742mph
My work is never done yet
Now that you've become aware of the title/author/existence of this thread, you're probably thinking one of three things, depending on how often you've run into me before:
1. "Whatever happened to 'I'm officially done with SRB2 level design until 2.1 comes out', 742?"
2. "Wait, this guy is mentally capable of doing something other than SOCing uncreatively named bosses with shield fetishes?"
3. "Who in the heck are you?"
To answer those questions in the reverse order in which they were presented, a former amateur level/enemy/boss/other-SRB2-related things designer who hasn't released anything in almost a year, to a degree, and I got bored of not being involved in this community.
Anyway, now that I'm finished re-introducing myself via a pathetic attempt at amusing people who never seem to read this stuff anyway, I present to you: Great Divide Zone!
This partially completed level is basically an attempt at making up for my previous failures as a level designer and some notable flaws in my past levels that a lot of people complained about. Though I may very well have over/undercompensated in some of these areas, I've tried to make the level feel a little more open and less restrictive, with plenty of alternate routes, secrets, and areas that don't feel as much like cramped corridors as they used to. There's also a bit of what you might call "environmental platforming" built into this place, which is platforming that is incorporated more seamlessly into the environment around it, rather than being at odds with it like it has often been before.
Anyway, gameplay screenshots time! There's a lot of them, so I've put in a spoiler around them all.
The stage begins at the bottom of a very tall, very open (at least visually) valley ringed by massive cliffs. Snailers and Popup Turrets are found in abundance here, as well as a new variant of the former that I'll go into more detail on later. The blue liquid surrounding the platforms isn't cold water, as you might expect, but a bizarre hedgehog-repellant 'quick-snow', which acts like a less movement-restricting version of normal quicksand that slowly saps away Sonic's rings when he's submerged in it. What could be the source of this foul substance?
Here we see Sonic's new move, the Homing Crush, in action. The Homing Crush acts like a fusion of the Insta-Shield, Homing Attack, and that stomp attack I released a while back. Sonic does a stomp that gives him a brief moment of projectile-invulnerability when there are no enemies close to him, but when they are, he homes in on the nearest one while invincible and remains that way for a split second after their demise. While this new ability does replace the Speed Thok, it's extremely useful for positioning Sonic on platforms and dealing with long-ranged enemies.
A cave area with mysterious holes in the ceiling corresponding to quick-snow pits in the floor. What are those holes doing there? Only time will tell.
Meet the first new enemy on the block: the Crystal Snailer. This badnik hovers in place, usually near walls or other surfaces, until you jump up and hit it. It won't be destroyed, but instead will fire a blob of gel directly at you that will expand into a large crystal upon surface contact. The crystal can be used as a shield from other attacks or jumped off of in order to reach higher areas, but it'll only last for about 10 seconds, so use it wisely.
A view of an alternate path on top of the rocky structure that the mysterious cave is located within. It's possible to fall through those holes into the quick-snow pits in the cave below if you aren't mindful of the turrets and icy ground (which is the only generic ice-level gimmick that I'll use here, I promise).
As you climb ever higher towards the top of the icy canyon, you may come upon this cavern, where Snailers chase you towards the shattered ceiling with the threat of a missile barrage. If you choose to take the slower, more puzzle-heavy Crystal Snailer path, however, this room will be little more than a transition from an onslaught of turrets to what lies beyond.
At last: the source of all of that toxic quick-snow that's been making Sonic's life so much harder for the past 90 seconds or so: a giant Eggman-created factory that's corrupting the natural water supply of this region in an attempt to bring it under the mad doctor's control. Which is nothing at all like the other water-corrupting region-destroying factory area in that other level of mine. Nope, no similarities at all.
However, this factory is not partially submerged in instant death sludge like the last one was, so haters of that level rejoice(?). Instead, it's submerged in plain old water, which you must platform through for about 15 seconds while dodging mines that the game refuses to make explode for some reason. There's also a slight current pushing you back during this section, but it's easy enough to resist.
Once Sonic escapes the underwater segment via conveniently placed spring, it's on to a short waterslide section that has you going with the current instead of against it. As a result, dodging the mines here is considerably easier than before.
A busted pair of wall panels in the side of the factory makes it possible for Sonic to escape into an ice cavern. Here we're introduced to another new enemy: the Beserker Turret. This considerably more aggressive relative of the Popup Turret has poorer vision than its cousin, but once it sees you, it unleashes a barrage of red missiles that scatter all over the place with no real pattern, making this enemy dangerously difficult to predict. It can't shoot upwards, though, so jumping or stomping on it is your best bet.
Once you run across the ice sheet forming the floor of the cavern and press a switch on the other side, a series of water jets will be activated that will crack the ice sheet and suspend its pieces, each of which has a Beserker Turret on it, in the air as floating platforms that constantly change altitude. This is the last section I've completed so far, so there's nothing else to show you as of now.
So that's Great Divide Zone so far. I've been out of touch with this community for a while, so some of the design choices may seem a bit odd, but I'd be interested to hear your thoughts about and criticisms of what you've seen. If you dislike the Homing Crush, which will probably be the most controversial feature judging from people's reactions to these things in the past, I'll be perfectly willing to take it out, although I do believe it helps the player a lot with destroying all of the projectile-based enemies. I'll upload new screenshots and descriptions whenever I complete something noteworthy, and when the level is finished, I'll either submit it directly to Releases or enter it in the OLDC (which will probably be up and running again by the time this is all over with, considering how large this place is supposed to be when it's finished). Anyway, I hope you like what you see, but regardless of whether or not you do, feel free to comment away. I'd appreciate it.
