runouw.com

nin10mode wrote:hai

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User 1:
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Fun: 7/10
Part 1 makes a very nice intro. The text is only present in the beginning and end of transitions, which is very nice. I'm not stopped mid-area to get some background that may not be completely necessary. The explloration was simple, but enjoyable. There was a slight difficulty spike once inside (I like hard levels, but only if it's consistent). My favorite thing about part one is that you gave players the ability to backtrack once you reach the lava transition. Bug testing is important. Nice.

On to part two, and everything is reverse. The text you so strategically placed previously was now hindering my enjoyment. They were placed in inconvenient places (ie in between two groups of boos, underwater, close enough to attract bullet bills, etc.) The most annoying part was easily the flood. It's an ingenious way to use platforms, but it's buggy. I in fact found that you didn't even need all three platforms. The consistent difficulty is a plus though.

Next is your final level, and it's nice and short. Very basic platforming, but the space you have to land on makes it at least a bit of a challenge. There's not much to note here.

Graphics: 4/5
I like the amount of detail you put into the first level, though it seems more concentrated in some areas than in others. A major drawback of having a large exploration based area is that you typically end up having a lot of space filled in with one tile. I can't help urge you to fill those in with some sort of detail. I noticed a few custom plants, like cave plants with bush roots as stems, hanging stalks with disabled butterflies as petals, and upside down vines with upside down spore stalks on the sides. It was all very creative ways to use the standard decoration items. Your use of logs and bricks above the waterfall worked well, too. But stalactites looked very strange, and I realize it's an attempt to make one larger item out of many small ones. It just doesn't work. You're best attempt at it was the smallest one, on my way up the waterfall. If you zoomed out all the way and went to the top right red coin, you could see a single line of cutoff, I know it's not much, and I'm not intended to zoom out all the way, but bug testing is important. Then we head inside and it's a tile-set I absolutely adore. The pattern is simple, but its enough to add interest to the place. Props on your use of rotating blocks to create interesting tiles, as well. The glaring stained glass look is nice.

In the second level I notice a lot of patterns, but this time outdoors. I don't particularly like it; to me it looks unnatural, and maybe it was just an attempt to depict Hell as an organized place of despair, but I think a Lava Lair look would have done just fine. I commend you for the curves of the ruined "chapel" if that's what it is. The tiles mix well enough that it doesn't look like cutoff and the colors work together. When it transitions into a water level, your tile-work improves, but that's because of how much options the cave tile-set gives you. I think mixing in a few other blocks in there would have done wonders. The sparse decoration is forgiven (There shouldn't be much to look at in Hell, anyway) but where you do have decoration, it's very creatively shown yet again. The hell tree pulled off the menacing look well enough, the blue fire made out of water with no dimensions was cool, and the wolf statue was especially impressive.

Finally, your graphics for your third part of the series. It's very symmetric, and I get that it's supposed to signify the structure Heaven is supposed to have. I like the patterns you create in certain areas. Your transition from grass to snow was a mediocre attempt though, and the text with it made it all the more humorous. Finally, the end chapel is detailed enough to make it a good place to finish the level. Good job. There isn't that same creative flair you showed for your previous two levels, though.

Other: 3/5

-1 More often than not, cut scenes you tried out was late. Skelegoonies were well offscreen before I got to the proper sign.
+1 You used a lot of gimmicks, like asymmetric platforms, platforms that stop midway through their path for a period of time, and various graphical inventions. I only wished they were used more, and consistently.

A very average series that's fun to play, but nothing really stands out that makes this really special.
If I had to guess, you're Nwolf. Heh.

14/20
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User 2:
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Fun: 7/10
The intro is astounding. Little gameplay, all background. A good precursor to a battle of some sort.

The second level is largely impressive. The difficulty keeps me on edge, though the problem with bullet bills is that it's hard to time them correctly and leave an opening that the player easily sees and can take advantage of. That damage makes up most of this difficulty, and it's especially frustrating when you're stuck in one area for even a little while. I must say that it fits the war setting though. It doesn't help that the wing cap keeps you from triple jumping in that one section before the final flight. It was frustrating not being able to actually reach the checkpoint where you left off. It's incomplete, and thus has no resolution.

Graphics: 5/5
All I can say is wow. Tile-work, disabled items, room detail, good job. It looks industrial, yet majestic.

As the Ace of Graphics, I gotta say I love the second level as well. Using bushes as the leaves of trees with large trunks was a risk, and in my opinion, it worked out. Some of your tile choices are suspect (light and dark wooden walls clash too easily) though.

Other:3/5
-0.5 Small typos, prison is spelled prision, "pride isn't" instead of "pride doesn't", "captain" instead of "capitian", "So, I better" instead of "So, it's better".
+0.5 The block enemies were cute, and I assume you would have made more use of them had you continued the series, but I can't give you much credit for a concept that was barely used.

First of all, Yurimaster, why link your dialogue ingame? It ruins the point of the competition. Next time there is an anonymous structure, PM the host your dialogue. Onto my final thoughts: It had potential to be a riveting series. Maybe Survivor: Runouw has taken up too much of your time, but I can't take outside distractions into consideration when judging. Your selling point here was most definitely the graphics, and the bullet bills really helps support the war conflict you went for. I do hope you finish the series eventually.

