(it's the only gametype I really care about anyway)
1. Wild West Zone, Act 2 by Dead
ngl every time I heard Dead say this map wasn't good I wanted to slap him in the face. It feels... cinematic, in a way. From the music, to the visuals, to the pace of the level, Wild West won my heart in a way I don't even know if I can put into words. This is one of those levels which just keeps getting better after every playthrough; the immense path density leaves me wondering if I actually found everything there is to find even after 10+ playthroughs. You even managed to fit in a Fang path, and a really cleverly built one at that. This is definitely the contest winner for me.
2. Rustic Templar Zone by MK.exe
This level flows really well. The amount of care put into the gameplay so that each section feels fun is remarkable! I wasn't a fan of the visual design, since pink and brown didn't seem to mesh very well, but all of the other qualities more than make up for it.
3. Metallic Madness Good Future by Kwiin & Kanna
If this contest was judged based on visuals alone then I would have definitely put it on top of the list. MMZ is a very pretty level, but -- even not taking into account the length of the map -- it feels more like a walk in the park. That's not bad at all! In fact, it feels like a breath of fresh air. But it could have definitely been spiced up a bit more! I'm keeping tabs on you two for the next contests. [I am not mentioning the framerate because you were well aware of it even before submitting please don't go overboardLOL]
4. Oasis Palace Zone by So2ro
I had a lot of fun running around in this map. Maybe it's because of the blocky nature of the level, though, but a lot of the rooms felt very samey. There was the occasional spice-up with the dust devils, but, well, I guess if I could put it in other words, it lacked progression. Or, you know, at least the feeling of progression. Bonus points for using the theme I chose!!!!!!!! Gerudo Desert is great, ain't it.
5. Spyro Ripto Blast 2 - Snowflake Ridge by TrickyTex & Tatsuru
IS THIS EVEN SRB2????????
Truly the best Spyro experience. This map was gorgeous! Might have stayed a little TOO long in it looking for the emblems but that is entirely on me. Sadly SRB2's engine doesn't like open levels, and having to play at a constant 25 FPS dragged down the experience a bit. Not that it matters too much, level's still great anyway.
6. Toffee Tor Zone, Act 1 by RoyKirbs
This one was a very neat level, and interestingly I consider it better than Lilac Conservatory, which is really just a testament to your mapping growth. The rollout rock gimmick being used on water was something I wasn't expecting and putting SDURFs on slopes was a massive brain use of the enemies. Apart from that, you should work on your directioning better. It wasn't as frequent as the past levels where this was a problem, but I still did find myself getting lost or running in circles at times.
7. Aqua Paradise Zone by Twins'R'Awesome
To me it's a shame you didn't make more "outdoor" segments because the one you did make was definitely the highlight of the level for me. The indoors aesthetic was too poppy for my eyes, and there was a point where the lack of texture variety started to blend everything in. Gameplay-wise it was pretty good, but you should work more on your item placement. Some areas had a lot of ring spam and considering it's a mostly hazardless level it felt very unwarranted.
8. Shadow of Atlantis Zone by akirahedgehog
Aesthetic-wise this level is great. It really captured the mystical feeling you were going for. Gameplay-wise, you should have definitely not thrown the player into a massive water pit without providing them with either a clearly visible Elemental Shield or a shitton of air bubbles to make up for the lack of one. Not taking either into account, I got lost right in the first underwater room, so you should work on directioning the player better. Overall it was a good experience.
9. Overgrown Heights Zone by InferNOr
This level has great theming. I was super excited to play it from the snippets you posted in the Discord server, and the very first few seconds really hyped me up for what was to come. But as the level kept dragging about I noticed I wasn't really having as much fun as I thought I would be having. Your ring and enemy placement need quite some work, from misaligned lines of rings to piles of spincushions in one platform (and funnily enough those spincushions weren't even a threat anyway since they all fell off super fast). For such a unique and pretty level theme you should have also thought of how you were going to use enemies! Back to the spincushions, they felt very out of place with the rest of the badnik lineup you chose at the start. Apart from that this was a pretty good one, I'm looking forward to see you improve!
10. Concordian Coast Zone by Ktoby & Pronicthewedgehog
This is a cute level, that appears to be the first one. Might want to better your texture use, but overall it's OK. Short but neat gameplay, excited to see you improve!
11. Wasteland Wilds Zone by SunCyclone
Despite being very barren in terms of enemies, items, and sector decoration, or rather any lack of exploration-inducing geometry, this level plays very well. The foundation is solid, you're just missing the oomph factor. Good luck on the next one!
