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Short and difficult level taking place in a dark forest, intended as a bonus level for my project.

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note: looks like you forgot to test to see if the start point was put in the correct position

pretty fun and challenging level. the first half is a bit harder than the second half, i think. i did the second half in 3 tries, and the first took me closer to 10.
the bonus coins were a neat extra challenge, especially how they force you to stick around a part of the level and how that gives obstacles more time to be dangerous.
i wouldn't go as to far as to call this "kaizo" personally, as the level is very honest in its challenge. there are no near pixel-perfect jumps, no traps and no unfair segments. it is pretty difficult, though. especially the grinder segment i can see people getting caught on if they try to rush it.

my one point of critique is that the camera zone focusing on the area before the checkpoint is a bit unfortunately placed. the first time i encountered it, i was surprised by it and fell into the pit, thinking an autoscroll was about to begin. it might also be nice if there was a sign pointing right on the other side, because i thought you had to enter the pipe the spinies come out from.

but all in all as a teaser for what your episode has in store (while it is a bonus level and i understand that makes it harder than ordinary content), design-wise, count me excited.

Emral wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 05, 2023 11:22 pm

note: looks like you forgot to test to see if the start point was put in the correct position

I must've hit save accidentaly while testing it the last time. Thanks for the heads up, it's fixed now.

Emral wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 05, 2023 11:22 pm

pretty fun and challenging level. the first half is a bit harder than the second half, i think. i did the second half in 3 tries, and the first took me closer to 10.

I had trouble deciding where to place that checkpoint, originally it was intended to be right before the spiny cannon section, perhaps I should change it back.

Emral wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 05, 2023 11:22 pm

the bonus coins were a neat extra challenge, especially how they force you to stick around a part of the level and how that gives obstacles more time to be dangerous.

Thanks! I wanted to be generous with lives, considering how tough these levels get, but I also didn't want to give too many away.

Emral wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 05, 2023 11:22 pm

i wouldn't go as to far as to call this "kaizo" personally, as the level is very honest in its challenge. there are no near pixel-perfect jumps, no traps and no unfair segments.

I was a bit unsure about calling it kaizo too, it's barely even qualified for a lower difficulty kaizo level.

Emral wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 05, 2023 11:22 pm

my one point of critique is that the camera zone focusing on the area before the checkpoint is a bit unfortunately placed. the first time i encountered it, i was surprised by it and fell into the pit, thinking an autoscroll was about to begin. it might also be nice if there was a sign pointing right on the other side, because i thought you had to enter the pipe the spinies come out from.

That's fair, I'll add a danger sign before the camera zone and an arrow sign on the other side.

Emral wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 05, 2023 11:22 pm

but all in all as a teaser for what your episode has in store (while it is a bonus level and i understand that makes it harder than ordinary content), design-wise, count me excited.

That's really good to hear! Thank you for playing my level and giving feedback! I'm still a bit unsure about how the regular levels are going to be, but I'll try my best to put something out.

I think the checkpoint placement itself is good! It comes right after a scary jump, and right before an introduction to a new type of challenge. The second half just has a lot of "hold right and spinjump across spinies", which makes it maybe feel easier than it really is, because the execution on that is semi-automatic. Perhaps changing one of those setups a little would alleviate that.

Funnily enough, that section used to be at the first half, right before the spiny cannon, but I changed it twice to make it less infuriating. I guess I nerfed it too hard.