Official Level Design Contest Voting: November-December 2007

[FuriousFox]

Welcome to the November-December 2007 contest voting. We have 10 Multiplayer maps and 6 Single Player maps this time.

The voting works as follows: Play a few games of the stage in question, in the intended gametype for judging, and give the map a vote from 0 to 10, no decimals. You can not vote on your own map. Votes where the voter obviously did not play the level in its intended gametype, or where the voter did not play the multiplayer maps with other real players will be discarded. To encourage voting, if you are an author and you judge all of the competitor's maps, the lowest score on your map will be dropped. Please be as unbiased as possible for the author or the look of the map. It's all about how good the map plays, nothing else.

Although it's not necessary, it's very helpful to make comments about what you liked and didn't like about the map, so the author can improve his skill for future attempts.

Judging will end January 15th at midnight GMT (January 14th, 7:00 PM EST). The scores will be then averaged, and the person with the highest score is the winner.

The maps follow:

Single Player Zip - 213 KB

Single Player:
Knux Emerald Quest Zone by SonicMaster
Sapphire Coast Zone, Act 1 by Blade T. Hedgehog
Omega Tree Zone by RedEchidna
Aquatic Basin Zone by Boss
Arctic Dewpoint Zone by SonicMaster
Super Special Stage Zone by SonicMaster

Match/CTF/Circuit Contest Level Pack - 392 KB

Match:
MAPA1 - Leafy Cave Zone by Blade T. Hedgehog
MAPA2 - Cosmic Warehouse Zone by SonicMaster
MAPA3 - Supa Kingadahill Zone by SonicMaster
MAPA4 - Fail by Kaysakado
MAPA5 - Pipeline Panic Zone by Roy

Capture the Flag:
MAPA6 - Freeze Factory Zone by Com
MAPA7 - Medivo CTF by Glaber
MAPA9 - _-All Hail Shadow-_ Zone by Penopat

Circuit:
MAPA9 - Racing into Dreams Zone by SonicMaster
MAPAA - Caustic Fortress Zone by SonicMaster
MAPAB - Dimensional Zone, Act 2 by simsmagic

Please make sure to play the levels in the intended gametype, and above all, have fun judging!

 

[Spazzo]

...the contest voting has already started? *fixes internal clock*

 

[BlueZero4]

SP votes. I don't know when I'll be able to get my hands on a multiplayer server, honestly.

Knux Emerald Quest by SonicMaster - 3/10
Okay. Real maps that you can enjoy playing take work. That's not to say that sitting down and playing this didn't occupy me, though.

Coming into this level, I'm expecting a forcechar to Knuckles. Given that I wasm' Knuckles when I showed up, I'm relatively happy that I could collect all the emeralds as Sonic. However, the hiding spots weren't exactly original in the sense of that I could tell they were new and different. I found them more by running around and looking at when my radar went blue, then green, then yellow. I'm also rather dissapointed that I used the same spring to collect two of the three emeralds. Pardon me if the emeralds had different spawns the second time, I only played through once on normal. :X

Although, that's not the real problem here. There weren't any rings. At all. Not that this is particularly bad, because there weren't any enemies. However, rings give the level a sense of direction, as well as a bit of decoration. Enemies would've given the level a bit more of a challenge. Some decoration would've been nice too, although the level had a somewhat nice feel as it was. Randomly scatterring flowers wouldn't have looked too good either.

Also, GFZROCK. Is generic.

Sapphire Coast Zone 1 by Blade T. Hedgehog - 6/10

Whao, dude. Definately decent. I thought there was good scenery, ring, and enemy placement. I also liked the alternate routes, and even the different ways to go through a given route. Although, one alternate path seemd like it just U-turned the player without knowing it. And on alternate path seemed Tails-Knuckles only, although I got there with crawla hopping.

That's not to say the map too special, though. There weren't any gimmicks, and it could've been longer. The beach theme is kinda over-used anyhow.

Omega Tree Zone by RedEchidna - 2/10

Mush. Everything blends. Suddenly there is no level. There is vines! Where are you? You are not trapped in the suffocating embrace of the Tree Queen herself. No! My friend, you are playing SRB2. In a level that only uses one texture. Everywhere.

And in other news, crampedness. Not to mention that the spring design was entirely for looks. Spring designs are most useful when they, well, get you somewhere. Specifically, somewhere when something with less springs wouldn't work as well. Read: GFZ2. Also, I fell off at the end. ;.;

Aquatic Basin Zone by Boss - 0/10

Whao there, buddy. If you can't fit a good amount of detail into a large map, howabout taking the same detail and making it smaller? A big, open area is useless if there's nothing in it, and a small hallway is a good hallway.

