Event 6: Last Legacy Level Designing Contest

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Re: Event 6: Last Legacy Level Designing Contest

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Postby Doram » October 16th, 2015, 11:44 am

The Arcade by Niicola
Overall: 17.5/20, Review: show
Gameplay: 8/10
  • Holy crap, Niicola. This is amazing. I am not gamer enough to beat it, but it is phenomenal work. It is... I'm literally speechless.

    It's a little seizure inducing, with the bright changing colors, especially if you are reading quickly. There are different colored text boxes that you could have used, or possibly not made the colors so bright. I also could not finish the hopping box or Flappy Bird, but then again, I'm not that great at real life Flappy Bird, so that's hard for me to judge if it's considered beatable or not. All the others worked flawlessly, and all of them looked amazing. More in Miscellaneous.
Scenery: 4.5/5
  • Again, all of these looked quite true to their original games, and worked beautifully. It was technically a little bland, but that's merely because you're replicating old games which were themselves fairly bland. And you not only made mario, but animated him. Correctly. Walk sequences. Jumping. Death. The most impressive one, in my opinion. Part of me wanted some more out of the Pac Man one, but I recognize the ridiculousness of the request as much as I recognize the impossibility of what you've already accomplished.
Miscellaneous: 5/5
  • The. Best. Trigger. Work. Ever. Simply amazing. The programmer in me is struggling to get his jaw off the floor.

    I was impressed that you were able to put the player in a box, and extract the keypresses to move other stuff around. Ingenious work. I guess there was a problem with that method for the Mario segment, but I'm far from willing to quibble with whatever magicks you needed to do to pull off this amazing piece. I'll put up with seeing the player behind Mario's legs.

The Green Curse by Supershroom
Overall: 14.25/20, Review: show
Gameplay: 8/10
  • Hoo! that was a tough level. It was a brutal back and forth, which made good use of the available real-estate. The monotone of the green grated after a while, but that was the whole of the plot. In all honesty, I can see - design-wise - why things had to be set up the way they were, but the fact that the level was small meant that I felt like I was hitting an obstacle every few seconds, and it broke up the flow of the level. I felt like I couldn't take two steps without hitting a literal wall.
Scenery: 3/5
  • It was a well made level, with varied terrain, a good amount of decoration, and areas that felt unique. Nothing really jumped out at me as awesome, but it was all fairly expertly done.
Miscellaneous: 3/5
  • I guess ultimately, you are staring at the chasm between being a good designer, and being a great one. You've mastered most all of the basics, but you haven't found your "wow" yet.

Sling pod galaxy by Bowser2007
Overall: 12.75/20, Review: show
Gameplay: 6.5/10
  • You know what? I had fun with this. This was a good idea (in a contest that has brought a lot of them). I like it, and I would definitely like to see more. If you could tone down the walk-too-fast-and-get-flung thing, the effect would be perfect. Perhaps with bigger planets. And I also agree that you need a lot more room than 4000 tiles to pull off a level of this kind. The choice of Lightning for a weapon was an interesting one too. Very useful for hitting approaching enemies through the planet. Also, transitions bring down lag. Maybe having a big planet that you land on, and then travel around to the other side, which just so happens to be on the other side of a transition. In fact, it probably would have made sense to have started the level on the surface of a large planet, too.

    I was definitely disappointed when the end came, but the level was still beatable, so it's more than enough for the contest. And don't be so upset about not being able to do everything that you wanted. Sometimes a proof of concept level ends up like that, but the next time it comes out much better. The key is to keep trying.
Scenery: 3.5/5
  • It was an interesting choice to try and make your own star field, instead of using any of the default ones, and you did a fair job of it. I kinda liked the look of it, but I also kinda wanted a bit more variation, like different sizes and colors. It also got a touch visually monotonous with just the starfield and the pods and enemies.
Miscellaneous: 2.75/5
  • It was a beatable, but self-proclaimed unfinished level. Some interesting ideas for experimentation, but not really a polished level. I'll take a half off for cutting it short. Interesting choice with having the music change after you leave the starting point, though, so a quarter for that.


