Chapel of Dark Prayers - Updated

[Zant]

A castlevania-ish level made for fun.

Update Changes:
-Replaced the Yoshi Coins with Dry-Bone Coins
-The crushing roof is now slower
-Added a mushroom generator in the bossfight
-The chandeliers now disappear after you beat the boss
-Removed some fire-shooting bone-pillars

Screenie(s):


Download: https://www.mediafire.com/?k52khgbpezxkzj9

[FanofSMBX]

Wow! How did you get it to be so dark?

[Emral]

Wow! What's recolouring?

Fixed.

This level looks nice. I like how the chandeliers give this setting more of a chapel-vibe, since design-wise it looks like an ordinary castle.

[Zant]

Wow! How did you get it to be so dark?

I recolored all the enemies, tiles, bgos, etc.

This level looks nice. I like how the chandeliers give this setting more of a chapel-vibe, since design-wise it looks like an ordinary castle.

Actually, the chandeliers are replacing rinkas and are put to shoot fire at you, but yes, it gives a chapel-vibe.
And thanks!

[Emral]

This level looks nice. I like how the chandeliers give this setting more of a chapel-vibe, since design-wise it looks like an ordinary castle.

Actually, the chandeliers are replacing rinkas and put to shoot fire at you, but yes, it gives a chapel-vibe.
And thanks!

Yeah, I know this graphic and that it originally was black with purple torches

[Zant]

Can a level judge review this pls?

[Eternity]

Try to be patient; there are a lot of levels waiting to be reviewed currently, and we don't have many judges at the moment.

Anyway, I still didn't play this actually, but it definitely looks pretty neat! The dark atmosphere's great and I really like the design shown on the screen. I'll try playing through it and post a small review.

[Danny]

Yeah, after this weekend, on Monday, I'll try to review a lot of levels. I've been reviewing the older ones that have been awaiting a review. Also, if you bump your level thread, it'll take me a longer time to reach it. Just an FYI.

[Warlock]

At about 10am (GMT) I will try to review it for you. Sound good?

[m4sterbr0s]

At about 10am (GMT) I will try to review it for you. Sound good?

Said no one ever.

Anywho, it's really not necessary to state that you'll soon review a level; for the most part it's pointless. This goes for everyone.

[HeroOfRhyme]

At about 10am (GMT) I will try to review it for you. Sound good?

Said no one ever.

Anywho, it's really not necessary to state that you'll soon review a level; for the most part it's pointless. This goes for everyone.

The only reason I do that is to bump old threads to say that they will finally be reviewed. Other than that, I don't address that I will review a level before i actually do

[Fuyu]

If I had to define my reaction to the boss of this level I'd say ... WTF!?

I mean, yeah, the graphic was pretty cool, but ... he was like (SPOILER!) some kind of gargoyle dancing. I kinda laughed about it, but yeah, the fight was harder than I have expected. The level indeed had a quite unique atmosphere though, I recognize this level was quite well made. I'd give you a 9.15 and move you if I could, but I am no Level Judge, and honestly I don't feel like handing out immense reviews. =P

[TLtimelord]

Finally your level will be reviewed!

And first off, I'd like to say this level is kind of short, but REALLY HARD. It took me so many tries to beat the boss, and eventually I had to delete the playable character graphics. (Those absolutely KILL my SMBX speed)

Visual Appeal
This aspect is just short of perfect. The playable characters graphics are great, the NPCs are beautiful, especially the dracula rex and the purple devil goomba. The chandelier goes perfectly with the amazing tileset and background. The boss (is it a gargoyle?) is also nothing short of amazing. This does feel like a rather monotone level, minus the stained-glass windows and some of the NPCs, but in that regard, the overall theme really holds together. The midpoint is also cleverly drawn and fits perfectly in this level, along with everything, except for the Dragon Coins, which sadly don't fit very well. I'd give this a 9.5/10

Design
First off, the scenery and especially the background look just BEAUTIFUL. Those are what make this level stand out for me. For the first and third sections of the level, it's side-scrolling, and it fits really well in those sections. For the second section, I'm climbing up a tower and have to hit a switch in a smaller section where the roof suddenly starts collapsing on me. Now if I were any less prepared for that, I would have died. Not that it's a bad design, but I usually don't appreciate it when the player has barely enough time to get to the door, because then, someone could easily miss out on the Dragon Coin right next to it. I'd like to note that in the boss fight, when the Chandelier's get turned into coins, part of the BGO where they're hanging from are still there, creating cutoff. It's a small flaw and a silly mistake, but I suggest you set those Chandeliers to Layers and when the player defeats the boss, the entire NPC as well as the chain BGOs disappear with them. Since this is a short level, I suggest moving the midpoint closer to the boss so a player with lower skill can make it to the boss with more than one powerup. I give you props for putting the Dragon Coins in small places where you don't have to do some sort of task or go down a long section to get them. I'd give this a 7/10

