Official Level Design Contest: Summer 2020 1.1

[SeventhSentinel]

Welcome to the Summer 2020 SRB2 Official Level Design Contest discussion topic! We're back online, better than ever!

As mentioned in the rules, the actual voting process will be done in the Contest Voting subforum, where you will create a thread to list your votes. To vote on a division: Play all of its maps, form opinions on them, then rate them from your favorite to least favorite. If you have submitted a map, you HAVE to rate it highest for that division.

An update on divisions:
After some consideration, we have decided to make a slight change to the division system. Match and Battle are now separated, so are CTF and Battle CTF. Please consider that when voting! The current roster is:

-SP
-Match
-Battle
-CTF
-Battle CTF
-Arena
-Circuit

We encourage you to share your feedback and reviews in your voting threads, which will be made public once the voting period is over. However, do feel free to discuss the levels in this thread!

Voting will end September 23, 2020 at 7 PM local in Eastern Standard Time. This deadline is strict, so please make sure to cast your votes until then. Any vote submitted after that exact time will have to be rejected.

After the voting period ends, the votes will be tallied. For each vote, the map they ranked first gets n-1 points, second place gets n-2 points, third gets n-3, all the way down to n-n (zero) points for last, where n is the number of maps in the division. Each map's points are added together to create that map's final score, and the map with the highest score wins the division. Should there be a tie, the votes are calculated again with only the tied maps included. If this still fails to break the tie, the tie stands and both maps are winners.

The entries are as follows:

Single Player
Crystal Cave Zone by CST1229
Toffee Tor Zone, Act 1 by RoyKirbs
Hypertower Zone by WasifBoomz
Shadow of Atlantis Zone by akirahedgehog
Cluttered Cave Zone, Act 2 by Riolucariolu
Oasis Palace Zone by So2ro
Rustic Templar Zone by MK.exe
Valley Falls Zone by Hamsandwich
Heroes Hall by Zaxel
Cyan Heights Zone by PencilVoid
Wasteland Wilds Zone by SunCyclone
Concordian Coast Zone by Ktoby & Pronicthewedgehog
Anteggtica Zone by Radicalicious
Overgrown Heights Zone by InferNOr
Spyro Ripto Blast 2 - Snowflake Ridge by TrickyTex & Tatsuru
Metallic Madness Good Future by Kwiin & Kanna
Wild West Zone, Act 2 by Dead
Myriad Memories Zone by ManimiFire
Aqua Paradise Zone by Twins'R'Awesome
Magma Falls Zone by RadicalChaos_6922
Hectic Harbor Zone by ACStriker

Match
Spiral Cavern Zone by Su_per
Crystalline Heights Zone by Revan
Disco Town Zone by Trege

CTF

Circuit
HydroWing Zone by JABSphere94
Haptic Caverns Zone by PencilVoid
Greenflower Canyon Zone by Kwiin & Frostiikin

Arena
Pipeline Panic Zone by RoyKirbs
Mountainous Saloon Zone by InferNOr
Gravity Station Zone by Krabs
Hidden Chamber Zone by Krabs
Symmetri-Canyon Zone by PapsTheEchidna121
Arena Station by Latius
Grassy Clearing by Apollyon

Battle
Glimmer Gulch Zone by happyalm
SSN's Picnic by Zolton
Peach Castle Zone by ACStriker

Battle CTF
Moonlight Zone by Krabs
Jagged Creek Zone by RoyKirbs
Serene Shore Zone by Krabs
Big Arch by Kwiin

As before, "reserved" posts will be infracted as spam.

Disclaimer: The MP pack contains Match/CTF/Circuit levels. It is suggested that you do NOT host these with Battlemod enabled, as Battlemod overwrites some vanilla objects which can cause issues in these maps.

 

[furrless]

It begins. N o w

 

[CrappyLloyd]

Aw Yeah This Is Happening!

 

[Mr-SUGOI (STF)]

my firts OLDC

 

[D00D64]

 

[Twins'R'Okay]

And so............it b e g i n s

My stage may not be the most open thing around, but I hope that people at least enjoy it and find it a decent stage :>

 

[little guy*]

GOGOGOGOGOGO!
It's finally out, time to have some fun!

