SunCyclone
Berufsschauspieler
Single Player Division:
1. Wasteland Wilds Zone (SunCyclone) - Own entry, so automatically ranked 1st as per contest rules.
2. Toffee Tor Zone (RoyKirbs)
3. Rustic Templar Zone (MK.exe)
4. Snowflake Ridge (TrickyTex & Tatsuru)
5. Wild West Zone (Dead)
6. Oasis Palace Zone (So2ro)
7. Overgrown Heights Zone (InferNOr)
8. Metallic Madness Zone Act 1 Good Future (Kwiin & failur.old)
9. Crystal Cave Zone (CST1229)
10. Aqua Paradise Zone (Twins'R'Awesome)
11. Cluttered Cave Zone Act 2 (Riolucariolu)
12. Hectic Harbor Zone (ACStriker)
13. Concordian Coast Zone (Ktoby and Pronicthewedgehog)
14. Heroes Hall (Zaxel)
15. Anteggtica Zone (Radicalicious)
16. Cyan Heights Zone (PencilVoid)
17. Shadow of Atlantis Zone (akirahedgehog)
18. Magma Falls Zone (RadicalChaos_6922)
19. Myriad Memories (ManimiFire)
20. Valley Falls Zone (Hamsandwich)
21. Hypertower Zone (WasifBoomz)
Single Player Reviews:
1. Wasteland Wilds Zone (SunCyclone) - Own entry, so automatically ranked 1st as per contest rules.
2. Toffee Tor Zone (RoyKirbs)
3. Rustic Templar Zone (MK.exe)
4. Snowflake Ridge (TrickyTex & Tatsuru)
5. Wild West Zone (Dead)
6. Oasis Palace Zone (So2ro)
7. Overgrown Heights Zone (InferNOr)
8. Metallic Madness Zone Act 1 Good Future (Kwiin & failur.old)
9. Crystal Cave Zone (CST1229)
10. Aqua Paradise Zone (Twins'R'Awesome)
11. Cluttered Cave Zone Act 2 (Riolucariolu)
12. Hectic Harbor Zone (ACStriker)
13. Concordian Coast Zone (Ktoby and Pronicthewedgehog)
14. Heroes Hall (Zaxel)
15. Anteggtica Zone (Radicalicious)
16. Cyan Heights Zone (PencilVoid)
17. Shadow of Atlantis Zone (akirahedgehog)
18. Magma Falls Zone (RadicalChaos_6922)
19. Myriad Memories (ManimiFire)
20. Valley Falls Zone (Hamsandwich)
21. Hypertower Zone (WasifBoomz)
Single Player Reviews:
Wasteland Wilds Zone (SunCyclone) (OWN ENTRY)
Well, there’s no point reviewing my own stage, is there? Instead, how about a random piece of trivia from the stage’s development? The stage’s music track comes from the stage Amp Plains in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky. However, I was originally going to use the remix that Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon used for its Electric Wasteland stage. The Super version did fit within the 3MB limit, but I swapped it out for the Explorers original late in development to get the file size down even further, as well as to better accommodate the Far Amp Plains theme should I make an Act 2, as Super doesn’t have a Far Amp Plains remix. The Super version of the track can also be a bit ear-grating with some of its high notes, in my opinion.
Toffee Tor Zone Act 1 (RoyKirbs)
I love this stage. It’s not very challenging, but I don’t care about difficulty or even length (despite what I said about 2-7 minute stages in Crystal Cave’s review), if the stage is a fun time from beginning to end, which Toffee Tor definitely is. There isn’t much to note in particular, since it’s your typical Green Hill-style stage, but one standout aspect is how you handled the Rollout Rocks. I think this is the only time I’ve seen them being used on water to access additional paths, and you also made them completely optional, so if you’d rather ignore them and just run through the stage more traditionally (like me), you can do that. I love that you give the player that option. Giving players choice like that is a major plus in my book. Aside from that, nothing else to say, just (robo) blast through, have a good old-fashioned good time!
Rustic Templar Zone (MK.exe)
This stage is amazing. Varied texturing throughout that doesn’t stray from the theme, clever use of sand mechanics, plenty of secrets to encourage exploration, paths for Amy and Fang are accounted for, and the stage’s length is perfect. Not too short, and doesn’t overstay its welcome. One criticism I have is that towards the end of the stage, there’s a blue spring up to a ledge that only launches you high enough if you hit it with Amy’s hammer. That is fine, and in fact encouraged. However, there’s no tell that it is intended for Amy. I recommend putting spikes around it as an indicator, since Amy can break those. This was the final stage I got to before completing all the stages, and my word, what a finish!
Snowflake Ridge (TrickyTex and Tatsuru)
Before the pack was released, this was the most hotly anticipated stage, and for good reason, being a gameplay conversion based on the PS1 Spyro the Dragon games. And I will say, this stage completely nails what it was going for. The level design, gem collecting mechanics, the usage of Sparx the Dragonfly, functioning exactly as he did in Spyro 2, and Dr. Tapeworm’s original composition all perfectly capture the feeling of playing those three classic games. Not only that, but requiring the player to collect 400 of the 600 gems in the stage to open the door to the goal is a genius move, ensuring the player plays the stage like a Spyro stage and not a Sonic one, while also covering for the fact that this game doesn’t comfortably accommodate a certain money-hungry bear we all know and hate (Looking at you, Moneybags!). However, there are a couple issues. One is the implementation of the Superflame Powerup. Here, all it does is allow you to go into the damaging water (which in itself is another neat callback to the classic Spyro games, especially Spyro 1) and the chimney. This is not intuitive, and can easily confuse players, even those who did play the classic Spyro Games. It really should have been an Invincibility Powerup (which did exist in Spyro 2 and 3, by the way). The other issue is that the stage is unfairly hard, and for one reason: I do not recall any stage in the classic Spyro trilogy where Spyro was constantly heckled by bees. The Bumblebores are best used to encourage players to speed through stages, rather then add challenge to stages where you have to cover a large amount of ground. You really need to rethink your enemy choices on this one.
Wild West Zone (Dead)
Curious case for me on this one, since it shares an acronym with my stage (WWZ). But yours is so much better. A fun jaunt through an Arid Canyon that focuses more on the “Arid” aspect over the “Canyon” one, a distinction that I really do like. My only real gripe with it is that it uses DSZ-style ruins, particularly late in the stage. Unless temple ruins are part of some lesser-known aspect of the actual Wild West that I’m not aware of (I’m not American, so I can’t tell for sure), this completely breaks the theming, which ruins the feeling for me. What’s interesting to me is that I think this is the only stage in the pack that uses minecarts. You’d think with them being new to 2.2, they’d be used a lot more.
Oasis Palace Zone (So2ro)
This stage looks amazing, but that does come at the cost of awkward design choices. One is the fact that your sandfalls are just painted on. Though, I do understand why you did that: you don’t want players breaking segments of the level by jumping up those sandfalls using the quicksand mechanics. But think of how much more fun your stage would be with the added routes that such sandfalls can provide. Clever use of those sandfalls can be quite useful to creating a truly memorable desert stage. This is also another stage that lacks direction. I’m the kind of guy who prefers to just go for it and traverse the stage, and not have to stop and look around trying to find the right way to go, which is made harder by your usage of Arid Canyon Zone whirlwinds, and most of the time, I’m completely wrong, as evidenced by the third already-activated Star Post I come across. This stage is also a bit long for my liking, though it thankfully does end before I get bored.
Overgrown Heights Zone (InferNOr)
This stage is certainly overgrown, not by the foliage, but the rings. There are far too many in the stage. When I first played the stage, I died several times, but I was able to hit the 200 ring mark on every single life due to the sheer number of rings on the main path alone, so my life count just kept climbing. There are several other issues with the stage: sections are too open, usually with only one way forward, usually a red spring. But with how large these rooms are, you can barely notice them. On the subject of springs, some of them are placed at awkward angles, requiring some skilled work with the arrow keys and camera controls, otherwise you are not clearing this stage. The enemy placement needs some serious work, too. In particular, there’s a waterfall climbing section which is made frustratingly hard with the inclusion of a Dragonbomber. Sometimes, a SECOND Dragonbomber will also join the “fun”, which pretty much guarantees being sent back to the last Star Post. Yes, there’s a Star Post at the bottom of the waterfall, but you placed it on the rocks leading out of the water, so nobody is going to see it when they first reach the obstacle. The stage is also too long, and overstays its welcome by at least a few minutes. I recommend splitting this stage into two acts, and making it into a full zone. Aside from these complaints, it is still a pretty fun stage, and definitely a good use of Red Volcano Zone Act 1’s new jungle assets.
Metallic Madness Zone Act 1 Good Future (Kwiin and failur.old)
Here we have the poster boy for unused content breaking the contest rules. Seriously, you really should have double-checked what was actually in your WAD or PK3 before you submitted it. I was really tempted to dock places on my ranking for that, but against my principles, I won’t. But anyway, on to the stage. Well, it’s certainly a pretty stage, which fits with the Sonic CD Good Future the stage is based on. Unfortunately, this design choice also makes the stage too easy, as to keep with how Good Futures appeared in Sonic CD, there are no badniks in the stage. Also, I don’t think you can fall off the stage, as every time I seemingly did, an updraft would keep Sonic aloft for as long as I needed to reach safe ground. These two choices make for very little challenge in the stage, and at some point the stage just felt like mindless running. It can also be confusing as to which way to go to progress with the stage, which seems to be a trend this contest. What this stage excels in however, are its setpieces. Throughout the entire stage are well-constructed setpieces that make this stage one of the best looking stages in the entire pack. Unfortunately, said setpieces don’t contribute much to the gameplay, which is a seriously missed opportunity. It also loses originality points due to being based on a stage from another Sonic game. Definitely a fun stage though, just double check your submissions if you enter OLDCs again.
