Official Level Design Contest Voting: September-October 2007

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FuriousFox

FuriousFox

AKA FuriousFox
Retired Staff
Welcome to the September-October 2007 contest voting. We have 12 Multiplayer maps and 4 Single Player maps this time. One of the multiplayer maps was disqualified for unoriginality (It was an edit of one of the maps included with SRB2).

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 November 8th at midnight GMT (November 7th, 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 - 4.71 MB

Single Player:
Arid Ruins Zone, Act 2 by Tets
Meadow Falls Zone by Chaos Zero 64
Sandtrap Dunes Zone by Kuja
Tainted Way by Draykon

Match/CTF/Circuit Contest Level Pack - 716 KB

Match:
MAPA1 - Scattered Skies Zone by Warpshade
MAPA2 - Venomous Dusk Zone by JEV3
MAPA3 - Arial Ruins Zone by Blade T. Hedgehog
MAPA4 - Courtyard Clash Zone by Shadow Hog
MAPA5 - Rusty Bucket Bay by Glaber

Capture the Flag:
MAPA6 - Miles' Beach Zone by Miles(supersonic45)
MAPA7 - OMIGODZCTF by Kaysakado

Circuit:
MAPA8 - Dark Skies by on_Edge
MAPA9 - Waterfall Heights Zone by Boinciel
MAPAA - Castletania by Glaber
MAPAB - Sky Cannon by FuriousFox

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

I, uh, forgot to change the map header back to 01, soooo...

Just know that it's map AD. >.>

...Apologies w/ cookies?
 
Multiplayer Comments! No votes because I suck at netgaming. Also, if your map isn't included, I can't say anything useful about it. D:


MAPA1 - Scattered Skies Zone by Warpshade
I can't believe that everything was FOFs. I'm not sure if that hurt the C-Lag that was already there, but it certainly didn't help. Also, maps over deathpit just generally suck. Period.

MAPA2 - Venomous Dusk Zone by JEV3
Your influences are obvious. A very detailed map. However, jumping around on small platforms and running around in cramped areas isn't my idea of a match. :/

MAPA5 - Rusty Bucket Bay by Glaber
For a while, I was winning because I stayed alive. Do you think that's bad, by any chance?

MAPA6 - Miles' Beach Zone by supersonic45
Actually try to make a map next time, instead of recycling old crap you've had lying around.

MAPA7 - OMIGODZCTF by Kaysakado
Even Doom maps are less cramped. Please, go play a round of CTF in the default SRB2 maps before you sit down in front of Doom Builder.

MAPA8 - Dark Skies by on_Edge
The C-Lag is against you!!!

MAPAA - Castletania by Glaber
But I wanted to thok over those stairs. Also, I played the map by looking through other people's eyes with F12. :<
 
SP:

Arid Ruins Zone - 6/10
Ug. On another note, the sand just gets boring. I really didn't have anything to do, and the amount of rings in that level feels insane. The level also suffers from repeditive-ness, and being merged with the boss.

Things I liked:
1) Open and large.
2) No pits.
3) Detailed.

Match:

MAPA1 - Scattered Skies Zone by Warpshade - N/A
I'll get to it later. I joined after they played this map.

MAPA2 - Venomous Dusk Zone by JEV3 - 4/10
Too much acid.

MAPA3 - Arial Ruins Zone by Blade T. Hedgehog - 1/10
Reasons:
1) AGZ ripoff.
2) Unrealistically small.
3) Not enough rings.

MAPA4 - Courtyard Clash Zone by Shadow Hog - 7/10
It was decorative yet functional, however I didn't really have anything to do but run around and get shot at. >.>

MAPA5 - Rusty Bucket Bay by Glaber - 3/10
1) The map was built primarily with FOFs. (Lag)
2) Too much pit.
3) Too cramped. Either remove some detail or stretch it out more.
4) Unneeded water-damage areas. If you lose your shield, you're _SOOOO_ dead.
5) Needs more rings.


CTF:

MAPA6 - Miles' Beach Zone by Miles(supersonic45) - 0/10
3 sectors. Just no.

MAPA7 - OMIGODZCTF by Kaysakado
Joke map? I hope it is, because it wasn't well done.
1) Too cramped.
2) The bases are too close.
3) Not enough rings.