[div textcolor=black bgcolor=#efbe00 width:100]The Lost Dimension by FrozenFire for Team Super
Overall: 14.25/20, Review: show
Gameplay: 8.25/10
  • This was a really interesting level. I was really excited to go exploring. I liked the teleport platforms. Very nicely done, and they were unique looking. Also there were some very cool mechanics with grabbing the artifact and then returning. VERY good use of globals. I adored the plot too, although there was some dialog hiccups, like the commentary after the first transition not being disabled for the return trip, but that's a minor issue.

    Stuff I didn't like? Some of the platforming was phenomenally difficult (the platforms hanging from chains could definitely have used some more headroom, for example). I think some minor adjustments would have made that more fun. I also hit a major problem on the final battle, and I'll touch on that in Miscellaneous. Also, the one indoor room felt awkward to me somehow, and was one of my least favorite parts here. Other than that, it was a very well built level, if a bit high on difficulty.
Scenery: 5/5
  • Graphically, though, this one is definitely a winner. Beautiful level, with cool custom elements. I liked the artifact, but I loved the pads. Nice effects with glows, transparent blocks, and other stuff. Nice angling on the decorative items, consistent, subtle, and natural looking, and clever use of BY's Large Bush to reduce the actual work you needed to put into that. There was definitely a lot of love put into this, and it shows.
Miscellaneous: 1/5
  • Here it is. I hit a MAJOR snag in the final battle on the first screen, and in that, 9 times out of 10, I hit the artifact by accident, in the middle of the heated fireball battle, and froze the game, causing me to have to back out of testing, or even have to reload the tab/restart my browser. I didn't actually finish the level for the first time until I edited the level, found what I was doing wrong, and cut it out, and then I figured out how to beat it without editing. It was amazingly frustrating for me, in all honesty.
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[div textcolor=white bgcolor=#009c3b width:100]Gravity Grove by -OJ for the Crystal Clods
Overall: 14.5/20, Review: show
Gameplay: 6/10
  • Holy Broken Gravity, Batman. This level annoyed the heck out of me. It looked nice, and then everything seemed just in the wrong spot, and I couldn't figure out the flow. It's like it was supposed to be a wander level, and a puzzle level, and the elements of each were fighting each other. The well camouflaged enemies, for example, would have been cool in a tamer level, but here, half of the time I had to make a really tough jump, I'd land it, only to be sucker punched back off by the hidden enemies, which elevated them to rage inducing. Also, with the open design, and arrow signs literally pointing in every direction in some places, it was confusing which way to go at which moment. I understand that they were put on the surface you were supposed to be standing on, but with the overall gravity being so screwy, it was still confusing. Maybe some color coding of the signs or something, or even moving them in and out of visibility, along with adjusting the gravity. Finally, I'm pretty sure that the way I ended up finishing the level was NOT the way you intended, because of decisions I made in just trying to get around (like hitting the switch just before the end portal, I had to crouch to hit it, which ended up in a kick, which flung me fortuitously towards the finish), ended up sending me in random directions that sometimes worked out better than I could have planned, and there were a couple of areas that I just couldn't get to. I think this one really smacked me as having a ton of potential, that just needed more playtesting, because it really did make me want to go exploring.
Scenery: 4.5/5
  • It WAS a good looking level, with the spindly, wiggly bits of land being perfect for traversing in any gravity. The color scheme was consistent, and very thoroughly exemplifying raw nature. The coloring of the enemies made them fit into the level quite nicely, though perhaps their camouflage was TOO good.
Miscellaneous: 4/5
  • Very competent, nice trigger work, and it felt like a sprawling stage despite the size limitations, so bonus point for that.
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[div textcolor=white bgcolor=black width:100]The Dungeon by Megar for Team Dark
Overall: 17.25/20, Review: show
Gameplay: 9/10
  • This was a ton of fun. Several parts were a little tough, but no overwhelming difficulty, just wrapping your brain around the puzzles presented. Nice theme. Good dialog. Thank you for liberally sprinkling checkpoints throughout. The less skilled players like me really appreciate it. The only one I was slightly miffed at was the one just before the last explanation dialog, because I had to listen to the unskippable dialog every time I died. Surprisingly enough, though, I was a little surprised at the LACK of difficulty on the last battle, since a lot of the challenge for him was taken away by the cramped quarters. Many of his ice blasts were wasted on the ceiling, and the angles of the room tended to confine the thorn rings. I'm not sure how much that was conscious choice, and how much was the confines of the size requirement, but it was a touch disappointing. On the other hand, bonus points for the opportunities you gave for turning the obstacle of a fireball cannon into a weapon by deflecting the shots towards the enemy. Very clever.
Scenery: 4/5
  • It looked good overall, and all the elements were well implemented. I would have liked the background on the dialog to have been a bit more opaque, because it made it difficult to read in several spots, especially on the final boss. It could also have used a slightly bigger font, though I do recognize that it's just the default size you were using, and not directly your fault.
Miscellaneous: 4.25/5
  • Very well done with triggers throughout, and the gravity was well implemented too. Bonus points for copying the code for the end boss correctly, and making sure that it still worked. I'm sure that took some doing, as I have tried and failed at that very same task. -.25 for lateness.
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[div textcolor=white bgcolor=#0182c4 width:100]Minigame - The Castle Craze by Konradix for Team Magma
Overall: 15/20, Review: show
Gameplay: 8/10
  • Wow. That is one hell of a mini game. A fascinating concept, and well executed. I was a little confused at first, in that I thought I was supposed to kill the enemies, until I edited the level, and saw that they were at max health, and even with a full inventory of items, I stood no chance anyways. That being said, it is REALLY hard, and even once you realize that spamming the kick you remain almost invincible, it's carpal-tunnel-inducing keeping that up. I think it might have been a little more satisfying to have SOME enemies that you could actually kill. Also, on lesser computers, this would definitely lag, as my rig, which is usually pretty beefy for being able to run LL, started lagging after about the 50 second mark, when most of the elements have arrived on the playing field.

