Koopster
DESIGN: 22/50
CREATIVITY: 7/30
AESTHETICS: 11/20
TOTAL SCORE: 40/100
This isn't really a level about dolphins. But there's like, at least 7 or 8 of them, so that's cool. It's not a level about anything in particular, but about what you had in your mind and felt like materialising as a level. Really straight-forward and devoid of innovation, but not offensive in any way. That P-switch trap at the end is kind of adorable.
lolyoshi
DESIGN: 18/50
CREATIVITY: 10/30
AESTHETICS: 11/20
TOTAL SCORE: 39/100
dolphin dolphin dolphin dolphin dolphin dolphin dolphin zzz
Noivern
DESIGN: 21/50
CREATIVITY: 9/30
AESTHETICS: 14/20
TOTAL SCORE: 44/100
It's a great looking level, but that's basically all it's got going for it. The level is a standard romp goes on for too long and with too short a time limit. The second half is really unfocused, with a few sprites that are used once and then never seen again. The dolphin recolor has the unfortunate side-effect of making the blue p-switch (which does nothing and shouldn't have even been there) silver, which confused me into thinking it was an actual silver switch, so I end up blocking off the path in front of me and I had to wait for the timer :/
Also there was the issue I had with the fourth dragon coin, which I just could not collect while big.
Sinc-X
DESIGN: 25/50
CREATIVITY: 9/30
AESTHETICS: 16/20
TOTAL SCORE: 50/100
A simple and straightforward, but enjoyable romp. It's nothing new, but what it does it does pretty well. Some of the koopa placements are questionable, being a bit too close to the edge of high jumps. Not much else to comment on, but solid overall.
Rameau's Nephew
DESIGN: 26/50
CREATIVITY: 12/30
AESTHETICS: 13/20
TOTAL SCORE: 51/100
This level was...very OK. And I don't necessarily mean that in a bad way. It doesn't really do anything all that out-of-the-ordinary, and dolphins play less of a factor than one might expect from the title (especially in the latter parts of the level) but it's a reasonably entertaining, competently construction "romp", to use a word I probably shouldn't. The level actually seems to realize it's playing things a little too safe towards the end, and tries to throw in some more daring obstacle, but rather than giving the level a dramatic conclusion of stronger sense of identity, these have the curious effect of making the level seem to lose its focus and flail about somewhat right before the end.
Visually, the level makes no attempt to hide what pieces its decorations are constructed from, which is by no means necessarily a bad thing, and has a certain charm in itself. The Lotus-and-rope palm trees, particularly, made me smile. Palettes are quite pleasing as well. The one element that stood out uncomfortably was the water, which had a peaked wave shape despite being completely immobile, producing an eerie, uncanny effect, as though time were frozen. It gives me the jim-jams just thinking about it.
+ A pleasing romp
+ Fun graphics (except for that water *shudder*)
- Plays things a bit safe
- Loses focus towards the end in its search for identity, trading substance for shadow.
Other: The second-to-last dragon coin is a bit of an (*aherm*) headache to obtain...
DESIGN: 22/50
CREATIVITY: 7/30
AESTHETICS: 11/20
TOTAL SCORE: 40/100
This isn't really a level about dolphins. But there's like, at least 7 or 8 of them, so that's cool. It's not a level about anything in particular, but about what you had in your mind and felt like materialising as a level. Really straight-forward and devoid of innovation, but not offensive in any way. That P-switch trap at the end is kind of adorable.
lolyoshi
DESIGN: 18/50
CREATIVITY: 10/30
AESTHETICS: 11/20
TOTAL SCORE: 39/100
dolphin dolphin dolphin dolphin dolphin dolphin dolphin zzz
Noivern
DESIGN: 21/50
CREATIVITY: 9/30
AESTHETICS: 14/20
TOTAL SCORE: 44/100
It's a great looking level, but that's basically all it's got going for it. The level is a standard romp goes on for too long and with too short a time limit. The second half is really unfocused, with a few sprites that are used once and then never seen again. The dolphin recolor has the unfortunate side-effect of making the blue p-switch (which does nothing and shouldn't have even been there) silver, which confused me into thinking it was an actual silver switch, so I end up blocking off the path in front of me and I had to wait for the timer :/
Also there was the issue I had with the fourth dragon coin, which I just could not collect while big.
