Official Level Design Contest Voting: July/August

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FuriousFox said:
Conclusion: I noticed in the past few contests that there are many "themed" maps. What I mean by that is, the maps are designed around something else, and aren't really designed to be a fun map. While maps like this can be fun (Such as Glacier Cocktail Zone), most of them aren't. Sonic Islands is obviously supposed to be each of the 3 characters' heads, and PC Motherboard Zone was supposed to be a PC motherboard. While both of these maps suceeded in looking like what they're modeled after, they aren't particularly fun, and that is what matters. I've also noticed alot of insanely huge maps. I guess everyone has gotten it into their heads that bigger is better, which just isn't true. Try to design levels that would work well with about 6-8 players, since that is about the average size of a normal netgame. Another similarity is bad weapon choice. Obviously you shouldn't put Rail and Homing in the same map, and you should DEFINITELY not put all 5 in the same map (Luckily we didn't have any of those kinds of maps this time). It's not hard to figure out what works good in your map, just getsome people to help you test your levels in netplay. That's the whole reason we encourage testing, to help you guys figure out what's wrong with your map before you send it in to be judged. If you need someone to test with, just come by #srb2fun and ask. Some people probably won't want to test it right then, but I'm sure that at least a few people will be willing to help. Finally, listen to the criticism that you recieve with the ratings you get in these contests. We aren't trying to be mean and we aren't trying to tell you that you suck at making levels, we're just trying to tell you what you did wrong so that you won't make the same mistakes in your next map.

Now, that paragraph sums everything up about constructive critisism.

Now, to finish my voting:

Match

Carrier Crisis (JJames) - 7/10
Hey, a boat sailing on sea! Nice concept. I had fun on this map, but the fact that it's a bit cramped and the jumps were pretty hard to make, I had fun.

Twilight Tower (JJames) - 8/10
Now, this map is very nice. Nice use of the Sonic Xtreme textures, a solid amount of rings, which helps when your using the automatics.

Crater Lakes (Flame) - 1/10
Consistency failures, not much rings, and a bit dull led this map down.

Platform Chaos (Flame) - 2/10
Small platforms, not much rings. But hey, the mushrooms look cool, though.

Sonic Islands (Flame) - 0/10
Map was released before, gets an insta-0.

Meadow Garden (Mikel93) - 0/10
HOM in OpenGL, not much rings, also gets an insta-0.

Chaotic Belief (JJames) - 9/10
Ahh, this one is real fun. At last, no bad use of the Special Stage textures!

Ship Yard (Sonict) - 6/10
Nice ships, but I agree with FF about using the same texture. Use some variants.

PC Motherboard (Sonict) - 1/10
Eww, Rail-Homing.

Hill Top Battle (Flame) - 4/10
I like how underground is Underworld style, but I don't get the factory bit.

Arctic Falls (Oogaland) - 6/10
Another fun map. Why is the snow slippery?

Glacier Cocktail (Neo Chaotikal) - 8/10
Wow, nice and fun concept. The bouncing orange was pretty fun.

Feudal Age Rush (Penopat) - 0/10
Lag (Not SRB2's fault) gets an insta 0 for me. Because I use Software in netgames. Oh, and this would suit better for RPG.

Capture the Flag

Greenery Cave (JJames) - 9/10
This map is awesome for CTF. The confusion of wondering who's base you were on was pretty stink, but it was very fun.

Mountech (Blue Blur) - 4/10
No. Far too big, and it's too non-linear, making it too confusing. No.

Mountain Peaks (Espyo) - 2/10
OK, let me get this straight. This map is ermm...how should I put this? Not very good for CTF. Too high jumps, and Rail. You can get shot very painfully and fall down, to grab your flag and start jumping again, cycle repeating.


Whew, that's my voting done...
 
Single Player

I apologise, but I am not in the state of mind necessary to evaluate these stages without the constant use of swearing and general a-holiness. Therefore, I will take the correct action of not rating these maps, as to prevent unfair judging. I will, however, sum up what the stages needed in order to be more succesful.

Moon Temple - JJames
Needs more Star Posts, needs less 32x32 grid and slow turret elevator rooms.

Rocky Cavern 1 - KingofFlames
Needs less linearity, needs more vertical motion and actually working exit sectors and Star Posts.