And while there's other problems here, I think you'd best focus on the size one. Seriously.

Arctic Dewpoint Zone by SonicMaster - 4/10

Firstly, running around. There wasn't anything interesting or exciting lying around, so I just kinda shrugged it off and headed for the drone. I did see some rings, but the horrible draw distance is yet another reason why you shouldn't put stuff out there like that.

Secondly, the item placement was odd to say the least. It felt more like "Oh hey, I happened to see this! Let's go pick it up!" than "Dude! Dude! This is the track! Let's go follow it!" And some of the items were waaay too close together. And it was distirbing that it took 100 rings to kill the capsule. Honestly.

Super Special Stage Zone by SonicMaster - 1/10
You're joking, right?

Too many rings, too close together. Not enough sector variation. And I turned Super Sonic.

 

[Jazz]

Single Player:

Knux Emerald Quest Zone by SonicMaster 2/10

I would normally have nothing against emerald hunts, if they were done correctly. Unfortunately, a huge and bland map combined with exceptionally easy-to-find emerald hiding places...

Put it this way. The most difficult part of the level was the fact that I choose to play as Sonic instead of Knuckles.

Sapphire Coast Zone, Act 1 by Blade T. Hedgehog 7/10

By far the best SP map.

Level of detail was more than nice, and the extra paths added a nice touch. My only gripe was it's length. The level was over almost as soon as it started. I apologize for not being able to provide a more useful comment.

Omega Tree Zone by RedEchidna 2/10

Texture variety is good.

The entire level blended together due to your texture choice. It was difficult to tell where ledges were, etc. That combined with the fact that more than a few of your rooms were quite cramped...

Aquatic Basin Zone by Boss 3/10

Large, flat, bland and maze-like in places. Not a bad try, otherwise.

If I'm not mistaken, you're a relatively new mapper. One of the things you're going to want to avoid is making segmented rooms like you did in your map. In order for a map to flow properly, you should be able to run through most of the map without assistance from springs. The way your map was set up, springs were the only way to get through much of the map.

Arctic Dewpoint Zone by SonicMaster 4/10

Not a bad NiGHTS map.

My main gripe was the fact that an overall lack of obstacles made me feel like I was flying through the air at random, collecting rings instead of making my way through some kind of level.

Super Special Stage Zone by SonicMaster 3/10

The red hurt my eyes. Collecting the rings consisted of applying force to the "W" key and not too much more.

A special stage should take much more effort to make and beat than that one. Not to mention that a missing texture caused one of your platforms appear as though it was a broken sector in Software. You want to make sure that you have no missing textures by running SRB2DoomBuilder's built in error-checking function before submitting your levels.

Multiplayer votes as soon as I am able to host/join a contest vote netgame.

 

[Callum]

I'm doing Single Player now, Multiplayer later.

Aquatic Basin Zone by Boss - 6/10

It looks like you didn't follow the naming convention. :)

When I first booted up the level, I noticed that you indeed have learnt the basics of level making. Props to you. But I was also greeted to a pond, a pit inside the pond with a spring in it, and platforms where you need to spring to get to. This in particular is a bad idea because you chose opaque waterblocks (which I'll bring up now has no colormap) so I couldn't see where to go. After I finally got onto the platform and continued, I found an area where you need to accelerate on the springs and I had no idea until I landed into the area below. I also noticed you used GFALL1 instead of CFALL1 for the waterfall textures. After that, I was greeted to a small maze-like area. This too is a bad idea, and there even weren't any powerups hidden in there :). The next parts were open and some of them quite empty, and mysterious waterfalls coming from the sky! It was pretty much the same as a more-open version of the second part of the level throughout the rest of the level. The level is quite short although I took a while to get past it, and I have no problem with short levels so that won't lose you any points. The level looks good, although I would of used colormaps, CFALL1, on the edge of grass ground I would of used GFZGRASS to make it look even better, and use some scenery such as flowers and trees.