Sinc-X
DESIGN: 25/50
CREATIVITY: 9/30
AESTHETICS: 16/20
TOTAL SCORE: 50/100
A simple and straightforward, but enjoyable romp. It's nothing new, but what it does it does pretty well. Some of the koopa placements are questionable, being a bit too close to the edge of high jumps. Not much else to comment on, but solid overall.
Rameau's Nephew
DESIGN: 26/50
CREATIVITY: 12/30
AESTHETICS: 13/20
TOTAL SCORE: 51/100
This level was...very OK. And I don't necessarily mean that in a bad way. It doesn't really do anything all that out-of-the-ordinary, and dolphins play less of a factor than one might expect from the title (especially in the latter parts of the level) but it's a reasonably entertaining, competently construction "romp", to use a word I probably shouldn't. The level actually seems to realize it's playing things a little too safe towards the end, and tries to throw in some more daring obstacle, but rather than giving the level a dramatic conclusion of stronger sense of identity, these have the curious effect of making the level seem to lose its focus and flail about somewhat right before the end.
Visually, the level makes no attempt to hide what pieces its decorations are constructed from, which is by no means necessarily a bad thing, and has a certain charm in itself. The Lotus-and-rope palm trees, particularly, made me smile. Palettes are quite pleasing as well. The one element that stood out uncomfortably was the water, which had a peaked wave shape despite being completely immobile, producing an eerie, uncanny effect, as though time were frozen. It gives me the jim-jams just thinking about it.
+ A pleasing romp
+ Fun graphics (except for that water *shudder*)
- Plays things a bit safe
- Loses focus towards the end in its search for identity, trading substance for shadow.
Other: The second-to-last dragon coin is a bit of an (*aherm*) headache to obtain...
Koopster
DESIGN: 19/50
CREATIVITY: 20/30
AESTHETICS: 17/20
TOTAL SCORE: 56/100
I want to compliment you so much for the aesthetics, but the foreground and sprites have this weird color!!!
The main path of the level is very unfocused. Even near the end of the level you were still trying to introduce piranhas and boo blocks. A better formula for a level is always picking a few concepts and developing them instead, rather than using every sprite in the tileset for a few screens each (shoutouts to mister fishin' boo that lasts two screens, and quite intrusively at that - if you think it doesn't deserve more than that why use it at all?). Level turned out very rompy and not too memorable. Also, time can run a bit short if you don't die.
I like how the secret exit is hidden. When I entered the dark room, I thought I was seeing a concept where the sparky would show you where the line guide goes, and I thought it was genius, but I was disappointed to see that's not what the room was about - instead it was a quite boring and very standard line guided segment where you make the player take gambles on whether they have to hit the switch or not to get to the right place (and you can't see the lines at all as a bonus). What's worse (or is it?) is how stupidly easy it is to just cheese it and jump to the secret exit when you're taken to the "game over" pipe. Also, I don't think podoboos were a very good choice there for the most part.
Yeah, this level has some issues.
lolyoshi
DESIGN: 16/50
CREATIVITY: 12/30
AESTHETICS: 12/20
TOTAL SCORE: 40/100
You nailed the atmosphere, but visually it's inconsistent. Sometimes it looks bad and sometimes
it looks nice. Gameplay-wise, it's unfocused and all over the place. The secret exit is especially
uninteresting.
Noivern
DESIGN: 16/50
CREATIVITY: 17/30
AESTHETICS: 10/20
TOTAL SCORE: 43/100
This level screams "overdesigned", especially regarding aesthetics. A lot of the sprite graphic changes make no sense whatsoever. The time limit in the normal exit is abysmally low. The secret exit is confusing and I never knew if I was doing anything correctly.
Sinc-X
DESIGN: 9/50
CREATIVITY: 11/30
AESTHETICS: 8/20
TOTAL SCORE: 28/100
There's not much good to say about this level. Most of the sprite placement feels unthoughtful and/or purely irritating, and the distractingly unappealing colors and terrible sprite replacements make this one a chore to get through (the tileset itself is pretty decent but totally overshadowed by that). The platforming doesn't really pose any interesting or fun challenges.
