[Open Assets] Nights Edge Zone

[So2ro]

There are tales of a place where nights are so cold they could put you on deaths edge

I tried a go at a SP map and, even while it is short, i became quite fond of the result and i hope you all have fun with it too.

Being my second map ever, it teached me alot of useful stuff i didnt know i needed and some of the limitations of zone builder.

Nights Edge features:

-Cold temperatures
-Water
-Small section for amy/fang
-Penguins
-Water too cold for touch
-One hidden and other not so hidden emerald token
-More penguins
-And a fitting tune

Changelog:

v1
-Initial release

v1.1
-Changed some sections to better reflect the different water types and to encourage entering the underwater section, hopefully it helps
-Added spikes on a amy spring

 

[Zipper]

Cute little ice level! Really enjoyed the Amy/Fang path splits too, however short they may be (In fact, this is probably the first time I enjoyed playing a level as Fang more than I enjoyed it as Sonic.)

The underwater waterfalls are a bit counterintuitive in how they behave, but that's a pretty minor nitpick.

Welcome to Releases!

 

[MellowJacket]

I actually really enjoyed this! This level is pretty fun, quite a good length and I had fun exploring it. I do have some nitpicks and things I would like to see you learn from if you make any more maps in future though, specifically the use of damaging water is inconsistent within the level because the water either marks death pits and non-fatal damage zones. Which is further compounded by how there is an underwater section near the end where the water is harmless. SRB2 2.2 color codes its water very clearly to try and make it so the player doesn't feel the need to dip their toes into every pool to see what it does because they're unsure if the water is harmful or not, which is what happens when you have different types of water that look the same like in this level.

There's also a few areas where the death pits are too close to the platform the player naturally uses to move past the pit. So it causes the camera to tilt when the player is moving normally, which is quite disorientating. You can fix this either by making the death pits deeper, or marking the death pits as Sector type 7 (No Camera Tilt) instead. And it's an inconsistent design quirk that Fang can break open the ice walls near the end to progress by jumping into them, despite being a no-spin character, at first I thought that was an indication I couldn't take the underwater route as Fang and I spent some time trying to find an alternate path.

My complaints aside, what's here is a pretty fun level at its core, so good job!

 

[Kris M.]

I really like this map, however I do have a slight nitpick and it has to do with this spring here, it's seems to be for Amy Rose due to it not being strong enough to get up the ledge, maybe you can put spikes around it to give a hint that sonic can't use it

 

[Chromatian]

You've got some cool ideas and layout here plagued by some questionable choices.

Right at the start I was looking around examining the area, and nearly died to a Pophat shooting straight onto my spawn. You should always give the player some space to breath and feel safe near the start of a level and near any checkpoints. They're the few areas that are specifically meant to introduce new information, and that information won't get to the player if they die trying to parse it.

I'll second what Whackjood said about the pain-water. I personally don't mind it, but pick one and stick with it. Swapping between pain and safe water is extremely inconsistent even with differing textures to signal which is which. You're just betraying player expectations over and over which will just frustrate people more often than not.

While the Peguinators and Pophats fit the theme, the other enemies like Minus and Crushstacean suddenly showing up detract from the experience. The placement of the enemies feels haphazard and thoughtless when so many different varieties show up. You really got a lot of good usage out of the first two enemies as well, so I'm not sure why you felt you needed all the others. Experiement a bit more with limitations like 2 enemies per level only, you'll be surprised at what cool interactions you can come up with.

Lastly, check out Linedef Type 14 for your breakable ice blocks. All of them used the default sprite, and there's a new sprite in 2.2 specifically meant for ice. It'll look a lot better than what you're currently displaying.

All that said, it was an overall enjoyable run. I liked the entrance to the big room that splits the characters down separate paths, as well as the room itself. The falling rocks down the hill with cliffs that you use for cover was a brief but fun setpiece, and the giant pilllars of ice with crumbling and non crumbling platforms had some cool geometry to platform around.

 

[Ice]

I agree with all the previous complaints. That aside, I think you've made a wonderful level. I usually don't give this complement because I don't notice it, but the level has a really cool title! Nights Edge Zone. It reminds me of the End of Time from Chrono Trigger: a place where you're at the boundary of something that you normally think of as boundary-less.

Snowy-night-level has always been one of my favorite themes, despite usually having horrible slowy-choky snow or slippy-slidey ice to ruin my time. Despite having these things, and despite the aforementioned problems, you've still managed to make the level fun, which is a huge accomplishment. To be honest, I don't even think 2.2's official Icy-Christmas level (I forget what it's called) is fun. It's expertly-designed, yes. But there's something about it that makes me yawn. Yours doesn't do that.

Overall, I think you've made a good level. Fix up some of the stuff the people before me mentioned and I think you'll have a great level.