DimensionWarped Posted August 10, 2007 Report Share Posted August 10, 2007 The level design is gorgeous and everything was cool until I got stuck in the bubble riding part... I'll play some more later and get back to you on that. But it appears that there's no way to get out of that area. Um... up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spike Posted August 10, 2007 Report Share Posted August 10, 2007 I really don't know how to say this, and I really don't mean to offend, but I'm dissapointed. Maybe it was all of the hype, I don't know. But here we go with the review. + Gorgeous sprites and backgrounds + Cool music + I like how the teleporters changed the look of the level + Bubble gimmick gave me Triple Trouble nostalgia + Kickass title card + Two part boss. Awesome. But... - There were too many enemies, and they were all annoying as hell, especially the practically looping laser sound of the dashing fish. - Sonic feels slow and tough to control. I feel like the poor guy has boulders tied to his feet. - Level design is very... Blocky. Lack of slopes or slanted ground (There were a few instances, but not enough to be Sonic-ish) left me bored. It was also very frustrating, and the screwy depths of the tiles made it feel like Sonic 2 beta. For example, I would take a spring upward and half of the tiles would be in front of Sonic, half behind. It just looked terrible. - Feels buggy and too fangamey. The casino level from last year felt like Sonic, so I'm not saying you got it all wrong. - The first boss part. It was clearly edited from Marble Palace Zone, it stayed offscreen half of the time (Due to high speed and very free movement), and the clouds followed you exactly and stuck to your position. - I quit because I kept getting killed by the second part of the boss when I clearly jumped on the top of it's head. Buggy. - Lack of explanation for the crank and teleporters. It took me forever to figure to push up on the crank (Sonic should probably move his arms while turning the crank, too. Not just magically stare and turn it), and took me even longer to figure out what the hell the teleporter even was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DimensionWarped Posted August 10, 2007 Report Share Posted August 10, 2007 Never had that problem with the second part of the boss fight. Maybe you are experiencing strange behavior of some sort. Works fine on the two computers I've tested it on anyway. And I'm also not particularly familiar with Marble Palace zone. As for the blocky level design, all I have to say to that is "no shit sherlock, its a water level." Aside from Hydrocity zone, thats what you get with water levels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spike Posted August 10, 2007 Report Share Posted August 10, 2007 It happened to me twice, first made me lose my rings and the second killed me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slingerland Posted August 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2007 It was clearly edited from Marble Palace Zone Is that a complaint? Do you expect us to use COMPLETELY original everything? Also, I'm not finding these alleged "bugs." Feels buggy and too fangamey. The casino level from last year felt like Sonic, so I'm not saying you got it all wrong. Too fangamey? Wtf are you talking about? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkyLights Posted August 10, 2007 Report Share Posted August 10, 2007 The awesome: -The Hydrocity water effect is pretty awesome. Well done. Better than mine -The Badniks are well programmed. (Except for that starfish one. That thing -pisses me off. >) -The boss(es) were pretty intuitive and original. Nice job on them. -The gimmicks in general were plenty and solidly made. It wasn't quite clear how to turn the water wheel, but I figured it out. -The portal to another place that popped up a few times was a very interesting touch. Is that supposed to be like traveling through time? -Also, congratulations on not putting rings every five pixels and making the player work for them. -No slowdown at all for me. Nice job. The criticisms. Don't read this if you're angsty. -The beginning of Act 1 is too simple. Maybe it's just cause I took the bottom route. -Like I said above, that starfish enemy pisses me off > -What's with all of the checkpoints all over the place that don't do anything? -Speaking of checkpoints, mind making it so that it keeps track of time? -Are you supposed to go through the ceiling tiles if you're floating in the bubble? -In Act 2, the part with the five or six rotating platforms is very unforgiving when it comes to that timer. :[ I drowned just as soon as I reached the solid ground next to the air bubble vent. -Will Act 3 have some extra length to it eventually, or will it just be the boss? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tentril Posted August 10, 2007 Report Share Posted August 10, 2007 Awesome demo. I agree with Spike about the Crank and Teleporters. They were kind of confusing, but i figured them out fine. I'm just wondering where it is that the teleporters take you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DimensionWarped Posted August 10, 2007 Report Share Posted August 10, 2007 What we did was we took a risk. I said to Slingerland at the time that people would have complaints if it was a water level in the style of SCD/S1 because these levels are traditionally slower and more difficult and all around less liked than land levels. Personally, I like the level very much and find it to fit the style of Tidal Tempest... which was the target by the way... very well. Now, if what you want is ground levels, cool, we have that too. Its just not what we've been working on lately. And the broken checkpoints are my fault because I didn't want to miss the 8:00PM deadline and just finished the checkpoint system. Also yeah, the starfish... I don't want people killing my precious robots too easily. Any self respecting mad scientist would feel the same way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spike Posted August 10, 2007 Report Share Posted August 10, 2007 Look, I didn't mean to offend. You don't have to get so bent out of shape about it. No, I don't "expect you to use COMPLETELY original everything", I'm just saying that it's so un-edited that I recognized it right away. As for being too fangamey, I'm not sure how to explain it. It just feels flimsy and unfinished. (I'm not taking act 2 into consideration) EDIT: Seeing your new post, I see that it is unfinished. That settles that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slingerland Posted August 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2007 EDIT: Seeing your new post, I see that it is unfinished. That settles that. I love it when people decide to read. <3 I'm under a tremendous amount of stress right now. I haven't slept in a week. Brush the anger I'm dealing out off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkyLights Posted August 10, 2007 Report Share Posted August 10, 2007 Also yeah, the starfish... I don't want people killing my precious robots too easily. Any self respecting mad scientist would feel the same way. Haha, okay. I suppose it wouldn't be as fun if it were too easy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DimensionWarped Posted August 10, 2007 Report Share Posted August 10, 2007 Oh, by the way, yeah, Act 3 is supposed to be more than just a boss area. Like most things, its unfinished. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DimensionWarped Posted August 10, 2007 Report Share Posted August 10, 2007 Look, I didn't mean to offend. You don't have to get so bent out of shape about it.No, I don't "expect you to use COMPLETELY original everything", I'm just saying that it's so un-edited that I recognized it right away. As for being too fangamey, I'm not sure how to explain it. It just feels flimsy and unfinished. (I'm not taking act 2 into consideration). I'll be sure to put spinning rims and extra body kits on it just for you... you know, seeing as the complete change of weapons and throwing on a filling water tank wasn't quite enough to tickle your fancy. I mean, who gives a damn about the fact that Sonic games recycled their own sprites for about 80% of the bosses in all 4 Genesis Sonic games... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GothicMetalXVI Posted August 10, 2007 Report Share Posted August 10, 2007 Well I myself will give this demo a 4 out of 5, its pretty solid and I do like difficulty. And this being an incomplete demo I'm sure I would have given it a 5 out of 5 had it been completed to its fullest, but still, very nice compared to a few others I've gotten my hands on. Feel happy the demo is just fine! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spike Posted August 10, 2007 Report Share Posted August 10, 2007 I'll be sure to put spinning rims and extra body kits on it just for you... you know, seeing as the complete change of weapons and throwing on a filling water tank wasn't quite enough to tickle your fancy.I mean, who gives a damn about the fact that Sonic games recycled their own sprites for about 80% of the bosses in all 4 Genesis Sonic games... Learn to take criticism. That's all I am going to say further. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slingerland Posted August 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2007 Uh...DWs the master of taking criticism. You're critique was rather lame. Seriously. I'm all for what you and everybody else has said (and I'll get to work on them ASAP), but come on...the boss isn't original enough? "Would you like more lettuce on your cheeseburger, sir?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DimensionWarped Posted August 10, 2007 Report Share Posted August 10, 2007 You call that a criticism? You are pulling hairs on small details. How many original sprites you make today? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRD Posted August 10, 2007 Report Share Posted August 10, 2007 - Level design is very... Blocky. Lack of slopes or slanted ground (There were a few instances, but not enough to be Sonic-ish) left me bored. The labyrinth zone consisted of blocky-ness and lack of slopes. =\ - Feels buggy and too fangamey. The casino level from last year felt like Sonic, so I'm not saying you got it all wrong. I would really take offense to that, I saw a helluva lot of shit in that level that could counter that comment. I love this demo, the graphics were out standing, especially that water paralax, water effects, and those tiles. Cut him some slack, people, you some of you (You know who you are) rushed him to get this demo finished. Also, if you look closely on his page, it says: Demo [bETA]. So some things might feel incomplete.....because it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spike Posted August 10, 2007 Report Share Posted August 10, 2007 You call that a criticism? You are pulling hairs on small details. How many original sprites you make today? Uh... I think three. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slingerland Posted August 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2007 Uh... I think three. Yeah, and they lack shading (Sunset Park). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spike Posted August 10, 2007 Report Share Posted August 10, 2007 Yeah, and they lack any and all shading. No, they don't, and I'm not going to argue about this anymore. Let's just drop it. Real mature to trash on my level art just because you weren't happy with my review. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slingerland Posted August 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2007 Good, because it was stupid to begin with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DimensionWarped Posted August 10, 2007 Report Share Posted August 10, 2007 Yeah, I'm tired of Spike's lame complaints based mostly on the fact that its a water level that isn't hydrocity zone. Lets move on. I'm far more interested in hearing what people thought about my boss sequence aside from the fact that "zomg" I used an edited sprite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark the Echidna Posted August 10, 2007 Report Share Posted August 10, 2007 Well, level design is quite good, and everything is impressive. If it feels beta-ish, at least it feels like something beta-ish from the MD! But I've got a quite weird bug, on the boss: Also, why "Menu" is a menu option? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DimensionWarped Posted August 10, 2007 Report Share Posted August 10, 2007 I'll change it to options later. No idea what the source of that bug is though, sorry. First time I've seen it. Actually, its possible that the checkpoint variable didn't get reset if you found some way to skip level 1... which I'm not sure exists. Anyway, if you have the ability to skip level 1, do it at the start of the act. In the meantime, I'm going to go ahead and post an executable of just the boss sequence... Also, threw out Euan's font in favor of something I slapped together in 3 minutes. http://darkdjinn.brpxqzme.net/Nexus Its in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts