes away from what makes playing as Knuckles unique. I think that there should be more of a balance between allowing Knuckles free reign to climb/explore/find the best walls to climb, and making sure he doesn’t spend the level boringly interacting with nothing by flying over everything.
The heavy unclimbable walls I don’t like too much, because I think it takes away from what makes playing as Knuckles unique. I think that there should be more of a balance between allowing Knuckles free reign to climb/explore/find the best walls to climb, and making sure he doesn’t spend the level boringly interacting with nothing by flying over everything.
Pagoda Park Zone by Rogerregorroger
Right away this level’s visuals and atmosphere really stand out, and probably has my favorite use of atmosphere in the pack. The beginning area has what is probably my favorite trees I have ever seen in srb2, and I also thought that there was really great visual storytelling with the town with the eviction notice going into the aquarium park. I also loved all the easter eggs and details. I also think that the music changes do add a lot to the atmosphere and progression going into the park and making the ending waterslide more climactic.
I think the level has a great sense of progression from the visual variety and music but also doesn’t have much of a noticeable difficulty curve in the gameplay, and I also thought the gameplay wasn’t very engaging. There isn’t too much platforming, and a lot of the level can be cleared by just moving forward along the path. Most of the gameplay I think comes from avoiding enemies, especially the Castle face bot stabbers I think they’re called. There are a lot of cool gameplay ideas, but the player doesn’t really have to interact with them, like the cannonballs are really easy to just jump around where they are shooting. The turrets near the end did a great job of making me feel threatened because I could hear them charging, but they actually posed no threat and just by holding forwards I was already past them. But then right after the glass breaks and the player has to dodge the sawblades while being pushed by the water slide which is cool. I love the intensity of the waterslide part so much, it reminds me of running down the building in Speed Highway in Sonic Adventure and also the ending of Castle Eggman Act 1 where the bridge is falling. Although, I think that there’s kind of a disconnect here between the atmosphere and the gameplay of how intense the music makes it feel, and how difficult the waterslide actually is, because the music is really intense but I don’t think that the waterslide is actually that hard (I did lose a life on it though). I think the waterslide might be improved if it were a little bit harder by adding jumps. Also, there is a part in the waterslide where a saw blade can’t be seen because of how the floor slopes downwards, so that one part is unfair. I do like though how you do have to engage with the sawblades because you have to dodge them or you’ll get hit, and you’re being pushed by the water.
At first I thought that it was kind of strange structurally to end the level with waterslides and sawblades that haven’t appeared anywhere else in the level, and that the level could be made more cohesive by using waterslides and sawblades separately earlier in the level to introduce them similarly to how Fatal Factory has an easy waterslide in the middle of the level to teach the player how it works before ending on a more difficult waterslide which has progression and makes the more difficult waterslide more fair. After thinking about it more, I changed my mind and now I think that the water breaking to lead to the waterslide is really surprising and unexpected, and the music changing to being tense really adds to the surprise, and I also love how the level racks up in the feeling of intensity at the end.
One more thing is that I think the flow of how the level plays could be improved. What I mean by this is that there’s a lot of times where the player is stopped in a bit of a clunky way, like while entering the aquatic park the spring shooting the player into the wall, and steps that the player has to jump up and gets stopped by repeatedly instead of having to walk into them. Like this [ADD PICTURE]
My favorite parts are the room with the two pagodas you have to jump across, because it’s really pretty and how open the room and the view of the skybox is is a great contrast to how cramped the earlier area is (even if I think that earlier area is a little too cramped, and would flow better if it were less cramped). I also really liked the waterslide because of how surprising and intense it was. Also, I liked how there were multiple paths that played differently from each other.
Overall I really liked this level, great job Rogerregorroger. Going forward it would be cool to focus on the flow of the level, so the level will be as fun to play as the level is pretty.
I think the level has a great sense of progression from the visual variety and music but also doesn’t have much of a noticeable difficulty curve in the gameplay, and I also thought the gameplay wasn’t very engaging. There isn’t too much platforming, and a lot of the level can be cleared by just moving forward along the path. Most of the gameplay I think comes from avoiding enemies, especially the Castle face bot stabbers I think they’re called. There are a lot of cool gameplay ideas, but the player doesn’t really have to interact with them, like the cannonballs are really easy to just jump around where they are shooting. The turrets near the end did a great job of making me feel threatened because I could hear them charging, but they actually posed no threat and just by holding forwards I was already past them. But then right after the glass breaks and the player has to dodge the sawblades while being pushed by the water slide which is cool. I love the intensity of the waterslide part so much, it reminds me of running down the building in Speed Highway in Sonic Adventure and also the ending of Castle Eggman Act 1 where the bridge is falling. Although, I think that there’s kind of a disconnect here between the atmosphere and the gameplay of how intense the music makes it feel, and how difficult the waterslide actually is, because the music is really intense but I don’t think that the waterslide is actually that hard (I did lose a life on it though). I think the waterslide might be improved if it were a little bit harder by adding jumps. Also, there is a part in the waterslide where a saw blade can’t be seen because of how the floor slopes downwards, so that one part is unfair. I do like though how you do have to engage with the sawblades because you have to dodge them or you’ll get hit, and you’re being pushed by the water.
At first I thought that it was kind of strange structurally to end the level with waterslides and sawblades that haven’t appeared anywhere else in the level, and that the level could be made more cohesive by using waterslides and sawblades separately earlier in the level to introduce them similarly to how Fatal Factory has an easy waterslide in the middle of the level to teach the player how it works before ending on a more difficult waterslide which has progression and makes the more difficult waterslide more fair. After thinking about it more, I changed my mind and now I think that the water breaking to lead to the waterslide is really surprising and unexpected, and the music changing to being tense really adds to the surprise, and I also love how the level racks up in the feeling of intensity at the end.
One more thing is that I think the flow of how the level plays could be improved. What I mean by this is that there’s a lot of times where the player is stopped in a bit of a clunky way, like while entering the aquatic park the spring shooting the player into the wall, and steps that the player has to jump up and gets stopped by repeatedly instead of having to walk into them. Like this [ADD PICTURE]
My favorite parts are the room with the two pagodas you have to jump across, because it’s really pretty and how open the room and the view of the skybox is is a great contrast to how cramped the earlier area is (even if I think that earlier area is a little too cramped, and would flow better if it were less cramped). I also really liked the waterslide because of how surprising and intense it was. Also, I liked how there were multiple paths that played differently from each other.
Overall I really liked this level, great job Rogerregorroger. Going forward it would be cool to focus on the flow of the level, so the level will be as fun to play as the level is pretty.
Galactic Facility Zone by Mondongo
The giant bricks and arches make me feel uneasy in a good way, like I’m in unsafe enemy territory and a giant alien beetle is going to come around the corner and eat me or something.
Also, the shields are great fun to use their abilities in low gravity. It could really use more checkpoints especially at the beginning. [sorry I'll finish this review later but awesome level]
Also, the shields are great fun to use their abilities in low gravity. It could really use more checkpoints especially at the beginning. [sorry I'll finish this review later but awesome level]
Fatal Factory Zone by Kuba11
Challenging, fair and well constructed. The level design is also very focused. I really like how the level alternates between gimmicks to add variety and keep attention, and how the gimmicks become more difficult over time, which gives the level great pacing. I do wish that the red crushers were consistently safe while the blue crushers crush you because it seems like they were set up that way earlier in the stage, but later on there are red crushers that crush against the ceiling. I think that changing those crushers to blue would be more consistent. The level is also very polished. Despite playing similarly when playing it multiple times, I thought it had a surprising amount of replay value by just being that fun to play. I really like this level
Emerald Aether Zone by Krabs
I love the visuals in this level. I thought this level did a great job of letting the player feel a great amount of freedom traversing the same space which is really cool and I haven’t played anything quite like it. I did think that the level was a little short, and all of the different paths you can go through played pretty similarly. My favorite path was the cave because feels the most distinct from the rest of the level, and I also liked the part. I liked how the level ended by using slopes which is coherent with the rest of the level since the rest of the level used slopes, but it might not be obvious that you need to hold spin or jump off the ramp since the player never had to do that in the rest of the slopes in the level. It's also hard to know that you need to go down to hit the slope since it looks like you need to spindash across the spring to the other side instead. Although, I loved how the visuals of the ending room referenced the beginning room, it's really cool and satisfying.