The secret exit is absolutely terrible. Line guides you can hardly see (or, often, not see at all) plus switches with unpredictable outcomes (of which the bad choices mean restarting the ENTIRE THING) make for a completely unfun experience, and the "game over" screen is just another kick in the rear.
Rameau's Nephew
DESIGN: 25/50
CREATIVITY: 16/30
AESTHETICS: 17/20
TOTAL SCORE: 58/100
Æsthetically, this level is quite striking, with a strong atmosphere and a distinctive visual style. The background, especially, is particularly well done, though it reminds me more of an ancient city than a simple fortress. Some of the sprite changes, in contrast, feel a little more forced, particularly the Thwimp (which is made all the more confusing by its sharing the Boney Beetle graphic swap with the much more destructable Goomba replacements), and making the stompable bullets in to non-stompable-looking flames was also perhaps not the best form of functional communication. But on the whole things look quite nice.
Gameplay-wise, the main path is reasonable solid if not groundbreaking, with a solid mixture of castle and ghosthouse elements with a few other platforms and the like to keep things interesting. The annoyingly placed Fishin' Boo is an unfortunate element; oddly enough, the level seems to realize this and try to compensate by only having it present for a very short time, but this only serves to highlight the fact that it probably shouldn't have been included at all. But otherwise, the main path doesn't give too much to complain about.
The secret exit, on the other hand, feels like a bit of a misstep. Though striking it appearance, it seems largely based around non-marked Podoboos randomly ambushing the player, largely in a line-guided segment (or, towards the end, in a sort-of-blind drop), limiting their ability to react to them. I've played more vexing levels, but this was perhaps not the best idea for a central concept. Getting booted out of the level for randomly taking the wrong path is also a bizarre and arbitrary punishment.
+ Looks pretty neat
+ Pretty competent main path
- Secret path probably a mistake
- A few miscellaneous questionable design choices
Other: People expecting a Donkey-Kong-themed level when hearing this title will be sorely disappointed.
DESIGN: 19/50
CREATIVITY: 20/30
AESTHETICS: 17/20
TOTAL SCORE: 56/100
I want to compliment you so much for the aesthetics, but the foreground and sprites have this weird color!!!
The main path of the level is very unfocused. Even near the end of the level you were still trying to introduce piranhas and boo blocks. A better formula for a level is always picking a few concepts and developing them instead, rather than using every sprite in the tileset for a few screens each (shoutouts to mister fishin' boo that lasts two screens, and quite intrusively at that - if you think it doesn't deserve more than that why use it at all?). Level turned out very rompy and not too memorable. Also, time can run a bit short if you don't die.
I like how the secret exit is hidden. When I entered the dark room, I thought I was seeing a concept where the sparky would show you where the line guide goes, and I thought it was genius, but I was disappointed to see that's not what the room was about - instead it was a quite boring and very standard line guided segment where you make the player take gambles on whether they have to hit the switch or not to get to the right place (and you can't see the lines at all as a bonus). What's worse (or is it?) is how stupidly easy it is to just cheese it and jump to the secret exit when you're taken to the "game over" pipe. Also, I don't think podoboos were a very good choice there for the most part.
Yeah, this level has some issues.
lolyoshi
DESIGN: 16/50
CREATIVITY: 12/30
AESTHETICS: 12/20
TOTAL SCORE: 40/100
You nailed the atmosphere, but visually it's inconsistent. Sometimes it looks bad and sometimes
it looks nice. Gameplay-wise, it's unfocused and all over the place. The secret exit is especially
uninteresting.
Noivern
DESIGN: 16/50
CREATIVITY: 17/30
AESTHETICS: 10/20
TOTAL SCORE: 43/100
This level screams "overdesigned", especially regarding aesthetics. A lot of the sprite graphic changes make no sense whatsoever. The time limit in the normal exit is abysmally low. The secret exit is confusing and I never knew if I was doing anything correctly.
Sinc-X
DESIGN: 9/50
CREATIVITY: 11/30
AESTHETICS: 8/20
TOTAL SCORE: 28/100
There's not much good to say about this level. Most of the sprite placement feels unthoughtful and/or purely irritating, and the distractingly unappealing colors and terrible sprite replacements make this one a chore to get through (the tileset itself is pretty decent but totally overshadowed by that). The platforming doesn't really pose any interesting or fun challenges.
