Hello everyone, its been awhile I showed a new level. I'm surprised what place I'm at because of the last level contest where I only reached Tier 3 in 38th place. Which is "ok" for me because that was my first time doing this contest. I feel very proud about myself of how a big improvement I went to, just by doing my second time submitting my level. It seems like these judges really liked my level too besides the boss and other few things. I think this is one of favorite levels I made because of how much effort I try to put in. Like I said before, feel free to criticize it or wait until the Tower of Biased 8 comes out.
I hope ya like it!
CC9 Results:
12. GameClip477 - Blue Desert Dunes - 8/10
- Bomber57 (7.5/10)
- This was a pretty nice desert level. The monochrome blue placed on every graphic was soothing to the eyes and went rather well with the music. I enjoyed the small side sections in the first stretch of the level. The ruins part of the level was alright. I had issues with the rising spike section because, even though you know what is coming, it is rather sudden. Also, the jumps toward the top of that section are very difficult and you could easily hit your head as big mario and fall into the rising spikes. The boss was annoying because of the Shy Guys in the second phase. You had no good position to stand that would allow them to spawn and allow you to get to them in time before they walked off into the quicksand. Also, if you stood on the middle two platforms in that phase the boss couldn't attack you because it would be floating in the ceiling blocks, preventing it from throwing fireballs at you. A good level with an alright second half and boss.
Chad (7.6/10)
- Great level! It introduces itself like a standard desert level with a deep atmosphere, but it gradually unfolds into a little story, with mystery-themed gimmicks and treasure hunting. The level design does a great job of transitioning the player into this, by starting off simple and linear with a few minor bonus rooms, then adding some exploration and puzzle-solving, until you finally end up inside a temple that's filled to the brim with various traps and obstacles. The interior sections are my favorite part, as they have the most going on for them. A door maze, rising spike trap, secret door leading to the final boss, plus some precise and tricky but reasonable climbing are all a great variety. The cutscenes are nicely done, too. One aspect of the level disappoints me though, and that's the boss. It's a good idea, and I like how the arena's set up and how it changes, but it's made unenjoyable by the Shy Guy generators. Each one dies extremely fast after it spawns, so you have to react perfectly in order to grab one. That's extremely difficult to pay attention to while Fiery Wisp is flying just overhead. Even if you do manage to grab one, sometimes a fireball will kill it in your hand. If all you did was set Shy Guy to turn around at edges, this boss would be so much better. Also, because of the ceiling, sometimes Wisp will just stop throwing fire for a while. The checkpoint should also be closer to the boss, and I also didn't care for how abruptly the spike trap starts. The speed is fine, but you need to initially react really fast. Other than those though, this was a pretty impressive level.
Quill (8.5/10)
- Wow, what an amazingly atmospheric level. You really nailed that mysterious feel, especially with the puzzles, though the 4 doors one was more trial and error than anything else and I didn't see any indication to what doors you had to pick. Overall though, great job. There's a lot of variety. The boss is pretty good, but the shy guys are a pain since it's so easy for them to fall in the quicksand as you don't have much time to react and pick them up. Other than that, good job!
TNTtimelord (8.5/10)
- Great monotone level! It has a deep icy, cold desert feel to it and it gets even better when you start implementing the ruins atmosphere, because that works even better! Coin placement is great, NPC placement is great, and the monotone really helps make the SMB2 styled stuff fit in well. The level had a great length, design, and gameplay. Although, one of the issues I had was awkward placement of nippers. I also had trouble distinguishing what quicksand I could get stuck in and what was just regular BGOs. The boss was also rather boring because the generator was moving ungodly slow and it was very easy to dodge the projectiles. Nice attempt though as it still fits with the entire atmosphere. One more thing: Max looks a lot better now!
zlakerboy357 (7.9/10)
- Cool level. Everything was recolored blue and the level was pretty looking. It had a good amount of BGOs and the NPC placment was pretty good as well. The level had a lot of potential as there were challenges in most of the sections. The boss was well made as well. I got some complaints though. The pipes had a different type of colors than the most of the GFXs in the level. And I did see soem cutoffs in Section 17. Otherwise great job on the level.
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Sorry for the bump but, I just wanted to let you guys know that I decided to make a fixed version where I changed and added some touches with the help from judge's comments for this levels.
The list of changes for the fixed version:
- darken more of the dark quicksand to not look similar to light quicksand
- In four door section, there's now an indication of what door to go to (no more trial and error)
- recolor the pipes again by using the same palette
- In the rising spike section, fixed the top part so now it's possible to not get hit with Super Mario from the munchers.
- no more cutoffs in Section 17
- moved checkpoint near the boss
- redesigned the boss
Download:
Old Verison -
http://www.mediafire.com/download/8av73 ... +Dunes.zip
New Version -
http://www.mediafire.com/download/s7lde ... xed%29.zip