Crystal Cave Zone (CST1229)
Unimaginative name aside (Seriously, PMD2 and Sonic and the Black Knight also have stages titled “Crystal Cave”), basing a stage on the 16-Bit Sonic 1 Special Stage graphics is a novel concept. Unfortunately the execution needs some serious work. The stage is a bit too cramped, which breaks the flow and makes the Speed Shoes useless. The stage could also do with some extra length, as it ends before it really has a chance to take off. (Kind of like a Sonic Forces stage). Imho, a good stage length is anywhere between 2 and 7 minutes. Also, why is there a Star Post right before the goal? I know Hill Top Zone Act 1 also did that, but in 16-bit Sonic 2, Star Posts also allowed access to the Special Stages. Here, they’re just checkpoints, so chucking one in right at the end seems rather pointless to me. My final criticism is that using the crystal barrier graphics as pegged midtextures throws me off constantly, as I have to keep remembering they’re not actually there from a gameplay perspective. I keep trying to jump over them. And don’t worry, I didn’t knock any points off because of the name. This is the Official Level Design Contest after all, not the Official Level Naming Contest!
Aqua Paradise Zone (Twins’R’Awesome)
This stage worried me. I’m a paranoid guy, and seeing those load times made me want to not play the stage again after my initial clear. Luckily, I heard it was getting fixed in good time, and won’t hold that against you here. Just make sure to convert your PNGs to Doom graphics before submitting next time. Anyway, as for your stage, this is probably my favourite water ruins level I’ve seen for SRB2 so far, which is impressive as I hate water ruins stages. The only gripes I can see with the stage are A: The stage lacks direction, I’ve ended up going backwards along the stage several times, and have even gone onto a route clearly intended for Amy and Metal Sonic from both ends, and B: Too many rings. If you place that many rings into a stage, you make it too easy to gain extra lives from them. I also noticed that the final room of the stage is unnecessarily large, and is next to empty, aside from a landslide of rings and a Score Monitor bonanza behind the goal, which I think is a seriously missed opportunity. However, I really like the level design of this stage’s underwater sections, and I love to just go for casual runs through the stage every so often.
Cluttered Cavern Zone Act 2 (Riolucariolu)
This is a high promise stage that ruins it later on, but nowhere near as bad as Valley Falls in that regard. This time, it’s the abrupt transition from water cavern to a lava stage. The two themes do not work together, and on top of that, using multiple liquid types (standard water and lava in this case) is usually a bad idea. I also get performance issues upon reaching that part of the stage, likely caused by the ridiculous amount of sprite-based fire hazards in that one single room. Also, why the 2.1 Techno Hill Zone Act 1 background? I don’t see any justification for this stage having a factory in the background. There’s also an emblem in the fire section that doesn’t work, and fencing that doesn’t actually block the player. Short and to the point, the fire section of this stage needs to be completely scrapped, and replaced with more water cavern.
Hectic Harbor Zone (ACStriker)
You openly admitted that this stage is a last-minute rush job, and for a last-minute rush job, this stage is surprisingly well made, with a good amount of paths and challenges. However, there are two things about this stage that I absolutely hate: Detons and Emerald Hunting. Detons are a serious annoyance if you’re not careful with their placement, which you clearly weren’t in this case. I also cannot stand stages that hide the Chaos Emeralds in them. If I want to collect the Chaos Emeralds, I want to collect them the traditional way, using Emerald Tokens and the Special Stages, NOT go on a painstaking hunt through a single map in a desperate attempt to pad out the stage time, especially when I have 19 other stages to cover (I don’t really need to play through my own map, do I?). I did encounter the Cyan Chaos Emerald on some of my runs, but I refused to collect it every time, as I am NOT going Emerald Hunting in this stage. If you want to hide something for the player to collect, use emblems instead.
Concordian Coast Zone (Ktoby and Pronicthewedgehog)
This level certainly lives up to its name. It’s over way too quick. Also, the difficulty is rather unbalanced. Most of the stage is really easy, but you have a tricky platforming section over brambles early on, and on the path split, the left path is an easy straight shot to the goal, while the right path has the only death pit in the stage. Really pretty beach level, though.
Heroes Hall (Zaxel)
I’m noticing a trend in this contest. Many of the stages have fantastic visuals, but comparatively bad level design. This stage is no exception. The biggest problem with the stage is the inclusion of button hunts, a mechanic loathed by SRB2 players as far back as the Demo iterations of Castle Eggman Zone, and still not a good design choice for a Sonic stage even now. What really infuriated me was a teleporter to a mechanical section, which is incredibly inconsistent with the stage’s theme, and a frustrating slog through a hedge maze with the player constantly under Robo Hood attack. Even the invincibility section isn’t fun, due to it using Lance-a-Bots, which take 2 hits to destroy. And, of course, the level drags on and on and on, greatly overstaying its welcome. While there are some nice level design choices in this stage, such as the inclusion of a custom hazard (I treat the projectile-firing plants as hazards rather than enemies, since you can’t kill them), the bad design choices outweigh the good ones, and make me not want to play this stage again. Is this stage a reference to something? Because if it is, I don’t get it.
