Skyblock Panic (Fixed)

[Fuyu]

Yeah, a level, from me. I'm not just a graphic designer, I used to be a level designer in case none of you known. I know I don't release much levels, but I sure make them as perfect as I can, nonetheless of the non-existing word perfect. I started making this level a quite time ago, and finally finished today, if I have not missed anything. It's quite short level, but I hope it's enjoyable.

Credits

Spoiler: show

SMB3 Recolored Stuff - Legend-tony980
SMB3 Styled SM3DL Sky Blocks + Bonus Tileset - Squishy Rex
SMB3 Blue Hangers - Natsu

Screenshots
[rimg]http://i.imgur.com/aRl7gIr.png[/rimg] [rimg]http://i.imgur.com/9YjdeOh.png[/rimg]

Click Me! Play Me!

Download Fixed Version!

[Fuyu]

There's a small update for one little placement bug I found regarding hangers which I fixed now. I'd like to ask that if this level is going to get a review please review it now that I fixed it.

[Enjl]

Since we judges try to clean up the levels forum ASAP, I might aswell review this straight away, although I don't like pausing my music every 5 minutes xD
Dude I'm only reviewing levels with an "S" in the beginning today, I noticed.
Review: Skyblock Panic
That's a sky level! That's how I like them! Free movement, open, upwards scrolling sections, a bunch of secrets!

The music choice was okay. It brought back a bit of nostalgia for me since me and my brother used to play the NSMB multiplayer mode all day. I think it fits just as well as Double Cherry Pass music, which m4sterbr0s used in Skyward Platformer.

I really liked the level itself. Vertical progress isn't seen very often these days and sky levels like this are perfect for bringing that back. You also used many different level designing methodes to support this idea of going upwards to win: Platforms, Switches, Sizeables, pipes etc.
Really well done. The only downside to this method would be the danger of falling off or missing the platform and having to wait for it first, but that's a good trade-off I think.

One little detail I reeeeeeeeeeally liked in the beginning was the ropesactually coming out of pipes. It's a nice little touch.

The way you designed each section was amazing. They felt endless and sometimes I didn't want to progress until I found every secret there is. And there were a lot of them! You got all the 5 dragon coins hidden very well throughout the whole level.

The amount of powerups you placed were just perfect to go against all the enemies you placed. I think you found a really good balance here.

The tileset itself is a little bit flawed, but I only noticed that when playing your level. I completely overlooked it on Skyward Platformer! You see, on the ceiling-slopes some random shading appears, which isn't on the ceiling tiles. I don't know why the creator of this tileset did this, but it bugged me a little bit. At least enough so I had to load Skyward Platformer and look if it was there, too. It was, but m4sterbr0s was really hiding it. With time progressing, though, I got used to it and noticed that it doesn't really matter. You drag the focus towards the different paths and design in general.

Some jumps were hard to make, especially in the beginning, which lead to more wait times for platformes, if the player messes up multiple times in a row. That brings me to the level's major problem:
This one is a tough one. To get all the secrets, backtracking is required, getting the alternate line path for the first dragon coin or the red switch block are the prime examples. In the end I got bored of progressing to the red switch block for the 15th time because I kept falling off trying to get the dragon coin in the upper right corner of the section. And when you get it, you need to go back to the switch to get your path back. While it does work and makes the secrets much harder to get, I think it makes the secrets not worth it anymore.

Overall, I did like this level, it's a pretty good level if you ignore the secrets, and a tedious one when you go for them. Here's the score:
Graphics: 3/3 No complaints here. They just fit.
Music: 2/2 The secrets really make this track fit. Else I'd have said use Double Cherry Pass's music, Athletic 2 from 3D World, I think.
Gameplay: 3/5 Playing through this was fun, but like I said, the secrets are not worth it, if you go for them. And else they're just kinda there. You could add a "Plan B" for people who already got the blue/yellow switch, which brings them to an easy-to-reach red switch or something to fix this.

8/10
Is still pretty damn good, though.

[Fuyu]

Glad you liked my level that much Spectrum, because this level really took me some time to plan the secret paths and the right gimmicks, and many times I've just wasn't so sure to place some things. For example, on the beginning I planned to use a Springboard to reach the upper platform instead of note blocks, but then I said: "What if someone finds that somewhat hard?" so I changed it.

Besides that, I made this level thinking that for a W7 of any project it should be this hard, but I guess some people don't like backtracking so much. I've gotta say that if I did not get Gameplay that low I might have got to the Best ... but I guess it's not that easy, well, back to level planning I guess.

Thanks for taking your time to play and review my level, it really means a lot. Hope you get to play my next level, because I guarantee I'm gonna get to the Best section for sure.

[bossedit8]

My Video Playthrough:



Original YouTube Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQ59ApEqZrI

[Fuyu]

Thanks for recording the level bossedit8, shame you did not record the last Dragon Coin's location, but I guess you did not want to go back and hit the yellow switch just for that. =P