15.5
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User 3:
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Fun: 6/10
I had a little bit of fun, but your placement of enemies was cumbersome. In the second level, your bullies would often push me off without me even touching the ground, regardless of whether I spin or not. It doesn't help that they hug the platforms and there is little below me to recover. There are bullet bills waiting for me as soon as I leave a transition. There are bob-bombs waiting on the other side just to push me back. There's a water section that gives me nothing below me, only on the sides. Transitioning in certain areas automatically damages you, or even kills you unless you know the level, and I actually hate this.

Annoyances aside, it was rather enjoyable. I like that the second level gives you four routes to take. All of the routes were unique and had some sort of originality, except for the top right. My favorites were the water and cannon rooms.

The boss battle was difficult; so much so that I did in fact rage over it. Congratulations. There were a few things that made it especially annoying though. One, by taking the sling star despite the block being broken, you occasionally reset the block. It's there again, but luckily for me, I had a small group of bullet bills remaining to make that not such a big deal. I appreciate the difficulty despite my anger.

Graphics: 4/5
It started off really well. You pulled off the sci-fi/futuristic look surprisingly well. The final transition of the first level and the volcanic beginning of the second looked odd; I think randomizing the blocks rather than layering them would have worked better. Nice mushrooms, though. Creative use of certain tiles.

Other:4/5
+0.5 I think the music helped lock in the futuristic setting you went for. I think without it, the opening yould have made it seem more like a temple.
+0.5 Different paths and two endings.

14/20
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User 4:
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Fun: 3/10
I really want to put this as lightly as possible, but if submitted to the portal, I don't think this would have been approved. It's unnecessarily large for such little gameplay, and it's split into two parts that are completely disconnected from each other due to incompletion.

Graphics: 0/5
There really isn't anything good looking in the level. There's a whole lot of cutoff, and I realize you wanted to use those jungle tiles to add detail, but the filler tiles with rocks in them are best kept in small amounts, to sort of highlight the terrain. Speaking of the terrain, it was very flat. I can't say much. I'm guessing you're new to the designing scene, so I'll just tell you to check out the Level Designer subforum for examples of good levels.

Other:3.5
+0.5 I feel really bad, so I'll give you props for General Thwomp. The design is interesting, I suppose.

A word of advice: Don't submit a level that is so incomplete that you need to promise more later. I'd rather you complete it and submit it into the portal than submit it into a contest in the hopes that everyone else's entrant are all incomplete, or complete but lackluster. Don't plan out too big of a level, especially for a contest, unless you know you have enough time, or have a backup plan.
6.5/20

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User 5:
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Fun:8/10
You put a lot of effort into this boss battle, I can tell. The way you make this boss's attacks are amazingly simple, yet still hard to dodge. Dying is okay because you don't have to wait another 30 seconds to play. And that last phase makes me squee with danmaku/bullet hell delight. It's difficulty is fitting for a final level, and I'm glad it's separated from the rest of the serie- ...wait, where's there's no lead up to this battle? Well then.
For what it's worth, this level is amazingly fun. It's shortness it made up for by its difficulty. I like it.

Graphics:2.5/5
The major drawback of putting so much effort into the gameplay is that it leaves you with few options to dress up the battlefield. I know it's impossible to add decorative items, since the nature of this fight makes anything extra make it lag even more, but at the very least, some tiling detail would have sufficed. I like the atomic shape of your boss though. It stands out easily from the background, and I'm sure that was your intention.

Other: 4.5/5
+0.5 Fitting music. Got me hyped after every death.
+1 Unique story. I never saw Shine Sprites as conscious beings that hate being captured by Mario, and later used as power sources for the Mushroom Kingdom. Hell, you didn't include any of that detail, but those four signs alone told the story in my head. Nice.

If you had made this into a series, I could only imagine the following it would get.
15/20

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User 6:
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Fun: 3/10
Too many signs. I think you took the conflict theme a bit differently. You made a story that forces dialogue, and that's a major turnoff. I wish you had left the text separate from the level and just left signs signifying when to read and when to cue a track. And even as a story, this is mediocre as best.

Make a level, not a movie. I don't want to wait three levels before getting any action, and when I do get to the action, I don't want it to be such a difficulty spike that I need to go through half a level of nothing again just to get back to it again. If you had stopped the level after throwing Walther out and started again with the prison, it would have been better, but that was your choice in pacing. A poor choice it was, and it was the only reason I stopped playing Part 4 altogether. And then ending with the breeze that is Part 5 after such an out of place difficulty spike? Come on.

Graphics:2/5
Boring. I want to go into more depth, but after going through the actual level to judge fun, I'm pretty impatient. There's nothing noteworthy, but it isn't bad, per say. No detail, flat etc.

Other: 3.5/5
+0.5 Background music choice that sadly, was the only thing that really gave me enjoyment, and I'm a music person anyway. Your selection clashed a bit much though; usually it's better to stick with one style.

The mistake you made was where you wanted to take this theme. The Level Designer is a tool for just that; level design. You can't make a movie production out of it, and that's what you tried to do. The attempt landed flat on it's face, and even if it was possible to make a movie out of this, it would suffer from other problems, like lack of stage production and a ridiculously strange plot. Stick to platforming or puzzles if this is what you think a good story level is. Sorry.

8.5/20