Anteggtica Zone Act 1 (Radicalicious)
The presentation of this stage is amazing, even more so after the issue with its sky being replaced with an unused Metallic Madness graphic was fixed. In particular, the curved slope right before the goal is my personal favourite design choice in the stage. Unfortunately, the gameplay of the stage leaves a lot to be desired. There’s barely any challenge in the stage, you just blaze through it. Items are almost non-existent, with me only being able to find two shields, four ring boxes and an extra life. Even worse, you’re mixing the Pity Shield with other shield types, which is a really bad call as there is no reason to take the Pity Shield over a different shield, especially when the Pity Shield is placed AFTER the Elemental one, and those four ring boxes are the ONLY rings in the entire stage, giving you the Perfect Bonus at a rather sad 40 rings. Also, that music is really ear grating, definitely swap it out for something else. Overall, this stage has a lot of potential, but you need to work really hard on its design, otherwise it’s going to continue falling short in so many areas.
Cyan Heights Zone (PencilVoid)
Um…where’s the stage? All I see is a goalpost. But anyway, sarcasm aside, this stage is way too short. Being able to clock the stage in under 1 minute every time is rather unacceptable except for very rare exceptions. On top of that, you need to work on your spatial awareness, as the stage is so cramped, you barely give the player any space to move about. The only positive I see for this level is that you based it on Sky High Zone from 8-bit Sonic 2, which doesn’t get much attention these days. (Though, that might be because everyone hated it because of the hang glider.)
Shadow of Atlantis Zone (akirahedgehog)
This stage makes me sad. Presentation-wise, you nailed the feeling of exploring the famous sunken city this stage is named after perfectly. The skybox in particular impressed me a lot. Unfortunately, the level design is terrible in comparison. The stage primarily revolves around a single underwater section that you traverse multiple times to reach the goal. Problem is, these sections are far too open and lack any direction, especially when you can barely see or find air bubbles to keep yourself alive. It’s similar to Valley Falls’ underwater maze problem, only not as extreme. What is unacceptable however, is the act of falling back down into earlier sections of the stage, especially when it takes you back to BEFORE your last checkpoint, and on top of that, there’s the aforementioned underwater timer. Also, was that wall made of Columns jewels really necessary? Great concept and visual execution, horrible gameplay execution.
Magma Falls Zone (RadicalChaos_6922)
I am seriously disappointed in this stage. One of my biggest complaints with the new Red Volcano Zone Act 1 is that it doesn’t utilise its new jungle aspects to their full potential, so when I saw the visuals for this stage, I was hoping this would satisfy that. It did not. Why are the ledges, steps, etc. so jagged? That’s a lot of unnecessary linedefs that put unnecessary load on SRB2. Your implementation of the Rollout Rocks is sloppy, having the player jump over lava humps and land back on the rock, which is borderline impossible to do. It’s better to A: Take the lower path early on instead of the upper path, B: Take a hit and just rush through the final section with your invincibility frames, and C: Play as Fang, who can just harmlessly tail bounce over the lava. At one point, you have a door, and a sector that opens it. Thing is, there is NOTHING that clues the player in that this sector opens the door, as there’s no button or other feedback, and the door cannot be seen from the sector in question. The biggest problem? NO CHECKPOINTS. No matter where you are, one death and you’re back at the start. That is appalling in any Single Player stage, even more so in a stage as frustrating as this one. Everything else about the stage just isn’t memorable. This needs to be either reworked extensively or scrapped.
Myriad Memories (ManimiFire)
Not fun. Four creative, but equally boring challenges that you can do in any order. But some of them are standouts, and not in a good way. One is the gargoyle pushing. I never liked the gargoyle pushing in older versions of Deep Sea Zone, and you didn’t handle it any better. In fact, I think this is worse than the old Deep Sea Zone puzzles, as you have the player jump through one gargoyle door to open up a hidden passage to a second gargoyle used to open the second gargoyle door, but you can barely see that passage, which easily leads to players getting stuck. Then you have the player push three gargoyles to open a third door, one of which requires a memory puzzle, which has no place in a Sonic game, and can easily be overcome by just taking the hits that come with wrong answers (three wrong answers and you have the right one), and another that requires using a pulley that acts completely differently to all the other pulleys in the stage. Speaking of pulleys, the other major problem is in the climbing section that uses those pulleys. There’s a mandatory set of springs you need to bounce on to progress, but the room is so dark, you can barely see them. I will ONLY EVER play SRB2 in Software Mode, and I couldn’t progress until someone pointed those springs out, and I turned the brightness up to the maximum setting. A stage must be optimised for both renderers if you want to be successful in SRB2 level design, and if a stage’s brightness ever goes below 180, you need to fix that. Yeah, I probably won’t be playing this stage ever again after the contest is over.
Valley Falls Zone (Hamsandwich)
Good lord, this is just sad. The stage starts out with so much promise, then completely incinerates said promise with an underwater maze. Underwater mazes are one of the worst level design choices you can pull off in SRB2. It wasn’t fun in Sonic’s Nightmare, and it isn’t fun here. Then later, you have two boring 2D sections with broken transitions, often causing you to be on the wrong plane to grab rings, or worse, air bubbles. The 2D sections are also home to some very cheap death pits which aggravated me a lot. I’m sorry, but this stage just isn’t fun.
