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yfyfyfyfyfy
The dumbest man
̶I̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶n̶k̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶a̶ ̶g̶o̶o̶d̶ ̶i̶d̶e̶a̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶p̶o̶s̶t̶ ̶a̶t̶ ̶3̶ ̶a̶.̶m̶.̶
Now, having a bright mind, I remember that such cases are really isolated.
---------- Post added at 12:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:26 PM ----------
Hey, hey, man stop. I am not someone professional and it is better to wait for the opinions of people who are more experienced than me. Don't have to do something for me.
Finally, you don't have to adjust to someone. Just do as you see fit, but relying on people's opinions. No need to apologize for something.
Now, having a bright mind, I remember that such cases are really isolated.
---------- Post added at 12:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:26 PM ----------
Hey, hey, man stop. I am not someone professional and it is better to wait for the opinions of people who are more experienced than me. Don't have to do something for me.
Finally, you don't have to adjust to someone. Just do as you see fit, but relying on people's opinions. No need to apologize for something.
GrayAngel
Member
This level has some really cool geometry.
Woa, Alabaster fountain is impressive. More complex then I realized.
Maybe I should change my votes a little...
Asking for Fang/ Amy levels is fine.
Only squeecky wheels get the greasin.
Was just saying it can be a challenging circus act to keep all characters contained, not that the desire for Fang levels was unreasonable in and on itself.
Since contest levels are self contained, they are a good oppurtunity for exploring things I wouldn't do in my bigger level packs anyway.
Maybe I should change my votes a little...
Asking for Fang/ Amy levels is fine.
Only squeecky wheels get the greasin.
Was just saying it can be a challenging circus act to keep all characters contained, not that the desire for Fang levels was unreasonable in and on itself.
Since contest levels are self contained, they are a good oppurtunity for exploring things I wouldn't do in my bigger level packs anyway.
Yea Alabaster Fountain, upon repeat playthroughs,.went from 'depressingly unpolished' to 'the most massive and path-rich stage in the pack', while a lot of stages that wow you on a first run like Emerald Aether end up losing their replayability when you realize that's it. Play through stages multiple times before making a vote, folks, because there's more to a stage than its first impression.
While I agree using diffrent characters can change the experience a lot and we should do that before voting, I'd argue another reason for the extreme diffrences in opinion is simply because most levels go for an entirely different quality. It's a lot of comparing oranges with apples this round, so often it boils down what's important to each individual reviewer.
How important is speed and pace, how important is replayability, how important are graphics and story, how important is challenge.
Everyone's got a different opinion on those.
Maybe in the future we can judge levels on seperate qualities rather then as a whole, to make voting a little more linair again. Instead of the more murky "Do I rank awesome speed level or awesome puzzle level higher?" situation we got now. It was extremely often the levels were so different in focus I couldn't really make an objective opinion and had to default to "what's the most fun to play". And that's a very unstable and unfair qualification.
That, or the competition gets more strict with more clear goals what contest levels should try to achieve, altough that might just stiffle a lot of creativity.
Then again, I suppose by the end of the day, the level that managed to pull off most qualities at the same time will likely win, in which case it still works out.
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yfyfyfyfyfy
The dumbest man
Perhaps this is one of the reasons why I will never participate in OLDC ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
...or maybe not..?
...or maybe not..?
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Riolucariolu
Neanderthal femboy
Anyone remember "Myriad Memories" from the Summer OLDC? I gave it first place in my ranking because it just had nice puzzles, great atmosphere and was original as hell. God I'm still bummed by the community leaving it at 16th place or so.
I neither have the time nor the will to play all stages more than once or twice, it really takes a long time. And since I only play as Sonic, it sure can be unfair. If people at least said what character was best for their stage, I'd get the best out of it.
But yeah, just like you I end up judging them on the fun that I had which often favors fast paced linear levels like Pagoda Park or the Emerald one (though they had other qualities too).
GrayAngel
Member
I heard at least one of these levels has a theme the author made themselves. Is that true? One thing I wish we had was a brief description of each level, telling us the basic idea of what they're going for, what custom assets they use, and if the level is based on something. I didn't even know one was based on a level from Sonic After the Sequel until I saw someone's review.