 

[ArcadeStriker]

this will be a beautiful day

 

[clairebun]

So many single player entries, how exciting! I will have to run through these once I have a few hours to spare.

 

[S.T.F]

finally after all these years..

 

[SpinSlash165]

Let's fucking G O

 

[BronsoKip]

Yes, I can't wait to play the levels! Also, excellent music choice in the hub world, lol

 

[D00D64]

...Yeah, I'm sitting out on voting.

 

[Frostiikin]

Looks like i'm 'boutta be the first criticism post. Welp, here we go. Didn't go too in depth with any specific level here, just my basic thoughts on everything I played. Please don't take it as a personal attack if I disliked your level, me not liking your level doesn't mean I don't like you <3

Let's start off with singleplayer stuff.

Metallic Madness
Decent length, and not too dificult
Great aesthetics
Really laggy
Fun use of momentum mod

Overgrown Heights
Somewhat annoying platforming
Great aesthetics
Decent overall design

Myriad Memories
not fun in the slightest
nice ambiance
easy to get lost
really slow
no, REALLY slow
SERIOUSLY THIS LEVEL IS SO FUCKING SLOW
darkness obscures many things needed to beat the level
endless gargoyle pushing

Toffee Tor
Nice use of rollout rocks in a non-lava level
Very colorful
Fun use of slopes in certain sections

Magma Falls
Not that fun overall, but not particularly offensive either.
Lava bumps are just annoying
Really fucking easy to get lost in
literally just red volcano in terms of aesthetics


Hectic Harbor
Distinct visually from anything i've seen in srb2 before
Level design is okay, but kinda flat

Concordian Coast
Really short
kinda forgettable

Aqua Paradise
Really fun for a water level, feels kinda like hydrocity in a way
Really sweet looking textures

Wild West
Despite using acz assets, still feels like its own thing, it feels much more serious then acz
Music really helps set the mood
The sudden change of theme at the end is really neat

Anteggtica
Really short
Grating music
Not a lot of actual gameplay, it's mostly just "run to the end"
I don't think there's a single ring aside from the ringboxes in this entire level

Snowflake Ridge
oh god the lag
Really fucking cool mechanics, you're literally playing spyro in srb2
Little long tbh...

Crystal Cave
Neat theme
Also pretty short
Has some really cramped sections

Heroes Hall
brasiland
brasiland
brasiland
brasiland
ok in all seriousness:
The new enemies are really cool, you don't typically see those in custom levels
Does suffer from some fairly cramped sections
There seems to be some actual lore to this level which is really cool
Buttons aren't annoyingly hidden which is really nice
The different heroes' "worlds" are really cool
Nowhere near enough checkpoints
Does tend to drag on a bit near the end

Shadow of Atlantis
Bubbles aren't placed frequently enough, I held on to that elemental shield for dear life once I finally got it
Pretty open for a water level, which is a combination of good and bad, good since its open and all, but bad since water slows you down significantly and makes traversing large distances a slog

Oasis Palace
Really nice open level that's a blast to run through. Despite how open it is, you rarely get turned around. Also a really unique theme.

Cluttered Cavern
I was really not expecting this to switch from water level to fire level, that was a nice surprise.
The water half feels unique and not just like a deep sea clone, which is really good. Same goes for the fire half & rvz.

Hypertower
the music is just midi barf lol
can be really hard to tell where you're supposed to go
2d segment likes to jank the fuck out at random times
things that have no reason to be falling platforms are falling platforms (seriously fuck you for putting that ringbox there to make me take longer on that first one)

Rustic Temple
Really solid level all around. Not too long, not too short, pretty fast paced, and overall just pure fun. The quicksand was really fun to play around with.

Valley Falls
mazes do not make for interesting gameplay, especially not underwater ones.
I got GBJ'd by the second 2d section by getting misalligned
Level kinda goes on for too long

Cyan Heights
I like the usage of the beta ACZ bird thingies
Way too short
Platforms are kinda small, didn't feel confident running across most of them

And now, on to circuit maps, the only other type of map that I have any confidence in giving any feedback on.