Hypertower Zone (WasifBoomz)
No. Just no. There’s so much wrong with this stage that it isn’t even funny. Right off the bat, the player’s ears are butchered by the horrible MIDI you picked out. The platforming section that kicks the stage off lacks direction, the platforms are too small, and there’s a nonsensical zoom tube reminiscent of the one in Garanz Site Act 16 from SUGOI. Just like Valley Falls, you have 3D/2D transitions that are completely broken, though this time they don’t send you on the wrong plane, at least, and your 2D section is even more pointless and boring. Then there’s wacky, random teleports. You go into a small, wooden hallway, and you’re teleported to another one that leads into the next section. Thing is, the teleport spits you out facing the wrong direction, so all you see when you come out is a wooden wall. Then, we have a platforming section over a death pit, with barely any ground to stand on, a non-intuitive jump round a glass barrier, and you put Golden Speed Shoes in this, which is most likely going to get the player killed. Then one final platforming section that STILL lacks direction, and after another wacky, random teleport (What, stitching two sectors together isn’t good enough for you?), the stage ends. If all that wasn’t bad enough, the stage is crammed with collapsing platforms, some of which have item monitors on them, and NONE of these collapsing platforms have any indication that they will collapse, which is a massive negative mark in my eyes.
Well, there’s no point reviewing my own stage, is there? Instead, how about a random piece of trivia from the stage’s development? The stage’s music track comes from the stage Amp Plains in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky. However, I was originally going to use the remix that Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon used for its Electric Wasteland stage. The Super version did fit within the 3MB limit, but I swapped it out for the Explorers original late in development to get the file size down even further, as well as to better accommodate the Far Amp Plains theme should I make an Act 2, as Super doesn’t have a Far Amp Plains remix. The Super version of the track can also be a bit ear-grating with some of its high notes, in my opinion.
Toffee Tor Zone Act 1 (RoyKirbs)
I love this stage. It’s not very challenging, but I don’t care about difficulty or even length (despite what I said about 2-7 minute stages in Crystal Cave’s review), if the stage is a fun time from beginning to end, which Toffee Tor definitely is. There isn’t much to note in particular, since it’s your typical Green Hill-style stage, but one standout aspect is how you handled the Rollout Rocks. I think this is the only time I’ve seen them being used on water to access additional paths, and you also made them completely optional, so if you’d rather ignore them and just run through the stage more traditionally (like me), you can do that. I love that you give the player that option. Giving players choice like that is a major plus in my book. Aside from that, nothing else to say, just (robo) blast through, have a good old-fashioned good time!
Rustic Templar Zone (MK.exe)
This stage is amazing. Varied texturing throughout that doesn’t stray from the theme, clever use of sand mechanics, plenty of secrets to encourage exploration, paths for Amy and Fang are accounted for, and the stage’s length is perfect. Not too short, and doesn’t overstay its welcome. One criticism I have is that towards the end of the stage, there’s a blue spring up to a ledge that only launches you high enough if you hit it with Amy’s hammer. That is fine, and in fact encouraged. However, there’s no tell that it is intended for Amy. I recommend putting spikes around it as an indicator, since Amy can break those. This was the final stage I got to before completing all the stages, and my word, what a finish!
Snowflake Ridge (TrickyTex and Tatsuru)
Before the pack was released, this was the most hotly anticipated stage, and for good reason, being a gameplay conversion based on the PS1 Spyro the Dragon games. And I will say, this stage completely nails what it was going for. The level design, gem collecting mechanics, the usage of Sparx the Dragonfly, functioning exactly as he did in Spyro 2, and Dr. Tapeworm’s original composition all perfectly capture the feeling of playing those three classic games. Not only that, but requiring the player to collect 400 of the 600 gems in the stage to open the door to the goal is a genius move, ensuring the player plays the stage like a Spyro stage and not a Sonic one, while also covering for the fact that this game doesn’t comfortably accommodate a certain money-hungry bear we all know and hate (Looking at you, Moneybags!). However, there are a couple issues. One is the implementation of the Superflame Powerup. Here, all it does is allow you to go into the damaging water (which in itself is another neat callback to the classic Spyro games, especially Spyro 1) and the chimney. This is not intuitive, and can easily confuse players, even those who did play the classic Spyro Games. It really should have been an Invincibility Powerup (which did exist in Spyro 2 and 3, by the way). The other issue is that the stage is unfairly hard, and for one reason: I do not recall any stage in the classic Spyro trilogy where Spyro was constantly heckled by bees. The Bumblebores are best used to encourage players to speed through stages, rather then add challenge to stages where you have to cover a large amount of ground. You really need to rethink your enemy choices on this one.
Wild West Zone (Dead)
Curious case for me on this one, since it shares an acronym with my stage (WWZ). But yours is so much better. A fun jaunt through an Arid Canyon that focuses more on the “Arid” aspect over the “Canyon” one, a distinction that I really do like. My only real gripe with it is that it uses DSZ-style ruins, particularly late in the stage. Unless temple ruins are part of some lesser-known aspect of the actual Wild West that I’m not aware of (I’m not American, so I can’t tell for sure), this completely breaks the theming, which ruins the feeling for me. What’s interesting to me is that I think this is the only stage in the pack that uses minecarts. You’d think with them being new to 2.2, they’d be used a lot more.
