1018peter:
with The Sinking Sand TowerFun –
4.75/10. I…have to say, I wasn’t completely impressed with this. Well, first things first, the jumps made the level beyond annoying. In a level like this where speed is all that counts (and a bit of accuracy I guess), you’ve got to start thinking as the player. Are you going to want to do triple jumps while your block is sinking? No, and the thing is, the majority of these first jumps are triple jumps. This automatically means you’re spending longer than you should be on these first blocks, and while I think you got the distances between them hitting the ground well, I think you need to actually slow the blocks themselves down a bit. Some parts I found impossible to get past (see Other), and the beginning is pretty tough. On the first playthrough, you end up dying and reloading the level almost immediately and then having to prepare yourself for that first double jump, which I didn’t really like. I guess I could say I liked that the difficulty started to ease around halfway through, and I hate to be this harsh…but I have to be honest, and I just did not enjoy this very much at all. We were saying on the 26th LDC topic that too much difficulty chokes the level, and this is an unfortunate example of it.
Graphics –
3.5/5. The graphics were around normal tbh, they weren’t spectacular, as they were just block towers. The ones around the side looked slightly messy at times, but I guess the ones falling down the middle were neatly joined together so that’s a bonus. Overall it was just above average.
Other –
3/5.
+0.25 – I do think the distances between the block and the ground were well thought out, even if some of them encouraged a few too many triple jumps. No doubt that the concept itself is a pretty clever one.
-0.25 – There was one part that I did find completely impossible. It was after the third jump, and you have to get to that platform that’s moving from side to side. Due to the timing, I found this part unable to complete, and because of all the triple jumps and double jumps you couldn’t have possibly been any quicker at it. But as soon as you reach that point, the moving blocks are above your head, and you can’t reach it in time before you end up sinking into the ground.
Overall – 11.25/20.I was expecting more than this if I’m honest. I wish it could have been just a bit better, if the speed was decreased for example, little things like that would have fixed the difficulty and saved the level.
Yurimaster:
with Exploring The UnknownFun –
8.75/10. I really enjoyed this actually, the atmosphere was great, and the music enforced that feeling of entering into an unknown mystery world. Finding the silver stars was fun, I was a bit disappointed there were only three, but there wasn’t much more you could do for a level of this size anyway. A lot of gameplay was fairly clever to- like, the metal cap runs out quickly, so you have to rush to the invisibility cap to keep it lasting for longer. It also stops that bug you might get if you go down the bottom left “mushroom” path first after getting the invisibility and you don’t have the Hover FLUDD with you; it means you’re not stuck down there for very long. So yeah, I really enjoyed this, even though the platforming that was used was pretty simple, it was still fun nonetheless. Nice work.
Graphics –
4.75/5. The graphics were amazing as always, really beautiful. I only had one small complaint, and that was when you add in the black background, on one of the paths you covered up the background change with mossy rock, which I liked, but on the other two paths it doesn’t look as smooth. It would be much better if you didn’t notice the background change to black at first, so in the future I suggest putting a branch or vine of some sort where it changes, or even just a disabled level transition so it blends the two backgrounds in more. But other than that, it was amazing.
Other –
2.75/5.
+0.25 – The music was wonderful. Really set the atmosphere well.
-0.25 – There was still a little bit of lag, but thankfully it didn’t affect the level too much.
-0.25 – There is a tight squeeze at one point that, on the first playthrough, squashed Mario. It doesn’t happen again for some reason…but still, it was a rock that did it I think, so you could always erase it, or put it lower into the ground.
Overall – 16.25/20.Really nice level you have here. It deserves the high score it got, and the graphics in particular were the strong point as always.
Triple J:
with Radial RunnerFun –
7.25/10. I found this level very confusing, don’t get me wrong it was smart and the gameplay was certainly innovative, but it was just very confusing at times, and I found a fair amount of bugs regarding the gameplay too. For example, when you left the warning that the little blocks were going to burn you too, I thought you meant the little brown blocks suspended in mid-air, so I ended using only enemies to jump around, making the level a lot harder for myself. There were also some really easy slip-ups to make, for example, with the bottom section. The difficulty was mostly increased because of all the little blocks and tiny items you had to stand on and jump from and then land on accurately. I would have suggested adding another flipping platform right next to the other, and making the cave block a little bit bigger as it was annoying to jump onto that too. But flaws aside, I really quite enjoyed the level in some ways. The power-ups had probably the most thought put in, and the timing was great for them- it was usually exactly the amount of time you needed with them. So yeah, I was fairly impressed.