The secret exit is absolutely terrible. Line guides you can hardly see (or, often, not see at all) plus switches with unpredictable outcomes (of which the bad choices mean restarting the ENTIRE THING) make for a completely unfun experience, and the "game over" screen is just another kick in the rear.
Rameau's Nephew
DESIGN: 25/50
CREATIVITY: 16/30
AESTHETICS: 17/20
TOTAL SCORE: 58/100
Æsthetically, this level is quite striking, with a strong atmosphere and a distinctive visual style. The background, especially, is particularly well done, though it reminds me more of an ancient city than a simple fortress. Some of the sprite changes, in contrast, feel a little more forced, particularly the Thwimp (which is made all the more confusing by its sharing the Boney Beetle graphic swap with the much more destructable Goomba replacements), and making the stompable bullets in to non-stompable-looking flames was also perhaps not the best form of functional communication. But on the whole things look quite nice.
Gameplay-wise, the main path is reasonable solid if not groundbreaking, with a solid mixture of castle and ghosthouse elements with a few other platforms and the like to keep things interesting. The annoyingly placed Fishin' Boo is an unfortunate element; oddly enough, the level seems to realize this and try to compensate by only having it present for a very short time, but this only serves to highlight the fact that it probably shouldn't have been included at all. But otherwise, the main path doesn't give too much to complain about.
The secret exit, on the other hand, feels like a bit of a misstep. Though striking it appearance, it seems largely based around non-marked Podoboos randomly ambushing the player, largely in a line-guided segment (or, towards the end, in a sort-of-blind drop), limiting their ability to react to them. I've played more vexing levels, but this was perhaps not the best idea for a central concept. Getting booted out of the level for randomly taking the wrong path is also a bizarre and arbitrary punishment.
+ Looks pretty neat
+ Pretty competent main path
- Secret path probably a mistake
- A few miscellaneous questionable design choices
Other: People expecting a Donkey-Kong-themed level when hearing this title will be sorely disappointed.
Koopster
DESIGN: 25/50
CREATIVITY: 17/30
AESTHETICS: 16/20
TOTAL SCORE: 58/100
I think this could've looked more vaporwave, it has a lot of purple and yellow but I feel it could've been more "filtered", perhaps some brigther outlines would help you achieve something more faithful. The level looked mostly good, though I'm a bit iffy with the random title screen font floating all about (Peach rescue scene font is better), the randomly scattered black squares in the pits looked kinda ugly and the second room and especially the autoscroller with these glowing outlines didn't look that good. It was rarely defying, other than a thwomp that I couldn't see.
The level design is decent, but it's very lacking of focus. Every room presents new concepts that barely get developed at all. The fourth room is though is very slow and uninteresting. I feel you went more for a nice experience than for level design that stands out, and I'd say you pulled that part off somewhat nicely. But I would really like to see interesting setups in this!
lolyoshi
DESIGN: 18/50
CREATIVITY: 19/30
AESTHETICS: 16/20
TOTAL SCORE: 53/100
CAN YOU FEEL THE OVERALL BLANDNESS OF THIS LEVEL
Noivern
DESIGN: 18/50
CREATIVITY: 13/30
AESTHETICS: 6/20
TOTAL SCORE: 37/100
Aside from the outside ground palettes, this level is actually kinda ugly. The glowing exanimation is not entirely done in the inside sections (e.g. water and coins) and the floating words in the outside sections do nothing to enhance the level and just look weird. The respriting is random and nonsensical, and I get the impression that you use all sorts of different sprites throughout the level just so you can show off their changed graphics.
The level was unfocused. A lot of things are used once and never seen again. In particular, the slow autoscrolling section with muncher jumps was boring and bogged the whole level down.
Sinc-X
DESIGN: 8/50
CREATIVITY: 9/30
AESTHETICS: 0/20
TOTAL SCORE: 17/100
Was this....reeeeeeeeeally necessary? The whole æsthetic meme was fun in the past but it's overstayed its welcome by now, and I don't think there's any better proof than this level, which has to be one of the ugliest I've ever seen. The design is bland and often repetitive while somehow being all over the place at the same time; there's little that draws attention other than the completely headache-inducing visuals (especially the inside section).