Oasis Palace Zone (So2ro)
This stage looks amazing, but that does come at the cost of awkward design choices. One is the fact that your sandfalls are just painted on. Though, I do understand why you did that: you don’t want players breaking segments of the level by jumping up those sandfalls using the quicksand mechanics. But think of how much more fun your stage would be with the added routes that such sandfalls can provide. Clever use of those sandfalls can be quite useful to creating a truly memorable desert stage. This is also another stage that lacks direction. I’m the kind of guy who prefers to just go for it and traverse the stage, and not have to stop and look around trying to find the right way to go, which is made harder by your usage of Arid Canyon Zone whirlwinds, and most of the time, I’m completely wrong, as evidenced by the third already-activated Star Post I come across. This stage is also a bit long for my liking, though it thankfully does end before I get bored.
Overgrown Heights Zone (InferNOr)
This stage is certainly overgrown, not by the foliage, but the rings. There are far too many in the stage. When I first played the stage, I died several times, but I was able to hit the 200 ring mark on every single life due to the sheer number of rings on the main path alone, so my life count just kept climbing. There are several other issues with the stage: sections are too open, usually with only one way forward, usually a red spring. But with how large these rooms are, you can barely notice them. On the subject of springs, some of them are placed at awkward angles, requiring some skilled work with the arrow keys and camera controls, otherwise you are not clearing this stage. The enemy placement needs some serious work, too. In particular, there’s a waterfall climbing section which is made frustratingly hard with the inclusion of a Dragonbomber. Sometimes, a SECOND Dragonbomber will also join the “fun”, which pretty much guarantees being sent back to the last Star Post. Yes, there’s a Star Post at the bottom of the waterfall, but you placed it on the rocks leading out of the water, so nobody is going to see it when they first reach the obstacle. The stage is also too long, and overstays its welcome by at least a few minutes. I recommend splitting this stage into two acts, and making it into a full zone. Aside from these complaints, it is still a pretty fun stage, and definitely a good use of Red Volcano Zone Act 1’s new jungle assets.
Metallic Madness Zone Act 1 Good Future (Kwiin and failur.old)
Here we have the poster boy for unused content breaking the contest rules. Seriously, you really should have double-checked what was actually in your WAD or PK3 before you submitted it. I was really tempted to dock places on my ranking for that, but against my principles, I won’t. But anyway, on to the stage. Well, it’s certainly a pretty stage, which fits with the Sonic CD Good Future the stage is based on. Unfortunately, this design choice also makes the stage too easy, as to keep with how Good Futures appeared in Sonic CD, there are no badniks in the stage. Also, I don’t think you can fall off the stage, as every time I seemingly did, an updraft would keep Sonic aloft for as long as I needed to reach safe ground. These two choices make for very little challenge in the stage, and at some point the stage just felt like mindless running. It can also be confusing as to which way to go to progress with the stage, which seems to be a trend this contest. What this stage excels in however, are its setpieces. Throughout the entire stage are well-constructed setpieces that make this stage one of the best looking stages in the entire pack. Unfortunately, said setpieces don’t contribute much to the gameplay, which is a seriously missed opportunity. It also loses originality points due to being based on a stage from another Sonic game. Definitely a fun stage though, just double check your submissions if you enter OLDCs again.
Crystal Cave Zone (CST1229)
Unimaginative name aside (Seriously, PMD2 and Sonic and the Black Knight also have stages titled “Crystal Cave”), basing a stage on the 16-Bit Sonic 1 Special Stage graphics is a novel concept. Unfortunately the execution needs some serious work. The stage is a bit too cramped, which breaks the flow and makes the Speed Shoes useless. The stage could also do with some extra length, as it ends before it really has a chance to take off. (Kind of like a Sonic Forces stage). Imho, a good stage length is anywhere between 2 and 7 minutes. Also, why is there a Star Post right before the goal? I know Hill Top Zone Act 1 also did that, but in 16-bit Sonic 2, Star Posts also allowed access to the Special Stages. Here, they’re just checkpoints, so chucking one in right at the end seems rather pointless to me. My final criticism is that using the crystal barrier graphics as pegged midtextures throws me off constantly, as I have to keep remembering they’re not actually there from a gameplay perspective. I keep trying to jump over them. And don’t worry, I didn’t knock any points off because of the name. This is the Official Level Design Contest after all, not the Official Level Naming Contest!