Knux Emerald Quest Zone by SonicMaster - 1/10

Are you a beginner? Because, I'm sorry, this level sucks. Hard. This level sucks hard because, firstly, it's an emerald hunt stage. These types of levels don't work very well in SRB2, and that is amplified by the fact that you're forced to use Knuckles because it has Knuckles-only areas with the emerald pieces in them, and you didn't even use FORCECHARACTER in the level headers to force players to use Knuckles. Two, the level itself is very bland. It's a wide, open space with nothing interesting to look at or even do, just climbing walls, glide and trying to see tiny emerald pieces in a void of blue sky and random grass walls flying beside me. One thing that saved it from a 0 is the fact that you have a thok barrier, and even vertically-moving platforms, which the latter in particular is impressive for a beginner. This wad doesn't follow the naming convention either. Please take into account my constructive criticism, I do see some real potential here, it's just not come out yet. :)

Arctic Dewpoint Zone by SonicMaster - 7/10

There is only one thing I have to say about this: o_O.

This, is, a FANTASTIC improvement! Why did you submit Knux Emerald Quest when you can produce something like this? Some really noticable points here: This is a double-mare NiGHTS level, a GOOD double-mare NiGHTS level. Visuals look great, but I noticed some REDWALL. When you think it can't get any better, well it doesn't unfortunately. Placing of some of the emblems are spot on, some not so well like the first emblem circle at the beginning of the level. The same thing applies to most other stuff like rings and hoops. And that is where the bad stuff ends. You shouldn't have sent in Knux Emerald Quest, this level quite thoroughly owns the latter. :)

Super Special Stage Zone by SonicMaster - 1/10

I should technically be giving this a zero since this isn't a single player stage at all. But I figured after Arctic Dewpoint I should give you some leeway just in case this was good. But I was thoroughly disappointed.
First off, this is indeed what the title implies. A special stage. A horrible one at that. It requires 750 rings to beat it, and I could be Super Sonic because I did the level by going into it via level select. You could of not made that happen by giving this thing its own gamedata. This level has bad placement of rings, it has it all in scrunched up (lack of better adjectives) groups far apart. I finished the level within a second of the time being up. If you were going to make a special stage (you shouldn't have submitted this at all), compare your special stage and the official special stages. The stage, like Knux Emerald Quest Zone, looks very bland, and is very large and empty.

Omega Tree Zone by RedEchidna - 6/10

Unfortunately, I don't have much to say about this level. It's very sub-par, but a little over that too! Don't worry. :)

The first thing I noticed is the amount of tough enemies in the cramped spots. I kept getting hurt by the red buzzes in particular. The level is very Verdant Forest-inspired, especially the first part of the map, I got a little lost but I eventually found my way. Multiple paths are great, just don't overdo it. :)

...See? I told you I didn't have much to say. Not to say it's a bad map, it's a decent map and I had a little fun playing it, keep on working and you'll improve alot, I see some serious potential here. :)

Sapphire Coast Zone Act 1 by Blade T. Hedgehog - 7/10

This is the best zone in the pack. It's very pretty. :)

The first part in particular I loved. It was very open and reminded me of Rocky Pass with the textures and Jade Coast Act 2. There was lots of room to run around and a few paths that I could take, all of them leading to the same area. However, while this level shows alot of polish and plays very well, I have to be picky about something in a level. :) First off, the latter parts of the level are cramped and aren't nearly as interesting as the first part of the level. I would also have loved the level to be a bit longer, and I would of thoroughly enjoyed it even more.

You've proved you can make a great level, Blade T. Hedgehog. You can step that up to a much better level if you tried much harder, and you have it in you. :)

---

Whooh...done. :) Read it and weep. :P

 

[BlueZero4]

Erm, Jazz? You don't seem to be taking voting seriously. Considering the amount of work SP maps take, you had better be throwing out something helpful.

And on a lighter note, I accidentally hit submit instead of preview the first time. Voting post finished, read it if you dare, etc.

 

[fickleheart]

SP voting here. Yup.

Aquatic Basin by Boss - 6/10

A lot of the level was just running into the pools and finding a spring. Didn't quite like that. One part got me for a minute because the direction of the springs was wrong. Also, no colormaps. Work on that.

Knux Emerald Coast by SonicMaster - 2/10

This stage had no detail, or even objects. (Aside from EH essentials) Did you even think about that?

Arctic Dewpoint by SonicMaster - 5/10

Again, no detail. However, you did include enough hoops, rings and emblems. And why 100 rings each with two mares?

Super Special Stage by SonicMaster - 4/10

A special stage? Why 750 rings? Why the huge bunches of rings?

Omega Tree by RedEchidna - You expect me to vote on my own map?

After I submitted this level, I thought about the design, and started expecting the bad votes. So far, it's better than I thought. Three votes and I got a 6. (GG1 had a 2 average.)

Sapphire Coast 1 by Blade T. Hedgehog - 7/10

The first part looked very JCZ2. As I progressed, it felt like a little larger would've been good. Otherwise, nice map.

