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Chocolate Island 6 - 1st

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Re: Chocolate Island 6 - 11th

Post by Grounder »

today on the "build a short game" contest

a quickman laser finale
Why don't you eat me?

I am perfectly tasty...

AND I'LL STEAL YOUR SOUL! :twisted:

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Re: Chocolate Island 6 - 11th

Post by Mandew »

✓ Takes an absurd crossover premise
✓ Tries to make it dark, depressing and edgy
✓ Spends metric tons of energy trying to make it look cool on the surface
✓ Doesn't finish the job where it matters
✓ Shows attachment to level design set-ups despite the fact that they effectively just become ESP traps to a player.
✓ Blatantly predictable try-hard story
✓ Level is feature-length
✓ Level has mechanics that only the author knows how they work and expects the player to just know
✓ Author probably is going to say "but I design hacks for myself" despite the fact that this was submitted in a contest.

yup, that's a skewer/scorpion production alright

On the plus side:
+ "this is my brother, Gohan" are words that exist in a ROMhack now.


A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION A SKEWER/SCORPION PRODUCTION
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Re: Chocolate Island 6 - 11th

Post by Super Maks 64 »

Sebby19 wrote: 5 years ago To answer raocow's question: "When has a hack in a level ever worked out?" I read in the youtube comments that it did in 2009.
-You know, playing the 2009 contest winner might be a good idea as a 'filler' day, between LPs.
Jokes on you, raocow has already done that






I know that intro and overworld aren't supposed to be relevant to the level, but man does it feel off when you enter the unedited Yoshi's Island map with unchanged level name and a glitchy Mario Start screen (but even then, it's not like the story was finished anyway).

Also I wonder how could someone add multicheckpoints, not use enough of them and still keep the lives counter.
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Re: Chocolate Island 6 - 11th

Post by CM30 »

Well that was something. Another perfect illustration for how submitting a whole game in a single level is a bad idea for these types of contests, and how people have a real tendency to go overboard in general.

It's also perfectly illustrates another design issue Skewer/Scorpion's submissions for these contests seem to have:

They seemed to be pulled from way too late in the original game. Like, this level wouldn't necessarily be bad in a longer game. Hell, it may fit quite well in world 7 or so of a lengthy story driven hack.

But a contest isn't that. A contest is a situation where the judges/players will be thrown into the level straight away with no idea about what the context is behind the level, nor how most of your custom sprites and elements actually work. It's the same problem that Temple of the Golden Dollar had in a previous context; the level was designed to be the final level in its original game, which made it brutally difficult, unfair and confusing for anyone who hadn't played the first 80 or so beforehand.

TLDR: Don't submit your hack's final level for a contest, and don't make it as long as an entire game.
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raocow Plays Secret of Chrono Evermore

Post by Awoo »

On today's episode of: raocow Plays Secret of Chrono Evermore, he plays through 2300 AD's Omnitopia Mana Fortress. Heck of a time, dodging those Quickman Lasers though!

Was that from a standalone game/hack? It felt like a slice of pie that wasn't large enough but still had a way different flavor than the rest of the dinner.
Also, what an anticlimactic ending. Felt like it could have actually gone somewhere, but, :ehh:
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Re: raocow Plays Secret of Chrono Evermore

Post by Mandew »

Awoo wrote: 5 years ago On today's episode of: raocow Plays Secret of Chrono Evermore, he plays through 2300 AD's Omnitopia Mana Fortress. Heck of a time, dodging those Quickman Lasers though!

Was that from a standalone game/hack? It felt like a slice of pie that wasn't large enough but still had a way different flavor than the rest of the dinner.
Also, what an anticlimactic ending. Felt like it could have actually gone somewhere, but, :ehh:
knowing the author, this is definitely part of a full-on romhack.
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Re: raocow Plays Secret of Chrono Evermore

Post by Ashan »

Mandew wrote: 5 years ago knowing the author, this is definitely part of a full-on romhack.
Is that not explicitly against the rules of the contest?
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Re: raocow Plays Secret of Chrono Evermore

Post by Mandew »

Ashan wrote: 5 years ago
Mandew wrote: 5 years ago knowing the author, this is definitely part of a full-on romhack.
Is that not explicitly against the rules of the contest?
So long as the work on the level had started after the contest started, it was allowed.
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Re: Chocolate Island 6 - 11th

Post by thatguyif »