Aqua Paradise Zone (Twins’R’Awesome)
This stage worried me. I’m a paranoid guy, and seeing those load times made me want to not play the stage again after my initial clear. Luckily, I heard it was getting fixed in good time, and won’t hold that against you here. Just make sure to convert your PNGs to Doom graphics before submitting next time. Anyway, as for your stage, this is probably my favourite water ruins level I’ve seen for SRB2 so far, which is impressive as I hate water ruins stages. The only gripes I can see with the stage are A: The stage lacks direction, I’ve ended up going backwards along the stage several times, and have even gone onto a route clearly intended for Amy and Metal Sonic from both ends, and B: Too many rings. If you place that many rings into a stage, you make it too easy to gain extra lives from them. I also noticed that the final room of the stage is unnecessarily large, and is next to empty, aside from a landslide of rings and a Score Monitor bonanza behind the goal, which I think is a seriously missed opportunity. However, I really like the level design of this stage’s underwater sections, and I love to just go for casual runs through the stage every so often.
Cluttered Cavern Zone Act 2 (Riolucariolu)
This is a high promise stage that ruins it later on, but nowhere near as bad as Valley Falls in that regard. This time, it’s the abrupt transition from water cavern to a lava stage. The two themes do not work together, and on top of that, using multiple liquid types (standard water and lava in this case) is usually a bad idea. I also get performance issues upon reaching that part of the stage, likely caused by the ridiculous amount of sprite-based fire hazards in that one single room. Also, why the 2.1 Techno Hill Zone Act 1 background? I don’t see any justification for this stage having a factory in the background. There’s also an emblem in the fire section that doesn’t work, and fencing that doesn’t actually block the player. Short and to the point, the fire section of this stage needs to be completely scrapped, and replaced with more water cavern.
Hectic Harbor Zone (ACStriker)
You openly admitted that this stage is a last-minute rush job, and for a last-minute rush job, this stage is surprisingly well made, with a good amount of paths and challenges. However, there are two things about this stage that I absolutely hate: Detons and Emerald Hunting. Detons are a serious annoyance if you’re not careful with their placement, which you clearly weren’t in this case. I also cannot stand stages that hide the Chaos Emeralds in them. If I want to collect the Chaos Emeralds, I want to collect them the traditional way, using Emerald Tokens and the Special Stages, NOT go on a painstaking hunt through a single map in a desperate attempt to pad out the stage time, especially when I have 19 other stages to cover (I don’t really need to play through my own map, do I?). I did encounter the Cyan Chaos Emerald on some of my runs, but I refused to collect it every time, as I am NOT going Emerald Hunting in this stage. If you want to hide something for the player to collect, use emblems instead.
Concordian Coast Zone (Ktoby and Pronicthewedgehog)
This level certainly lives up to its name. It’s over way too quick. Also, the difficulty is rather unbalanced. Most of the stage is really easy, but you have a tricky platforming section over brambles early on, and on the path split, the left path is an easy straight shot to the goal, while the right path has the only death pit in the stage. Really pretty beach level, though.
Heroes Hall (Zaxel)
I’m noticing a trend in this contest. Many of the stages have fantastic visuals, but comparatively bad level design. This stage is no exception. The biggest problem with the stage is the inclusion of button hunts, a mechanic loathed by SRB2 players as far back as the Demo iterations of Castle Eggman Zone, and still not a good design choice for a Sonic stage even now. What really infuriated me was a teleporter to a mechanical section, which is incredibly inconsistent with the stage’s theme, and a frustrating slog through a hedge maze with the player constantly under Robo Hood attack. Even the invincibility section isn’t fun, due to it using Lance-a-Bots, which take 2 hits to destroy. And, of course, the level drags on and on and on, greatly overstaying its welcome. While there are some nice level design choices in this stage, such as the inclusion of a custom hazard (I treat the projectile-firing plants as hazards rather than enemies, since you can’t kill them), the bad design choices outweigh the good ones, and make me not want to play this stage again. Is this stage a reference to something? Because if it is, I don’t get it.
Anteggtica Zone Act 1 (Radicalicious)
The presentation of this stage is amazing, even more so after the issue with its sky being replaced with an unused Metallic Madness graphic was fixed. In particular, the curved slope right before the goal is my personal favourite design choice in the stage. Unfortunately, the gameplay of the stage leaves a lot to be desired. There’s barely any challenge in the stage, you just blaze through it. Items are almost non-existent, with me only being able to find two shields, four ring boxes and an extra life. Even worse, you’re mixing the Pity Shield with other shield types, which is a really bad call as there is no reason to take the Pity Shield over a different shield, especially when the Pity Shield is placed AFTER the Elemental one, and those four ring boxes are the ONLY rings in the entire stage, giving you the Perfect Bonus at a rather sad 40 rings. Also, that music is really ear grating, definitely swap it out for something else. Overall, this stage has a lot of potential, but you need to work really hard on its design, otherwise it’s going to continue falling short in so many areas.
Cyan Heights Zone (PencilVoid)
Um…where’s the stage? All I see is a goalpost. But anyway, sarcasm aside, this stage is way too short. Being able to clock the stage in under 1 minute every time is rather unacceptable except for very rare exceptions. On top of that, you need to work on your spatial awareness, as the stage is so cramped, you barely give the player any space to move about. The only positive I see for this level is that you based it on Sky High Zone from 8-bit Sonic 2, which doesn’t get much attention these days. (Though, that might be because everyone hated it because of the hang glider.)