 

[glaber]

SP Impressions

Aquatic Basin Zone by Boss (4/10)
Syndrome Class: Beginner's Map
Review?: Well it started out looking like you didn't know how to make rings float. But that soon changed once I finally got past the wrong way springs. IMO the map could of used some work on following the theam

Knux Emerald Quest Zone by SonicMaster (4/10)
Syndrome Class: Beginner's Map
Review?: Uhh. Next time go for a Glaber Syndrome B-K map for this game type. The level fealt very empty and that's not good. The only time a level should be empty, in my opinon, is for something like Remix Entryway.

Arctic Dewpoint Zone by SonicMaster (5/10)
Syndrome Class: Amature Night (Beginner's NiGHTS Map)
Review?: Well I have to say it's not often that a NiGHTS map gets made but unfortunetly this one left me dissapointed. Not even the Sega Saturn game had that much free area to fly in! Did you even play either NiGHTS game released? Well regardless of that you did have an understanding of how to build a Nights track, you just need work on item placement and landscaping. Also were you testing in Christmas mode? I saw green bushes.


Super Special Stage Zone by SonicMaster (4/10)
Syndrome Class: My first Special Stage
Review?: Well this might pass if this was special stage 5. But I have no idea what the story behind making the level is so if it's revealed I might revise the score to reflect that. that said I played as Tails and there was practly no challenge. Except the timelimit but I only got down to 30 some seconds before getting my emerald.

Sapphire Coast Zone, Act 1 by Blade T. Hedgehog (?/10)
Will do later

Omega Tree Zone by RedEchidna
Will do later

Multiplayer:
No Rating on all Mutiplayer maps due to no one hosting. (Don't ask me to host! I can't and it's more than just port forwarding for me. I have to go through my dad)

 

[Blade]

Match scores:

MAPA1 : Leafy Caves Zone Score : NA/NA
Can't vote on this D:

MAPA2 : Cosmic Warehouse Zone : 2/10
Not so good. Random blocks of space, a bit wide open, and rings are too far apart.

MAPA3 : Supa Kingadahill Zone : 4/10
Eh, it was OK... Textures were a bit random, and some script error. Other than that, not that bad.

MAPA4 : Fail : 1/10
FAIL! Red wall, and too small.

MAPA5 : Pipeline Panic Zone : 5/10
Not bad. Could use some more rings, the shadows were a bit too dark, and I saw some GHZROCK. Other than that, pretty good.

Rest coming soon.

 

[xxBeanGirl420xx]

asdfjdhfglj;flki DOES THE SUBJECT OF A POST REALLY MATTER?

Single Player

Knux Emerald Quest - Sonic Master
0/10
Seriously, what the hell is this? It looks like you drew sectors and placed the emeralds at random, not to mention it's Knuckles exclusive. These are the types of levels everyone should try to avoid...

Sapphire Coast, Act 1 - Blade T. Hedgehog
6/10
Not bad at all! This was a greatly refreshing map to play in. Nice thing placement, great design, multiple paths, and fun overall. You have the power to make perfectly balanced levels; use it more often. The only problem was it's length. It's too short! If it were as long as, oh say, Nuclear Sunset, you'd definitely get somewhere close to an 8 or 9 because by what I see here, is that you'd utilize the length to your advantage and make this map, more than just a map.

Omega Tree - RedEchidna
4/10
Erm, well, trees aren't huge lumps of leaves. Confusing because it only used one uniform texture (or maybe two >.>), but the extra paths were a plus. It kept it interesting for the most part, but it was pretty uneventful and bland. See, the key is to know that enemies alone can't add difficulty to the map! You have to be creative and actually form a problem or obstacle for a player to solve/pass.

Aquatic Basin - Boss
3/10
What can I say other than the ceiling was too low, and the fact that you forced players to use water + springs for height? It's up and down, up and down, up and down repeatedly. It gets annoying after a while, and it's pretty boring.

Arctic Dew Point (two words) - SonicMaster
5/10
Not bad. It was generally fun to play, and the multiple mares were fun, but there wasn't much going on other than continuous streams of NiGHTS items coming at you. Still, the placement of the item's is basically what counts in a NiGHTS level, and you were spot on. Problems: Lack of visuals, not much of a challenge, no real obstacles to overcome... so it's kind of a "meh" map.

Super Special Stage - SonicMaster
1/10
Okay, it's not the WORST special stage, but it is very below par. Clumps upon clumps of rings makes it too easy to complete, and also makes it aggravating because it raises the bar of the amount of rings you need to get. It's best to keep a ratio of rings to get:rings available to about 4:5, not 1:10 like yours.

