Woodland Caper Zone (scr_WoodlandCaper.wad)

[Puppyfaic]

It all started when I thought: SRB2 lacks 2D levels. Let's make one!
...
So I did. I tried to emulate SRB1 Remake's visual style, as it has a certain charm to it that I just really like.

I've been working on this thing for a long time. Level design isn't my forte and with all the mouse problems I've been having, working on this thing has been a pain. I doubt all my effort will show as the map isn't even very long(Can be speedran in sub-20 seconds), but when I get a new mouse, I do plan on making act 2. I already have ideas for it, I just need the patience and equipment to actually make it.

With that said, here's Woodland Caper Zone! It contains custom music--in a separate wad of course--and currently 10 emblems for you to obtain.

Spoiler: Character modifications

Sonic: Slower, has no ability, faster spindash than Tails and Knuckles
Tails: Slower, jumps higher, has no spindash or spinjump, has slowfall ability
Knuckles: Slower, jumps slightly higher but still lower than Sonic, has no ability

Spoiler: Update! 5-4-14

Removed SlowSonic skin.
Used Lua to modify each of the default skins.
Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles are all choosable.

Spoiler: Update! 4-14-14

Changes to Sea Egg:
-Fires only 1 missile instead of 4
-Moves much faster
-Clones no longer spawn during pinch phase
WCZ3 Time Emblem is now 35 seconds instead of 1 minute.
Updated S_SKIN
Adjustment to HUD

 

[Prime 2.0]

Sorry for the delay, and welcome to releases!

And wow am I surprised nobody's done that with 2D mode before, but it works absolutely great. You should probably up his movement speed so there's less waiting, though.

 

[Puppyfaic]

By his, I'm assuming you mean the boss's? I also felt he moved a bit slow when not in pinch phase. If I knew how to SOC I'd definitely edit a few things about him.

 

[Daywalker]

The level itself is ridiculously short as you pointed out, but it is off to a solid start as far as level design. The texture choices work so far. The only thing on the visual side that I can think of that could use some more are the trees. Adding tree leaves to them so that not only the background looks less empty but so that they could add to the level as far as options you can take for pathways. If you are going to add on more to the first act I suggest considering adding an upper route if and whenever you plan on extending the stage.

The boss was a really neat idea. Surprisingly the Sea Egg works really well as a 2D boss, it reminds me a bit of Sonic 3's first boss. A suggestion for aesthetic and gameplay purposes would be to have trees thrown into the mix to kind of cover where the Sea Egg flies without completely covering it.

 

[Lat']

I tested the levels:

WCZ1:

A decent start you got there, the only problem is that the levels looks REALLY empty.
You could make kinds of holes in the wall in the tunnel near to the end and also add some flowers ect.
Also I didn't liked how you finished the level, place springs to reach the goal...

WCZ3: Daywalker said most of what I would myself say:
But instead of adding trees, I suggest you a translucent waterfall with a semi-opaque colormap inside of it, really like Sonic 3.
I also suggest you to remove the pinch phase because when the boss gets cloned, it's hard to avoid 3 tons of missiles coming for your face, and also we can't hit the original Eggman because the clones block the way.

EDIT:

By his, I'm assuming you mean the boss's? I also felt he moved a bit slow when not in pinch phase. If I knew how to SOC I'd definitely edit a few things about him.

If you want I can help you for the SOCs tough.

 

[SeventhSentinel]

I seem to have run into a bug.

Other than that, I like what you've started here.

 

[FieryExplosion]

Stage was a bit too short for my tastes, but I like how 2D mode is finally seeming to get along. Also, the fact that Sonic couldn't actually thok took me by surprise. The boss was a nice 2D version of the Sea Egg. Okay job, I guess.

 

[Puppyfaic]

A suggestion for aesthetic and gameplay purposes would be to have trees thrown into the mix to kind of cover where the Sea Egg flies without completely covering it.

WCZ3: Daywalker said most of what I would myself say:
But instead of adding trees, I suggest you a translucent waterfall with a semi-opaque colormap inside of it, really like Sonic 3.

Actually, the arena I have now is just a placeholder to get the boss working. I plan on completely redoing the fight to take place among treetops.