Anyone else having trouble finding the video today? It's not showing on the Posted videos list, and sometimes doesn't even show up at all under uploads.
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Re: Chocolate Island 6 - 11th

Post by raocow »

that's a weird youtube issue that has been going on for a few days, it's happening to random people on random channels :(
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Re: Chocolate Island 6 - 11th

Post by Daizo »

Okay so I'm usually one who is actually a pretty big fan of Hunter and Skewer's works, and as one who has played The Crater and has seen the story of Hunter's Revenge 2 and so fourth, I.... can't say this level was their best work. The lasers are a really cool sprite and so are those yellow drones (the Yellow Koopa reskins that shoot projectiles), as well as the easter egg room that references TD4C's characters was really neat to see. However, by the first midpoint things took a 180 with a lot of rushed design decisions and cramped areas that expect you to know the level beforehand, and the story just ending abruptly feels like a slap to the face. That's fair criticism I feel.

However, calling out them using save states when you don't know if they did or not, calling them out on the story of a crossover that they are doing for fun and not as a job, and using their older works against them is not something that should be tolerated. Yes I get it, they submitted it to a public contest for other people to play. The thing is though, who is really going to dig up old contest entries years down the road? raocow did it for his series, and other let's players would do the same. That is one of three groups who would play it ultimately: judges, lurkers/other contestants, and let's players/streamers/playthrough channels. Anyone else? Not really unless you actually knew about it. True, maybe they could've made a smaller level that doesn't have as many broken things in it. Here's my counterargument to that statement: you almost have to be super ambitious to win in these contests, and if you don't you'll place in a good 15th place at the highest unless your name is Gamma V. (lightest could've EASILY been a glitchy mess with the whole 4 foregrounds working simultaneously). Is it the best way they could've approached it? Maybe not, but it's been done before.

tl;dr -- I feel that it's okay to judge the level. It's a mediocre okay level, after all. The story in this case is rushed and ended anti-climatically. But don't insult the creator while you're at it. I was literally told by raocow a few days ago that nobody was doing it, and in that case in time he was right.... well here we are now, proved wrong, by people calling out Skewer and Hunter for their "super long and dragged out crossover stories" and "Rushed levels because they intentionally leave their levels untested and not totally because of the deadline" in 2019. That's really hilarious to me.

Situations like these make me not want raocow to play my own romhacks to be completely honest... especially with P-switch on his current list. It certainly made Hunter quit hacking for good. raocow is a good guy. I'm aware this is not his fault.
Last edited by Daizo 5 years ago, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Chocolate Island 6 - 11th

Post by Nimono »

DAY 8: 11th
------------------------------------

11th - Skewer - Sica & the Dark Princess

Nimono:
Design- 5/40
Comment: HOW!? How were you supposed to realistically know how to get by some of those instakill lasers!? ESPECIALLY the hall of them at the end of the FIRST midpoint room!
Like... What the heck man? There's some high difficulty here, so much to lose for making ONE mistake since the level is SO LONG! That's ridiculous!

----------------

Creativity- 23/30
Comment: I quite enjoyed how you utilized the different characters' abilities for the gameplay, but in the end it mostly became "Oh, use the floaty character constantly, high jump
is pointless except in these specific points." It made me sad.

----------------

Aesthetics- 30/30
Comment: I may not like the level design, but props to you- your artwork is superb. Your story, though, is cheesy and ends abruptly. The former is honestly a "who cares" kinda
thing, while the latter...not good. Though, to be quite honest, I don't feel it detracts from how amazing your graphics are. Or rather, they're so good I honestly CAN'T
dock you any points!

----------------

Overall: 58/100
Torchkas:
Design:
This level started off really promising. The premise had so much potential that it in a way disappointed me the more when the level started throwing these laser challenges at me that instantly kill me. They're too unforgiving. Even compared to some of the nitpicks I had with the way you introduce the "metroidvania" elements. The lasers just stick out like a sore thumb, they make the level that much worse.
21
Creativity:
This level of course, is very creative. It uses a novel concept that I don't think has been tried before in SMW, and it gives everything an elaborate lore reason. It knows how to combine ASM with the original SMW mechanics.
27
Aesthetics:
The original and pleasing aesthetics are very well made. Although I would have liked to see a bit more variation in the tileset, I really liked the setting and everything felt properly in place. The palette was kind of average though.
25
73/100
Wakana:
Design: 11/40