Dandjr Palace - Penopat
Needs more decoration, needs less stupid. Aerial Garden has got nothing on this.


Match

Carrier Crisis - JJames -- 3/10
Ugh. I'm not sure where to begin. This map brings memories back to pre-Final Demo. It's unbearably cramped, and most of the various platforms are often too high to reach with a jump, which makes mobility a bitch. Learn how to make Match maps that can hold more than 3-4 players.

Twilight Tower - JJames -- 4/10
The outer area is completely deserted while the battle ensues inside, so you might as well get rid of it. Ignoring it, the inner portion of the map is just old, recycled, cramped, symmetrical lack of fun. Look at the match maps in the official rotation. They can point out what's wrong in this map much more easily than I can.

Crater Lakes - Flame the Hedgehog -- 2/10
Sucky match rotation we have going on, eh? Flame the Hedgehog treats us with this fine piece of bad, which looks like it was stripped right out of W.A.'s wadding expertise seen in previous contests. Honestly, is there anything even mildy good about this stage? Bonus points for it actually loading up.

Platform Chaos - Flame the Hedgehog -- 0/10
I thought JJames was lost in time, but I fear our old buddy Flame is even worst. He has gone back in time to Demo 3 and made something worse than Tag Valley. For shame, Flame.

Sonic Islands - Flame the Hedgehog -- 0/10
This is a stupid map. Read everybody else's descriptions, they've already said it, I don't need to bother.

Ozone Island - GCFreak -- 0/10
At first, this level confailed me right out of the game. But when I managed to return, I was surprised to see that a little pit with a single platform carrying no more than three or four rings had done that sort of witchcraft to me. Huzzah!

Meadow Garden - Mikel93 -- 0/10
Read Level Design 101. Or stop making contest wads. Your choice, really, I'm fine either way. Bonus points for being better than Agrabah.

Chaotic Belief - JJames -- 4/10
To put it simple, PAZ Match = No, thanks. The level looked alright, but that's still far from having good gameplay.

Ship Yard - Sonict -- 6/10
Oh my god, could it be? A Match submission that doesn't suck? The overall level design wasn't too shabby, and the size was about right. Some questionable ring formations and level design quirks, none too harmful. The weapon combination was deadly, though, you could easily go god and own everyone. Good submission, although nothing really too impressive.

PC Motherboard - Sonict -- 0/10
Ah, there we go, back to suck. Read the others' descriptions, they state just about everything I wish to say.

Hill Top Battle - Flame the Hedgehog -- 5/10
I don't get the name, really. But that's not important. For now. The level is large enough, but the design is questionable. You shouldn't really close off certain routes or make too separate rooms in Match maps, it disrupts gameplay when your opponent suddenly goes into a completely different level leaving you behind. The level seems to be mostly random, having both lava and slime at one point, less points for visual incoherency. Pretty funky thing you did with the RPG-esque door, but that really doesn't work in Match. At all.

Arctic Halls - Oogaland -- 8/10
Level design seemed solid, there are obviously separate areas in the whole level, but they aren't split up as to disrupt gameplay, they all blend in together for a smooth and cool *snicker* experience. One thing I didn't appreciate was the fact that somehow the snow in the inner ring room was slippery as ice -- true that snow is infact very slippery, but that was obviously (I hope) a mistake on your account.

Glacier Cocktail - Neo Chaotikal -- tramadol/10
This stage was made due to inspiration by Crazyhedgehog. He suggested that I tried making Rush Job 2, and so I did. I took a little more time than I did on Rush Job -- production time was 90 minutes longer than Rush Job Zone, culminating in a total of two hours and a half. However, I decided to take the opportunity to make a graphical environment (Bet you realised that's my main focus by now) superior to that of Rush Job. The stage itself is based on a stage of the same name in the obscure Ubisoft game, Tonic Trouble. In this game, a frozen reef has been transformed into a magical cocktail due to a strange chemical spilling on the Earth. Oversized straws, ice cubes and lemon/orange slices dominate the fields, and the music is a soothing atmosphere. This is the reason I picked Midnight Freeze for the job -- while I couldn't use the original music due to contest rules, I used the closest available match in SRB2. The music might not fit the atmosphere of the stage, but it is my dedication to the obscure PC/Nintendo 64 title. As for the stage design, the bouncy orange slice was derived from one of Oogaland's previous CTF contest entries, Lily Pads Zone, a map centered around bouncy renditions of the stage's namesake. The general map design wasn't even thought about, really, I just thought of the most basic design I could use and started building from there. Eight-sided pit inside eight-sided pit inside eight-sided pit -- for about 30 minutes spent in designing the basic sector architecture, I'm amazed at how well it turned out. Things were basically thrown in in about five minutes while I was hurring to get the submission done on time before Mystic came back from his A18 game, so you'll notice that the ring placement is rather sketchy and the decoration consists on periodic placement of a thing against a wall. Nonetheless, I had some time to stick in a slick but rather empty route to achieve a Rail ring right above the center of the orange slice. Nifty.