Hydrowing
those flingers have no indication that they're about to just yeet you off a cliff
very cool aesthetically

Haptic Cavern
really just feels like you're throwing shit at the wall and seeing what sticks with all this random stuff shoved in everywhere lol


Greenflower Canyon
Truly the most mindblowingly awesome map in the entire oldc. Simply flawless. Wait, what do you mean I can't critique something I helped work on~

Anyways, hope I wasn't too harsh here. Keep in mind i'm not a level designer myself, just giving my general thoughts on some of these here levels. I only truly hated one of these levels (hint hint, myriad memories wasn't fun at all), but overall, the vast majority of these were at the very least enjoyable. Can't wait to see what this community puts out next!

 

[YoshSonYs9]

It was fun playing & trying out these Srb2 OLDC 2020 zone levels, especially the battle mod ones.
The visually pleasing zone hub makes coop run all the more smoother with the transitions.
Outside of some fps framerate drop issues in several levels, I had a good time.
Nice work, everyone.

 

[Ezer'Arch]

How dare you post OLDC without my fireworks?!

Have some

 

[Soufon]

I've only played a few levels so far, but might as well give my thoughts on them. For perspective, I played with Sonic and Tails.

Valley Falls:
There's some decent design here, but the way the stage is put together made it feel more like a tiring marathon of so-so levels to me, rather than just a simply long stage. I'd say the pacing is the biggest problem here, as the actual level design (besides some points brought up already) is alright in itself.

Heroes Hall:
Interesting use of custom enemies. The themed portions are a nice diversion from the main stage, though I wish the button-hunting element was more in-depth; the level as is has them usually awkwardly tucked near the end of the themed sections, more something to miss than something to find. As for the level design itself, it's fine, if a bit standard-feeling. The damaging water pillars were an interesting idea for a gimmick, though the portion they were in didn't do much interesting with them.

Aqua Paradise:
Personal favorite out of the stages I played. Good level design, a wide open feel along with some great visuals made this stage an overall great time for me. If I had to critique, the amount of rings and items in the earlier parts of the stage can feel like overkill.

Cyan Heights:
Not much to say on this one. Had some creative speed section set-ups, some cool stuff with the unused hang glider gimmicks, then just kinda stopped right as the level was really starting. I'm assuming the level is unfinished, but what's here is really promising.

 

[SpectralFlake]

The Hub alone makes me feel bad for not entering the OLDC, but the map I would've shown is really bad. (And I mean it, it's like Demo 2-ish quality)

Anyway, best of luck to all and as always...

May the best Robo Blaster win.

 

[Spectorious]

I'm really excited to see what everyone has brought to the table this time around, seeing the sheer amount of single player entries has admittedly got me pretty excited. Best of luck to everyone who's submitted!

 

[Dead]

Wonderful SP Levels

Played all the SP Submissions, it felt wonderful to play all of your levels
I even put my feedback into it as well, have fun reading.

Spoiler: Feedbacks

Myriad Memories Zone - ManimiFire
Suffers from being too dark, hard to find to navigate on where I should supposed to go, did you test this in GL? the lighting seems perfect for this, but going in Software It's just horrendous, I do love some sections you've put into like the Blue Spring ones, though the darker ones are annoying since i have to bump into walls to check for clues and pathways, overall It's okay, simple puzzles aswell, but suffers for being too dark, hope to see more of these!

Heroes Hall Zone - Zaxel
Good looking map at the start, but through-out the level, it suffers mostly from tight sections, it was pretty smart to include character themed section spouting some lore into it, though you might want to tone it down the maze and tightness of the Archer Section, and give some better texture variety for the Cleric Section, also the Knight Section is just simply lazy, Magician Section is interesting, Spec-Ops Section is just right, and all of this section also has one problem, buttons to proceed, I would like to point out that these buttons shouldn't be hidden in the first place, it should open in plain sight to begin with, you really don't want players to just went straight to the portal and confused why everything they did doesn't do anything. Worth noting the level is too long, took me 15 minutes to finish, at the 10 minute mark I just somehow can't take it and thok my way instead of enjoying the level, good luck on the next one though!

Valley Falls Zone - Hamsandwich
Where should I start, first the texturing in caves could need some work, it's pretty bland with just 1 or 2 textures present, the water maze is the most annoying section I've ever come across, I hope you either tone it down or better, remove it, It's just not fun having to worry about your oxygen running out while traversing the maze, some sections also suffers from Camera, Springs are mainly an example of this, and the 2D Section, ofc, It's an okay section but there are pits that seriously needs to be looked at, also before you enter the 2D Section, if you timed your jump correctly, you won't enter 2D mode at all. All and all, It's an okay level, but suffers from this issues I have addressed, hope you'll improve and go better in the future!