 

[Puppyfaic]

Update! Changes to WCZ3 and the S_SKIN in this version. See first post for the changelog.

 

[Daywalker]

Neato, I am glad to hear that the boss arena will be updated.

At first I thought the boss would be less interesting with just being able to shoot one bullet this time around, but you have made the edit work well; I like how the Sea Egg alternates between going fast and slow. Your Sea Egg works really well as a 2D boss.

 

[Sapheros]

Neato, I am glad to hear that the boss arena will be updated.

At first I thought the boss would be less interesting with just being able to shoot one bullet this time around, but you have made the edit work well; I like how the Sea Egg alternates between going fast and slow. Your Sea Egg works really well as a 2D boss.

Yeah, I'd like to see how far this could go, because we could be having our first Angel Island Boss Fight thanks to Lua.

 

[Lat']

Yeah, I'd like to see how far this could go, because we could be having our first Angel Island Boss Fight thanks to Lua.

Nope it's not Lua, I just take 10 minutes of my day to modify the Sea Egg SOC. Lua isn't needed for this kind of thing.

 

[Puppyfaic]

Neato, I am glad to hear that the boss arena will be updated.

At first I thought the boss would be less interesting with just being able to shoot one bullet this time around, but you have made the edit work well; I like how the Sea Egg alternates between going fast and slow. Your Sea Egg works really well as a 2D boss.

Fun fact: He was supposed to fire 3 missiles in rapid succession during pinch but FC Lat couldn't figure it out. He made all the changes to the boss.

 

[Lat']

Fun fact: He was supposed to fire 3 missiles in rapid succession during pinch but FC Lat couldn't figure it out. He made all the changes to the boss.

Tough it was possible to do this kind of thing in 2.0.x but since the boss just spawns clones of himself and use the normal attack, it's unchangeable. There is just an unused part in the code ( BossFire 1, 2 and 3 ) which were supposed to be used for firing 3 missiles with an interval of 11 tics.

EDIT: Also, since the Sea Egg is the only boss which can use waypoints I can't make a custom boss since it will have to work as the Sea Egg works, that means that it would also try to spawn clones.

 

[Ors]

I liked this pack. It was a bit too easy but still fun.

WCZ1: This was quite short but one of the emblems was hidden well. The time challenge was ok too. I think the score challenge should be a bit more difficult. You'll get it when your time is good enough.
Rings: 46
Score: 154600
Time: 0:16:62

WCZ3: Not very challenging but still goot for the first act boss.

 

[clairebun]

That last emblem was pretty obnoxious. There's no way to know how much distance you need to land on the crawla, and if you use the armageddon shield to destroy the block, you destroy the crawla. The former wouldn't even be much of a problem except you have to restart the level if you want to try again.

The slow Sonic and the boss were pretty good ideas though. I think you could expand this into something interesting.

 

[Puppyfaic]

That last emblem was pretty obnoxious. There's no way to know how much distance you need to land on the crawla, and if you use the armageddon shield to destroy the block, you destroy the crawla. The former wouldn't even be much of a problem except you have to restart the level if you want to try again.

The slow Sonic and the boss were pretty good ideas though. I think you could expand this into something interesting.

Before I changed the skin again you were originally able to just spindash jump to the emblem. I removed that option as it seemed too easy, even for a first level.

Rest assured, this is only a preview of what's to come. I have more ideas in mind for a full 2D campaign.

EDIT: Oh and thanks for reminding me-- I meant to include a starpost before the emblem that troubled you. I'll get around to that.

 

[clairebun]

Nevermind a starpost; a spring would be just dandy.

 

[Lat']

Before I changed the skin again you were originally able to just spindash jump to the emblem. I removed that option as it seemed too easy, even for a first level.

Rest assured, this is only a preview of what's to come. I have more ideas in mind for a full 2D campaign.

EDIT: Oh and thanks for reminding me-- I meant to include a starpost before the emblem that troubled you. I'll get around to that.

A 2D campaign? Good idea, the only thing I do not want to see is the awful level design of SRB1...

 

[TheDoctor]

I thought this was quite short, but fun indeed. For the boss, it reminded me of the Sonic 3 Angel island boss, simply add a waterfall, make it shoot fireballs and done!

But this was a good level in my opinion.