Rameau's Nephew
DESIGN: 30/50
CREATIVITY: 18/30
AESTHETICS: 16/20
TOTAL SCORE: 64/100
What's impressive about the outdoor sections of this level, at least, is that they manage to look genuinely good despite the fact that the visual style is clearly meant ironically. That's a tricky needle to thread, and these parts of the level, at least, do a skilled job of it. The interior sections, on the other hand, with their muddier palettes and flashing borders, take the joke a little too far, and look gaudy and significantly less pleasant; I think the gag might have honestly worked better if they had resisted this.
Gameplaywise, the level is competent. It doesn't try to do anything too ambitious, but it's never annoying or boring, varies things up a bit in each section, and throws in enough weird little touches to be entertaining and strange without seeming all too excessively wacky. Ultimately it's a joke, but it's a well-executed one designed with care.
+ Mostly looks good despite making fun of a style
+ Honestly pretty weird and fun
- Still ultimately subordinates gameplay to a joke
Other: Pink water -does- have a certain je ne sais quoi, I have to admit.
DESIGN: 25/50
CREATIVITY: 17/30
AESTHETICS: 16/20
TOTAL SCORE: 58/100
I think this could've looked more vaporwave, it has a lot of purple and yellow but I feel it could've been more "filtered", perhaps some brigther outlines would help you achieve something more faithful. The level looked mostly good, though I'm a bit iffy with the random title screen font floating all about (Peach rescue scene font is better), the randomly scattered black squares in the pits looked kinda ugly and the second room and especially the autoscroller with these glowing outlines didn't look that good. It was rarely defying, other than a thwomp that I couldn't see.
The level design is decent, but it's very lacking of focus. Every room presents new concepts that barely get developed at all. The fourth room is though is very slow and uninteresting. I feel you went more for a nice experience than for level design that stands out, and I'd say you pulled that part off somewhat nicely. But I would really like to see interesting setups in this!
lolyoshi
DESIGN: 18/50
CREATIVITY: 19/30
AESTHETICS: 16/20
TOTAL SCORE: 53/100
CAN YOU FEEL THE OVERALL BLANDNESS OF THIS LEVEL
Noivern
DESIGN: 18/50
CREATIVITY: 13/30
AESTHETICS: 6/20
TOTAL SCORE: 37/100
Aside from the outside ground palettes, this level is actually kinda ugly. The glowing exanimation is not entirely done in the inside sections (e.g. water and coins) and the floating words in the outside sections do nothing to enhance the level and just look weird. The respriting is random and nonsensical, and I get the impression that you use all sorts of different sprites throughout the level just so you can show off their changed graphics.
The level was unfocused. A lot of things are used once and never seen again. In particular, the slow autoscrolling section with muncher jumps was boring and bogged the whole level down.
Sinc-X
DESIGN: 8/50
CREATIVITY: 9/30
AESTHETICS: 0/20
TOTAL SCORE: 17/100
Was this....reeeeeeeeeally necessary? The whole æsthetic meme was fun in the past but it's overstayed its welcome by now, and I don't think there's any better proof than this level, which has to be one of the ugliest I've ever seen. The design is bland and often repetitive while somehow being all over the place at the same time; there's little that draws attention other than the completely headache-inducing visuals (especially the inside section).
Rameau's Nephew
DESIGN: 30/50
CREATIVITY: 18/30
AESTHETICS: 16/20
TOTAL SCORE: 64/100
What's impressive about the outdoor sections of this level, at least, is that they manage to look genuinely good despite the fact that the visual style is clearly meant ironically. That's a tricky needle to thread, and these parts of the level, at least, do a skilled job of it. The interior sections, on the other hand, with their muddier palettes and flashing borders, take the joke a little too far, and look gaudy and significantly less pleasant; I think the gag might have honestly worked better if they had resisted this.
Gameplaywise, the level is competent. It doesn't try to do anything too ambitious, but it's never annoying or boring, varies things up a bit in each section, and throws in enough weird little touches to be entertaining and strange without seeming all too excessively wacky. Ultimately it's a joke, but it's a well-executed one designed with care.
+ Mostly looks good despite making fun of a style
+ Honestly pretty weird and fun
- Still ultimately subordinates gameplay to a joke
Other: Pink water -does- have a certain je ne sais quoi, I have to admit.
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