What the hell do we need to do? Put a large flashing Vegas-Style arrow towards the starpost and series of rings?
Well, they do have a point, it is pretty easy to get confused in Greenflower...
I don't know how popular this idea is, but have you ever considered adding an optional tutorial level to SRB2? I bring this up because if I remember, my first time playing the game, I had a hard time figuring out my control and I didn't know ESC = pause, pretty sad, isn't it?
The tutorial would be optional, I guess whenever you start a new game and pick your character something could pop up asking you if you'd like to do a tutorial, and the tutorial would vary depending on your character.
I'm not saying design a different level for each character, but is it at all difficult to make different characters spawn in different areas of a level? I really don't know, I'm not a programmer, but maybe this would be your piss-easy stage for new players, and it could give you some excuse to do something with the first too levels, maybe not much, but maybe do something with the paths, I really do think some sections of the levels are a bit expansive, I mean, I like the open space, honestly, but when I look at it it really does seem a bit empty, and like there's paths in oddly placed areas, but to be honest, these things don't bother me.
I just suggested a tutorial level because Greenflower zone doesn't tell you what your controls are, and you need to read the manual to find out about shields which is all fine and good but how many people will do that?
I might be underestimating people here, but I only read the manual because (prepare for a really stupid comment) the pictures attracted me to it. (Gotta love STJ's artists.)
Maybe the level wouldn't tell you what all the shields do but just tell you basic stuff like the 1ups give you extra lives and the speed boots make you go faster and the stars make you invincible, and maybe say something like "There are other types of shields, so keep an eye out to see their different abilities." and for people who like spoilers there's the manual...
Is this helpful?
Oh, come on, Coop is just lame. It may detract from the challenge, but typically that means that the unskilled n00bs the the server will just end up getting warped to the next level without pulling their weight. I can't honestly see what's fun about that, seeing as many of those players will just mill around near the beginning of the level.
The only potential benefit to Coop over Single Player is role playing, and in all honesty, I can see much better role playing opportunities in Match or CTF. Case in point, back in the 1.09.4 days, I once played an awesome Match server in which we had added in a bunch of Mario WADs plus the Big Boo's Haunt level. I played as Bowser, and the other two people on the server were Mario and Luigi. We were role playing a typical interaction between the three characters, and I was stomping around the mansion seeking out the Mario Bros., as they shouted out their positions to each other. I think it went on in this vain for over an hour. It was awesome, and it would never have worked in Coop.
My basic opinion? Coop is at best a pointless festival of RPing, and at worst a mind-numbing, useless chance for n00bs to hitch a ride and think they're getting something cool out of it when they're really not. No, the only reason I ever log on to a Coop server is if it advertises a WAD I don't have, and I can download it off the server. In those cases, I get the heck out of there once the WAD is mine.
I have more of a problem with noobs that rush through the friggin level and don't let anybody else HAVE ANY FUN!
Honestly I think that match idea sounds fine if you're playing with friends, which I'm usually not, all I ever encounter are idiots and jerks in match and CTF that only want to stonp on EVERYONE ELSE and win at any cost and they never play fair, all my team ever does in CTF is turn against me because CTF is filled with retards that obviously don't care about other people's feelings or if someone else is having fun or not and they NEED to be kicked but nobody ever kicks them and I'm SICK of it! It's always the same crap with match, I find it amazing ANYONE who plays Match has the intellect to RP! It just seems like the same idiots that would be attracted to one of those stupid FOS games where everyone's in it to win it and they'll cap their own officers just to get a rank.
Co-op was my favorite aspect of STH3, back when I HAD someone IRL to play with, now I don't, so I get it off the internet, on a game that's made more awesome to me because it does something my SMC discs can never do for me now, and that's find me someone to play Sonic with.
I don't care if I did Angel Island Zone ten thousand times, it's always better with someone else.
There, that's my rant. >_>
Co-op isn't an RP fest, I can never find anyone on this game who wants to RP anyway, if I could, great, that would be awesome, because truth to tell, I've seen many WADs that would go great with RP, but I never ask anyone, especially since I thought RP wasn't even allowed on SRB2.