Cyan Heights Zone - PencilVoid
Neat asthetics, but the level is very very short, interesting gimmick with... Uhh, pseudo gliders, though the whole level itself mostly suffers from being too tight, ngl, first time I felt claustrophobic at the start, though I hope in the future you would expand and improve more!

Metallic Madness Good Future - Kwiin & failur.old
As expected from a good use of slopes for aesthetic feeling, running around in the level without any worries because It is a Good Future, I can tell which section who worked on, the lack of badniks is no concern due to the nature of the level (Though I would like 4 or 5 somewhere but more broken down if possible in the future lol), there are also some sectors that are tagged for the translucent FOF Cloud thing that pushes you upwards, you just simply fell there and nothing happens, surprised how some specific paths are more dangerous than your normal ones, but the peace and tranquility in this level just gets me, perfect in my book!

Aqua Paradise Zone - Twins'R'Awesome
Gorgeous aesthetics and custom textures, though the level loaded a bit longer than expected since the level texture it uses are PNGs, not gonna complain much anyway, I could wait for a whole minute than a week xdd, I had to go through it twice to get the other paths how it felt like, they both complimented very well in terms of time and difficulty (Though there are some sections that felt empty however), all and all, It's something I would go through again sometime. Emblems are a plus from me, encourages replayability, also I can see some rendering issues here and there but that's because of that particular water being too large yeah? Software just go dying whatever anyway, great job on this one, can't wait for more from you!

Magma Falls Zone - RadicalChaos_6922
Your level is pleasingly have good design and aesthetics, which I like, but however, it suffers with one major flaw, the layout and navigating, your layout is simply confusing after the first few minutes, I somehow ran into circle three times before I found the actual path to where I should go, maybe in the future you would add something that would hint the players where they should go? Also, you level is lacking StarPosts, I didn't die at all if you're asking but it's essential to have multiple of these in your level, don't forget, having StarPosts doesn't mean you only get a checkpoint but also serves as a navigation point that may help players where should they go, good luck on your next one!

Concordian Coast Zone - Ktoby
It's rather short, well very short, some midtextures didn't even have the Solid Midtexture Flags so I could somehow go passed through them, some of the sections felt cramped, and your music you're using for the said level didn't loop properly, though on the positive note, that ending was cute, I hope you'll improve in time and good luck!

Toffee Tor Zone, Act 1 - RoyKirbs
This is simply cute ngl, realized that it uses RVZ textures will a bit of other textures, it som ehow fits perfectly for a cheery tone of a level, your level has emblems, which is already a plus for me since it encourages replayability, I will also keep that secret of yours :v, just a nitpick, I somehow went into circle once maybe the navigation needed in check for a bit, overall It's a good level with a cheery tone, I'll have to dive back in again to find those emblems. Also good luck on your next one!

Hypertower Zone - WasifBoomz
My first impression was, cramped start and then the music, my disbelievement is unmeassureable at that moment, the level design needs a major work, the layout is confusing, texturing could use some overhaul, the flow is just horrendous at the moment, 2D section needs some fixing, It's confusing on what's going on when you went into that section, I only hope, you learn on all of this improve on by learning that the level flow is important to make the level themselves enjoyable, from your level now? I wish it could've been fixed, good luck on your future level though!

Overgrown Heights Zone - InferNOr
Amazing use of decoration, uhm, too overused I might say, I didn't even get a flat 35 FPS on this one lol, but that doesn't stop me from playing it, suffering alot through-out the level, the most annoying ones was the waterfall with the DragonBombers, most annoying, on the positive note, let me tell you about the aesthetics in this level, it feels just right, I often times stopped and look at the scenery you just made in whopping 10 FPS (Yeah, that bad) it kept me going don't worry, to the end, sections are huge and beautiful doesn't even feel empty with how you're using the scenery here and there, the trees are an amazing touch-ups aswell, It's rather smart how you made them, for now to me, It's such a laggy level, but the scenery is just at the top.