There are many aspects that need to be clarified with the design here.
First, difficulty setting. As soon as things start getting lively in
this level, the difficulty goes so much into the hard part that it's not
enjoyable anymore. In some sections you're required to do almost perfect
movements, or else you die and have to restart from the last midway point
(which thank god you put, or else I'd have called it quits). In others,
instead, there's just so much stuff going on in your screen that you get
lost and you just give up. Again, I'm glad more than one midway point is
in there, but I had to go with savestates from a certain point, since it
got into the unbearable field for me.
Second, level length. It's huge. Consider this together with what I just said
about the difficulty. This doesn't work well with it, since you're just
extending the player's sufferings with more and more tricky sections to
pass. The level, imo, should've been atleast half of its current size in
order to have an acceptable length for its difficulty. Either this, or you
could've toned the difficulty down by a whole lot.
Overall, not an enjoyable design. Playing this entry once was more than
enough for me.

Creativity: 22/30

There's a good use of your resources. Yes, you go into the awfully hard
field, but the use of the lasers in particular was pretty nice. There
are also other minor elements you used (like the conveyor blocks) that
did their job. The player switching and their different abilities were
a nice addition, but again, their use is standard-ish.

Aesthetics: 28/30

Well... what we have here? A full revamped SMW. It doesn't even look like
SMW anymore (except for that status bar sadly). Minor complaints (aside
from the unfitting statusbar), are the parts where you use those weird
purple crystal graphics that kind of look cutoffy a bit. Also, not really
sure what happens to your ground tileset where the goal point is.

OVERALL: 61/100
Noivern:
Design - 22
Creativity - 29
Aesthetics - 16
Total - 67
Comments - Man, this was the perfect setup for a boss. Actually, it was the perfect setup for a lot of things. I expected a tense or frantic sequence after restoring the power since it was hyped so much. I expected the plot to be resolved. I expected (prayed really) that the timing for the hate-inducing lasers of instant death would ease up a little bit. I expected to be able to easily discern elements such as enemies and doors from the myriad background pieces. All of these left me disappointed. But to your credit, you do some big things right. Exploring the strange factory and backtracking after the power came on and seeing all the differences was great. You actually made me WANT to change between the two characters and use their abilities to traverse the level. Overall, this a rather creative idea with flawed execution.
----------

everyone liked this level's design more than me, somehow.

i still don't like the level


...but I do agree with Daizo, no need to insult the creator for the level. God knows we all tend to go overboard trying to impress in contests.
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Re: Chocolate Island 6 - 11th

Post by raocow »

when I said it last time it was true, people *did* stay pretty civil and focusing on the level :(

something about this one really got people emotional
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Re: Chocolate Island 6 - 11th

Post by Daizo »

Reminder also: Hunter had no influence with the entry, this was all Skewer's work.
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Re: Chocolate Island 6 - 10th

Post by Nimono »

DAY 9: 10th
------------------------------------

10th - HFD & TLMB - unnamed (I'll call it Mario the Magician)

Nimono:
Design- 14/40
Comment: ? I was left wondering what was going on through the level. It worked alright with your gimmick, but it left me...wanting. Also, your next-to-last room doesn't scroll
upward??

----------------

Creativity- 20/30
Comment: A nice idea, although, I am disappointed that Leaf 2 does nothing, and the level as a whole doesn't make much use of your powers as I'd like- 90% of the time, Ice is what
you want. Anything else is just to clear space. Overall, the spells felt like they weren't used nearly as well as they could've been. Still, for only 3 hours of work, this
is amazing.

----------------

Aesthetics- 26/30
Comment: Very nice-looking level! You've done very well, it feels like a wizard's tower. Also kinda Yoshi's Island-ish- was this intentional?

----------------

Overall: 60/100
Torchkas:
Design:
This level introduces a couple of new mechanics in a rather quick and blunt way. It feels like some kind of tech demo for an upcoming game, which isn't necessarily something bad. The fault in this level is that it just isn't fun. There is nothing in there to challenge the player. All of the elements that have been accumulated aren't used provocatively in the design. It mostly just revolves around putting a platform here, or putting an ice cube there. Furthermore, the ice cubes cause a lot of slowdown. The flower/seed mechanic wasn't used anywhere in the level either. The finale felt very underwhelming, I didn't feel like I progressed much in the level.
18
Creativity:
Creatively, especially on the ASM part, this level is of course very good. You managed to make some fairly new additions and changes to the SMW mechanics that change the game in such a manner that was refreshing and caused you to change the design dramatically. Thematically, Mario seems to be a wizard, but a lot of the other things in the level don't really reflect this change. The enemies are pretty standard.
26
Aesthetics:
The tutorial section in the beginning is not pleasing at all. The level itself looks rather gray, although I think that fits with the magic theme. The SMW enemies stick out like a sore thumb though. I definitely think you could have paid more attention on the aesthetics.
14
58/100
Wakana:
Design: 29/40