Eventually, a 'v2' of this map will be released with custom music, some revised sector work and texturing, as well as (hopefully) better thought thing placement. And a level select picture! :O

PS: Props to you if you read all of that.

Feudal Age Rush - Penopat -- 6/10
God, I almost forgot why I was posting this. Right, contest voting, not life story, okay. The map is conspicuously enourmous, making any netgame rather impossible. Also, I fear that with all the huts and stuff, the stage will scream out 'RP!!' like nobody else's business.

CTF

Greenery Cave - JJames -- 5/10
Neat. Not much to say. Not a brilliant entry, not too shabby.

Mountech - Blue Blur -- 7/10
Yay for wide open spaces! This map uses the very cheery Rocky Mountain tune, making it an instant win in my heart. <3 Some of the level design is a bit dubious (like the 'rooftops') and reminds me of one of ol' Eggmanway guy Shadow's maps, Notsogreen Hill Zone (don't ask...), but it's generally a solid entry and feels like a 'good' version of your Radical Highway map. Good show.

Mountain Peaks - Espyo -- 3/10
Eh. Twin Hills wasn't enough? Guess you never got to see that map. Let's just say that, while maps like this are fun to play once in a good long while (ie: three years), the mechanic just doesn't work in SRB2.

Circuit

City Heat - JJames -- 2/10
Oh my! Westopolis has jumped out of Shadow the Hedgehog, straight into the circuit rotation! And oh no! It brought his little friends, questionable level design and omg pit! How terrible!

Lime Isle - JJames -- 7/10
This was a fun map. Some of the shortcuts needed easier, namely the ones with springs, and the last segment with the blue springs shouldn't have been so random.

Morning Hill - JJames -- 6/10
Omg shade -- really awesome shading effects, JJames. If the contest had been for looks, you were the winner, with the extremely close competition of Race Alley. As for actual level design, it's a bit cramped, but most of it is cool. I didn't get the random change from GHZ rock to GFZ rock, but hey, your call.

Dusk Street - GCFreak -- 2/10
Oh my! Westopolis has jumped out of Shadow the Hedgehog, straight into the circuit rotation! And oh no! It brought his little friends, questionable level design and omg pit! How terrible!

Royal Raceway - Spazzo -- 0/10
I knew this map was familiar -- it is indeed the decade-old Peach's Castle map made by <not you>. Oops.

Cosmic Valley - Lloyd -- 3/10
Let's just say, at least it didn't have cheap pits. Okay, it didn't have many cheap pits. But thok-fest is only the tip of the Circuit iceberg, dear Lloyd, you must explore it much further.

Nebulous - Sonict -- NA/10
SRB2 quite simply choked on this map, and I didn't get a second time to play it.

Four Seasons Circuit - Oogaland -- 8/10
Everyone pretty summed up my thoughts. The level is top-notch quality, as with the original Four Seasons map, only this time the sizing tool didn't go out of control and the map is the size it's supposed to be. ;) Winter was infact a problematic area -- the stone blocks in the chilly pond were uncalled for and the secondary spring was hard to hit head on.

