Poll: Should the Number of Stars Allowed in CC Levels Be 3?

mariogeek2 · Postby **mariogeek2** » Mon Sep 01, 2014 3:40 pm

OK. So in CC 8, levels were only allowed to have 2 stars in them. There's a problem with this in my opinion: it limits the design of levels to mostly linear levels. But I think that changing the limit to 3 would greatly increase the variety of level design in the cc's. But that's my opinion. Post yours below.

zioy · Postby **zioy** » Mon Sep 01, 2014 3:41 pm

Honestly, it depends on the length and style of the level in my opinion.

HenryRichard · Postby **HenryRichard** » Mon Sep 01, 2014 3:43 pm

Why even have a limit? Unless we get so many entries and so many stars in the entries that we get over 999 stars (thus causing the game to crash), there's no reason to have a limit (except the play time might be a bit too long).

HeroLinik · Postby **HeroLinik** » Mon Sep 01, 2014 3:44 pm

I would say keep it at a maximum of 3, yes. Although this was mainly intended for MECHDRAGON777 to prevent him sending extremely large levels with 7 stars like his CC7 level, it has seriously affected other participants and has reduced the amount of exploration in levels. But then, putting it more than 3 would make levels really massive and hard to navigate through.

zioy · Postby **zioy** » Mon Sep 01, 2014 3:44 pm

HenryRichard wrote:Why even have a limit? Unless we get so many entries and so many stars in the entries that we get over 999 stars (thus causing the game to crash), there's no reason to have a limit (except the play time might be a bit too long).

Or people that make their level have 100 stars just so progressing would be easier in ToB8

RudeGuy · Postby **RudeGuy** » Mon Sep 01, 2014 3:47 pm

HenryRichard wrote:Why even have a limit? Unless we get so many entries and so many stars in the entries that we get over 999 stars (thus causing the game to crash), there's no reason to have a limit (except the play time might be a bit too long).

A limit rule was made so Valtteri didn't have problems about the star count in each level of CC8.
Anyways, a star limit doesn't affect the linearity of a level in any way. You can still make a really unlinear level with just a star exit (by the way, I made a really unlinear level with one star. I think judges even complained about that).

mariogeek2 · Postby **mariogeek2** » Mon Sep 01, 2014 4:01 pm

castlewars wrote:I would say keep it at a maximum of 3, yes. Although this was mainly intended for MECHDRAGON777 to prevent him sending extremely large levels with 7 stars like his CC7 level, it has seriously affected other participants and has reduced the amount of exploration in levels. But then, putting it more than 3 would make levels really massive and hard to navigate through.

Yes, that is EXACTLY why I suggested this. 2 Stars limits level design, but anymore than 3 would make levels larger than they really need to be.

Why even have a limit? Unless we get so many entries and so many stars in the entries that we get over 999 stars (thus causing the game to crash), there's no reason to have a limit (except the play time might be a bit too long).

Okay, the purpose of the community contest is to determine which level is the best. Any level that has 5 or 6 stars usually is not a very good level. They're usually levels that seem to go on and on and on. Also, it makes making the tob episode for that contest fair all that much harder.

Chad · Postby **Chad** » Mon Sep 01, 2014 6:38 pm

The number of stars a level has doesn't have much to do with what kind of level it is. You can make a really bland or complex level whether you have one star or five. I do agree that there should be a limit, though. Having to find as many as 5 or 7 stars in one level is excessive, as it demands too much attention from the player when there's already a lot of other levels to play in a contest. I think 2 or 3 is a good maximum.

mariogeek2 · Postby **mariogeek2** » Mon Sep 01, 2014 7:21 pm

Chad wrote:The number of stars a level has doesn't have much to do with what kind of level it is. You can make a really bland or complex level whether you have one star or five. I do agree that there should be a limit, though. Having to find as many as 5 or 7 stars in one level is excessive, as it demands too much attention from the player when there's already a lot of other levels to play in a contest. I think 2 or 3 is a good maximum.

I'm sorry Chad, you're an excellent level designer, but that's where you're wrong. You may not realize it, but the number of stars in a level affects everything. For example, it's hard to make an exploration level with only one star. Yeah, sure, you can have it where the player wanders around, but eventually the players end up at the star. Yeah, a level can really bland or complex regardless of the number of stars within it, but a level where you can take multiple paths to different endings is impossble to make with 1 star. Also, having extra stars allows for forever-events (Events that still happen if you collected the star and die anyway.), like bossedit8's level for CC8. A non-linear level needs extra stars to be a good exploring and wandering level, and a linear level is good with only 1 star. If it 1 extra star, yeah, that's fine, but 2 extra stars, the player feels like they have to go out of their way to find it, unless it's on the direct path they would take to try and finish the level(Like bossedit8's level for CC8).

RudeGuy · Postby **RudeGuy** » Tue Sep 02, 2014 6:42 am

mariogeek2 wrote:You may not realize it, but the number of stars in a level affects everything.

Even when the exits aren't some stars?

HeroLinik · Postby **HeroLinik** » Tue Sep 02, 2014 7:33 am

KoolKat wrote:
HenryRichard wrote:Why even have a limit? Unless we get so many entries and so many stars in the entries that we get over 999 stars (thus causing the game to crash), there's no reason to have a limit (except the play time might be a bit too long).
Or people that make their level have 100 stars just so progressing would be easier in ToB8

It's not possible. The maximum amount of stars you can have in a level is 21.

zioy · Postby **zioy** » Tue Sep 02, 2014 5:48 pm

castlewars wrote:
KoolKat wrote:
HenryRichard wrote:Why even have a limit? Unless we get so many entries and so many stars in the entries that we get over 999 stars (thus causing the game to crash), there's no reason to have a limit (except the play time might be a bit too long).
Or people that make their level have 100 stars just so progressing would be easier in ToB8
It's not possible. The maximum amount of stars you can have in a level is 21.

You've forgotten the bubble/egg trick.

mariogeek2 · Postby **mariogeek2** » Tue Sep 02, 2014 6:04 pm

Christian07 wrote:
mariogeek2 wrote:You may not realize it, but the number of stars in a level affects everything.
Even when the exits aren't some stars?

Well, I meant for the cc. All of the exits are required to be stars for the cc.

HenryRichard · Postby **HenryRichard** » Tue Sep 02, 2014 6:07 pm

Ok, seeing what other people have said makes me think differently. We do need some limit, I guess.

HeroLinik · Postby **HeroLinik** » Sat Sep 06, 2014 10:14 am

It actually depends on how many people participate, to be honest. One of the reasons why Valtteri changed the star limit to 2 was also because of the sheer amount of participants for CC7 (80) and that meant that there were over 100 stars in ToB6. I think that if more people work on the hub at the same time, for example if both Valtteri and Quill work on it, then it will be quicker to build it. That way, we can get rid of the star limit.

Mable · Postby **Mable** » Sat Sep 06, 2014 10:20 am

Why in the fuck would someone like to have 21 stars in one level.

mariogeek2 · Postby **mariogeek2** » Sat Sep 06, 2014 12:15 pm

The point I was trying to make with this topic was that there needs to be a limit so people can't just spam stars in their contest levels, but the current limit is too restrictive. It is of my personal opinion that three would be a good, round number to have as a limit. Any more than three, and the level feels like it's either too big or spammy. Just take for example SMSE. Each of the levels in there had 3 stars.