Language…
17 users online: Alex No, ben15420, DanMario24YT, gemstonezVA, GiraffeKiller, Gmario37, Green, GRIMMKIN, JudithPrietht, Metal-Yoshi94, MorrieTheMagpie, Rykon-V73, Sniwott, Spedinja, VoidCrypt, WhenUnique, xhsdf - Guests: 269 - Bots: 578
Users: 64,795 (2,371 active)
Latest user: mathew

[1338] VESTIGIA CAECA [video and submission in 1st post]

  • Pages:
  • 1
  • 2
VESTIAGIA CAECA [submission]

VESTIAGIA CAECA [video]

Thank you to everyone who gave me tips and advices how to improve the level and/or inspired me, namely:

- Caiman388
- Chosentw0
- Conankun88
- Frozenquills
- Gamma V
- GbreezeSunset
- Hobz
- Isocitration
- NGB
- S.N.N.
- someguy712x
- Vitor Vilela
- W4MP3
- worldpeace

(i hope i mentioned everyone, if not, i´ll edit this again and add you)



------------------------------------------------------------------

Original 1st post:



Feedback on aestetics is appreciated.

Level design is still Work in progress.








Palette is pretty plain.

What I'm worried about is the ceiling slopes, they look enterable.
While it looks simple your only screenshot, it feels actually interesting your level. Depending on the gimmick and environment of the level (what about an athletic cave level with gold hidden?!), you go pretty well.

Looking forward for more!
GitHub - Twitter - YouTube - SnesLab Discord
Thanks for the answers!!


Originally posted by Agent Q
What I'm worried about is the ceiling slopes, they look enterable.

Well, this year the anti-walljump patch isn´t included so i have to test this issue more excessively.


Originally posted by Vitor Vilela
While it looks simple your only screenshot, it feels actually interesting your level. Depending on the gimmick and environment of the level (what about an athletic cave level with gold hidden?!), you go pretty well.

Thanks. I guess the gimmick is going to be about Mega Moles and timed-lift-platforms. I don´t know, if i can hide gold somewhere, but i definitely plan to hide a moon somewhere #tb{;)}








I rather enjoyed your VLDC9 level and I hope you'll continue that trend in this contest. I'd tone down on your background palette a bit, as the FG/BG currently clash quite a bit, but otherwise I'm looking forward to seeing what you produce this year. Good luck!
Originally posted by S.N.N.
I rather enjoyed your VLDC9 level and I hope you'll continue that trend in this contest. I'd tone down on your background palette a bit, as the FG/BG currently clash quite a bit, but otherwise I'm looking forward to seeing what you produce this year. Good luck!



I know the difference is little:

Before:


Another version:



Is the Background color better now? Or should i additionally darken/desaturate it a bit?


Also i won´t do another Puzzle-Level for VLDC since Frost may give me a 25/100, considering how much he hated my VLDC9-level when he tested it last year. Maybe some extra stuff as Yoshi-Coins or a Moon may contain little Puzzle, so that Koopster is satsfied and Frost can skip it.









Don't make a level based on the judge's tastes. Make a level based on the overall community taste. Your level in the VLDC9 was one of the most innovative ever, specially considering vanilla aspects. Just because Frost gave you a low score in an informal judging doesn't mean he will do the same this year. And much less you should be discouraged from doing a different level from the rest.

Do what you do the best #tb{;)}
GitHub - Twitter - YouTube - SnesLab Discord
Originally posted by Vitor Vilela
[...] Your level in the VLDC9 was one of the most innovative ever, specially considering vanilla aspects. [...] And much less you should be discouraged from doing a different level from the rest.

Do what you do the best #tb{;)}



Thanks for the encouraging words, but compared to last year i won´t find the time to come up with that complex puzzles (live got really busy recently).
But yeah, i think i focus on a semi-platforming/semi-puzzling level this time. Let´s see what i can do.




Also here are some new screenshots (i always appreciate feedback, if the aesthetics are fitting and matching between FG,BG and decoration):

I used the castle tileset and the ghosthouse tileset to give this cave a more "mine/ruin-like" feeling. Also i created torches and Mega-Mole-statues (inspired by Gamma V) to declare, that this is the mega-mole-ruin.













So i came up with the idea including a junction, where the left path leads to the moon (obviously) and the right path is the rest of the level (obviously that´s the easier route).










I guess i should design my level more consequent(?) instead of creating random obstacles and then putting them together in the end. I mean i´ve created about 4 different rooms now, but all of them just consist of about 2,5 screens:

For those interested - the beginning of the new room. I´m not revealing the "creative" obstacles yet, since there aren´t many of them and i don´t know if some of them get deleted due to being tedious or something.














A different route for getting the moon and another for beating the level might be dangerous. I mean, in game it may end up something obvious for the player and he might not play half of your level due of it. Setting something more non-linear or abstract path might make it more interesting for the players. Specially if they end up finding the moon accidentally or something. Remember that you have 64 secondary exits, that's x^2 (or 8x) compared to the last VLDC!

And by the way, I think you could make the foreground "dirt" with more variation. Think on either putting different tiles there or making a few holes or drawings using slopes, so your level will automatically look more interesting and at same time you won't have places, like the last screenshot, where half of the screen is filled with brown.
GitHub - Twitter - YouTube - SnesLab Discord
New stuff! wheee!!

After Vitor said i should decorate the level a bit more, i decorated a bit more.

Also i think, that´s how the level gonna start. Feel free to comment if you like. Since the gif-quality is meh, i posted the screenshots below.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



















This level is looking super nice and really creative! I like the gfx as well. It doesn't look quite as nice as gamma v's mole level from vldc9, but in my opinion the design is a lot better in this one.
You've made some really creative uses of the Mega Mole already, and the regular Monty Moles are a nice addition too. I still think the background should be made even darker though, it still kinda blends in with the foreground imo.
The level is getting more interesting and with the new screens I can say you're going pretty well. Visual-wise it looks fairly good too, though I couldn't get what is the exact difference between the 'purple dots' and 'green dots'. They seem to do the same thing. Maybe you should make their colors closer to the foreground, since they don't make much sense to have a hot, completely different color from the FG.

A random idea I had is to make a small sub-room (2-3 screens, vertical level maybe) only with monty moles with like 20 of these and make a gimmick out of it. Could be interesting? idk!! you're the gimmick beast, so it's up for you!

looking forward for more.
GitHub - Twitter - YouTube - SnesLab Discord
Originally posted by GbreezeSunset
This level is looking super nice and really creative! I like the gfx as well. It doesn't look quite as nice as gamma v's mole level from vldc9, but in my opinion the design is a lot better in this one.

Originally posted by Aeon
You've made some really creative uses of the Mega Mole already, and the regular Monty Moles are a nice addition too. I still think the background should be made even darker [...].

Originally posted by Vitor Vilela
The level is getting more interesting and with the new screens I can say you're going pretty well. Visual-wise it looks fairly good too, though I couldn't get what is the exact difference between the 'purple dots' and 'green dots'.[...]
A random idea I had is to make a small sub-room (2-3 screens, vertical level maybe) only with monty moles with like 20 of these and make a gimmick out of it. Could be interesting? idk!! you're the gimmick beast, so it's up for you!


Thank you very much the feedback. I´m really grateful. So i followed your advice and darkened the Background:




@ Vitor : The green dots act as tile 100, the purple ones are tile 1F0.
Also i had the idea of including a short vetrical room, too. But i didn´t think of focusing on just one enemy (as the Monty Mole). Maybe i´ll include this if the level ends up being too short #tb{^V^}


So yeah, except the palettes there´s nothing new for now, but about Friday or Saturday, i guess, i can offer new screens.








I like the level design. The only thing that bothers me is the palette. Maybe desaturate it a bit, especially the green and purple dots as Vitor said and the sprites, such as the Mega Mole.
Also, keep in mind that moles reaction jump time depends whetever the level is set on a submap or on the overworld. I guess you have to choose one of those for your level and mention it in your submission. I don't know how this will be handled in the final compiled hack though.
Room 1 DONE
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
I replaced all the green "petrified springboard platforms" (as raocow calls them) by the light brown wooden platforms (as seen in screenshot 2)
and desaturated the blue ones (which aren´t shown here) but I´m sure I´m going to use them in the next room again.





B O N U S











2nd Bonus Room


Also why are my gifs always that ugly?

edit:
Message Box says:
To grab 1-Ups here just hit the ?-Blocks, but be aware not to kill the blue shell. Also falling down means escaping this Bonus.








If you want to know how I record my gifs. The process seems kind of excessive but it works so...
Originally posted by guy that asked via pm
1.- Get LICEcap, ZMZ and Adobe Photoshop (I'll use CS5 for this guide; only if you record in a resolution other than 256x224).
2.- Adjust ZMZ to a resolution of your liking. (I use 1024x896)
3.- Open both LICEcap and ZMZ, and set the former like this:
- width and height: the same as zmz
- max fps: 60
Now put it on top of ZMZ (like this).
4.- Now go to the area you want to record. Press Record..., and save as a .gif (be sure not to save as .lcf) somewhere. Play around and press stop when you're done. Close both programs.
(steps 5 and 6 are skippable if you record in a 256x224 resolution)
5.- Open the gif file on Photoshop. Go to Image->Image Size... and set it up like this:

6.- Go to File->Save for Web&Devices... press save and save anywhere.
7.- Now you have a cool looking gif!


Now that I'm here, this is looking like a promising level. From the looks it remembers me of Gamma V's level in VLDC9, but from the actual gameplay it seems to differ a lot. I look forward to playing it!
  • Pages:
  • 1
  • 2