idk im just gonna type shit take what i say however you want. i probably won't dissect every level to a t, but i will just talk about stuff i noticed or whatever. will also be updated kinda whenever, prolly every few days with a bunch of levels rather than every day with one or so. also i totally didnt steal this format from glitchmr i know what im doing im good
celestialseraph - Frigid Fort | |
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Design and Execution: 5/50 Design Creativity and Aesthetic Creativity: 10/30 Aesthetics and Polish: 12/20 Overall: 26/100 GOAL SPHERE |
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man this is just all kinds of not fun. there's nothing inherently wrong with making hard levels, but when you combine really precise quick jumps with ice physics and then refuse to give the player any sort of powerups, it becomes a really miserable experience. the first jump already told me what kind of level i was going to play, and it was unrelenting in its annoyance. i don't understand why people make levels like this for a VLDC. did you use states to play thru this? rewind? or did you not consider that this kind of hard level is just not fun whatsoever to play. the first powerup is about this far in the level, and yeah. Yeah. the second half of the level with layer 2 water is a hell of a lot more fun to play, and is also hilariously easier compared to its first half. hilariously, your boss room doesn't have ice physics. i was surprised you showed some restraint lol. the graphics are okay, kinda boring but not totally awful. i'd rework the first half because frankly it's not that fun, but at the very least just add some more powerups, man. add one at the beginning, add one at the midpoint, and at least the level becomes a bit more fun. as it stands right now though, i could see it being green orb'd solely because the first half is so tedious and unforgiving. if you wanna make a hard level, at least take into consideration how much ice physics make already tricky things much more tricky. |
Christian07 - Rhino's Bubbles | |
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Design and Execution: 41/50 Design Creativity and Aesthetic Creativity: 24/30 Aesthetics and Polish: 15/20 Overall: 80/100 |
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first thing i noticed was the ugly sky gradient in the first half (not the one that's pictured, which is later in the level & nicer). a smooth transition into an orangey-brown isn't impossible to make, but consider using some more colors to create a more fluid and pretty look. that's a minor nitpick tho, frankly. the palettes and ground is pretty, and i loved the introduction of the sprites interacting with ur bubbles gimmick with that first paragoomba who kinda jumped into heaven and back again at the beginning. however, right after that is just a gauntlet of sprites one after another who offer no challenge no reason to really be there - they're just placed haphazardly to fill blank space. dino rhinos are hard to use well, and often here i find they just ran off of edges before i even got to them. latter sections of the first half were a lot more interesting with your setups. however, the falling platforms with jumping dino rhinos, while not a bad idea, did seem out of place in its difficulty and... well, dickishness. maybe that would fit better later in the level as the difficulty progresses a tad. the second half is a lot more interesting than the first half, and actually becomes really fun. a lot of neat setups and the introduction of the rotating platforms as both helpful and a nuisance to the player in conjunction with the rhinos and water bubbles is all really well done. the level just takes a bit to get there. it's a solid level with a few kinks that, most importantly, is pretty fun. |
Falconpunch - Starlight Symphony | |
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Design and Execution: 35/50 Design Creativity and Aesthetic Creativity: 16/30 Aesthetics and Polish: 17/20 Overall: 68/100 |
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this levels bg is really pretty. i really love the layer 3 background. the foreground aesthetics are alright, nothing much to say about them. this level does cautiously walk the line of being a simple romp, though. just some platforms, some jumping, it'd be decent in a normal hack, but as a level in a contest it struggles to really stand out. i thought the way to get the midpoint was cute though. i liked the reoccurance of the shooting pipes, i feel they're criminally underused. i'm not sure what was up with the holes in the pipes though. are they supposed to be like.. holes on a recorder? coz i think there's gotta be better ways to express that. the secret exit, while looking nice, really added nothing to the level. there wasn't much there that wasn't already expressed through your main level. if anything, it just felt like filler. either give it a purpose or remove it tbh would be my advice. |
Cyphermur9t - Hydromagmatic Fort | |
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Design and Execution: 41/50 Design Creativity and Aesthetic Creativity: 24/30 Aesthetics and Polish: 17/20 Overall: 82/100 |
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instantly come the matterhorn comparisons, but i think it's kinda unfair to write off a whole gimmick coz of a pre-existing level. at first i was concerned with no reset door for the koopa / turn block segment, but then i realized it was just for a dragon coin, so it's not an issue. the first half breezes by, and while very fun, i do struggle with how memorable the actual segments are. the second half reminds me a lot of the second half of Frigid Fort, although actually a bit trickier than that execution is. im not sure why you put a tile above the powerup block in the second layer 2 half, as it makes getting a fire flower kind of annoying. the level has a consistent difficulty, although i had one issue later in this room with your podobos: frankly, podobos on layer 2 moving lava suck. they just jump out of nowhere. i'd consider just replacing the podobos entirely with something else during that section. that aside, the level is pretty strong and pretty fun. also wow i didn't even notice my first two scores were identical to rhino's bubbles. funny how two different looking levels that both play with water end up being of similar quality. |
divemissile - TOGETHER WE RIDE | |
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Design and Execution: 3/50 Design Creativity and Aesthetic Creativity: 9/30 Aesthetics and Polish: 4/20 Overall: 16/100 |
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man to put it bluntly this level is a mess. it's a fun idea, but the sprite interaction with a static layer 2 on autoscroll just makes it so nothing sticks to this raft. mario slides off if i don't move with it, mushrooms i hit on layer 2 spill out of the blocks to the left, and hotheads get stuck on the layer 2 and get messed up and confused. and then the level entirely loses its focus once it throws me into a castle where i can skip 99% of the obstacles by simply walking over the rooms you built. conceptually your level makes sense. it's a siege against a castle, so you start at the siege, you get to the castle, and then fight the boss. but the first half is a mess and the second half is short and inconsequential. i can freeze the game if i get a feather in the first half high enough in the screen, too. consider jumping on #vldc or asking playtesters to try your stuff to shape this into something better. |
morsel - SNAKES AND LADDERS | |
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Design and Execution: 40/50 Design Creativity and Aesthetic Creativity: 26/30 Aesthetics and Polish: 8/20 Overall: 74/100 GOAL SPHERE |
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a creative as hell level bogged down by it's incessant difficulty. there's a lot of really neat ideas going on here, i love the use of 1f0 and how you have it working with the sumo bros lightning. the introduction of the waiting for vine gimmick in the second half is also really cool. however, man, the thing about your levels is there's so little breathing room. i can see a lot of people giving up on this because of the preciseness it demands from the player. it's a decent length, it actually offers powerups decently enough allowing you to take some hits here and there, but it's just a lick harder than it should be. honestly, if this were toned down a bit i could see it placing really high. well... and if you worked on the aesthetics a tad. the yoshi snake bridge was hideous and the palettes were far from pleasing. frankly were the yoshi snake blocks just regular brown blocks it would've been a lot better lol. |