12. Myriad Memories Zone by ManimiFire
I get that the level being dark is sort of its gimmick, but the way it's utilized turns the puzzles into blind guessing games and that's not very fun. Though I do appreciate the untraditional approach for this level -- and I'm looking forward to your next one if you do keep making levels like these!
13. Magma Falls Zone by RadicalChaos_6922
While I can definitely see this was decorated -- and way too much for my liking, please don't abuse linedefs unnecessarily like that -- the gameplay does not make up to it for me. Remember that you're using assets (and a theme) from a level that's already in the game, and people who play Magma Falls are likely to have already played RVZ. As such, "sinking platforms" that don't actually sink and "crumbling platforms" that don't actually crumble can throw people off! You also need to direct the player better -- I got lost at that last room for a while before I found the exit. The lava bump idea was neat, though!
14. Hectic Harbor Zone by ACStriker
The level theme made me a bit uncomfortable at first, but that's just a personal issue... Apart from that, I legit thought "wait is this level not completable?" after spending around 10 minutes in it -- this stage is a giant box, and the way to go is extremely unclear. You've heard this already but I'll say it again: put physics on your slopes!!!!! Not being used to slopes with no physics threw me off incredibly. The level does have its positives in the blocky design and the general idea, which I think is cool, so I'm looking forward to your next entry -- and an entry that wasn't rushed in two days, of course :sonicsmug:
15. Heroes Hall by Zaxel
You've improved a lot, Zaxel, holy shit. This level is a giant step-up from your previous works, I'll give ya that! But what I felt was the issue in Heroes Hall is the unnecessary length. Now don't get me wrong I like big levels, but when you have a big level that is also just a collection of hallways the experience drags down a lot. You could have expanded on the outdoors areas more for a change of pace! While I liked the heroes' segments (what characters are those? I'm genuinely curious) I feel like they just weren't that well used -- if they weren't disjointed from the main path like they were, maybe I wouldn't have a problem with it, but who knows. As a last tip, when making buttons required to progress, don't hide the buttons in overly secret places -- the Archer room especially suffers from this. Good luck on your next entry!
16. Cyan Heights Zone by PencilVoid
In the end, you kept the crampedness..... Well who am I to stop you then? I won't comment on it much because it's clear it's unfinished to me, but the automated segments were pretty cool. Good luck on your next one!
17. Crystal Cave Zone by CST1229
The texture you chose for this level was very... interesting, but I'd reccomend that when using tiled textures you try building your geometry with right angles, so that they don't cut off at the end or become misaligned. Apart from that, I can't comment much on the gameplay because it lacked a lot of depth, and was really just running around from location A to B without much else to do. Looking forward to see you improve upon this one, though!
18. Anteggtica Zone by Radicalicious
I don't know how to review this level because there really isn't much level to review here. The concept is definitely interesting, and if you had waited until your foundation was a bit more solid this might have been placed higher on the list, so this one was entirely on you and you're well aware of it :trolled:
19. Cluttered Cave Zone, Act 2 by Riolucariolu
The transition from water to fire caught me off guard, and I feel like you could have done more with this level than just what you built. But god oh god, was I not happy at the way you chose to end your level. I was stuck for 20 minutes in here -- backtracked to the very beginning looking for the exit, found an emblem, died three times on the fire, only to come back and find out there was a red spring I struggled to see even after looking there more than three times. Putting a red spring next to a bunch of red textures wasn't a wrinkly brain move, but you can definitely build upon this concept more and I'm looking forward to your next entry!
20. Hypertower Zone by WasifBoomz
Not taking the grating music into consideration, this level is seemingly very hard and cluttered from what I heard of other people. Yet, when I played this for the first time as Amy, I didn't have any challenge at all! Due to the verticality of your level, and the fact springs are existing things in it, Amy's power spring successfully led me to not experience any of the challenges you had built. And that's a bit disappointing -- after I heard from other people, I didn't want to go back and experience it. When designing a level, you should always be careful about unintentional exploits like this. Try balancing around all characters next time and I'm sure you'll be able to give us a good challenge!