Shadow of Aztlan Zone by akirahedgehog
I remember seeing a preview for this on Discord, and you said something like you hoped your level isn’t too similar to other people’s, and I thought to myself something like “oh don’t worry your level looks pretty unique.” And now that I’ve played it I get the joke because I’ve never played anything like it lol xD. I love the unique aesthetic and atmosphere, and the buildings both in the town and later in the level are beautiful.
Speaking of the town, checking out the inside of the building and seeing the easter eggs was really fun. One thing though is that if I didn’t read how on discord I would have had no idea that (sorry spoilers to anyone else reading) feeding the horse would open a path to the Enterprise from Star Trek, which is a shame because that’s the coolest easter egg by far. I guess the point of an easter egg is that it’s hidden, but like even a sound effect when the horse gets fed would be nice so that it’s not too obscure.
Okay enough about cool easter eggs, now I’ll talk about the gameplay. Right after the town, I didn’t like the slopes with no physics, because I was expecting them to have physics like the rest of the slopes in the level when I went on them, but then I went on them and they didn’t. I think you did this because you were having trouble getting the slopes to turn, but honestly I think that having the ground make stairs would be better than slopes without physics because at least then it’s obvious that they have no physics. The custom enemies were wacky and awesome, and I liked the alternate paths. I also really liked the canyon part, and it’s really satisfying to jump off the top and bounce off one of the enemies at the bottom.
Overall the navigation of this level was a lot clearer than the Shadow of Atlantis, because unlike in Atlantis, in Aztlan I never got lost.
The ending where the player is teleported to the rocket was so unexpected, I audibly gasped. And then I saw the rocket and it made me really excited because it looked so cool and I like that kind of thing.
I’m sorry that I don’t really have much good criticism to give, but I really liked it. I’m looking forward to the exciting conclusion!
Speaking of the town, checking out the inside of the building and seeing the easter eggs was really fun. One thing though is that if I didn’t read how on discord I would have had no idea that (sorry spoilers to anyone else reading) feeding the horse would open a path to the Enterprise from Star Trek, which is a shame because that’s the coolest easter egg by far. I guess the point of an easter egg is that it’s hidden, but like even a sound effect when the horse gets fed would be nice so that it’s not too obscure.
Okay enough about cool easter eggs, now I’ll talk about the gameplay. Right after the town, I didn’t like the slopes with no physics, because I was expecting them to have physics like the rest of the slopes in the level when I went on them, but then I went on them and they didn’t. I think you did this because you were having trouble getting the slopes to turn, but honestly I think that having the ground make stairs would be better than slopes without physics because at least then it’s obvious that they have no physics. The custom enemies were wacky and awesome, and I liked the alternate paths. I also really liked the canyon part, and it’s really satisfying to jump off the top and bounce off one of the enemies at the bottom.
Overall the navigation of this level was a lot clearer than the Shadow of Atlantis, because unlike in Atlantis, in Aztlan I never got lost.
The ending where the player is teleported to the rocket was so unexpected, I audibly gasped. And then I saw the rocket and it made me really excited because it looked so cool and I like that kind of thing.
I’m sorry that I don’t really have much good criticism to give, but I really liked it. I’m looking forward to the exciting conclusion!
Square City Zone by Riolucariolu
I really liked the visuals like the windows on the buildings and the water area near the end. There wasn't anything that I particularly disliked about the level, but I just liked the other levels more so that's why I rated it last. I'll add more to the review later but overall I thought it was pretty solid, nice work. City levels are also a pretty rare theme so this is cool and unique. I really liked the part where the player can go through the window of a building because it was fun and interesting.
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