Personally, I especially like to consider custom assets when voting, as it takes a lot of extra effort to make new flats and such, when you could just be using Green Flower Zone assets instead.
Personally, I especially like to consider custom assets when voting, as it takes a lot of extra effort to make new flats and such, when you could just be using Green Flower Zone assets instead.
Hey guys. This OLDC pack got an update to address minor issues and changes with some levels. Nothing that outright changes how the maps are played but the following maps got updated:
- Knothole Coast Zone
- Shadow of Aztlan
- Fatal Factory
Chezi
Chili Dogs
This is exactly why you should get someone to playtest your levels. You may think something is obvious, but that's only because you put it there. I see this problem a lot in Mario Maker and it translates here as well.
Metalwario64
Member
I will never forget the time I saw someone post a demo of their Super Mario World hack on SMWCentral back in 2009 or so, and they had a door hidden in a lava pit, only that specific lava pit was not a real one. There would be no reason for the player to jump in said lava pit because the game teaches you that they are bad, so having one be fake like that was cryptic and bad level design. Every time I see someone make a level in anything and it has something that only the developer would really know I always think back to that, in part because it was a rather extreme example of that sort of thing.
Ace Dragon
Member
Was able to play many of the levels, but I will note that I haven't completed all of them yet. What I can say so far (in no order of quality)
One thing I can say without spoiler tags is that with the returning creators generally improving on their level creation techniques, the OLDC is set to drop some nice high quality content bundles going forward. In addition, I wouldn't worry too much about what feedback you guys might get in places like Discord and Youtube, a lot of gamers in general can be notoriously hard to please, and pleasing everyone is all but impossible anyway.
Pagoda Park - Very nice design overall and a decent length, a lot of attention to detail and a decent level of challenge without being unfair. This level perhaps had some of the largest and the best set pieces in the pack, so it was fun.
Hakuryu Dojo - There are several custom enemies here and even a custom boss, so it gets points for trying to be original. However, some of the sections seem to slog a bit and the transition zones between the various gauntlets are nearly identical to each other. In addition, the water sections look like they could use a colormap. It is decent enough.
Foliage Furnace - Kwinn is becoming known for his prowess with slopes and poly objects, and it shows in abundance here. In addition, the detail is amazing, though the main path does feel like it hems you in at times with all of the geometry you pass by. You do have to consider the physics of SRB2 to pass some areas, but the level was overall pretty good in my opinion.
Overgrown Heights Act 2 - It follows the first one in design somewhat, with large, detailed rooms, and various challenges scattered throughout. It can be a bit tricky to hit the springs (especially with the rollout rock), but it is somewhat generous with checkpoints. It should also be noted that the level starts out being very generous with rings, as it is enough to get you an extra life before you hit the spring to exit the first room. The main issue though is unescapable water pits, causing the user to spend needless time waiting for the character to drown (if you don't just bring up the menu to hit 'retry').
Galactic Facility - I like science-fiction and space concepts, but I didn't complete this one because even if it supposedly contains starposts, the first one is rather far away from the start. I may need to get back to it
Emerald Aether - Very good use of slopes and overall appears to use a design similar to Sonic Utopia (which I've only seen videos of by the way). The only place it falls down though is when you need to cross the gap to the end area, it is not at all obvious that you need to turn there.
Gated Garden - Again, the use of custom content and enemies is always welcome amid the legions of levels that mainly use stock content. Some nice details here and there can be seen as well (like the halfpipes). However, the level seems to abuse the use of non-climbable walls, and the use of invisible walls purely to force a certain way of play (in this case the hedge maze) is not always a good design choice. Fang can also have a nightmare scenario as far as difficulty goes (if you die in the cave after the first checkpoint, you might have to jump up a series of steps while robo-hoods shoot at you, with no rings).
Alabaster Fountain - While it is one of the longer levels in the pack, the atmosphere and the spike gate mechanic is nifty while not being too punishing. It seems the layout gets a little more complex and detailed in the final third of the level, which combined with the lack of water animation appears to indicate it is unfinished. It would be great if the creator can complete this and release it (to the levels forum) sometime in the near future.