 

[JEV3]

Ok, lets look at the Single player...

Singleplayer:

Knux Emerald Quest: 1/10 , Particularly bland and linear

Well unlike some others, I actually liked the Knuckles stages in Sonic Adventure. However when I played this an emerald quest didn't exactly come to mind. The ones lower down weren't too bad but getting them was quite uneventful. The ones higher up involved tons of jumping and strafing in mid-air (something I don't like to see required to get somewhere) and was just one path to reach whatever was up there. Some of the placing wasn't that great too, the red spring hidden in that platform was no help at all and I had to abuse strafing on the springs to get the high ones. I'd add far more obstacles, some enemies, and more content.

Gameplay: 0/10 There really wasn't any

Visuals: 1/10 Very generic and boring

Replay: 1/10 Random emerald locations don't help in a linear level

Overall: 1/10 Particularly bland and linear

-----------

Sapphire Coast Act 1: 6/10 , Well done but a little short

Personally when I see a color in a level name I expect to see that color with some sort of prominence. Despite that I really liked the rocky coast theme and would have liked to see more of it. The seperate paths have a long way and a short way, but the short way is hardly any more difficult than the long way. Coming in through the long way it wasn't quite clear which way to turn and I ended up being turned around and spent a minute trying to get out of the lake area only to find out I was going backwards. Just the same it definitely is a good level for starters (GFZ1 comes to mind) and perhaps some more length on the shorter path a little indication at the starpost about which way to go (crawlas are good). A final note is that the stairs were a little hard to find and out of the way, I'd make them extend past the cliff and be a little wider.

Gameplay: 7/10 Really enjoyed myself

Visuals: 6/10 Nothing extraordinary, but it looked great

Creativity: No gimmicks or anything, but I liked the theme

Replay: 5/10 After making a loop in my first run, I didn't have too awful much motivation for coming back to it.

Overall: 6/10 Well done, but a little short

-----------

Omega Tree Zone: 3/10 , Bland and... leafy <_<

The level had some overall subpar gameplay, with length that consisted chiefly of running around and dodging baddies and hitting springs. Entering a room and choosing to walk three steps on the right side of a wall or on the left is not exactly enough to constitute as multiple paths. The leaf block you were supposed to jump on ought to have been a spin-bust block, and at the end when you reached the canopy I would have enjoyed a little more to the level there rather than a clump of baddies in front of an exit sign. And above all that, the textures were mush.

Gameplay: 3/10 consisted mostly of running and... maybe a bit of jumping

Visuals: 0/10 leaves! Leaves! LEAVES!

Creativity: The staircase halfway through would have been great given some better textures

Replay: 1/10 The alternate paths really didn't make a difference

Overall: 1/10 Bland and... leafy

-----------

Aquatic Basin: 1/10 , Frustrating

The level chiefly consisted of springing out of water repeatedly to reach high places while bumping your head on the sky. Which was something I didn't enjoy. Considering the entire level consisted of just that, it really wasn't any fun.

Gameplay: 1/10 Gimmicks should be used sparingly, especially frustrating ones, not made into a level.

Visuals: 1/10 Generic and buggy

Replay: 0/10 There is no way I'm playing this again -_-

Overall: 1/10 Frustrating

-----------

Arctic Dewpoint: 4/10 , Bland and inconsistent

Not having played much NiGHTS content, I can't exactly judge it as such without comparing it to Botanic Serenity. First the walls were the same texture as the floor which bugged me a bit, and there was decoration but not that much, it seemed more like a field than a track. As for the item placement it was perfect in some places, too close in others, and too spread out in yet more. I had to follow the items instead of the track which made it difficult when the items were just enough off screen that I missed them entirely. Also the draw distance seemed really noticeable, which is something I didn't remember from Botanic Serenity or Spring Stadium.

Gameplay: 4/10 Was boring overall with practically nothing but things

Visuals: 4/10 Some of the decor was great, but it just seemed too monotone

Creativity: An interesting way to put your signature in the map but perhaps it used too many things for just a single decoration.

Replay: 1/10 Doesn't really make me want to come back to it...

Overall: 4/10 Bland and inconsistent

-----------

Super Special Stage: 2/10 , Not so special

This level as a special stage had too many rings as part of the requirement. The 400 ring special stage is probably the highest one could go and still be an enjoyable little bonus stage. I personally never liked the SRB2 special stages, but this one was especially distasteful in that regard because it was simply a matter of which areas one could get the most rings fast. It took very little effort and just didn't feel much different than if someone threw a bunch of Silver Ring Monitors in Zim's Base and told me to get them.