Circuit:

MAPA8 - Dark Skies by on_Edge - N/A
Hey, in my defense, I had no idea the pits would be so vicious with the lag. Just go slower, ok?
Edit: I think I'll replace the death pits with teleporters if it gets used again.

MAPA9 - Waterfall Heights Zone by Boinciel - 7/10
The lack of pits are good, however the springs need to be re-placed on the map.

MAPAA - Castletania by Glaber - 4/10
1) Cheap deaths.
2) Cramped.
3) The scenery get's in your way.
4) Bland.

MAPAB - Sky Cannon by FuriousFox - 7/10
I liked it, but it has the same problem mine did: Pits are more vicious when you add lag.
 
Single Player:
Arid Ruins Zone, Act 2 by Tets (8/10)

Overall, a nice level, liked the nod to Sandopolis zone with your rising sand. I had two complaints: one was the fact that there was a little too much flat and empty space. The other is that I managed to find 2 or 3 extra lives within the level without really trying. Maybe I got lucky, or you need to hide them better. -_-

Meadow Falls Zone by Chaos Zero 64 (2/10)

Bland, cramped, and disjointed. Not much else to say.

Sandtrap Dunes Zone by Kuja (6/10)

Not a bad map overall, but confusing layout made this map a bit frustrating for the entirely wrong reasons.

Tainted Way by Draykon (3/10)

Bland and short. At least its not cramped.

Multplayer votes as soon as I host a contest rating server sometime this weekend.
 
Seriously, even though both CTF maps suck ass, mine sucks less ass! :D

Anyways, votes, details later, except for the maps I remember, and remember well (Some votes coming later):

Match:
MAPA1 - Scattered Skies Zone by Warpshade 6/10
MAPA2 - Venomous Dusk Zone by JEV3 7/10
MAPA3 - Arial Ruins Zone by Blade T. Hedgehog 9/10
Lucky for you, I was doing 1-on-1 at the time. :p
MAPA4 - Courtyard Clash Zone by Shadow Hog 6/10
MAPA5 - Rusty Bucket Bay by Glaber 5/10

Capture the Flag:
MAPA6 - Miles' Beach Zone by Miles(supersonic45) 0/10
Three sectors. Pitiful.
MAPA7 - OMIGODZCTF by Kaysakado Pie/Cake
A few things to point out: The ridges on the sides are for hiding from snipers, the blue springs are there for a reason, use them, and in the lake is**HACK**.

Circuit:
MAPA8 - Dark Skies by on_Edge 8/10
The slippery floors caught me off-gaurd, but once I got used to them, it was a great map.
MAPA9 - Waterfall Heights Zone by Boinciel 6/10
Good for a small netgame, but way too tiny.
MAPAA - Castletania by Glaber 5/10
SONIC HEROOOOOOOOOOES! *shot* Anyways, in all seriousness, way too long.
MAPAB - Sky Cannon by FuriousFox 9/10
A bit hard for some, but if it's not hard, then it's really, really fun. Lucky for you, it wasn't hard for me.
 
I had fun on all of the multiplayer maps.
Except a few.

Match:

MAPA1 - Scattered Skies Zone by Warpshade
The rings could've been more spread-out. It seems like the whole battle was taking place down that middle road. And there's very little incentive to bounce on the clouds.
Other than that, nothing notable.
This map gets a 6/10. Fairly good map.

MAPA2 - Venomous Dusk Zone by JEV3
It looks like a great amount of effort went into this map. And I'm thankful for the liberal amount of rings.
It seemed a little crowded, though... But +1 for effort.
This map gets a 8/10. Great map.

MAPA3 - Arial Ruins Zone by Blade T. Hedgehog
I'd imagine this map would be decent for 1-on-1. But it's not good for 5+ games. I was playing on a 10+ player netgame, and there just wasn't enough rings. You should make bigger maps.
This map gets a 5/10. So-so map.

MAPA4 - Courtyard Clash Zone by Shadow Hog
A pretty solid map. The ring count was good. Pretty roomy.
The use of LWATER is the only issue I have with the map. And that's pretty much non-impactive.
This map gets a 9/10. Awesome map.

MAPA5 - Rusty Bucket Bay by Glaber
I see the effort, but the ring placement just brung everything down. Not enough to go around. And the textures were rather unnattractive.
This map gets a 4/10. Less-than-impressive map.