Race Alley - FoxBlitzz -- 10/10
I love you. I want this map in the official rotation, you hear? D: This map is a perfect combination of speed, strategy, and skill. You can't thok all the way through, you can clear it faster if you slow down at points, and being better at the game does count for winning the game, since it doesn't boil down to a luck contest on who thokked more during the whole course. Can you keep you as my pet, please? :3
 
Neo Chaotikal either has some very weird opinions or he needs to fix his head: He's completely lopsided the match and CTF votes, pretty much voting the opposite of what most people voted on certain maps. 6 for Ship Yard and Feudal Age Rush? 8 for Mountech and 7 for Lime Isle? Maybe you should play the maps again. :|
 
JJames19119 said:
6 for Ship Yard and Feudal Age Rush? 8 for Mountech and 7 for Lime Isle? Maybe you should play the maps again. :|
You know, you're right. I didn't like playing in Feudal Age Rush at all, since I basically couldn't find anyone, but I voted high because Penopat certainly put effort into it. And I loved playing in Mountech, it was pretty cool. Lime Isle was a great Circuit map, and got the rank I thought it deserved.

EDIT: Upon retrospection, the overall rate for Ship Yard IS 6. And Digiku gave a 7 to Feudal Age Rush. Why don't you go pick on him :|

SON OF EDIT: Confused Lime Isle with Greenery Cave. You're complaining because your circuit map got almost the same rank as Ship Yard and Feudal Age Rush? They're bloody different contests, in which I apply different rating methods. I honestly don't get what's up with you, I voted your map as third best to Race Alley, because, quite honestly, you can't beat that level of awesome.
 
Admittedly, my evaluations are way off.

And, supposedly, that's why Mystic asks people to play the maps first. Having now played some of them, I think that if I knocked down most of my ratings down two points, those would be the final scores.
 
I read these posts... and from what i have read.
people have been sayingMy Crater Lakes map causes Consistency failures, in netgames...

I would like to know how this map of mine causes Friggin consistency falures!!! (please) :x
 
Neo Chaotikal said:
JJames19119 said:
6 for Ship Yard and Feudal Age Rush? 8 for Mountech and 7 for Lime Isle? Maybe you should play the maps again. :|
You know, you're right. I didn't like playing in Feudal Age Rush at all, since I basically couldn't find anyone, but I voted high because Penopat certainly put effort into it. And I loved playing in Mountech, it was pretty cool. Lime Isle was a great Circuit map, and got the rank I thought it deserved.

EDIT: Upon retrospection, the overall rate for Ship Yard IS 6. And Digiku gave a 7 to Feudal Age Rush. Why don't you go pick on him :|

SON OF EDIT: Confused Lime Isle with Greenery Cave. You're complaining because your circuit map got almost the same rank as Ship Yard and Feudal Age Rush? They're bloody different contests, in which I apply different rating methods. I honestly don't get what's up with you, I voted your map as third best to Race Alley, because, quite honestly, you can't beat that level of awesome.

I honestly think Lime Isle isn't that good really. A 5 at best. I made the map in 30 minutes afterall. And I wasn't paying attention when I saw your vote for Ship Yard, I didn't know people liked it that much...

I would've complained more about the harsher votes on my CTF and match maps but considering I was almost, if not just as harsh with other maps. It would've made me look too competitive. :|

In conclusion?

Sorry Neo. :<
 
In conclusion, JJames and I made up in the IRC channel. We're friends again :)

Two hours until the contest voting ends!
 
Oh, it hasn't ended yet? O: I need to pay attention, I already tallied up the scores being impatient.

I won't post them though, mostly because voting isn't over and I might've added wrong scores anyhow. (There were many people who didn't seem to vote properly...)
 
Okay, here goes. I should point out that most of the games I played on these ranged from 2-4 people, since I managed to miss both (?) of the mysticservs this time round, which might account for some differences between my opinions of certain maps and the general consensus. But maybe I just lack good taste. :) Anyway:

Single-Player

Moon Temple - 6
Slightly on the tricky side; the spin-to-rise platforms also feel to me like they break the flow too much (but I think that about Metropolis too...).

Rocky Cavern 1 - 4
Invisible crushers aren't good. Also too linear, I think.

Dandjr Palace - 6
My first impressions weren't very high, but things picked up. A bit too blocky, maybe.


Match

Carrier Crisis - 5
Not bad, but it didn't flow very well, I felt. Also some substantial renderer errors.