    Also, I realized the pun in the description, and got a chuckle out of that, so bonus points there.
Scenery: 3/5
  • Eh. It's one room, and not a large one, so there wasn't a lot of chances to wow with the graphics. That being said, everything looked nice enough, and the exclamation walls were a cute touch. This level was all about the gameplay anyways, though.
Miscellaneous: 4/5
  • This is some of the most complex trigger work I have ever seen, and I still don't understand everything going on here. EXCELLENT work. It kills me to take the 1 point off for lateness, because this deserved a 5/5 in Other, hands down.
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[div textcolor=white bgcolor=#da0023 width:100]Dark Frosty Mount by Goldy301 for Red Team
Overall: 12.5/20, Review: show
Gameplay: 6.75/10
  • Ok, let's take this one step at a time. First off, I DID like it. It was a nice, relaxing, simple A to B level. A good example of showing promise in level design. There are examples of solid platforming in here that some of the greats haven't even mastered. A consistent, but not too spammy array of enemies, and appropriately placed powerups.

    That being said, there's still room for improvement, even as a simple platformer. First off, empty space. There was plenty of it in here, up in the skies, that would have been perfect for something else that this could have benefitted from - secrets. Make a hidden underground room or two, and just hide the "underground" bit in a bit of level way up in the sky where they'll never be able to reach, and you've made more efficient use of the space, and made a more sophisticated level. This level showed a lot of promise, and if you can master the fundamentals, when you DO start getting fancy, it will be all the more spectacular.