Shadow of Atlantis Zone (akirahedgehog)
This stage makes me sad. Presentation-wise, you nailed the feeling of exploring the famous sunken city this stage is named after perfectly. The skybox in particular impressed me a lot. Unfortunately, the level design is terrible in comparison. The stage primarily revolves around a single underwater section that you traverse multiple times to reach the goal. Problem is, these sections are far too open and lack any direction, especially when you can barely see or find air bubbles to keep yourself alive. It’s similar to Valley Falls’ underwater maze problem, only not as extreme. What is unacceptable however, is the act of falling back down into earlier sections of the stage, especially when it takes you back to BEFORE your last checkpoint, and on top of that, there’s the aforementioned underwater timer. Also, was that wall made of Columns jewels really necessary? Great concept and visual execution, horrible gameplay execution.
Magma Falls Zone (RadicalChaos_6922)
I am seriously disappointed in this stage. One of my biggest complaints with the new Red Volcano Zone Act 1 is that it doesn’t utilise its new jungle aspects to their full potential, so when I saw the visuals for this stage, I was hoping this would satisfy that. It did not. Why are the ledges, steps, etc. so jagged? That’s a lot of unnecessary linedefs that put unnecessary load on SRB2. Your implementation of the Rollout Rocks is sloppy, having the player jump over lava humps and land back on the rock, which is borderline impossible to do. It’s better to A: Take the lower path early on instead of the upper path, B: Take a hit and just rush through the final section with your invincibility frames, and C: Play as Fang, who can just harmlessly tail bounce over the lava. At one point, you have a door, and a sector that opens it. Thing is, there is NOTHING that clues the player in that this sector opens the door, as there’s no button or other feedback, and the door cannot be seen from the sector in question. The biggest problem? NO CHECKPOINTS. No matter where you are, one death and you’re back at the start. That is appalling in any Single Player stage, even more so in a stage as frustrating as this one. Everything else about the stage just isn’t memorable. This needs to be either reworked extensively or scrapped.
Myriad Memories (ManimiFire)
Not fun. Four creative, but equally boring challenges that you can do in any order. But some of them are standouts, and not in a good way. One is the gargoyle pushing. I never liked the gargoyle pushing in older versions of Deep Sea Zone, and you didn’t handle it any better. In fact, I think this is worse than the old Deep Sea Zone puzzles, as you have the player jump through one gargoyle door to open up a hidden passage to a second gargoyle used to open the second gargoyle door, but you can barely see that passage, which easily leads to players getting stuck. Then you have the player push three gargoyles to open a third door, one of which requires a memory puzzle, which has no place in a Sonic game, and can easily be overcome by just taking the hits that come with wrong answers (three wrong answers and you have the right one), and another that requires using a pulley that acts completely differently to all the other pulleys in the stage. Speaking of pulleys, the other major problem is in the climbing section that uses those pulleys. There’s a mandatory set of springs you need to bounce on to progress, but the room is so dark, you can barely see them. I will ONLY EVER play SRB2 in Software Mode, and I couldn’t progress until someone pointed those springs out, and I turned the brightness up to the maximum setting. A stage must be optimised for both renderers if you want to be successful in SRB2 level design, and if a stage’s brightness ever goes below 180, you need to fix that. Yeah, I probably won’t be playing this stage ever again after the contest is over.
Valley Falls Zone (Hamsandwich)
Good lord, this is just sad. The stage starts out with so much promise, then completely incinerates said promise with an underwater maze. Underwater mazes are one of the worst level design choices you can pull off in SRB2. It wasn’t fun in Sonic’s Nightmare, and it isn’t fun here. Then later, you have two boring 2D sections with broken transitions, often causing you to be on the wrong plane to grab rings, or worse, air bubbles. The 2D sections are also home to some very cheap death pits which aggravated me a lot. I’m sorry, but this stage just isn’t fun.
Hypertower Zone (WasifBoomz)
No. Just no. There’s so much wrong with this stage that it isn’t even funny. Right off the bat, the player’s ears are butchered by the horrible MIDI you picked out. The platforming section that kicks the stage off lacks direction, the platforms are too small, and there’s a nonsensical zoom tube reminiscent of the one in Garanz Site Act 16 from SUGOI. Just like Valley Falls, you have 3D/2D transitions that are completely broken, though this time they don’t send you on the wrong plane, at least, and your 2D section is even more pointless and boring. Then there’s wacky, random teleports. You go into a small, wooden hallway, and you’re teleported to another one that leads into the next section. Thing is, the teleport spits you out facing the wrong direction, so all you see when you come out is a wooden wall. Then, we have a platforming section over a death pit, with barely any ground to stand on, a non-intuitive jump round a glass barrier, and you put Golden Speed Shoes in this, which is most likely going to get the player killed. Then one final platforming section that STILL lacks direction, and after another wacky, random teleport (What, stitching two sectors together isn’t good enough for you?), the stage ends. If all that wasn’t bad enough, the stage is crammed with collapsing platforms, some of which have item monitors on them, and NONE of these collapsing platforms have any indication that they will collapse, which is a massive negative mark in my eyes.
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