Twilight Tower - 5
Making the decision to switch between levels is always going to be somewhat arbitrary, with the way the springs work; there's no natural flow between them. Also, the individual areas, I think, didn't make enough use of height.

Crater Lakes - 3
Too many rails; too many red springs. Red springs are usually a bad idea in match, I think.

Platform Chaos - 3
It worked okay with a very few people, but too small and cramped, and too easy to fall.

Sonic Islands - 1
Confusing, with the teleporters; and no use of height. Doesn't work, I'm afraid.

Ozone Island - 3
Click-click-click-click... With more than five or six, I imagine this would've been pretty much impossible to play on.

Meadow Garden - 1
Far far far too big, and empty, too. And the powerups are all together. Not good.

Chaotic Belief - 6
I had a 1-on-1 game on this map, which worked quite well. Could've done with being bigger, though.

Ship Yard - 5
Potential for a good map here, but armageddon and homing+rail+bomb let it down. I think the underwater area was a bit barren, too.

PC Motherboard - 2
Homing+rail+bomb again, with no cover.

Hill Top Battle - 5
This is better than your other entries, but the top area still needs more work. I think halving (at least) all the height differences would help, too.

Arctic Halls - n/a
Whoops, slippy snow. I made the auto-rings too tricky to get, I think.

Glacier Cocktail - 7
Nice sniping level, but in a different way from normal. The compressed time period of its creation shows, though. But still quite fun.

Feudal Age Rush - 4
Looks very nice. The weapon rings aren't placed very well, though, I think (I never actually found the bomb, but my opponent did, and pwnt me thoroughly).


CTF

I never got enough people together to netgame on these, so I won't give any numerical scores. I'll try to make a few observations, though:

Greenery Cave
Back-to-back bases are nice. But a little labyrinthine, maybe?

Mountech
I thought that the indoor parts would make everyone avoid the outdoor (pitted) part altogether. But I can't really tell, as I never got a netgame on it.

Mountain Peaks
I think the multiple jumps required to reach the base would make getting to the top without being hit very difficult indeed.


Circuit

City Heat - 4
Not enough to stop thokking, apart from that bit at the end.

Lime Isle - 6
Quite nice. Careful control helps here, which is good.

Morning Hill - 5
Somewhere between the last two in most respects.

Dusk Street - 3
Apart from the pits (of which I think there are too many), it's just a matter of thokking, I'm afraid.

Royal Raceway - 3
Big, flat tracks don't work well here, unfortunately.

Cosmic Valley - 2
Even less reason here to stop thokking than on the other maps.

Nebulous - 0
For the reasons already well-documented. But having identical textures and flats was problematic anyway. And why do you have to jump into space...?

Four Seasons Circuit - n/a
I was happier with this when I submitted it than when I replayed it a moment ago, reminding myself of the maps. It does less to necessitate control than I'd thought.

Race Alley - 9
And then this comes along and shows us all how to do it. Good work.
 
Hah. Forgot to vote on the Single Player ones earlier. Oops.

Moon Temple - JJames - 6/10
Okay, this map has SERIOUS issues. There are times when this map is so epic and awesome it could earn a ten, and then there are times when this map is so completely awful it would be around a two. This is a happy medium. Basically, this level is great in many areas, but needs more star posts, and you need to get RID of the "kill all the enemies in the room" and "turrets in gay environments" rooms immediately. They slow down the gameplay to awful levels, and the buttons in the turret room are vague and not noticable. I don't enjoy taking damage over and over again to abuse temporary invincibility as a gameplay mechanic. Also, a lot of the enemy placement is nearly unavoidable if you don't already know they're there. Generally, being forced to memorize the stage is BAD.

Rocky Cavern 1 - KingofFlames - 3/10
Uh, other people already explained why this map is bad. NOCLIP is a cheat code, not a requirement for victory if you fall, not that the map can even be completed without an Exit Sector.

Dandjr Palace - Penopat - 7/10
This map makes AGZ look like it pulls punches in certain areas, but overall it's not bad. I'd just suggest you watch the cheapness factor. Also, it's nearly impossible to keep speed up in most areas. This is Sonic, not Mario. Correct me if I simply couldn't find the correct path, as I'm pretty sure most people haven't found the correct path in AGZ either. Visually, it's not bad, although that sky combined with 255 light level looks a little weird.
 