Capture the Flag:

MAPA6 - Miles' Beach Zone by Miles(supersonic45)
Wow.
Um...
This map gets a 2/10. No redeeming quality.

MAPA7 - OMIGODZCTF by Kaysakado
A cramped map. Needs to be bigger.
This map gets a 4/10. Less-than-impressive map.


Circuit:

MAPA8 - Dark Skies by on_Edge
Just so you know, "nonsensical" isn't that original.
A rather Sonic-unfriendly map. Nothing particularly notable.
This map gets a 5/10. Meh.

MAPA9 - Waterfall Heights Zone by Boinciel
Obligatory green map, yay.
First fork seems kind of pointless. And that part with the springs, needs more springs.
This map gets a 6/10. Fairly good map.

MAPAA - Castletania by Glaber
I see the effort, and I had fun.
The crusher was annoying, though.
This map gets a 8/10. Great map.

MAPAB - Sky Cannon by FuriousFox
Seems a little bland. And the jumps can be a little unforgiving to lag.
This map gets a 6/10. Fairly good map.


Now, I'ma go watch Scrubs.
 
Time for my review of the single player levels.

Arid Ruins Zone act 2 - Hi there, I can't review this one!

Meadow Falls Zone - 7/10 - A pretty decent map compared the some of the other submissions, but not without its faults. I think the high point was the choice of music. The textures would have been a nice pick for a 2D engine game, but they just look bad in 3D even for the generally low standards of SRB2's software renderer. The level design itself was nice, but it could have done with more variation.

Sandtrap Dunes Zone - 4/10 - Somebody forgot the naming convention. And to make their level start at map 1. There are a few decent level design ideas here, but they're outweighed by the numerous flaws. To start with, the beginning of the level is clearly located inside a structure of some kind with no light source, yet the sectors are set to full brightness. It's also extremely easy to get lost. I found one place where I actually was completely unable to proceed, and I had to go back and look for another path. Finally, climbing the giant pillar at the end was extremely annoying. It's too easy to fall down and have to start over again, making it not very fun.

Tainted Way - 2/10 - I was the most disappointed in this level. What in god's name are those black things falling from the ceiling? Tainted Way is just too short to be worth playing. The only reason it took me longer than 30 seconds to play through is because I found a path that leads directly back to the beginning. Additiontally, the boss knew exactly where I was before I got there and as a result was already shooting me when I went through the teleporter. Bad design all around.
 
Well, lets get this out of the way, shall we?

Tainted Way- 2/10- I don't know where you were going with this one, but I don't believe that it turned out right. If the black things falling from the sky weren't cryptic enough, a teleporter sitting atop a platform led you to a boss fight that I had to cheese my way through by constantly abusing invincibility was just as strange. Overall, too short, and a tad too cramped. My compliments on the boss though. Although cheap, it was very creatively SOCced.


Meadow Falls Zone- 4/10- One of the things I liked about this map is that you definitely went for the classic feel to a Sonic stage. However, this level was disappointingly shallow and short, as there wasn't much depth to it at all.

Arid Ruins Zone, Act 2-7/10-The best of the three, as expected. The levels were wide and spacious, and very detailed. Although the level design was exceptional, the layout wasn't exactly my cup of tea. I found myself getting hopelessly lost extremely often, although that was probably more my fault than yours. If there was a way to distinguish the correct path from the one that leads you back to the beginning, then I'd have no issues with this map.

For the record, I kept getting lost once I left the first building via springs. I always took a wrong turn and ended up jumping off the cliff. Turns out that was the lower path I had just taken. X.X I had a good sense of direction by the next few times I played through, though.

Sandtrap Dunes-...Yeah.
For anyone who bothers to come back and view this comment, here's a few notes about my map. I've often been criticized about my levels being waaay too linear, so I went in another direction and decided to give the player a chance to explore the level, so they wouldn't be forced to use JUST ONE path. As for the platforming, I guess nobody likes climbing towers, huh? :P
 
Untill I find a game hosting the multiplayer stuff I'll just leave it without the rateing.

