SRB2 Tortured Planet: Final Demo Before Release!

[Jellybones]

I don't usually try out mods in editing, but I like you.

A lot.


Sunshine Atoll is pretty good. I enjoyed it a lot and found no real flaws with it, except that the little blue space in between the water and sky is distracting. I had no trouble seeing in the dark caves, but everyone's monitors are a little different so you should probably change that. I enjoyed both acts.

The bosses are really bland- even for bosses! The first boss is very boring, add scenery, stumps, and all that. Or even enemies. Just think of some kind of way to be creative- in act 2 of Sunshine Atoll you had yourself jumping from stump to stump over an intangible leaf canopy. I think this would work well for a boss (although probably making each stump a little larger as platforming probably won't be the focus of your boss battle)
The only other idea I have is for drown downtown's boss- I like the scenery, even though it's very simple. But it could be cooler- why not have rising water? Maybe have the water rise slowly over time, and have the fish enemies or something so that will try to make the player defeat Robotnik faster, and if they can't, then the boss is even harder.

The final boss is the very definition of anti-climactic. No rings, and a simple spiked Robotnik. It's not challenging, or fun. You just spin dash under the spikes, jump, and hope not to hit the spikes while you jump, and if you don't you fall into the lava. Please re-do this zone.
The second act's boss, the Factory place, well, you can do so much more with it. Have rising lava coming out of holes on the main arena! (Don't make them death pits though..) And why, WHY did you choose the ugliest lava texture for the floors! You chose a good one for the lava coming out of pipes, but IMO using the same texture for the floor would be much better, because it's not ugly, and it's more consistent anyway.

You have nicely themed levels, with a lot of cool ideas out there that could work for them. But you aren't using them- at least, not for the boss battles. Be more imaginative with those.

 

[Fawfulfan]

Those are all great ideas...but:

1. I'm not sure how I could do some of them.
2. I tried to make it so that each boss battle is progressively harder. Many of those ideas, while great, would make the difficulty in the game quite lopsided...on the other hand, there's no question the last battle needs to be better. I just haven't yet figured out what else to do with it.

However, I AM heeding the following bits of your advice right away:

1. Changing the lava texture in ECZ3.
2. Implementing a rising-water effect in DDZ3.

 

[Jellybones]

I still think your could do a boss arena with stumps over an intangible leaf canopy like you did in Act 2 of Sunshine Atoll. Maybe falling off into a death pit, or a small arena Eggman can't get into.

 

[Fawfulfan]

http://wind.sonicquestsite.co.cc/videos/TP_Vid-play-thru.wmv

Sorry if it does not auto-play in your browser, I'm having a bit of a problem with my webspace ATM.

But that video should explain what I mean when I say "Adventure Mode".

...so, what? That looks absolutely normal to me; it's how EVERYTHING plays on my computer, and I have no problem with it.

Could you provide another video, showing what you normally see, and explaining the difference?

Here's one thing you might also want to consider: keep your fingers hovering over the O and P keys. I always do that, and it helps me to adjust the camera in any level (not just mine).

And Jellybones, I will try to make those changes to SAZ3.

 

[sims]

My thoughts on Sunshine Atoll 1-3

Act 1:
-Holy crap, that colormap is thick.
-That sky makes no sense from a perspective point of view.
-Why does this waterslide lead me back to the beginning?
-Did I just go into another circle?
-Cramped/bland caves, my favorite!
-Why is there an attraction shield there when you have to go through a pool of water to continue?
-Are those waves? I hadn't noticed.

Act 2:
-Oh good, a better colormap. Now we're getting somewhere.
-These stumps are too small to jump on.
-What's the point of the stumps when you can just jump into the water and use a spring to bypass the section?
-Caves are red now apparently. Consistency? In my SRB2?
-Sky still makes no sense.

Act 3:
-Nothing interesting here at all.
-A proper egg capsule. This is the greatest thing I've seen since I started playing.

I'd play through the rest of the levels if there were more than a bunch of Act 3's.

 

[Fawfulfan]

Thanks for your feedback. Let's see...