Gameplay
This was a somewhat shorter level, which can appeal to most people. It balances out quite a bit since it was a really hard level for me, mostly because of the boss and some of the fire shooting NPCs. Particularly, some of the Fire-shooting NPCs in the later half of the level, which make it very difficult for me to survive with a power-up for a longer period of time. If luck and skill go towards my way and I manage to make it to the boss with more than just a mushroom, I won't maintain anything for very long, since fire is EVERYWHERE in the boss section, thanks to two chandeliers and the boss replacing the SMB3 Bowser. Every few seconds I either narrowly dodged loads of fireballs or got hit by one. Because of how hard the boss is and the massive amount of health he has, I suggest putting a mushroom generator somewhere in the room. Bosses like that probably need something like it. I'd probably give this a 6/10

Music
All I can really say is that the music fits perfectly. It goes well with the evil ambience of the level theme but also plays quickly to match the difficulty and fast-paced gameplay in the main sections. The outside music sounds just AMAZING and though doesn't fit as well with the level theme, since it sounds a lot more advanced and intense. The boss music, just couldn't match more perfectly
with the annoyingly hard boss. I admire the general music choice of the level. 9.7/10.

Averaging the Scores gives you an 8/10.
Pretty Good

[Zant]

Thanks for the review!

[Zant]

Level Updated!

[GameClip477]

This level looks cool and is very well designed! This level looks very interesting playing it around Halloween or October. Also has that castlevania field into it. I like it a lot!

[silent_]

Let me review the updated version.
BTW, you requested me to review this in my "Kep Reviews your Level" thread, so I shall therefore fulfill your request.

Design - 9

The design for this was downright astonishing, and the whole time I was playing this I felt like I was in a fantasy. To immediately start giving criticism, though, I disliked how this level really had no main gimmick. I mean come on, this is Castlevania. You could do anything with such a great and difficult game like that. Also, the music for the boss didn't necessarily fit since it sounded more ambient and calm than intense - but oh hell, that boss is another thing. Let me just put it this way: It was unfairly difficult, and the unnecessarily placed fire replacing Rinkas just made it way more complicated than it should have been. Not to mention, he took FOREVER to beat, I mean, probably around thirty hits if you wanted to get technical. Make him replace someone like Motherbrain and with events make him move around or something, but just don't make him replacing SMB3 Bowser, since it turns into a disaster. Anyways, the gameplay. It was excellent. When I was playing this, as said earlier, I felt like I was in a fantasy, and I was just beaming at how visually appealing this level is. All in all, you definitely deserve a nine for this category.

Atmosphere - 10
Truth is, I've never given anything a ten ever on anything, and I've been reviewing levels since SMBX: Revived was around. I mean, the atmosphere and aesthetics were downright perfect. The darkness was perfect, and the background objects placement was just right. I have no complaints here; great job!

Placement - 8.5
The placement in this level is barely lower than a nine, for a couple reasons. Firstly, why have Goombas coming right at you right when you start the level? This is a problem with almost all SMBX levels these days. Give the player some time to breathe before starting, please. Also, no points will be taken off for this so don't worry, but why not have some ceiling in the outside section? It wouldn't hurt, but that's more of a recommendation than a bug. In addition, I don't think the dragon coins fit that well. If this is Castlevania-styled, why have a picture of a Dry Bones on it? Try to add a custom and cooler picture for the Dragon Coins. By the way, what's up with the weirdly animated Boo things replacing the Eerie? It kind of looks like it's shaking its ass or something, I don't know. Try animating something else on it, like its mouth or eyes. Conclusively, at one point in the outside section, there is a part with four Dry Bones lined up and this could be classified as cluster.

Your overall averaged score is...

9.16

Ironically enough, me and Natsu's score were very close. Nonetheless, I'll send this to the level judges to try to get this approved, and if it does, you'll go from Pretty Good to The Best!

[Zant]

Thank you very much for your review!

[Axotic]

Awesome level, a lot of scenery and very well built. I don't really like the chandeliers, personally I think there is to many of them, apart from that its a really nice level.