The new mechanics... god. They totally change the game in a way. The
biggest bad aspect though, are the controls. I had to play the entry
atleast three times to get the hang of them; infact, my fourth run was
pretty smooth more or less, and allowed me to fully enjoy what the entry
is made of. The tutorial part isn't enough to get accustomed with the
controls, I'd have extended it a bit. Also, I must say that the L/R
buttons of the controller graphics weren't too obvious to see, I took a
while to figure out lol.
As for the level itself, it's a basic level, but thank god it is: I mean,
the player is still a bit disoriented for the new controls and such. While
the design itself isn't the best (the yellow pipe part could be considered
"broken" since the screen doesn't scroll vertically, massive slowdown
everywhere due to sprites generated with the magic), the entry was
pretty fun to go trough.

Creativity: 20/30

The use you make of the various spells isn't too complex: some parts
require the platform, some others require the ice blocks, some required
the piranha plant seed, some could use more than one way to get past, and
some needed two of the magic spells to get past, like platform + ice block.
An ordinary use of what you had. I appreciated the various combinations
overall.

Aesthetics: 19/30

I liked the graphics used in the inside part, the BG just slightly
clashes with the FG due to the different style, but I don't mind it.
The outside part's BG palette could find some work, it's very bright
and not too pleasant to see. The healthbar/mana gfx could've been a bit
better, as well as Mario's gfx, but I don't hate the ones you have here.
The music choices were fine. The SFX glitches often, do I have to curse
address $1DFA again?

OVERALL: 68/100
Noivern:
Design - 28
Creativity - 30
Aesthetics - 21
Total - 79
Comments - I had to break out the controller for this one, cause all these button combinations are hard to do on my keyboard and my laptop's terrible ghosting won't recognize more than three keys at once. The gimmick is quite frankly amazing, but I believe you overdid the number of options. I never had to use anything other than the standard shooter to damage enemies, and I never really used any of the charge options at all. I would have preferred if the tutorial was integrated into the first section rather than being its own section. It's really easy to get large slowdown just messing with the abilities. Aesthetics-wise, the music and graphical choices complement each other well in the main level, but the health and magic bars and the background in the tutorial are kind of ugly. The checkpoint system was much appreciated.
----------

The charging mechanic was clearly meant to be something you just figured out since level 1 is all you need for the most part, but...

Even then, it barely matters. Combat is basically nonexistent, just spam Fire 1, with Fire 3 needing enemies around to do anything, and Plant 2.......does nothing. There's no Plant 2 at all. That's why raocow always got a noise when using it- it's not that he wasn't using it properly, it's not that there's a condition for using it, it's that it just plain doesn't exist. ...on top of that, Plant 1 is only necessary for the tutorial area- the one other time it's used, Ice Special does the trick just fine. Just like how the entire rest of the level is about spamming Ice to cross water or jump to higher platforms. It's kinda sad, honestly. (I forget what Plant 3 does.)
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Re: Chocolate Island 6 - 11th

Post by Leet »

Daizo wrote: 5 years ago tl;dr -- I feel that it's okay to judge the level. It's a mediocre okay level, after all. The story in this case is rushed and ended anti-climatically. But don't insult the creator while you're at it. I was literally told by raocow a few days ago that nobody was doing it, and in that case in time he was right.... well here we are now, proved wrong, by people calling out Skewer and Hunter for their "super long and dragged out crossover stories" and "Rushed levels because they intentionally leave their levels untested and not totally because of the deadline" in 2019. That's really hilarious to me.
That's still not judging the creator, that's judging the creator's levels, plural, because their stuff is always like this. Surprisingly, you are allowed to criticize more than one level at a time

I'm sure people are saying awful things in the YT comments but, well. You know
Well it is a decent hack but sometime its just too repetitif there no level that actually pop in your face and your like oh yeah that level they all ressemble themselves and just monster along the way.
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Re: Chocolate Island 6 - 10th

Post by Kilgamayan »

Magic Mario XXL
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Re: Chocolate Island 6 - 10th

Post by Grounder »

And I thought that I was the lewd one here.
Why don't you eat me?

