Deep Oceanic Fauna

[litchh]

Created for Water Level Contest
Almost generic underwater level with gimmicks from vary episodes. This level contents lots of common underwater creatures, not just cheep-cheeps & bloopers.
I didn't notice, that music has wrong bitrate, so I updated it now. Also I added some autocode. Don't worry, this level is still playable without lunadll :3

Screenshots:

Spoiler: show

Video playthrough:

Spoiler: show

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/download/r1k92 ... +Fauna.zip

[Alagirez]

are these underwater mountains? (see at the last screen)? jk
Judging for the screens, looks pretty nice, detailed, and i'm sure it's fun to play! I will play this and I will give you a small review when i'm done.
Also congrats for winning that contest!

[lighthouse64]

It's another one of those reviews from you know who... ME!

Here's your grade for your level.


Now I'll give the feedback.

Gameplay: 90%
Pros.
Good job using the clams as gimmics. I like how you made them an instant death if you got caught.
I also really liked how you made the whole level full of multiple diverging paths. It helped keep me interested.
The special coins were well placed in harder areas to reach (except for the last one)
I liked how you made many cheep cheeps spawn, but they didn't come out too fast, as to impede any way of swimming forward.



Cons.
Instead of saying that you shouldn't jump on enemies because the player is in the deep ocean, you could've said that the enemies were poisonous and they would hurt you, because otherwise it doesn't really make sense why a goomba without spikes would hurt you.
The last special coin should've been harder to obtain.
Some areas needed more coins. I will show one area.


Graphics:84%
(I am going to be nit picky about this, but I won't take off major points for small mistakes)

Pros.
The Graphics fit well together. I liked how you incorporated vanilla graphics to fit into the level.
I smile upon the variety of npc usage. It made the level more interesting.
I like the transparency of the lotus volcano.
Good usage of the holes in the rocks for spawning cheep cheeps.


Cons.
The outlining was mixed between dark grey and black. Either you should've used only black outline or grey outline.
I suggest that you use some tile variety though. It gets a bit boring. Same goes for the backgrounds.
It's kinda hard to see the toad's eyes. Next time try to make them more visible, because I thought they had no eyes in the beginning. :p
The boat with the star floating over it should've looked more wrecked. It would fit the sad music theme better.
I suggest that you use one type of color for the block, instead of darkening it. Also the bottom corner block needs to curve.



Ambiance and background: 100%
I have nothing against anything with the background or the ambience I feel like the night sky and ocean bottom fit well, and the music helped keep the sad slowness of the level together.


Overall, this was a well made level that needs a few tweaks. I would say that it should go into the pretty good section.

[as303298]

My Review:

Atmosphere [5/5]
As much as I hate water levels, you pulled off a Deep Ocean atmosphere perfectly. Especially the end of the level, where you are literally swimming up out of this underwater chasm to a raft. Kudos man, this was a great ending to the level.

Level Design [3/5]
I didn't care much for so many sidepaths if they led to the exact same spot. This would still fall under my definition of being linear, since the level was very straight forward. Then theres the Red Bewt, what was the point of it if it was ultimately never used?

Also, there while there was a midpoint, I saw a distinct lack of any powerups in blocks. A majority of what you could use were being eaten by oysters, forcing the player to either deal with it or go on without it. Then there's the fact the level doesnt incorporate that many blocks to hit, and the ones that do only have a single, lone and pointless coin. I expected random enemies or powerups in these. Let alone, blocks help distract the player, something which would be be nice in such an "open" water level.

Graphical Continuity [4/5]
While this isn't directly your fault, I can't disregard it. The tileset you used is technically broken. The connector pieces between perpendicular walls doesn't visually connect. While it isn't really a problem in its own right....it does become an eye-sore once someone does notice it.

BGO Placement [4/5]
You used what you had pretty darn well. But if this is a deep ocean, I would've expected more than just a few pieces of seaweed. Don't forget that the deep ocean has vents, glowing fishes, and other pieces of eye-candy. I highly suggest looking into more eye-candy npcs for the level.

NPC Placement [3/5]
The level is nice for a while, but it gets very over-powering if you try to stay in one spot in order to readjust your swimming conditions.
Also, for such a cramped level, DON'T use bloopers. These are the most irritating thing you can use in water levels, especially considering their placements are always in a cramped spot.

Difficulty Replayability [4/5]
If you were to add some fun little side-areas for bonuses and add a purpose for the Red Bewt, I would certainly play this again. But, of course, since I hate water levels I won't. But...that isn't hurting your score :3

Overall Score: 23/30
Final Score: 7.6/10
Judgement: Pretty Good
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7ANYS_JClw

Spoiler: show

[RoundPiplup]

Oh... I remember playing this level while doing the reviewing phase. It's basically the most balanced one in gameplay among the other 3 levels. I mean, it's nice overall, though I know that some places can be skipped(said in my judge review).

[Ness-Wednesday]

Wow... I feel like a fool for rating this low.
Never really knew what was the idea, I think I should learn about judging more.

But this one was very nice, relaxing but weird.
I didn't understand about the enemies in this level, the idea of the Podooboo shoe was probably my fault.
I wonder, could you make the water in ending section not be multiple water, or is there a water limit?