Graphics –
4.5/5. The graphics were most of the time really neat. I liked the disabled lasers surrounding the mechanical tiles in the middle; it gave it this dangerous, heated feeling. I think the overall use of items for décor was very pretty. The only part I didn’t like was the cave/lava part, because it looked just too much like cut-off. But other than that, the level had almost top notch graphics.
Other –
2.75/5.
-0.25 – There was this bug I came across…and I’m really not sure how it happened now, but I had the invisibility and wing cap and flew in to collect the metal cap, but somehow I missed it and landed on top of the metal platform with no cap, and had to start the level from the beginning again.
-0.25 – I also didn’t like how the shine sprite was suspended above a platform that you wouldn’t be able to escape from. I made the mistake of going there first instead of the silver star direction and was stuck there for eternity, until I tried to escape through the left side and was squashed to death instead.
+0.25 – Even though the rest of the level was fairly hard as it was, having the time limit was a nice way to spice it up.
Overall – 14.5/20.This wasn’t the best level, and the difficulty was a bit risky at times. But overall the enjoyment was still high and I had a lot of ‘heated’ fun playing your level.
*Emelia Kaylee:
with Unorthodox CubeFun –
9/10. This is an incredibly fun, short level. The length was perfect and, although the platforming was mostly very simple, it was also very enjoyable. Nice work indeed. I did think there were a few annoying parts, like the distance between the bone platforms after the switch was pretty small so it was quite easy to overshoot the first platform and then end up in the lava. I also didn’t like that there were so many bullet bills shooting towards you that it was hard to get through that whole section without losing health, and also how quickly the flames afterwards come and go. But apart from a few simple flaws like that, the level was surprisingly really fun.
Graphics –
3.75/5. The graphics weren’t the greatest, I know. There was a small amount of décor and a small amount of tile mixture too, but I personally think there could have been more to make the level look really nice. However, I’m not going to complain, because it still looks rather nice for what is there. The only minor complaint I have is that sometimes the grey block at the top of the level can look slanted slightly and you need to fix that by putting 0 in the rotation speed box. But other than that, it looks fine.
Other –
3/5.
-0.25 – I do think it would have been better if the thwomp didn’t squash you if you stay up there for too long. I wasn’t expecting that at first.
+0.25 – I like that you put a warp pipe in the centre of the level, so we can return to the beginning if we missed one of the red coins. The level is connected up rather well and I think it paid off here.
Overall – 15.75/20.A really nice level, short, but also immensely fun. You’ve come a long way in terms of level designing, MK, you should be proud of yourself.
RedLink:
with doorzFun –
5.5/10. Oh Red you are eeeevil, more evil than Rarity’s cat.
In all seriousness though, the fun wasn’t actually half bad. Just the difficulty was a bit much. I mean, if alone standing falling logs weren’t enough, WHAT DA HELL IS WITH THE TINY WEENY LITTLE ROTATING BLOCK THAT IS NEAR IMPOSSIBLE TO STAND ON? Nah it’s not all bad though. I had quite a fair bit of fun getting around the level and collecting those damned red coins, but I have to say, forcing yourself to get hurt to get the invisibility caps wasn’t very nice. The sign at the beginning was humourous. It could have been a lot lot better, to be honest, but for what it’s worth…you entertained me, lawl. :3
Graphics –
2.75/5. Let’s be honest okay, the graphics weren’t the best. It was like having a beautiful home, Dashie’s home if you must, but without the decorations or the majestic beauty that it certainly deserves. And really, how would Dashie feel about having lava in his home? (I am just kidding) Seriously though, it wasn’t the best. Some decoration would have been nice, and some variety of bricks would have been even nicer. I’ll say it’s around average.
Other –
2.75/5.
-0.25 – It would have been nice if there was a way other than the koopa to get across the lava, because once you’ve killed it, you have to burn yourself.
Overall – 11/20.Nice effort Red, but I’m not sure if it was up to vinyl scratch.
Maybe you should start taking those beauty lessons from Rarity, or just read a book from Twilight’s library.
MessengerOfDreams:
with Switchblade StationFun –
7.25/10. Okay well, you probably saw this coming, but this is easily not the most fun level you’ve ever made. I am rather glad you added a story though, because before it just seemed like nothing made sense. There were a lot of flaws here unfortunately- that wing cap needs to be a bit closer to the edge of the stone to make it across the full gap, unless your intention is to get us burns from the flame to help us across. The silver stars were, admittedly, pretty fun to get, and the bouncy trees were pretty nice too. Even the really fast platforms didn’t bother me and were quite fun. The bit that bothered me the most was retrieving the shine sprite. I knew which switch I was going to press but there was that cloud switch half way that just turns everything off. It’s the most annoying thing ever, and it really decreases in fun because you’re literally about to win the level. So yeah, overall, not the best attempt.
