Anchorage (aka Generic Ice Level)

Knux848 · Postby **Knux848** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 9:54 am

This is my first serious level. It's supposed to be the first level of a short episode I'm working on, but I'm not sure if it's good. So I'm posting it here because I don't want to work on too many levels before realizing they all suck.
It doesn't really have any gimmicks, it's just a standard level with a single exit. I'm hoping that with advice and criticism I'll get better at this whole "making levels" thing.

Download

Spoiler: show

ScReEnShOtS

Spoiler: show

Credits to Valtteri for the snowy wood GFX. (and hills)

Postby **Witchking666** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 12:33 pm

ScReEnShOtS?!?!?!?!

Erik · Postby **Erik** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 12:42 pm

witchking666 wrote:ScReEnShOtS?!?!?!?!

CoOnStRUctIvE!?!?!?!?!?!?

The link doesn't work for me though

Postby **glitch4** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 12:52 pm

witchking666 wrote:ScReEnShOtS?!?!?!?!

They are not needed only for levels forum right now.

Ludwig von Koopa wrote:The link doesn't work for me though

Because you didn't copy the URL link and paste it in search bar.

Marina · Postby **Marina** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 1:43 pm

Doesn't look bad, I'll give it a playthrough later

TheKingOfBoos · Postby **TheKingOfBoos** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 2:14 pm

Looks like a good, generic, icy grassland level. Screenshots honestly don't look bad, maybe the level's a tiny bit boring or cliche, but it looks decent.

Postby **glitch4** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 4:08 pm

Well, Toad from the start from the level tells me to be careful there, so let's see why he tells me to...

Review of Anchorage by Knux848

Level Design and Placement

This level is ice-styled, which is sorta good. There wasn't any empty or flat design in all sections, which is great. The atmosphere was sorta good. The NPC variety is okay, and the placement of them was good, but there's a bit of high amount of coins, same goes with cheep cheeps, a few of them should be removed, especally in one screen, where I enter the pipe. The graphics are good and the music fits as well. Pretty much this is a decent design I've seen here, some of effort added, some of not, it was still good!

8/10

Gameplay

Well, I don't find anything that interesting here, so it looks boring. Anyway, the length wasn't short or long. It was a little bit easy for this level. It was pretty fun to play this level as well. Pretty much there's nothing to say about it, so let's just call this a good gameplay. I could call it great, if you make it interesting.

6.5/10

In conclusion, the level was good with a bit of effort added in there.

Averaged Score: 7.25/10

Knux848 · Postby **Knux848** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 4:39 pm

glitch4 wrote:Review of Anchorage by Knux848

Thanks for the feedback. I honestly didn't think I'd get a good enough score to get into the Pretty Good section.

Level Design: I'll be sure to reduce the amount of coins. You're right, you can get a 1-up from the coins alone (which is a lot considering the relatively short length). Also, fun fact, in an earlier version of the level there were even more cheep cheeps, but I removed most of them because it was a cheap way to make it more difficult. I'm going for a more "vanilla" look for the episode I'm working on, so I'm not planning to use many custom GFX other than recolors (eg; SMW to SMB3)
Gameplay: Yeah, it is a fairly boring level. I'm not sure what to do to make it more interesting, though. I was thinking about making the ice blocks in the water move up and down to simulate floating, but that's not much. What are some fun mechanics I can use to make it more engaging/challenging? I'm not very good at platformers in general, so that's why it's easy.

Postby **glitch4** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 3:20 pm

Knux848 wrote: What are some fun mechanics I can use to make it more engaging/challenging? I'm not very good at platformers in general, so that's why it's easy.

Not sure, but some big effort with events/layers and more space of pits would make the level more challenging.