Single Player:
Arid Ruins Zone, Act 2 by Tets
Wow, this is a good map. at one point I came to an area that looked like it was suppose to be a secret door. (7/10)

Meadow Falls Zone by Chaos Zero 64
I liked the music used. The level was a bit short but I figure it's of the first level type like GFZ1. (6/10)

Sandtrap Dunes Zone by Kuja (6/10)
It was good but with how I accessed it I was able to skip a few parts as Super Sonic.

Tainted Way by Draykon
Hmm, A bit too much "tainted" and not enough "way". Also who was that boss? Shaft? (See Castlevania RoB or SoTN/NitM) (5/10)

Match/CTF/Circuit Contest Level Pack - 716 KB

Match:
MAPA1 - Scattered Skies Zone by Warpshade
MAPA2 - Venomous Dusk Zone by JEV3
MAPA3 - Arial Ruins Zone by Blade T. Hedgehog
MAPA4 - Courtyard Clash Zone by Shadow Hog
MAPA5 - Rusty Bucket Bay by Glaber
Believe it or not this map was started last year and was canceled for a time. It wasn't until epsilon revealed his map that I decided to finish up this one. Unfortunately it's only 90% done which is why there were red springs at the smoke stacks and a blue spring where there where suppose to be stairs, Also the background was unfinished except for the 2 buildings behind the cranes. At this point I am considering finishing it up and releasing it again but as a single player Treasure hunt with co-op supported but not recommended due to the whole FOF lag reason. (N/A)


Capture the Flag:
MAPA6 - Miles' Beach Zone by Miles(supersonic45)
What's wrong with you? Even n00bs don't make this bad of a mistake most the time.[the starts in the wall] (0/10)

MAPA7 - OMIGODZCTF by Kaysakado
n00b15h name, newbish style map. I give it a (3/10)

Circuit:
MAPA8 - Dark Skies by on_Edge
I thought it was Dark Skies not Lava Skies. (6/10)

MAPA9 - Waterfall Heights Zone by Boinciel
Forgot stage need to play again (??/10 untill replay)

MAPAA - Castletania by Glaber
As you could tell the very beginning was indeed based off of Hang Castle act 2 from Sonic Heroes. That bit was actually made I think sometime last year as well. since lately I had/ am having a craze for Castlevania, I decided to use this for part of my Srb2 parody series called Castletania with bits based off of areas from Castlevania. This stage is actually the second in the Castletania series with the first being for Megaman Powered Up as was the case of Glaber Bases 1 and 2.
There were a few bits of halloween candy (Easter Eggs) I wanted to leave around but had to cancel. Like for example I wanted to include a sector based Sally prisioner in the Delux cell but had to leave it empty as well as canceling the escapeing Goomba. The whole invisible wall to keep you on course thing I got from other 3d games. I also reused the last parts of Battle Woods act 3 as to reshow it flowing into Castletania. As a result access to past parts of BW3 was blocked off compleatly. I didn't use all of the act anyway.
Reccomended lapcount is 2 to 3 laps due to size. This of course is what I was aiming for as I was building the stage.

MAPAB - Sky Cannon by FuriousFox
I like how you actually made us spin to pass a part. but the open air part, oh well I played as Tails through the map so it didn't matter to me. (7/10
 
SRB2-Playah said:
MAPA8 - Dark Skies by on_Edge
Just so you know, "nonsensical" isn't that original.
A rather Sonic-unfriendly map. Nothing particularly notable.
This map gets a 5/10. Meh.
Click to expand...
Nonsensical? You mean like, nonsense? Please elaboate.

As for being Sonic unfriendly, slow down at the beginning. You can regain any speed you lost on many of the jumps.
 
Single Player! Sorry, I'll be putting up the actual numbers later. Heck, I might even change what's down here, so....

Arid Ruins 2 by Tets
This map was great. I love how everything from act 1 came back, though differently and fresh. The switch concept was used better than in act 1, wih helped a lot. I do wish that there was a few more ways to get out of the big inside area, though. One exit just doesn't feel right.

Flow wasn't really a problem, except for a few platforms that just weren't long enough to thok on. My other gripe with flow-related stuff is spring designs in the skinny little caves. Something a bit more interesting?