Graphics –
3.75/5. The graphics were not so bad, but they were quite empty at times. The décor was nice, but there could have been a little more of it, as it looked rather boring. I know you won’t like me for saying this, but I actually kind of preferred the darkness effect we had before the recent edits, because it added a little bit of atmosphere to it. Overall…it was nice, but there could have been a little bit more effort, especially in the top section. ♥♥♥♥.
Other –
2.75/5.
-0.5 – Is it fun to die with the shine sprite just before the screen closes? Noo.
+0.25 – Thank God those bullies were disabled otherwise hell would have literally broken loose.
Overall – 13.75/20.Whee, another unnecessarily hard(ish) level. Seriously though, even if the level had hatred written all over it (not saying that there wasn’t some there) it still surprisingly wasn’t all that bad.
Oranjuice:
with PenFun –
5.75/10. Well to be honest, there wasn’t much to this level that made it particularly enjoyable. Maybe I’ll put my personal interpretation of it at the end, idk. But it sure did confuse me. Back to relation of the fun though, yeah, there wasn’t really any gameplay to judge on. It was just running around on random tiles. I know you said it was annoying that the water bottles disappeared, well I’m playing it on the offline designer where they do show up, and I didn’t see much relevance to them anyway if I’m honest. It wasn’t a disgusting level or anything like that, it was just quite confusing, so for that reason the fun level isn’t going to be very high.
Graphics –
3.75/5. The graphics weren’t actually bad at all, just a bit random. For example, the toy blocks at the beginning- didn’t really understand what that was for. I guess I have an idea though; again I’ll share my interpretation of the level at the end. The décor was quite nice in the grassy section and outside of the building. Inside the building it was just around average as there wasn’t much there. So overall I’ve just given you a fairly medium score.
Other –
3/5.
+0.25 – Is it weird or not that I actually liked that the shine sprite came out as grey/silver at the end, even if it was for no particular reason?
-0.25 – A few things confused me, like why was there a green platform hidden behind a tipping log, that did absolutely nothing?
Overall – 12.5/20.My interpretation was that it might be part of an amusement park, perhaps a playpen, which is why the level was called Pen. Either way, it was pretty unusual, although there wasn’t much to it.
Harmless:
with World 1337-KaizoFun –
8.5/10. As you know already, the level is INSANELY hard. Well actually some parts weren’t as hard, but the parts that were hard for me turned out to be incredibly hard. So yeah, I don’t know if the difficulty of the level is always balanced, it seems to switch between some reasonable areas and then suddenly a really hard difficulty spike, and a lot of the time these spikes caught me off-guard and I ended up losing the level. The bit I hated the most was the switch and Turbo FLUDD part. Getting to the blue bricks after hitting the switch was a nightmare for me. However, as difficult as it was, it surprisingly didn’t get extremely annoying like I thought it would, and instead it remained rather fun. I have to say I’m rather impressed, and this may even be one of my favourites of yours. Well done, you succeeded with your level.
Graphics –
3.5/5. The graphics weren’t amazing, they were mostly fairly simple, and a lot of the time you forget about the décor and just take a look at the tiling itself or the other various items, because that’s usually good enough to set the atmosphere of the particular section you’re in. Of what was there in terms of décor though, it wasn’t exactly bad, although I disliked the cut-off from the upside down mountain rock pillars intensely. But it could have looked a lot nicer, but yeah, you did alright.
Other –
3.25/5.
+0.25 – I liked those mini flames you added in the tile dips, that spiced things up nicely.
Note – There were no unintentional bugs/glitches as far as I could find, however there’s always a chance something could have slipped up somewhere without me noticing, because of all the unusual gameplay. So I will continue to keep a sharp lookout for anything.
Overall – 15.25/20.I actually really enjoyed this, and that’s saying a lot considering I’m not usually the best at handling rage-worthy hard levels. Nice work.