1. "Whatever happened to 'I'm officially done with SRB2 level design until 2.1 comes out', 742?"
2. "Wait, this guy is mentally capable of doing something other than SOCing uncreatively named bosses with shield fetishes?"
3. "Who in the heck are you?"
To answer those questions in the reverse order in which they were presented, a former amateur level/enemy/boss/other-SRB2-related things designer who hasn't released anything in almost a year, to a degree, and I got bored of not being involved in this community.
Anyway, now that I'm finished re-introducing myself via a pathetic attempt at amusing people who never seem to read this stuff anyway, I present to you: Great Divide Zone!
This partially completed level is basically an attempt at making up for my previous failures as a level designer and some notable flaws in my past levels that a lot of people complained about. Though I may very well have over/undercompensated in some of these areas, I've tried to make the level feel a little more open and less restrictive, with plenty of alternate routes, secrets, and areas that don't feel as much like cramped corridors as they used to. There's also a bit of what you might call "environmental platforming" built into this place, which is platforming that is incorporated more seamlessly into the environment around it, rather than being at odds with it like it has often been before.
Anyway, gameplay screenshots time! There's a lot of them, so I've put in a spoiler around them all.
The stage begins at the bottom of a very tall, very open (at least visually) valley ringed by massive cliffs. Snailers and Popup Turrets are found in abundance here, as well as a new variant of the former that I'll go into more detail on later. The blue liquid surrounding the platforms isn't cold water, as you might expect, but a bizarre hedgehog-repellant 'quick-snow', which acts like a less movement-restricting version of normal quicksand that slowly saps away Sonic's rings when he's submerged in it. What could be the source of this foul substance?
Here we see Sonic's new move, the Homing Crush, in action. The Homing Crush acts like a fusion of the Insta-Shield, Homing Attack, and that stomp attack I released a while back. Sonic does a stomp that gives him a brief moment of projectile-invulnerability when there are no enemies close to him, but when they are, he homes in on the nearest one while invincible and remains that way for a split second after their demise. While this new ability does replace the Speed Thok, it's extremely useful for positioning Sonic on platforms and dealing with long-ranged enemies.
A cave area with mysterious holes in the ceiling corresponding to quick-snow pits in the floor. What are those holes doing there? Only time will tell.
Meet the first new enemy on the block: the Crystal Snailer. This badnik hovers in place, usually near walls or other surfaces, until you jump up and hit it. It won't be destroyed, but instead will fire a blob of gel directly at you that will expand into a large crystal upon surface contact. The crystal can be used as a shield from other attacks or jumped off of in order to reach higher areas, but it'll only last for about 10 seconds, so use it wisely.
A view of an alternate path on top of the rocky structure that the mysterious cave is located within. It's possible to fall through those holes into the quick-snow pits in the cave below if you aren't mindful of the turrets and icy ground (which is the only generic ice-level gimmick that I'll use here, I promise).
As you climb ever higher towards the top of the icy canyon, you may come upon this cavern, where Snailers chase you towards the shattered ceiling with the threat of a missile barrage. If you choose to take the slower, more puzzle-heavy Crystal Snailer path, however, this room will be little more than a transition from an onslaught of turrets to what lies beyond.
At last: the source of all of that toxic quick-snow that's been making Sonic's life so much harder for the past 90 seconds or so: a giant Eggman-created factory that's corrupting the natural water supply of this region in an attempt to bring it under the mad doctor's control. Which is nothing at all like the other water-corrupting region-destroying factory area in that other level of mine. Nope, no similarities at all.
However, this factory is not partially submerged in instant death sludge like the last one was, so haters of that level rejoice(?). Instead, it's submerged in plain old water, which you must platform through for about 15 seconds while dodging mines that the game refuses to make explode for some reason. There's also a slight current pushing you back during this section, but it's easy enough to resist.
Once Sonic escapes the underwater segment via conveniently placed spring, it's on to a short waterslide section that has you going with the current instead of against it. As a result, dodging the mines here is considerably easier than before.
A busted pair of wall panels in the side of the factory makes it possible for Sonic to escape into an ice cavern. Here we're introduced to another new enemy: the Beserker Turret. This considerably more aggressive relative of the Popup Turret has poorer vision than its cousin, but once it sees you, it unleashes a barrage of red missiles that scatter all over the place with no real pattern, making this enemy dangerously difficult to predict. It can't shoot upwards, though, so jumping or stomping on it is your best bet.
Once you run across the ice sheet forming the floor of the cavern and press a switch on the other side, a series of water jets will be activated that will crack the ice sheet and suspend its pieces, each of which has a Beserker Turret on it, in the air as floating platforms that constantly change altitude. This is the last section I've completed so far, so there's nothing else to show you as of now.
So that's Great Divide Zone so far. I've been out of touch with this community for a while, so some of the design choices may seem a bit odd, but I'd be interested to hear your thoughts about and criticisms of what you've seen. If you dislike the Homing Crush, which will probably be the most controversial feature judging from people's reactions to these things in the past, I'll be perfectly willing to take it out, although I do believe it helps the player a lot with destroying all of the projectile-based enemies. I'll upload new screenshots and descriptions whenever I complete something noteworthy, and when the level is finished, I'll either submit it directly to Releases or enter it in the OLDC (which will probably be up and running again by the time this is all over with, considering how large this place is supposed to be when it's finished). Anyway, I hope you like what you see, but regardless of whether or not you do, feel free to comment away. I'd appreciate it.