Thanks to JJames for doing math so I don't have to! N vote overwrites the lowest vote, so the lowest vote isn't displayed at all.

Single Player
Moon Temple - JJames - 10/6/N = 8
Rocky Cavern 1 - KingofFlames - 6/3/4/3 = 4
Dandjr Palace - Penopat - 7/6/6/7 = 6.5

Match
MAP01 - Carrier Crisis - JJames - 4/5/5/5/7/N/5 = 5.1
MAP02 - Twilight Tower - JJames - 6/7/4/N/8/4/5 = 5.6
MAP03 - Crater Lakes - Flame the Hedgehog - 3/0/4/0/3/2/1/2/3 = 2
MAP04 - Platform Chaos - Flame the Hedgehog - 9/6/4/6/2/1/2/0/3 = 3.7
MAP05 - Sonic Islands - Flame the Hedgehog - 2/5/1/1/1/0/0/1 = 1.2
MAP06 - Ozone Island - GCFreak - 8/5/3/7/3/2/N/3 = 4.4
MAP07 - Meadow Garden - Mikel93 - 3/1/5/2/2/1/0/0/1 = 1.6
MAP08 - Chaotic Belief - JJames - 7/8/9/7/6/9/N/6 = 7.4
MAP09 - Ship Yard - Sonict - 1/4/7/5/5/6/6/6/5 = 5
MAP10 - PC Motherboard - Sonict - 1/3/6/1/1/1/1/0/2 = 1.7
MAP11 - Hill Top Battle - Flame the Hedgehog - 7/0/7/0/4/3/4/5/5 = 3.8
MAP12 - Arctic Halls - Oogaland - 4/7/5/4/6/N/6/8 = 5.7
MAP13 - Glacier Cocktail - Neo Chaotikal - 8/N/7/8/7/7/8/7 = 7.4
MAP14 - Feudal Age Rush - Penopat - 5/4/2/2/6/0/6/4 = 3.4

Capture the Flag
MAP15 - Greenery Cave - JJames - 10/6/7/6/9/N = 7.6
MAP16 - Mountech - Blue Blur - 6/5/4/3/4/7 = 4.8
MAP17 - Mountain Peaks - Espyo - 3/5/1/4/3/2/3 = 3

Circuit
MAP18 - City Heat - JJames - 5/5/6/7/N/4 = 5.4
MAP19 - Lime Isle - JJames - N/6/7/6/7/6 = 6.4
MAP20 - Morning Hill - JJames - 7/6/7/8/N/5 = 6.6
MAP21 - Dusk Street - GCFreak - 3/5/3/4/N/3 = 3.6
MAP22 - Royal Raceway - Spazzo - 4/4/6/7/3/0/3 = 3.8
MAP23 - Cosmic Valley - Lloyd - 2/1/2/0/1/3/2 = 1.5
MAP24 - Nebulous - Sonict - 0/0/4/0/0/0 = 0.6
MAP25 - Four Seasons Circuit - Oogaland - N/8/8/8/9/8 = 8.2
MAP26 - Race Alley - FoxBlitzz - 9/8/10/8/8/10/9 = 8.8

Winning Maps:
Single Player: Moon Temple by JJames
Match: Chaotic Belief by JJames and Glacier Cocktail by Neo Chaotikal
Capture the Flag: Greenery Cave by JJames
Circuit: Race Alley by FoxBlitzz
 
I took home three awards this time but it's nice to know other people won too. This contest ended the exact opposite of how I thought it would happen. (I felt I would only win the Circuit division)
 
JJames19119 said:
I took home three awards this time but it's nice to know other people won too. This contest ended the exact opposite of how I thought it would happen. (I felt I would only win the Circuit division)

O.o()

JJ won all of the categories except for circuit? Wow.

Anyways, good job people, I hope you guys improve and input better maps in the next contest!
 
Jurai, the reason it got such a low score was because it didn't work in netgames (consistency failure). I bet you were playing the track solo.

And by the way, Sonic is so much better for circuit because of his abusive thok.
 
Accuracy wins races, not insane amounts of caffeine and fancy shoes.

What size of netgame were you on? It works perfectly fine for me online.
 
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