And lastly, the doors. Three of them were just kinda bizzare, in the sense that I couldn't open them. When I worked up the nerve to noclip through them, two of them I ran into thok barrier. The third was an alternate exit, though I still can't open that door properly for the life of me. On a related note, there were a few sand falls that weren't deployed, and didn't seem to. Conversly, there were a few sand falls that were already deployed without a swtich. Wierd.

More SP makes in this post later. Arid Ruins took a while....
 
There are no switches that open doors in Arid Ruins act 2, aside from one minor exception. The button that starts the sand rising also opens a small passageway elsewhere in the room. I added closed doors in some places to simply decorate walls, none of these doors ever open except for the one at the end. Playing in race mode triggers a linedef executor that makes the boss teleporter disappear and opens this door, revealing the end sign.

I'd also like to know exactly where people are getting lost in Arid Ruins act 2. The only place I can imagine that happening is the bit with the rising sand. As a general rule, if the enemies are looking away from you when you enter a path, that's the wrong way. But it's not always clear, especially with my sparse enemy placement.
 
Well, here's my votes for the mutiplayer maps. Single player votes coming soon...

--- MATCH ---

Skattered Skies Zone : 6/10
Not bad, but it lagged a bit because it was all FOFs, and that was by myself, noone else playing, however that might be my computer. And the groups of rings were too far apart. But other than that, it's pretty good.

Venomous Dusk Zone : 7/10
Again, the map lagged, but only wile facing the factory. The theme was good, and there were plenty of rings. A pretty good map.

Arial Ruins Zone : N/A
Add more rings, check.
Make it bigger, check
Don't theme it on AGZ...Wha? How does that affect my score?
Can I vote on this? Nope!

Courtyard Clash Zone 7/10
Pretty good. No lag, roomy, and plenty of rings. However this map might be better at tag/hide and seek... But this is my favorte Match map in this contest.

EDIT: After playing in this level some more, I desided to change the score. (if that's alright) This level is a bit to big, it was easy to get lost. I spent quite a bit of time trying to find someone to shoot. Plus, it don't support tag! That's a bit...weird. It would have been perfect for hide and seek... So this level goes from a 9, to a 7.

Rusty Bucket Bay : 4/10
Ok... this level lagged a bit... and it was too cramped... and not quite enough rings... and the textures... However it had quite a bit of detail. (I'd like to see someone make a better looking ship/dock in SRB2...) But that was about the only thing I liked...

--- CTF ---

Miles' Beach Zone : 0/10
Er... next level!

OMIGODZCTF : 4/10
This map was cramped, and was a bit small, but other than that, not too bad... I was gonna give this a three, but I had to give you some thing for the most creative name.

--- CIRCUIT ---

Dark Skies : 5/10
At first, I didn't realy like this map... but after playing it a bit, I got used to it. The first and second times through are hard, but once you get the hang of it, it's easy, even with Sonic.

Waterfall Heights Zone : 7/10
Pretty good. The place with springs could use some more springs... but other than that, pretty good.

Castletania : 8/10
SSonic HHHEEERO- *shot* But seriously, you got the start from Hang Castle, didn't you? The level was too long, But other than that, this is pretty good.

Sky Cannon : 7/10
Some of the jumps are a bit hard, But other than that, pretty good!
 
on Edge said:
SRB2-Playah said:
Just so you know, "nonsensical" isn't that original.
Click to expand...

Nonsensical? You mean like, nonsense? Please elaboate.
Click to expand...

Nonsensical. I mean like, devoid of sense.

It's raining in space, there's a great big block of ice at the beginning, everything's kinda red, there's water with a lava texture, part of the route goes into a tree... In space...
 
SRB2-Playah said:
MAPA3 - Arial Ruins Zone by Blade T. Hedgehog
I'd imagine this map would be decent for 1-on-1.
Click to expand...
This is correct.

SRB2-Playah said:
MAPA6 - Miles' Beach Zone by Miles(supersonic45)
Wow.
Um...
This map gets a 2/10. No redeeming quality.
Click to expand...
A 2? A 2?! It's 4 sectors, one of them being the thok barrier! How could this get a two?!

SRB2-Playah said:
MAPA7 - OMIGODZCTF by Kaysakado
A cramped map. Needs to be bigger.
This map gets a 4/10. Less-than-impressive map.
Click to expand...
Meh, better then Miles' Beach.

Also, I'm about to add more scores to my preevious post, if anyone cares.
 
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