Wasteland Wilds Zone - SunCyclone
This is an interesting one, sections are mostly large and empty, the flow is just fantastic, somehow enjoyable, though Dragonbombers placement could use some height increament, they're pretty dangerous at close, you'll never know when you manage to bop one and got hit on of the bombs, but then again, you can simply ignore them, all and all level feels a bit flat out empty, texturing is good, the flow and the layout is somewhat enjoyable, good luck on your next one!

Rustic Templar Zone - MK.exe
Amazing use of slopes, texturing is just amazing, you also get to feel that you're in some ruins aswell due to how the level scenery you put it, Emblems is a plus from me, encourages replayability, level flow and layout is just right, oh not to mention multiple path you could take with multiple characters, this will make your level not flat out boring, the indication of these character specific paths are very noticeable, hope you make more of these, Mmmmmmmkkkkk

Hectic Harbor Zone - ACStriker
Interesting yet confusing layout, I often got lost on this one lol, but atleast I got a reward for it, somehow, anyway you shouldn't use a bunch of variety of enemies, like, in this one section there's like a Deton, RoboHood, Crawla, Turret, and Jetty-Syn, this make me want to avoid things, I can really tell at the start of your level, you put some effort into it, but at the last final stretch somehow got the effort toned it down, all and all, It's a simple level, some section feel so open and flat, I feel bothered with the music but I'll take it lol, good luck on your next one!

Shadow of Atlantis Zone - akirahedgehog
I'm astounded how you could made such level that aesthetically interesting with such simple texturing, bubble placement is fair, some midtexture lacking of Solid Midtexture Flag, though if you're playing as a character that the ability doesn't abuse vertical movement, it would be annoying for those who can't, the layout and flow is very right during playthrough, I did fell at one point, starting over at the bottom, do I go back up with effort? Hah, no, I just retry :P, all and all, good aesthetics, good texturing, good flow and layout, goodl uck on your next one!

Anteggtica Zone - Radicalicious
For such a good looking level, it suffers for being so empty, level layout and flow is good, I dunno how I feel seeing CEZ Trees in a snow level, might want to fix that to change their hue into more bluish or having snow on them, uhm... Interesting music also lol, yeah, overall, level is too empty while being good in anything else :v, hope I'll see more from you whilst being improved!

Oasis Palace Zone - So2ro
This is honestly a pretty fun level to navigate, there's so much to explore in this large level, without it being confusing (That's probably just me), multiple character specific paths to prevent the level being outright boring everytime you play, Emblems is also a plus since it encourages replayability, overall, good level design and flow, exploration is encouraging at best, texturing is also good, good luck on your next one!

Cluttered Cave Zone, Act 2 - Riolucariolu
Interesting level! I'm up for a change of theme during the course of playthrough, good as it is, the level itself is a bit suffering with navigation, I somehow went into circle three times before going to the right path, particularly only the water section suffers this, also there's a bug regarding StarPost, activating one, all others are activated making navigating more confusing since the path you would take will more likely be not the path you shouldtake due to the StarPost being activated, all and all the level layout is confusing a bit, flow is good, texturing and scenery is good, looking forward on your next one!

Crystal Cave Zone - CST1229
Fairly short and cramped mostly, texturing is good, level flow is okay aswell, not as confusing, but the cramped part actually gets me, also the music doesn't loop properly, all and all, interesting short level, wished you expanded more into this, hope I can see more from you!

Spyro Ripto Blast 2 - Snowflake Ridge - TrickyTex & Tatsuru
Holy shit, is this even SRB2 anymore? Taking a whole SP Division with a new and fresh gameplay to play in SRB2, surprised how you pulled this off with the new gamemode too bad the level itself made me lag (Played in a whopping 15-20 FPS lmao) I somehow kept on moving anyway, but there are some sections where the level itself felt a little bland and need some adjustments, and my favorite, the level encourages exploring due to the requirements you'd have to take, also Emblems, instant plus since it encourages replayability, all and all, level feels right yet bland on some cases (Probably that's how Spyro level goes, I dunno), with the whole new gamemode changes how the level should play out, hopefully more like this would come, good luck!

Wild West Zone, Act 2 - Dead
It sucks, lacking substance, Wild West? More like What The Fuck West, GIVE ME YOUR FEEDBACKS REEEEEEEEEEEEEEE