Kubapack Alpha version

[Kuba11]

Hi

This is the level pack that I have been working on for a while now. I'll be focusing mainly on single player and CTF maps (and since CTF maps are easier to make, there may be plenty of them).
The levels currently in the pack are quite old, but they were begging for an update, as certain simple things could improve them a lot. It took me a while, but I guess that was worth it. The stages are really polished and I can finally rest in peace knowing that I did everything for them and focus on more important things, like studying new single player and CTF maps.
I'll probably add something new after I enter the oldc, so it may take a while.
Ah, and the changelog (I made an update not so long time ago, but it was overshadowed by anothe topic *sob*, so probably not many people knew about it).

Spoiler

Aquatic temple:
Main changes were done to the gargoyle puzzles. You only need to push 1 gargoyle now, and it's a whole lot easier task. The room after gargoyles was replaced with a water current.

Water hall:
Overall visual improvements have been done and certain places are more viable now. Also, I placed infinity ring on the map (all CTF maps have one now)

Volcanic Shelter:
Biggest changes were done here, mostly a new alternate path and reducton of the clutter that was interfering with the flow of the level.

Arctic facility:
The colormap was removed, as it mostly resulted in blinding the player, the size of the level was increased and the clutter (alongside with cramped areas) was taken care of.

Jungle ruins:
Again, clutter, but this time it really spoiled the level, so I did everything to avoid it. The stage is a little harder now.

I used:
-assetpack textures
-my pal Volt for testing

Well, I suppose that's it, I hope you'll enjoy playing my levels.
And don't forget to use the music file too, it's important :3

 

[MellowJacket]

A heads up, both Arctic Facility and Jungle Ruins attempt to go to map 2 after they have been completed. I'll need you to fix that so the pack can be played properly without host intervention before I release this.

 

[Kuba11]

Tested it, should work now. I must have copy-pasted something thoughtlessly.

 

[MellowJacket]

It all checks out now, welcome to releases~

 

[Monster Iestyn]

...um, it's not in Releases?

 

[MellowJacket]

yes it is MI you silly goose, I just normally make the post first then move it afterwards.

 

[Knux576]

First thing I noticed while looking at the screenshots is that these levels are gorgeous. I'm probably gonna go try this out now.

 

[ZarroTsu]

First thing I noticed while playing these in a netgame with Whackjood (presumably before it hit releases, I think?) is that there are two issues with how the levels are presented:

1) Dark. A lot of the levels are caves and take place underground or under a canopy and away from the light, or at night. Okay, cool. But while I don't expect the light levels to be 255, it's still pretty dark. Not dark enough to be an issue visually, but just dark enough to be noticeable, especially in Water Hall. We had trouble figuring out where the heck the flag points were because the light level was just enough that it was difficult to see that the waterfall had another room behind it.

2) Too many textures. Nothing is outstandingly wrong with the level designs themselves, but there are so many different textures used in each individual level that the stages turn into a bit of a visual mess. It's a good idea to use different textures to signify specific differences between platforms and hazards in a level. It isn't such a good idea to toss a lot of them in a blender and expect them all to work fine.

Other things that come to mind includ some of the 'sloped' platforms in Water Hall (Difficult to see where the slope ends while going up it, resulting in falling off into the water a lot), ice textures not acting like ice (while they probably weren't intended to be ice in Water Hall, the actual ice in Arctic Facility isn't slippery), and a lot of visual clutter in Arctic Facility and Jungle Ruins closer to the bases.

 

[Sapheros]

I really wish there were more co-op levels in this map pack, (i would've hosted them right away for episode 3....) That being said, are there more packs coming soon?

 

[Plutia]

Gonna give this a playthrough and give my thoughts later!

 

[Kuba11]

Thanks a lot for all your responses :)

1) Dark. A lot of the levels are caves and take place underground or under a canopy and away from the light, or at night. Okay, cool. But while I don't expect the light levels to be 255, it's still pretty dark. Not dark enough to be an issue visually, but just dark enough to be noticeable, especially in Water Hall. We had trouble figuring out where the heck the flag points were because the light level was just enough that it was difficult to see that the waterfall had another room behind it.

Well, this ALWAYS seems to be the problem with my levels. I have reduced the darkness of some levels plenty of times already. Could you give me, something like a "safe value" of darkness, as I always seem to mess that up?

2) Too many textures. Nothing is outstandingly wrong with the level designs themselves, but there are so many different textures used in each individual level that the stages turn into a bit of a visual mess. It's a good idea to use different textures to signify specific differences between platforms and hazards in a level. It isn't such a good idea to toss a lot of them in a blender and expect them all to work fine.

I can see that can be a problem, but I actually lack ideas how (or more importantly, where) this should be fixed. I may have hard time figuring this out, but I'll try to improve as much as I can (I could use some advice there, if you happen to have any)

Other things that come to mind includ some of the 'sloped' platforms in Water Hall (Difficult to see where the slope ends while going up it, resulting in falling off into the water a lot)

Those stairs are probably my worst idea for this map, or at least a poorly executed one. I'm gonna have to think of something.

When it comes to visual clutter, that may be the case in Junge ruins, but I don't know where it appears in Arctic facility, especially near the bases. It's hard for me to see that, because after all that time eventually I'd try to rule out such problems.

Thanks for the criticism, I'll certainly do my best to improve :).

I really wish there were more co-op levels in this map pack, (i would've hosted them right away for episode 3....) That being said, are there more packs coming soon?

I guess I won't be releasing any other level packs. Instead, I'll put here everything new that will be playable. Next up will be a CTF and a single player map, but those are planned for oldc. I could use some beta testers thoug, as I already have about a minute of gameplay of my sp level.

 

[furythehog]

If you want somebody to run through your single player things, I'm open, I don't play net-games typically so I wont be any good with advice for CTF.

 

[Kuba11]

Ok, noted :). I'll send you something when the level has appropriate amount of content.

 

[Jellybones]

I liked your SP level a lot. Really nice difficulty and scenery. (such as the waterfall flowing down the steps near the end)

I didn't play the CTF levels in a proper netgame, but just walking through them they seemed varied with multiple paths. And that music is awesome. Additionally, I don't know if you updated them after that initial post mentioned the darkness but I never felt it was an issue.

And if you feel like you want another tester, hit me up whenever your stuff is ready. I'm not busy.

 

[Lat']

You should remove Suken Cave from competition to avoid runing in circle without any reasons.

 

[Kuba11]

Right, thanks for pointing that out.
That reminds me, I still haven't made aquatic temple race friendly (gargoyle puzzles need to be skipped). There are plenty of things to do, so I'll make an update soon.
Also, a short beta version of another sp stage will be coming up, as I'm finally done with the most difficult college work.

 

[Lat']

Also noticed that there are bustables ice blocks near the begining of Suken Cave, I breaked one and my game crashed.