Shadow of Aztlan - Again, custom enemies are nice to see, though the design seems to be a little all over the place, but the design overall was rather interesting and made me want to see more. The emerging series also is getting a knack for throwing you into an unrelated scene at the end, will the third level explain it?
Knothole Coast - I didn't see the easter egg, but the rest of the level has some pretty design along with tight geometry. It is too bad it had to end so quick.
Dark Marsh - Maybe the big challenge zone of the pack (because falling into the swamp water is instant death). The building design had some interesting features though.
Hakuryu Dojo - There are several custom enemies here and even a custom boss, so it gets points for trying to be original. However, some of the sections seem to slog a bit and the transition zones between the various gauntlets are nearly identical to each other. In addition, the water sections look like they could use a colormap. It is decent enough.
Foliage Furnace - Kwinn is becoming known for his prowess with slopes and poly objects, and it shows in abundance here. In addition, the detail is amazing, though the main path does feel like it hems you in at times with all of the geometry you pass by. You do have to consider the physics of SRB2 to pass some areas, but the level was overall pretty good in my opinion.
Overgrown Heights Act 2 - It follows the first one in design somewhat, with large, detailed rooms, and various challenges scattered throughout. It can be a bit tricky to hit the springs (especially with the rollout rock), but it is somewhat generous with checkpoints. It should also be noted that the level starts out being very generous with rings, as it is enough to get you an extra life before you hit the spring to exit the first room. The main issue though is unescapable water pits, causing the user to spend needless time waiting for the character to drown (if you don't just bring up the menu to hit 'retry').
Galactic Facility - I like science-fiction and space concepts, but I didn't complete this one because even if it supposedly contains starposts, the first one is rather far away from the start. I may need to get back to it
Emerald Aether - Very good use of slopes and overall appears to use a design similar to Sonic Utopia (which I've only seen videos of by the way). The only place it falls down though is when you need to cross the gap to the end area, it is not at all obvious that you need to turn there.
Gated Garden - Again, the use of custom content and enemies is always welcome amid the legions of levels that mainly use stock content. Some nice details here and there can be seen as well (like the halfpipes). However, the level seems to abuse the use of non-climbable walls, and the use of invisible walls purely to force a certain way of play (in this case the hedge maze) is not always a good design choice. Fang can also have a nightmare scenario as far as difficulty goes (if you die in the cave after the first checkpoint, you might have to jump up a series of steps while robo-hoods shoot at you, with no rings).
Alabaster Fountain - While it is one of the longer levels in the pack, the atmosphere and the spike gate mechanic is nifty while not being too punishing. It seems the layout gets a little more complex and detailed in the final third of the level, which combined with the lack of water animation appears to indicate it is unfinished. It would be great if the creator can complete this and release it (to the levels forum) sometime in the near future.
Shadow of Aztlan - Again, custom enemies are nice to see, though the design seems to be a little all over the place, but the design overall was rather interesting and made me want to see more. The emerging series also is getting a knack for throwing you into an unrelated scene at the end, will the third level explain it?
Knothole Coast - I didn't see the easter egg, but the rest of the level has some pretty design along with tight geometry. It is too bad it had to end so quick.
Dark Marsh - Maybe the big challenge zone of the pack (because falling into the swamp water is instant death). The building design had some interesting features though.
One thing I can say without spoiler tags is that with the returning creators generally improving on their level creation techniques, the OLDC is set to drop some nice high quality content bundles going forward. In addition, I wouldn't worry too much about what feedback you guys might get in places like Discord and Youtube, a lot of gamers in general can be notoriously hard to please, and pleasing everyone is all but impossible anyway.
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Riolucariolu
Neanderthal femboy
Never read anything more true. I have extremely low standards for quality regarding games, so seeing others thrash stuff that I love an absurd amount for all the wrong reasons is heartbreaking.
Just keep creating stuff, and even if it should suck someone is guaranteed to get a kick out of it.
Solid SOAP
Member
Foliage Furnace is truly fucking awesome. Love it!