    Other small flaws I saw: the sign was all at once, a little too close to the transition, a little too high up, and not in a convenient spot to be able to read it. Result - almost missed it in general, and then it was a pain in the butt to get in a spot to be able to read it. Put it at the bottom of a slope if it must be on the ice, or give a bit of solid land for it to sit on. Also, the checkpoint was awkwardly placed - it would have been much better right next to the sign. Also, the "Hello World" should have been erased from the dialog box when you put the NPC text in there. Also, his text wasn't really useful, so the I wondered why he was there at all.
Scenery: 3.5/5
  • This level looked fairly good. Varied landmasses, with logical structures, for the most part (the sideways icicles were a little weird - I know that rock sometimes has little ice-falls coming off them in situations like this, but it could have used some more of the icicles to indicate more fall, and less random spikes). Good sprinkling of decorations, though you should be aware of what you can and cannot stand on, because an icicle platform late in the level turned out to not be solid, and made the last part not work out as planned. It was still finishable, because you had delta turned on, but it was a waste of an enemy, and a frustrating moment when I made the jump, and still fell into nothingness. I also liked the tile usage: effort was clearly put into making the transition from ground to ice more appealing with some checker dithering. Good idea, though you might want to use it across a smaller area next time, it didn't look quite as good when an entire landmass had the effect. Good work on tilting the trees on the slopes. The execution could use some polish, but it was a good instinct. I would personally say that some nature study would help with that overall. For one thing, even on level ground, there can be tilt to things, and on slopes, even though there might be some extra angle or curve to the thing, it WILL generally attempt to grow straight up against gravity, so don't go for the 45 degree angle on them on a slope - a consistent 10-20 degree angle is plenty. Also, feel free to use all 4 planes of items. Having items arranged overlapping in both the background and the foreground, can make for some really great looking vegetation. See the first screen of my entry in the 3rd LLLDC for an example. Bonus points for putting some honest artistry into this.
Miscellaneous: 2.25/5
  • +1 For giving it a good try, even though the odds were against you, especially being new to LL design, and not giving up, and STILL coming up with a decent level. -1.25 off for lateness.
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Re: Event 6: Last Legacy Level Designing Contest

Postby Karyete » October 16th, 2015, 12:15 pm

BY wrote: I would have loved to see more of the switch puzzle you used in the very beginning of this level


that would be my fault, I did the switch puzzle but only did one at the start
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Re: Event 6: Last Legacy Level Designing Contest

Postby Konradix » October 16th, 2015, 12:27 pm

I don't blame you BY, I actually almost always died at that section as well. I would've tried to do something like Obey the game if I had more experience with LL. I also planned to include some power-ups, but they proved to be too ambitious for the amount of time I had left. I haven't thought of adding more rooms however. I was trying to add section only hazards, that would've possibly worked in multiple room arena.

As for the triggerwork, it was basically my RPG Maker days that helped me with actually making this read-able. In short, the first few events are counters (either point counters or time counters) and all the rest were triggers that would activate once that counter reached that number. The stuff at the bottom of the arena was to make sure the AI doesn't get stuck, it just checked where you were and if that number doesn't match the area you were in, the enemies would teleport there. I was also debating adding a secondary weapon (the magic staff) to push enemies away possibly, but ultimately dropped it.

As for lag, I usually start lagging at the cannons (so 70, not much longer :P). I wanted to also make the colour of the tiles different in the areas with inverse gravity, but that made massive lag spikes, so I dropped it.
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Re: Event 6: Last Legacy Level Designing Contest

Postby l.m » October 16th, 2015, 12:53 pm

lmfao I was really not aware of that bug. I guess in the rush of getting things done I forgot to check other stuff in the final battle. But yeah, we gotta Move On™.
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Re: Event 6: Last Legacy Level Designing Contest

Postby Oranjui » October 16th, 2015, 2:36 pm

-BY wrote:Gravity Grove by Crystal Clods --|--:--|--

Gameplay: 8.5/10
The gravity usage in this level was incredible actually. However. There are still a few things. The gravity change around the first checkpoint immediately made me hit the spikes each time I used it. Maybe giving the player a little more space, so you wouldn't fall into these each time. Around the gravity change before you enter the lava section there are bushes which surprisingly hurted me (Also could bug through the wall up to the goal without doing the lava section there). This felt a little random though. Also the lava came out of nowhere. I had no time to properly react to it. You might consider a gap or two, showing that there's actually lava coming at you. Or if wanted putting the lava into the front layer, though. If the lava waited 1/2 seconds that'd been more than enough to realize it. The transition in which I changed from lava section to end portal glitched quite much as well. You'd just need to make the tiles even there.