21. Valley Falls Zone by Hamsandwich
Sadly I could not bring myself to complete this level. It initially looked like an innocent Greenflower-themed level, and one I was enjoying strolling around at that! But the underwater maze was a choice you should not have made and I'm sure by the reception it got you're aware of that already. Not even with god mode enabled I could stand running around looking for the exit, and thus I closed the level without thinking again. I will praise you for what you were building upon prior to it -- and it makes me hopeful that you can indeed make a level people can enjoy! So I'm definitely looking forward to your next entry.
ngl every time I heard Dead say this map wasn't good I wanted to slap him in the face. It feels... cinematic, in a way. From the music, to the visuals, to the pace of the level, Wild West won my heart in a way I don't even know if I can put into words. This is one of those levels which just keeps getting better after every playthrough; the immense path density leaves me wondering if I actually found everything there is to find even after 10+ playthroughs. You even managed to fit in a Fang path, and a really cleverly built one at that. This is definitely the contest winner for me.
2. Rustic Templar Zone by MK.exe
This level flows really well. The amount of care put into the gameplay so that each section feels fun is remarkable! I wasn't a fan of the visual design, since pink and brown didn't seem to mesh very well, but all of the other qualities more than make up for it.
3. Metallic Madness Good Future by Kwiin & Kanna
If this contest was judged based on visuals alone then I would have definitely put it on top of the list. MMZ is a very pretty level, but -- even not taking into account the length of the map -- it feels more like a walk in the park. That's not bad at all! In fact, it feels like a breath of fresh air. But it could have definitely been spiced up a bit more! I'm keeping tabs on you two for the next contests. [I am not mentioning the framerate because you were well aware of it even before submitting please don't go overboardLOL]
4. Oasis Palace Zone by So2ro
I had a lot of fun running around in this map. Maybe it's because of the blocky nature of the level, though, but a lot of the rooms felt very samey. There was the occasional spice-up with the dust devils, but, well, I guess if I could put it in other words, it lacked progression. Or, you know, at least the feeling of progression. Bonus points for using the theme I chose!!!!!!!! Gerudo Desert is great, ain't it.
5. Spyro Ripto Blast 2 - Snowflake Ridge by TrickyTex & Tatsuru
IS THIS EVEN SRB2????????
Truly the best Spyro experience. This map was gorgeous! Might have stayed a little TOO long in it looking for the emblems but that is entirely on me. Sadly SRB2's engine doesn't like open levels, and having to play at a constant 25 FPS dragged down the experience a bit. Not that it matters too much, level's still great anyway.
6. Toffee Tor Zone, Act 1 by RoyKirbs
This one was a very neat level, and interestingly I consider it better than Lilac Conservatory, which is really just a testament to your mapping growth. The rollout rock gimmick being used on water was something I wasn't expecting and putting SDURFs on slopes was a massive brain use of the enemies. Apart from that, you should work on your directioning better. It wasn't as frequent as the past levels where this was a problem, but I still did find myself getting lost or running in circles at times.
7. Aqua Paradise Zone by Twins'R'Awesome
To me it's a shame you didn't make more "outdoor" segments because the one you did make was definitely the highlight of the level for me. The indoors aesthetic was too poppy for my eyes, and there was a point where the lack of texture variety started to blend everything in. Gameplay-wise it was pretty good, but you should work more on your item placement. Some areas had a lot of ring spam and considering it's a mostly hazardless level it felt very unwarranted.
8. Shadow of Atlantis Zone by akirahedgehog
Aesthetic-wise this level is great. It really captured the mystical feeling you were going for. Gameplay-wise, you should have definitely not thrown the player into a massive water pit without providing them with either a clearly visible Elemental Shield or a shitton of air bubbles to make up for the lack of one. Not taking either into account, I got lost right in the first underwater room, so you should work on directioning the player better. Overall it was a good experience.
9. Overgrown Heights Zone by InferNOr
This level has great theming. I was super excited to play it from the snippets you posted in the Discord server, and the very first few seconds really hyped me up for what was to come. But as the level kept dragging about I noticed I wasn't really having as much fun as I thought I would be having. Your ring and enemy placement need quite some work, from misaligned lines of rings to piles of spincushions in one platform (and funnily enough those spincushions weren't even a threat anyway since they all fell off super fast). For such a unique and pretty level theme you should have also thought of how you were going to use enemies! Back to the spincushions, they felt very out of place with the rest of the badnik lineup you chose at the start. Apart from that this was a pretty good one, I'm looking forward to see you improve!
10. Concordian Coast Zone by Ktoby & Pronicthewedgehog
This is a cute level, that appears to be the first one. Might want to better your texture use, but overall it's OK. Short but neat gameplay, excited to see you improve!
11. Wasteland Wilds Zone by SunCyclone
Despite being very barren in terms of enemies, items, and sector decoration, or rather any lack of exploration-inducing geometry, this level plays very well. The foundation is solid, you're just missing the oomph factor. Good luck on the next one!