Gameplay: 3/10 Didn't really feel like a bonus level like Special Stages should

Visuals: 1/10 Wow, thats a lot of red

Creativity: The area as a whole was somewhat interesting, I'd like to see some added depth and have it made into an emerald quest.

Replay: 0/10 None really

Overall: 2/10 Not so special

---------

Thats it for now...

 

[a441]

Sapphire Coast Zone, Act 1 by Blade T. Hedgehog - 7/10

This begins a little too reminiscent of Jade Coast Zone, but you redeem yourself, originality-wise, with a flatter, more serpentine layout. There seems to be a standard for long levels that go up and up and up, and that can get tiresome, so I'm glad you were brave enough to make something short and sweet. However, there's nothing here that really stands out: no clever tricks, no wide open areas. On the whole the act is too claustrophobic to go wild in, and feels like it never gets started in earnest (more a content than a length issue). A nice effort, but with ample room to improve upon in the future.

Knux Emerald Quest Zone by SonicMaster - 7/10

This isn't what I expected at all. It's not the least bit Sonicky, so I'm sure it won't be popular, but for what it is, this is a really cool diversion. It's more of a brainteaser. I feel like you almost created a new game. The new emerald locations every time add lots of replayability, and some of your hidey places are ingeniously fiendish.

That said, do you promise these are all possible to get? Playing on hard mode, I was totally stumped by one close to the near wall of the cavern... It would go green, but there was nothing in sight, inside, outside, underground, in the air. Also, the tedium of gliding off the thwomp block to try to reach that floating emerald in the sky got to me, and I had to give up. Still, I love the concept you've created here.

Omega Tree Zone by RedEchidna - 4/10

The level design was okay -- actually some clever tricks I liked, such as the two-sided stairs. But if you're going to be lazy with textures, at least use a different one for the floors versus the walls. The visual sameness plus the level's laggy performance on my PC made it hard to focus enough to give this a chance.

Aquatic Basin Zone by Boss - 3/10

This has some serious navigation lackings that others have duly noted -- searching for springs buried in ponds is not too fun. As it is, this is not a great level. I like your imagination, though, and the fact that you are not too shy to submit. Keep at it. You might try posting WIPs next time, get some good feedback, and provide a revised, polished entry to the contest.

Arctic Dewpoint Zone by SonicMaster - not rated

This looks cool. I'm noticing some really weird behavior on this, and I think Nights may be buggy in the version of SRB2 I'm using, so to be on the safe side, I won't rate this.

Super Special Stage Zone by SonicMaster - 3/10

An amusing little romp for a few minutes, I guess. There's no real challenge here, though, nor much replayability. A good special stage is more than scattered rings.

 

[luis90]

[/quote=FuriousFox] ... NO DECIMALS ...[/quote]

Haha, He strikes again. I'll post reviews (that don't make kroze cry, hopefully)in a few.

 

[sims]

Here I am. This time, I will be voting in EVERY gametype. Not all at once, mind you.

Single Player judging is made only be myself on normal difficulty.


SP:
Knux Emerald Quest Zone by SonicMaster - 3/10 (Very Below Average)
Grafix: Very bland and overused, the GFZ graphics are. There in absolutely no scenery. No rings are found at all.
Gameplay: Emeralds are very easily found in a couple minutes, and I wouldn't be surprised if someone found them all in at least a minute, maybe even less.
Gimmix: No gimmicks, and seemingly nothing makes this level different from any other.

Sapphire Coast Act 1 by Blade T. Hedgehog - 7/10 (Very Good)
Grafix: Very detailed, large amounts of scenery, and good use of textures.
Gameplay: Reminds me of Jade Coast, but you already know that. It's a very fun level to play, albeit short. This would be a great first level in a pack.
Gimmix: Not very many gimmicks, but gameplay is still fun enough with what's here.
Pointless ramblings (Feel free to ignore): I made a level at one point with the same name as this. It was supposed to go into the SRB2 CD pack I was making at one point.

Omega Tree Zone by RedEchidna - 5/10 (Average)
Grafix: The repeated texture is a bit hard on the eyes, and doesn't change much throughout the level.
Gameplay: A bit bland really, gameplay consists of going throughout a tree with tons of enemies inside and coming out on top near the exit. Verdant tree related.
Gimmix: Few, multiple paths are present, but some are not worth taking at all.

