runouw.com

GAMEPLAY: 23/25
Overall, your level was great to play through. I think the highlight of the level was of course the codifier. It wasn't too advanced in terms of triggers but it sure made the level more entertaining. I was running around everywhere trying to find all the codes (in the end I only found 2 but hey, I tried) and the secret levers to unlock new stuff. I also really enjoyed the maze room and I thought the gravity changing and door entering mechanics were clever. The challenge room was cool too, although I found the climbing room a bit annoying to get through. The 'heart room' was my personal favourite part. There was one thing that bugged me about the level though. While 90% of the loot in the game that you earned was useful equipment or valuable hearts, the problem with it was you earned it right as you finish the level, so there was not really any chance to make good use of it! Although as with 'The Secrets of the Heated Volcano' they do make good collectables. Overall

GRAPHICS: 19/20
All of the graphical elements in the level were spot on. Every colour scheme in the challenge rooms suited the play-style of the challenge and the music went well with them also. The fact that they were split into challenges also gave you the opportunity to present a variety of different looks for each one. The foes in the climbing room blended in well (Which was still annoying even if it was clever!), the battle room was blood red which suited it well, and the ice room was, well, blue. The window patterns were also pretty cool, including several parts overlapping to create an interesting, ancient look and the icons above some of the doors were JJJ-quality stuff too. The symbols on the puzzle box itself were also a nice touch. On the animation side of things, however, there wasn't really much to see other than the cage drop at the beginning, Although that didn't bother me too much. 5/5!

OTHER: 2.5/5
-I really liked the 'Plot Plump' idea and I'd love to see you use that in future levels (+0.5)
-Although I did like the music changes in the challenge rooms, I felt that at the beginning it wasn't really necessary and I felt you used that too much (-0.5)
-It took you an extra day to submit your finished level (-0.5)

TOTAL SCORE: 43.5/50

GAMEPLAY: 22/25
Your level was really good in terms of gameplay and I feel like you achieved a fair balance between platforming and battling enemies. My personal favourite part of the level was the airship section. Although it was a bit easy and glitchy, I still found it to be a cool game mechanic. In terms of the secrets in the level, I certainly found the chests with weapons more useful than the gears (Large Squares), since they were found early-mid game and became quite useful in the red coin section where foes were everywhere. The gears however only really provided 100 squares, which to be honest is pretty useless since there are no shops in the level to exchange them for gear. They were still a nice collectable though. Toward the end I found that the level really got interesting. Those extra challenges, especially the gravity section were really tough (either that or I have no skill) and lacked the few extra respawn points that I though it needed.

GRAPHICS: 17/20
Graphics-wise the level was pretty good. The background suited the level well with it's seemingly random holes in the wall, and the background walls that you made just added to the effect. I liked the way the background changed slightly more red as you got closer to the red coin section. The bright yellow and green lava (poison?) you added was an interesting choice but it blended with the overall look of the level well. To be honest though, nothing really stood out for me other than the lava, the airship and the squares. Most of the level was tinted red and although this made it look like a volcano (as it should) it didn't really allow for you to make things look interesting. In terms of effect things were a bit better. The red coins fading away was done well and the platform at the very end appearing was excellent. There was also one last thing that I wanted to mention though: The bridge in the first section. I know you mentioned in the tips that you'd need to find a secret platform, but that wasn't exactly obvious when looking at the thing. All of the tiles and blocks used to make it were in the background, and it was only until I already fell that I saw a small platform that you were supposed to use the other platform to get to. This could have been easily fixed by fading the bridge a bit to make sure people know that you can't just use the bridge without finding the secret platform (I do accept partial responsibility for this since I was too lazy to read the sign).

OTHER: 3/5
- had trouble finding the end wormhole and ended up wandering around the final area until I died, then found it afterwards. (-0.5)
-The red coins in LL were awesome (+0.5)
-I liked the tips you gave, although I thought they could be done better if you had an in-game character say them (+0)

TOTAL SCORE: 42/50