Raiyuuni:
with DownfallFun –
8.5/10. Y’know, as hard as that experience was, I pleasantly surprised to find out how everything just magically came into place. It was more of a puzzle than a silver star challenge tbh. But I actually enjoyed myself, there were just a few parts I really didn’t get on with- like turning the switch off, then getting across that long lava pit, then getting quickly squashed by the thwomp, and getting myself burnt by tiny flames on my way up to the wing and invisibility cap. But as soon as I had those, the challenge became far more fun. That’s when everything fit into place for me. So yeah, even though there was a lot of difficulty spike in this level, I still found it very enjoyable.
Graphics –
4.75/5. I really liked the graphics here; they were almost top notch actually. I loved the formation of the rocks, blocks, platforms, the fences representing the directions of the blocks/platforms. And where there was décor, it looked really great. I especially loved the tile combinations. The only thing that stops this from getting a 5/5 is just that I do believe there should be just a little bit more décor in a few of the sections, but other than that, it was brilliant.
Other –
3.5/5.
-0.25 – I didn’t like flying through that lava pit though, with the wing cap. I would continuously get burnt, although I had invisibility, it was still annoying, and every time I would try and set off, the thwomp would squash me again.
+0.25 – The shell trick has become increasingly popular recently, but I liked the way you used it, although it admittedly had me confused first.
+0.5 – I thought the layout of the level was really smart.
Overall – 16.75/20.
Star king:
with Bullet Bill FactoryFun –
9.25/10. I actually found this really fun, probably the most fun level I’ve played of the batch so far. I love the 100 red coins concept, and in fact at some point soon I was planning of using it, but it turns out you beat me to it. Heh. :3 But either way, it was great. The only bit I disliked was the breakable brick section because I couldn’t work out where I could find a bullet bill close enough to actually break them, so I unfortunately managed to cheat at that bit and still do a ground pound, even though there was only a one tile gap. (not sure why it works here and in no other levels tbh) But yeah, other than that, really top notch.
Graphics –
4.5/5. Graphics were great, tile combinations in particular. It wasn’t an outstanding 5/5 though, there was some nice décor usage, but nothing really stood out as amazing or incredible to me. I still appreciate the effort you made for it though, and maybe a few more branches etc would have boosted it further.
Other –
3.25/5.
-0.5 – I had a fair amount of lag on my laptop, which I didn’t like.
+0.25 – I like that the arrows show you in which direction that the bullet bills are travelling.
+0.25 – While the lag wasn’t nice, the loading time was thankfully very reasonable.
+0.25 – I liked the variety of challenges you gave us, nothing was too repetitive, except for when you had to go back for any red coins you missed. Overall it was well-thought out.
Overall – 17/20.Really great level and it seems as though you got my highest score too. Well, let’s see if it pays off in the end.
MegaR:
with Horizon Heights Zone Act 3Fun –
7.75/10. Well, if I have to be honest, I do prefer the first Horizon Heights you made. But I do like that you added a few more features this time, and the platforming is certainly refreshing. It was very simple, but very enjoyable at the same time. Seeing as it was only a very short play, there isn’t all that much to say about the level. But I liked what there was of it; it’s only a shame it couldn’t have been any longer.
Graphics –
4/5. The graphics were around medium, as there was nothing spectacular, but there was no cut-off or anything ugly either. I do think there should have been more décor, to spice it up a bit more, considering the level itself is only very short. But of the décor you did use, I liked it. I do think there could have been room for more tile combinations too, but I’ll try not to hold that against you, because the theme of these levels seems to be based around the blue bricks anyway. Overall I think there could be improvements made, but I still liked it because it was nice and simple.
Other –
3.25/5.
+0.25 – Very short loading time, and no lag whatsoever. Probably the smoothest level I’ve played yet.
Overall – 15/20.For what was there, it was really nice and fun to play. Maybe you could make a longer version of this level someday.
Nwolf:
with Cross-Shadow HeatFun –
7.5/10. I know you wanted to make it hard and all, but I would have really benefited from some blue coins somewhere.
Okay back to being serious again. It was…painfully hard in some places, but overall I think it was just down to finding the general pattern. I didn’t like how the darkness blocked a lot of my view, although I did miss the shadow lights and am glad to see them again. I probably didn’t enjoy the difficulty in this level as much as I enjoyed it in other levels, but I’m not too worried, because at the end of the day this is your designing style. :3 I think it was actually fairly creative. But as MK unfortunately said too, collecting the silver stars after being hit by just one flame can make the challenges much easier.
Graphics –
3.75/5. The graphics weren’t all bad actually, the darkness made it look quite sinister, and the fire didn’t cut-off at any point or look ugly. I also liked the bullet bills shooting across the level too, added a bit of colour to it all. I did think there was a lack of décor, which I know is hard in a level like this, but even twisted branches would have worked well IMO. Overall it doesn’t have the best graphics, but they were decent.