Aquatic Basin Zone by Boss - 3/10 (Very Below Average)
Grafix: Textures change often, but are mostly GFZ related ones.
Gameplay: The entire level consists of going into a lake and juming out of it with a spring. Okay at first, but gets very repetitive.
Gimmix: One gimick which gets old quick. The level itself is very linear with no visible alternate paths.

Arctic Dewpoint Zone by SonicMaster - 7/10 (Very Good)
Grafix: Scenery is there, but it could definitly be used more in some places.
Gameplay: It may be that I'm a sucker for NiGHTS maps, but I really had fun here. Double mares kept the level interesting, but some of the powerups were too close together.
Gimmix: NiGHTS maps can't have very many gimmicks due to it's different gameplay. I liked the way it worked though. I recommend you try your hand at another one of these maps, but more sceneric please. (Is that a word? I think I just made up a new word).

Super Special Stage Zone by SonicMaster: 0/10
(No, just no.)
NOTE: I simply do not have the patience to complete this as Sonic. In fact, there is only one character whom I could play this wad with. Can you guess? HMS123311 of course!
Grafix: Very red. Very eyesory (More new words!), very no.
Gameplay: Running around collecting rings isn't fun, especially if they're are tons of them.
Gimmix: An HMS123311 Chos Control screening shows more then 1000 rings in this area. That's way too many.

EDIT: HMS123311 Video is up. See my YouTube profile.

Now, it's time for Circuit judging. Very low participation, only 2 other then mine. Oh well. Let us begin!

Circuit:
Racing into Dreams Zone by SonicMaster - 4/10 (Below Average)
Grafix: You're floating in space surrounded by HPZ style rocks with absolutly no scenery. Not good.
Gameplay: I thought that there were a bit too many turns throughout the entire race. It was a bit hard to get reorientated after 3 turns at once.
Gimmix: I expected this to be good, like the Artic Dewpoint Zone. Boy was I surprised. It seems to be a large mess of NiGHTS items littered across the race area with a few rocks that you have to fly around.

Caustic Fortress Zone by SonicMaster - 2/10 (Mediocre)
Grafix: You're racing in a type of factory surrounded by 1-hit killing goo. the textures are the same throughout this course.
Gameplay: The course consists of running to the end of a factory, being interrupted by flow-breaking jumps every so often. A bit frustrating.
Gimmix: There are no gimmicks. The entire level is the same thing. Run from start to the end, be teleported back to start, lather, rinse, repeat.

Dimensional Zone, Act 2 by simsmagic - 1337/9000 (Mine)
Pointless ramblings (Feel free to ignore): This is the sequel to the original Dimensional Zone in the July/August 2007 contest. I made this because I felt that I could have easily added things to make the zone more interesting. One of those was putting it in circuit mode. I only realized when the submission period ended that I did the NiGHTS section completely and utterly wrong.

 

[glaber]

Super Special Stage Zone by SonicMaster: 0/10
(No, just no.)
NOTE: I simply do not have the patience to complete this as Sonic. In fact, there is only one character whom I could play this wad with. Can you guess? HMS123311 of course!
Grafix: Very red. Very eyesory (More new words!), very no.
Gameplay: Running around collecting rings isn't fun, especially if they're are tons of them.
Gimmix: An HMS123311 Chos Control screening shows more then 1000 rings in this area. That's way too many.

HMS123311 video of them coming soon. Check out my YouTube page in a bit.

Wrong. I compleated it as Tails.

 

[sims]

Super Special Stage Zone by SonicMaster: 0/10
(No, just no.)
NOTE: I simply do not have the patience to complete this as Sonic. In fact, there is only one character whom I could play this wad with. Can you guess? HMS123311 of course!
Grafix: Very red. Very eyesory (More new words!), very no.
Gameplay: Running around collecting rings isn't fun, especially if they're are tons of them.
Gimmix: An HMS123311 Chos Control screening shows more then 1000 rings in this area. That's way too many.

HMS123311 video of them coming soon. Check out my YouTube page in a bit.

Wrong. I compleated it as Tails.

I didn't say it wasn't possible, i just said that I didn't have the patience.

 

[SonicX8000]

Single Player Maps

Aquatic Basin Zone by Boss. 0/10
You forgot the naming convention...

First, the thing placement, there were some areas that were very empty, and also the water FOF's were a bit weirdly placed.

One thing I noticed is that one of your areas with water has a bugged up wall, which causes HOM and thats not good to see, also, please use colormaps in the water next time...