Design: 4/5
The design looked pretty good. Especially these weight controlled circle platforms around these planets. However, there wasn't anything outstanding.

Miscellaneous: 3.5/5
+ 0.50 | Turning the whole level into a gravity puzzle is really nice

Overall: 16/20Amazing level actually. If it was really OJ doing that, than I can just add to Ven's statement of him doing real mvp work there.

The design was primarily me, so thanks :3, but I can't not give credit to ven and raz for playtesting and making tweaks in like the last 2 or 3 hours before the deadline. (procrastinating and rushing woo)
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Re: Event 6: Last Legacy Level Designing Contest

Postby l.m » October 16th, 2015, 3:44 pm

I can say that if it wasn't because of Raz/Ven, the starting point would be broken, on both OJ's and mine's levels. So definitely credit to them :P
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Re: Event 6: Last Legacy Level Designing Contest

Postby ~MP3 Amplifier~ » October 17th, 2015, 7:13 am

I'm glad both of you picked up on the graphics being not 'spectacular'. This is the original reason I wished we had a longer deadline- graphics take so much longer to do in LL than in SM63, I was spending hours each day on just colour coding and making sure every single item matched, which took forever. So I just want to make you aware that in the future, if I ever worked on graphics again and wasn't in such a tight schedule, I could easily add more.
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Re: Event 6: Last Legacy Level Designing Contest

Thumbs up x1

Postby Harmless » October 17th, 2015, 10:24 am

Just making a LL level in general takes much longer than SM63. We had to restart twice because of people missing, not having as much time as we expected, etc. For a literally last-minute entry, I'm surprised we did as well as we did.
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Re: Event 6: Last Legacy Level Designing Contest

Postby Oranjui » October 17th, 2015, 10:27 am

Harmless wrote:For a literally last-minute entry, I'm surprised we did as well as we did.

Wow, are you me
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Re: Event 6: Last Legacy Level Designing Contest

Postby Supershroom » October 18th, 2015, 11:08 pm

Seems like Team Dark is the best scoring team not only in Sonic Heroes but also here. Conga-rats.

Now, what I've already said quite some time ago, what about the medals? Usually it says "4th place ribbon with at least 9 people", but we've broken that enough times in the past, such as the 4th place ribbons in the 23rd and 26th (with 6 people only), and also the ribbon for MP3 in the 2nd LLLDC with a barely finished entry. FF deserves to have a ribbon IMO.

I've even thought about suggesting a 5th place ribbon, but seeing that I've scored a 13.125, dunno ... depends on your generosity.
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1 star: (0 - 5.75 in LDC) These levels need a lot of work. They're totally un-elaborated, and/or inherently flawed due to things like cutoff or enemy spam, or they're untested and there are too many bugs gameplay-wise, in short: Many many things went wrong in such a level.

2 stars: (6 - 9.75) These levels are not terrible, but poor. They're too short, lack scenery or they have errors and/or bugs but it's still barely enjoyable. Again, spend more effort and try to do better. (if it's your first level that I rate two stars, it's not bad. There's a long way you can still go)

3 stars: (10 - 12.75) These levels are about mediocre. They may be still a little bit short, the gameplay is fine but not very original and graphics are also solid, but not breath-taking. Try to keep improving!

4 stars: (13 - 15) These levels are nice, but not the best. Effort has been put into them, there can some professionality be seen in gameplay and graphics, they're a nice experience to play, but there are still things you can do to make it even better. Try to go the extra mile!

5 stars: (15.25 - 20) These are really great levels, those which, as said, I would give more than 15 in an LDC. These suffice many high requirements, and it already goes into subtleties if you want to make them better. These levels are successful all around. Bravo.

These are just general principles I try to follow when rating. Sometimes I don't leave a further comment when rating, most times I do, if you have questions about it, feel free to ask further.
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