Other –
3.25/5.
+0.25 – The moving blocks with the flame running down them starts to look like an illusion if you’re there for a while. Me gusta.
Note – And welcome back shadow lights I guess.
Overall – 14.5/20.Nice hard level from our hard level maker Nwolf. Was totally not predictable, nope.
Venexis:
with Pain and SufferingFun –
8.75/10. ♥♥♥♥ YES A GREY BRICK LEVEL. Sorry, just excited right now.
But I like it when you do these. They’re kind of like illusions because the blocks become the bricks. But yeah, so this was really fun, and I really enjoyed it. It wasn’t very hard, but I just liked navigating all the silver stars, and then liked finding out there was a general pattern between it all too. So yeah, this was a really great level.
Graphics –
3.25/5. I want to give this graphics score just above average, because okay there was no décor, and no tile combination, but it was simply very good. Everything fit perfectly into place, and watching the grey blocks move in and out of the grey bricks was very illusion-like and interesting to watch. So while the graphics are technically average or below, it looks far more interesting than that for me.
Other –
3.25/5.
+0.25 – All the blocks move perfectly in time, fitting perfectly into place.
Note – I’m just going to be picky, but it would have been great if there was a 12th silver star somewhere so we didn’t have an odd number, or ideally you start out with one just so it’s all symmetrical.
Overall – 15.25/20.Really liked this, and generally love this style of yours anyway. But I guess to a newbie this would seem like a pretty mediocre level- perhaps I’m biased, but I think it’s just because I know you as a person, or I know what your level designing style is like idk.
NanTheDark:
with Urban ClimbFun –
8.25/10. Well, I certainly had fun with this level. While it was only short, I just really enjoyed hopping from rooftop to rooftop, and there were a few nice elements along the way too, e.g. the laser beam. The only uncomfortable part of the level was travelling across the very top roof, and then onto that tipping log with the bully. It didn’t knock me off, and it was still fairly easy, but it’s just you can end up doing this half triple jump against the ceiling of the level and plummet back down the bottom again, which can be frustrating. The platforms in the trees were a nice idea, at first you’re wondering how on earth you make it to the top, and then get a nice surprise when you jump up to reach the coins. So yeah, overall, it was most of the time a very nice yet simple level with a few cool item concepts added in too.
Graphics –
4.5/5. The graphics were very nice actually. I liked the décor a lot, you’ve outdone yourself there I think. And also little things, like the castle wall edge meeting the golden tiles, was a nice addition too. The only thing I perhaps disliked was the random assortment of tiles, and also I was hoping it would be a really urban level, and there turned out to be some garden elements too. But I guess I shouldn’t be too picky about that. Overall, it was very nicely done.
Other –
3.25/5.
+0.25 – Nicely bypassed the bug in which the goomba could hit you when you reach the new ledge after going through the door. Instead you put the goomba on the other side. I thought that was a good thing because most people forget about little details like that.
Overall – 16/20.Nice, simple level, decorative, and was fun to play through. Congratulations with this.
Volkove:
with Counter-ClockFun –
8.5/10. Actually this is an extremely clever concept. I really enjoyed collecting all the 100 red coins I have to say, and it was executed in such an unusual way. I have to say though, if you’re there for a while, it can make you feel pretty dizzy. But other than that, really enjoyable, and the time limit added some spice to the difficulty as well.
Graphics –
4.25/5. There weren’t an awful lot of interesting graphics, however this level didn’t really need décor or tile combinations, because the blocks is what gives the level the graphics, and they looked good so I cannot complain. And also, the background tiles looked really good, so there’s not much more to be added here. I’m impressed I have to say.
Other –
3.5/5.
+0.5 – Great concept, really original, and added some great fun to the level.
Overall – 16.25/20.Nice level, original concept, nothing more to be said. A Volkove classic.
There ya go.. ^_^
1st – Star king. (17)
2nd – Raiyuuni. (16.75)
3rd – Yurimaster, Volkove. (16.25)
4th – NanTheDark. (16)
5th – *Emelia Kaylee. (15.75)
6th – Harmless, Venexis. (15.25)
7th – MegaR. (15)
8th – Triple J, Nwolf. (14.5)
9th – MessengerOfDreams. (13.75)
10th – Oranjuice. (12.5)
11th – 1018peter. (11.25)
12th – RedLink. (11)
by CedarBranch » April 28th, 2014, 8:33 am 