12. Myriad Memories Zone by ManimiFire
I get that the level being dark is sort of its gimmick, but the way it's utilized turns the puzzles into blind guessing games and that's not very fun. Though I do appreciate the untraditional approach for this level -- and I'm looking forward to your next one if you do keep making levels like these!
13. Magma Falls Zone by RadicalChaos_6922
While I can definitely see this was decorated -- and way too much for my liking, please don't abuse linedefs unnecessarily like that -- the gameplay does not make up to it for me. Remember that you're using assets (and a theme) from a level that's already in the game, and people who play Magma Falls are likely to have already played RVZ. As such, "sinking platforms" that don't actually sink and "crumbling platforms" that don't actually crumble can throw people off! You also need to direct the player better -- I got lost at that last room for a while before I found the exit. The lava bump idea was neat, though!
14. Hectic Harbor Zone by ACStriker
The level theme made me a bit uncomfortable at first, but that's just a personal issue... Apart from that, I legit thought "wait is this level not completable?" after spending around 10 minutes in it -- this stage is a giant box, and the way to go is extremely unclear. You've heard this already but I'll say it again: put physics on your slopes!!!!! Not being used to slopes with no physics threw me off incredibly. The level does have its positives in the blocky design and the general idea, which I think is cool, so I'm looking forward to your next entry -- and an entry that wasn't rushed in two days, of course :sonicsmug:
15. Heroes Hall by Zaxel
You've improved a lot, Zaxel, holy shit. This level is a giant step-up from your previous works, I'll give ya that! But what I felt was the issue in Heroes Hall is the unnecessary length. Now don't get me wrong I like big levels, but when you have a big level that is also just a collection of hallways the experience drags down a lot. You could have expanded on the outdoors areas more for a change of pace! While I liked the heroes' segments (what characters are those? I'm genuinely curious) I feel like they just weren't that well used -- if they weren't disjointed from the main path like they were, maybe I wouldn't have a problem with it, but who knows. As a last tip, when making buttons required to progress, don't hide the buttons in overly secret places -- the Archer room especially suffers from this. Good luck on your next entry!
16. Cyan Heights Zone by PencilVoid
In the end, you kept the crampedness..... Well who am I to stop you then? I won't comment on it much because it's clear it's unfinished to me, but the automated segments were pretty cool. Good luck on your next one!
17. Crystal Cave Zone by CST1229
The texture you chose for this level was very... interesting, but I'd reccomend that when using tiled textures you try building your geometry with right angles, so that they don't cut off at the end or become misaligned. Apart from that, I can't comment much on the gameplay because it lacked a lot of depth, and was really just running around from location A to B without much else to do. Looking forward to see you improve upon this one, though!
18. Anteggtica Zone by Radicalicious
I don't know how to review this level because there really isn't much level to review here. The concept is definitely interesting, and if you had waited until your foundation was a bit more solid this might have been placed higher on the list, so this one was entirely on you and you're well aware of it :trolled:
19. Cluttered Cave Zone, Act 2 by Riolucariolu
The transition from water to fire caught me off guard, and I feel like you could have done more with this level than just what you built. But god oh god, was I not happy at the way you chose to end your level. I was stuck for 20 minutes in here -- backtracked to the very beginning looking for the exit, found an emblem, died three times on the fire, only to come back and find out there was a red spring I struggled to see even after looking there more than three times. Putting a red spring next to a bunch of red textures wasn't a wrinkly brain move, but you can definitely build upon this concept more and I'm looking forward to your next entry!
20. Hypertower Zone by WasifBoomz
Not taking the grating music into consideration, this level is seemingly very hard and cluttered from what I heard of other people. Yet, when I played this for the first time as Amy, I didn't have any challenge at all! Due to the verticality of your level, and the fact springs are existing things in it, Amy's power spring successfully led me to not experience any of the challenges you had built. And that's a bit disappointing -- after I heard from other people, I didn't want to go back and experience it. When designing a level, you should always be careful about unintentional exploits like this. Try balancing around all characters next time and I'm sure you'll be able to give us a good challenge!
21. Valley Falls Zone by Hamsandwich
Sadly I could not bring myself to complete this level. It initially looked like an innocent Greenflower-themed level, and one I was enjoying strolling around at that! But the underwater maze was a choice you should not have made and I'm sure by the reception it got you're aware of that already. Not even with god mode enabled I could stand running around looking for the exit, and thus I closed the level without thinking again. I will praise you for what you were building upon prior to it -- and it makes me hopeful that you can indeed make a level people can enjoy! So I'm definitely looking forward to your next entry.