Some rings are not deafed.

Also, during some point of playing this, the map sigseved.

Knux Emerald Quest Zone by SonicMaster. 1/10
You forgot the naming convention...

Currently, I have to say it, but you need to work on this. Its a wide open area, with nothing in it, the only things in it were the emerald hunting ones and a fire shield box, plus there's a hole that didn't have any textures placed on it, so HOM isn't even good to look at while in there. Different game modes make the emeralds switch around in different places so you just got saved from it being a 0.

Arctic Dewpoint Zone by SonicMaster. 4/10
Nice NiGHTS map, however there are a few things wrong with it.

One of the textures on the water has a GFZROCK1, and its a bit weird seeing water having that.

The first eblem hoop was slightly out of place, part if it was out of the track, so I couldn't grab all of them. I think there were others, but I rather not put all of it here thus making this one big post.

I have seen 2 REDWALLS in OpenGL, and since I mostly use it, it's not really nice to see, you have placed textures on the small parts of the sides, but why not the big sides?

The snow caused lag and most of the things started to disappear and it was hard to tell if there was something there or not, I was first thinking there wasn't anything placed here at all, until I started moving around, then the things started to appear.

Super Special Stage Zone by SonicMaster. 0/10
-_-... your kidding, right?

This is a special stage map, and SP maps are suppose to be having end signs and stuff. (Insert message of some other stuff here.)

The rings are placed too close together, all in large big clumps, and since they are so close, going at high speeds with sonic and I pass most of the rings, say 30 and only picked up 18, while they were close in a line.

The textures, you could of used most than just the red one, in the tunnel, you used a blue one on the other side of the tunnel, you could of added a bit of green textures and stuff...

Omega Tree Zone by RedEchidna. 2/10
...why did you use just one texture for the whole level? I did see a wooden texture in some parts, but you could of aleast used different ones so they don't blend in too well with the ones in the back.

In some areas, it lags, take the end of the level on the top in software.

Sapphire Coast Zone Act 1 by Blade T. Hedgehog. 8/10
Good level, really nice one, but you could of made it a bit longer.

---------

Did I miss any?

 

[glaber]

Yes, the multiplayer maps. Actually most of them are still unrated. Has a contest ever ended with one or more levels left unrated?

 

[sims]

Well, I'll be judging the Match courses tomorrow, and the CTF on Sunday so none of them go unvoted. Well, none of them except for mine anyways...

Unless someone decides to judge circuit soon, my course is going to end up as the only one without a vote.

 

[Kaysakado]

Here are my votes: (SP coming later, if at all)
Match:
MAPA1 - Leafy Cave Zone by Blade T. Hedgehog: 8/10.
Yes.

MAPA2 - Cosmic Warehouse Zone by SonicMaster: 6/10.
Lots of graphical glitches due to the big size, needs scenery, some parts are too bland.

MAPA3 - Supa Kingadahill Zone by SonicMaster: 7/10.
Only problem was the broken script, and that wasn't much of a nuisance.

MAPA4 - Fail by Kaysakado: tan(90)/10. (No, it's not in radians)
This was half-joke, half-unjoke. It was made as a joke WAD, yes, and I didn't put much effort in it, yes, but I did give a tiny bit of consideration to the item placement. For example, the placement of the rail ring.

MAPA5 - Pipeline Panic Zone by Roy: 7/10.
Pretty good. Only problem is that the fences can actually be made solid.

Capture the Flag:
MAPA6 - Freeze Factory Zone by Com: 9/10.
This is just like cinnamon: it's the winna, mon! *shot* Multiple paths, it actually poses a challenge, it's big, yet not bland, you my good sir, are teh winz0rs.

MAPA7 - Medivo CTF by Glaber: 7/10.
Bit cramped. Luckily, it doesn't have the traditional glaber WOP. I think.

MAPA9 - _-All Hail Shadow-_ Zone by Penopat: 8/10.
Multiple paths, but a bit bland. Also has a corny name, and I can definitely imagine n00bs hanging out here.

Circuit:
MAPA9 - Racing into Dreams Zone by SonicMaster: 7/10.
The ledges you had to traverse through annoyed me a bit, and there isn't much scenery, but other than that, it's pretty good.

MAPAA - Caustic Fortress Zone by SonicMaster: 7/10.
Pretty good, although it would be better if you actually made it loop instead of having a teleporter.

MAPAB - Dimensional Zone, Act 2 by simsmagic: 7/10.
Good flow, had a NiGHTS section, (Sort of :p ), and a shortcut. Pretty good.