Checkered Plateau (Updated)

Quantix · Postby **Quantix** » Fri Feb 12, 2016 1:33 pm

Here I am with another level to give you all. I'd think of something else to say here, but eh.

Spoiler: show

Graphics:
SquishyRex
Sednaiur
Nat the Porcupine
Valterri
h2463
Zant

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/download/g71rl ... lateau.zip
Updated ver.:http://www.mediafire.com/download/9o33d ... au+1.5.zip

Changelog

Spoiler: show

Hope you enjoy!Hopefully.

Postby **Witchking666** » Sun Feb 21, 2016 3:15 pm

The first screen looks very flat, try expirimenting with pits, slopes and elevations some more.
The other screens look decently good though.

JupiHornet · Postby **JupiHornet** » Mon Feb 22, 2016 8:13 pm

UNOFFICIAL REVIEW of CHECKERED PLATEAU by QUANTIX

You, sir, are extremely lucky! Why? Because I now have a new reviewing system, and your level will be the first to get a review from me with it!

Anyway, let's get started,

Gameplay (60%): 3/10
Like witchking666 said, this level was very flat and boring, and iIreally can't say that I enjoyed playing it, ESPECIALLY that first section. There were only 4 enemy types in the whole level (Dino Rhinos, Koopas, Bullet Bills, and Piranha Plants) and they were all placed very far from each other, making the level seem barren, even more barren than it already is. The overall structure of the first section isn't great either, because it's mostly just jumping between 2-tile wide sizable mushrooms after a barren line ride, and a HUGE lack of coins and power-ups. There needs to be more diversity!
The second section is a lot better than the first since it's more condensed, but it still has its issues. Hitting a block to open a pathway is usually fine for me, but having to do it in a level that's already really long gets tiring. Overall it's not a bad level, but it needs much better enemy placement and more diversity in its design.

Graphics (30%): 5/10
Not a bad choice of graphics, but there are some questionable things going on here. First of all, the SMB3 piranha plants are broken. They appear one block above the pipes they come out of, and they hurt you even if they haven't come out of their pipes yet. Did you forget to send us the right NPC graphics?
In addition, I saw some other kinda weird things. The SMW Bullet Bill launchers have SMB3 Bullet Bills coming out of them. Looking at the editor, this tileset that you used has some nice BGOs. However, you barely USED them! The severe lack of BGOs just contributes to the "barren" feel that I was talking about earlier. More decorations came from the sizables than the BGOs. There is also a LOT of cutoff towards the left end of the second section.

Music (10%): 5/10
The SMW music fit the level well, but it was way too quiet. You can barely hear it over the sound effects! In addition, it's very repetitive, which gets annoying FAST in such a long level. The bonus section also has no music.

SCORE CALCULATION

Gameplay (60%): 18/60
Graphics (30%): 15/30
Music (10%): 5/10

Overall Score: 38/100 = 3.8/10 (Average)
This really could have been a great level, but the lack of NPCs and the overall barren feel of it make it seem like a bunch of wasted potential.

as303298 · Postby **as303298** » Tue Feb 23, 2016 3:16 am

My Review:
[Brace Yourself]

Atmosphere [0/5]
I honestly hated the atmosphere you tried to pull off. For one, the music doesn't fit whatsoever and is almost never heard. In fact, if I had not looked into the files to see what the music was I most likely wouldn't have been able to figure out where this came from. Secondly, the "checkered" tile-set is a neat idea. HOWEVER, seeing the same ugly tile-set being repeated over and over with size-ables hurts my eyes to no end. The vertical sections in particular were murder on my eyes to look at. If you really intend on making a plateau out of a tile-set, I highly recommend sticking with a canyon based tile-set or something with a lot more variety than what was chosen here.

Level Design [0/5]
For a plateau this is ironically filled with nothing but incredibly linear and flat. From looking up a plateau I can gather that it is reminiscent of a broken cliff or sorts.
But my main problem lies in the literal definition of "plateau": a state of little or no change following a period of activity or progress.
How in the world would a level with "little or no change" correspond to a fun level? This level was so flat and dull that I was actually capable of just pressing jump and letting Mario carry his momentum over obstacles.
On top of this, and I keep telling people to stop doing this, your level incorporated "artificial extensions." Meaning, you locked down the main path and forced the player to take a side path in order to hit an unnecessary switch. While it was cool at first, it got incredibly annoying. Especially the P-switch spot, which I am pretty sure is impossible to do if you make even the TINIEST mistake.