1. The sky will look a bit better in the next version. I've already changed it. And it'll also be different in Eruption Conduit Zone, too.
2. A lot of people are complaining about the colormap. I think I can fix that.
3. It's possible to jump over the water without touching it after you get the attraction shield.
4. I could probably change the caves to red in SAZ1. That does make sense.
5. I'm toying with a new idea for SAZ3: A few big stumps, and an intangible tree canopy with a bed of springs underneath it. That should increase the difficulty and the originality of that battle.
6. I'm hearing a lot of complaints about the waterslide. You want to know why it's there? Because in future versions, Sonic's emblem will be at the end of it.

Oh, and one more thing about the whole "Adventure Mode" issue:

I don't know why some people are having their cameras set to Analog when they play this level, but it's easily corrected; just go to Game Options and toggle Analog Camera on and off again. That should bring your settings back to normal.

 

[Kyasarin]

That doesn't mean you shouldn't fix the problem.
There's no reason for the player to have to change their settings for something that shouldn't be there in the first place.

 

[MascaraSnake]

It's not necessarily an error with the level. I didn't turn on Analog mode for me.

 

[MascaraSnake]

For the record, the levels started out not in analog mode for me. Maybe that's because I loaded it via the console though.

EDIT: Yeah, it's because I loaded it in the console. When I load it normally, it plays in analog.

Isn't the console the "normal" way of loading a level?

 

[sims]

Wait, I don't know what I'm talking about anymore. Disregard that last post, it's incorrect.

 

[Fawfulfan]

New Beta is out!

What do you guys think?

 

[GoldGameMaster]

Oh good a new demo with more levels. I'll try it out tomorrow and see what to suggest.

 

[D00D64]

So, I go into the next level, and what do I find? A cramped version of Techno Hill with cramped design! O wait, not even; the water is actually the same nasty goop, but in disguise. Oh, and one worthless polyobject that constantly disappears. Then I get into Drowned Downtown... and it's a lame version of Deep Sea Zone with a Dark City visual design and several times more bland. Act 2 was a CHORE to play; so much so that I resorted to going Super around the Red Volcano wave hallway ripoff just to get the level over with. And you also seem to have no idea what texture alignment is. This is ESPECIALLY noticeable in Doomed Drowned Downtown. The bosses for those two zones are also as lame and effortless as ever.

 

[Krabs]

Well, *I* really liked some of the new stuff. The water rising in DDZ's boss was a nice surprise that made the battle more enjoyable and less generic. Also, D00D64, what do you mean by "The same nasty goop but in disguise"?

But, there are some bad things about the mod. In the first zone...

• I got lost several times
• The rising and falling water in the first area of act 1 should be slower. ALOT slower.
• The boss is very boring

More criticism on this later when I have the time. (AKA when I feel like it)

 

[Fawfulfan]

And you also seem to have no idea what texture alignment is. This is ESPECIALLY noticeable in Doomed Drowned Downtown. The bosses for those two zones are also as lame and effortless as ever.

That's through no little fault of my own. When editing in 3D Mode, I obsessively align the textures. I guess that the elevation of certain textures resulted in it not turning out very well. At some point, I'll go back and see what I can do about it.

The rising and falling water in the first area of act 1 should be slower. ALOT slower.

OK...I'm sorry, but it's physically impossible to make it any slower. The linedef length (which determines the speed) is one fracunit. So, my apologies, but I can't do anything about that.

 

[Krabs]

Well, you COULD use the type of rising and falling lava/water that is used in RVZ. (The rock on top of the rising and falling lava with the whirlwind shield.)

 

[Hex the Fox]

Looks pretty nice. But it's confusing, and why is Brak Eggman the final boss?

 

[Fawfulfan]

Why is Brak Eggman the final boss?

Because (a) he's the final boss in the official level set, and (b) I needed a dramatic final battle.

 

[MascaraSnake]

A quick note regarding the bosses: You shouldn't be making all of the bosses for your mod right now. There are at least four more bosses to be put into SRB2 which you can use later on. As it stands currently, almost all of your boss fights are generic and boring.

A detailed review of the pack is soon to come.

 

[Fawfulfan]

I'm aware of that...but unless SRB2 2.1 is going to be backwards compatible (which I'm not counting on) the whole thing'll be obsolete eventually. I could probably convert it...but until then--and I think it's a LONG way off--I'll just have to stick with my current boss set. I may find ways to spice up the battles later, though; I'd like to think that this beta's boss set is at least better than the first.