I am perfectly tasty...

AND I'LL STEAL YOUR SOUL! :twisted:

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Re: Chocolate Island 6 - 10th

Post by Ditocoaf »

Today's video inspired me to think about a fantasy magic system in which the main drawback to magic use is that your perception of time becomes cumulatively slowed the more you cast spells.

It can even be useful at first, but those who get too ambitious with their magic use find themselves trapped in slowdown and torturously bored. It's tempting to relive the boredom with even more magic. Practitioners eventually go mad, their minds warped by subjective hundreds of years passing. Human lives become semi-abstract long-term concepts they can barely hold on to.
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Re: Chocolate Island 6 - 10th

Post by Piesonscreations »

That's a really neat way to think about it, dito. nyoro~n
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Re: Chocolate Island 6 - 9th and 8th

Post by xnamkcor »

You cannot add yourself to the friends list.
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You cannot add yourself to the foes list.
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Re: Chocolate Island 6 - 9th and 8th

Post by Grounder »

please stop putting timers in your puzzle levels

general statement
Why don't you eat me?

I am perfectly tasty...

AND I'LL STEAL YOUR SOUL! :twisted:

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Re: Chocolate Island 6 - 9th and 8th

Post by Alice »

Grounder wrote: 5 years agoplease stop putting timers in your puzzle levels

general statement
Or at the very least give each section its own timer that resets when you use a reset door.
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Re: Chocolate Island 6 - 9th and 8th

Post by Nimono »

DAY 10: 9th / 8th
------------------------------------

9th - Pseudogon - Cloud Voyage

Nimono:
Design- 24/40
Comment: ARGH THOSE PIRANHA PLANTS THAT TRY TO SNIPE YOU WITH GRAVITYBALLS. There's also a part at the start of the second half where you can get permanently stuck and must wait
for time to run out if you get there big, and make the mistake of jumping up with the throw block like I did. It was a reflex action. Other than that, the obstacles
really don't get any more complex or difficult as the level goes on.

----------------

Creativity- 19/30
Comment: Enjoyed how the level's primarily about the flying carrots that move right. Very delicious. Although, they weren't used in any really new way. Still cool to see them!

----------------

Aesthetics- 23/30
Comment: THAT BACKGROUND. Love the parallax scrolling! Everything's so crisp and bright, too.

----------------

Overall: 66/100
Torchkas:
Design:
The theme throughout the level is orange floating platforms, which makes it an auto-scroller. For an autoscroller, it is kinda lengthy, especially when you die. In the beginning you randomly introduced a blue koopa, even though you never reuse it anywhere else. The way you incorporated ninjis into the level was very well done though. The venus fire traps are well done in their increase in difficulty over time. I'm not sure if the bullet bills did much, but they added to the challenge as well. With the level, the other theme you use is ON/OFF blocks, with simple puzzles revolving around them. These too, have a nice difficulty curve. The level isn't too hard, so the difficulty curve isn't very noticeable, but it's nice to have this progression anyway.
31
Creativity:
The idea you used is definitely not a new one. It doesn't seem like this level required a lot of ASM either. You used a small number of custom enemies at the end, but nothing stuck out.
12
Aesthetics:
The palette for this level is very well done. None of the colors stick out in the very well done pastels you used. I noticed the mushroom imprint in the clouds as well, which was a nice touch.
24
Total:
67/100
Wakana:
Design: 34/40

Lovely! Playing trough this level was a very fun go. I feared it would've
been another generic level with on/off switches, but no. You worked
well with the gimmick you had as base, and did many interesting
sections with it. This would've had perfect score if it wasn't this
linear-ish... and if the first part wasn't this slow.
Personal preferences of course, but objectively speaking, this level
is pretty good. Properly designed for the gimmicks it uses.

Creativity: 27/30

What I said up there pretty much: you used the ON/OFF blocks gimmick
on its almost full potential, using throw blocks in different ways,
using the platform + a smaller one later on, using the platforms
to get the Yoshi Coins, and so on. There are many good combos there
which made this level a very creative one.

Aesthetics: 19/30

Good use of the graphics overall. That layer 3 though... bugs me.
First, its colors should've been different from the layer 2 bg, it's
kind of confusing right now. Second... why is its scroll rate so weird?
Maybe you should've disabled the horizontal scroll of it, so that
it would've scrolled on its own, not sure though.
Music choice was okay.

OVERALL: 80/100
Noivern:
Design - 24
Creativity - 23
Aesthetics - 14
Total - 61
Comments - I have a feeling these layer 3 clouds aren't supposed to scroll with Mario, and faster than layer 2! It turns the background from pleasing into a dizzy mess, which is very unfortunate because the background looks great when I'm not moving. The infinitely moving platforms are some of my favorite sprites, but they're hard to use without making the level into a waiting game, which is unfortunately what this entry did. It didn't do enough to keep me from standing there waiting for the platform to hurry up so I can get to the next part. Music is very fitting.
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8th - levelengine - Chocolate Rush

Nimono:
Design- 27/40
Comment: I would score it higher, but... the midway is a bit lopsided, there's way more gameplay after than before, so dying after the midpoint is EXTREMELY costly. On top of
that...your gimmick is a little broken. Sometimes, the rhinos will eat the cookies, but not swap the blocks. In some situations, this leads to you being forced to die to
retry, since the cookies never respawn. This is also true of the third section of the level, if you drop the cookies. There's way too much penalty for a small mistake at
times, I can't rate it higher.

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Creativity- 30/30
Comment: In spite of the gimmick not working out too well at times, I feel there was much creativity in your setups for it!

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Aesthetics- 20/30
Comment: Very nice level, though the music's kinda loud compared to everything else.

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Overall: 77/100
Torchkas:
Design:
This level has well thought out design. It teaches its mechanics gracefully. The main and side mechanics are good in its own right. My gripe lies with the execution in the latter half of the level. SMW doesn't have stellar throwing mechanics, so the latter half where you have to precisely throw a block on a one-block space just doesn't feel right. The sections with the line-guides are pretty well made. The last room in particular though, has a very annoying section with munchers where if you throw the block on the munchers there's basically no way to solve it anymore. The rest of the level feels thought through and is well made.
24
Creativity:
Although the mechanics aren't entirely original, this level has an interesting take on them. The ASM isn't very heavy, but it sure is interesting. Aside from these mechanics you mostly use SMW enemies as obstacles.
20
Aesthetics:
This level looks very nice. The original tileset and palette mesh very well with the mechanics. The music is good, the level is pleasant to look at. It could have used a bit more variation in color in both the foreground and background though.
22
Total:
66/100
Wakana:
Design: 10/40

Savestates spam on its majesty. While there's a very creative use of what
you had, the design marks the borderline of kaizo and hard
difficulty, and ruins the whole experience. You introduce what
you use in a good way, then you suddently start going freaking insane,
asking the player to do the impossible. Clearing the level means that,
after many deaths and savestates, you figure out what it's needed to
do in order to pass on the next obstacle.
Another thing that ruined the experience is the functionality:
believe me, sometimes, the red rhino thingy didn't switch the solid/passable
blocks. It was really annoying. A savestateless run is nearly impossible.

Creativity: 24/30

As anticipated, there's a creative use of what has been put into
the level. Insane, yes, but creative still. I liked the base idea of the
fact that you have to feed the dino a cookie in order to switch
the blocks. Its use for each section and each puzzle was also well
made, even if not obvious in many parts (and for this I say thank
you for the reset doors spam that goes trough your whole level).

Aesthetics: 19/30

The FG is mostly good, I like the different FG elements crossings in
order to obtain unique decorations and tilesets. Some of the elements drawn
(like the chocolate bars and the... moon/planet/earth on layer 3) feel out
of palace with the vanilla smw gfx. Good hdma too, a nice touch, but
entering certain reset doors doesn't make it appear again (was this
code used as generator?). The bgm fits with difficulty more than with
the ambience, but it's not a too bad choice, I guess.

OVERALL: 53/100
Noivern:
Design - 34
Creativity - 21
Aesthetics - 19
Total - 74
Comments - Faster line-guided platforms are something I like seeing, so I enjoyed that part. I loved that the level's gimmick is shown to the player without requiring their input. It's super easy to miss with the block, so the abundant reset doors help. But the time limit is too low; even only taking the reset doors a few times will cause you to die via time. The mostly vanilla aesthetics are good, but the HDMA is completely unnecessary and detracts from the look of the level overall.
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WELL THAT CERTAINLY WAS A THING
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Mandew
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Re: Chocolate Island 6 - 9th and 8th

Post by Mandew »

That was a really good level coming from levelengine! It's too bad about the time limit problem -- the level probably would have scored just a bit higher if not for that mistake.
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