Next, there is the issue with the length. For how dull this level is, it is almost paired up with being unnecessarily long. A typical level should only be about to be four minutes or so, or you really risk people considering the level much too long. And, which I am taking a HUGE shot at this, but I am pretty sure you never tested this level before you submitted it.
Look at "NPC Placement" in order to full understand as to why I said this.

Graphical Continuity [2/5]
Like I said the tileset is incredibly ugly. On top of this, the tileset itself isn't complete. The 1*1 slopes do not connect correctly, check for yourself. Last, if you are going to have custom graphics, make sure you do it correctly.
Your piranha plants are so horribly broken that I really wanted to quit because it was clear you didn't test this level. Their graphic doesn't physically connect to the pipes at all, and neither does the hitbox. Due to the way you allowed the npc coding to work, their hitbox persists outside of the pipe. Meaning it always hurts you despite being in the pipe and also to be invisible.

BGO [0/5]
I admire your consistency, but this was very dull. A majority of the "space" taken up is by sizeables instead of actual BGOs. And the BGOs you did use were typical bushes and trees, nothing that really stood out to the eye.
This means that you ultimately failed to effectively use BGOs since it was not only repetitive but failed to take up all of the empty space you allowed to exist in the level. One easy way to fix this, clouds. If this level is really supposed to be this high up then add some interactive clouds. This not only fixes your linearity issues but adds variety.

NPC [1/5]
I commend you for placing these little rex replacements in neat little spots, but this is as far as this goes.
For one, like I said your piranha plants are not only graphically broken but physically broken too. Fix these graphics immediately, because this is completely unfair to die to something that is technically invisible.
Next, your hammer brothers phase through the blocks that they are technically placed on. This is why I am pretty sure you never tested this because this got pretty crazy towards the end of the level since the hammer brother just vanishes from the level.
Next, this level is so bloody bland with its NPC placement. It was only designed to be difficult rather than be immersive and creative. Like, cool another Rex just walking at me...better press jump. This design style really broke the immersion of actually playing a level my man, I highly suggest look into adjusting how you place your npcs.
Lastly, I saw a distinct lack of any useful coins in your level. You need to place these in a more constructive manner rather than placing two coins here-and-there. Place them in relatively open areas to help the player jump around for reasons other than dealing with npcs and obstacles.

Difficulty / Replayability [0/5]
Level was incredibly dull, flat, linear and genuinely doesn't challenge me enough to warrant another playthrough. I highly recommend, first off play the level before you send it, to review the level over again and really soak in what was discussed in the review. You clearly understand how to use NPCS as a challenge, but haven't accurately grasp how to use them in a creative and fun way. Let alone, you need ot work on making the level's atmosphere immersive rather than dull and long.
And lastly, as a message to everyone, stop using artificial extensions in your levels. This is fun, it is tedious and annoying, just like powerup babysitting; all it does is force the player to waste the time on a ridiculous task.

Overall Score: 3/30
Final Score: 1/10
Judgement: Trash

Quantix · Postby **Quantix** » Tue Feb 23, 2016 9:38 pm

Well, I'm sad that the level did badly, but like I said, I'm going to make this level better.

I think I forgot to use the custom graphics for the piranha plants and hammer bros somehow, so I'll fix it immediately. I guess a couple of goombas and such couldn't hurt too.

I can also replace the sizeables in the first part with clouds, if that helps.

I'll trim down the length of it, too, by removing the first two artificial extensions. I can't really do much for the rest, though.

Honestly, I'm just glad that someone touched this at all. This went for the longest time with no activity. I'll take all you said to heart and update this.

as303298 · Postby **as303298** » Wed Feb 24, 2016 12:29 am

Quantix wrote:Well, I'm sad that the level did badly, but like I said, I'm going to make this level better.

I think I forgot to use the custom graphics for the piranha plants and hammer bros somehow, so I'll fix it immediately. I guess a couple of goombas and such couldn't hurt too.

I can also replace the sizeables in the first part with clouds, if that helps.

I'll trim down the length of it, too, by removing the first two artificial extensions. I can't really do much for the rest, though.

Honestly, I'm just glad that someone touched this at all. This went for the longest time with no activity. I'll take all you said to heart and update this.

Well if this is truely updated then I would need to see some new pictures via PM and place this back into the "Level" subforum.
As for the lack of activity, I am the only LJ that goes in reverse. Typically, it's first come first serve, whereas I just go top to bottom.