"Alphabet City" - new level (1.2)

Started by Ciolf, September 20, 2011, 08:44:21 PM

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Ciolf

Hey guys, releasing my new level, "Alphabet City".  Basic premise is that you're in a spaceport whose major areas are letter-based, but there are also several outside rooms to test you.  It's a 10x5 map with 3 rooms unused. 
NOTE: There are two things that you will need to be aware before digging in to this level.

1) There are a couple of rooms with 1-tile lines (sorry, PJ).  In some cases, it couldn't be helped (particularly Quebec Nordique, the room after Echo Base, and the rooms after Three to Tango).  Also, the room straight after Wherefore Art Thou Romeo? has floating spikes, which I know many of you hate.  I might go back and fix it if I can think of something better. EDIT: Changed the room completely.  It's still quite challenging, and there's more scripting in there.  But that's one less design flaw.

2) There are some very difficult rooms in this level, especially if you want to go trinket hunting.  In some cases, I provided help so you can line up your jump and/or time it properly.  But it's still challenging - even on my best playthrough, I still died 50 times.






(I may have edited the rooms slightly since I took the screenshots, btw.)

So let me know what you think, or if there are any serious bugs you notice.  There is a fair amount of scripting here, and I tried to take care of it as much as possible, but it wouldn't shock me if something slipped through the cracks.

Thanks!
-Ciolf

EDIT: Fixed an obvious glitch in the room between Juliet and Kilo.  Thanks, PJ!

PJBottomz

FLOATIN SPIKES?!

I'll test this tomorrow since I don't have time now, but

FLOATIN SPIKES?!

Dispensers Heal


Ciolf

Yeah, I updated that spike room.  Had to be done.  Added a terminal, but made the level still challenging as hell.  :vermillion:

But yeah, no more floating spikes, so that hopefully takes care of all major issues.

Dispensers Heal


PJBottomz

PJBottomz Levvvvvvel Review #4 - Alphabet City

Room Design: 5/10 - It was okay, but the single tiles and some of the FLOATIN SPIKES made it look bad.
Scripting: 10/10 - I loved your scripts! They were freakin hilarious! Especially the "stupid terminal" bit! XD
Plot: 10/10 - This is something completely original, and it's very fascinating.
Bug-Free Rating: 8/10 - There are a few bugs, which I've listed below (some of them aren't actual bugs)
Difficulty: 10/10 - That was seriously challenging. I had to use invincibility to get to where I did.
Overall Rating: 7/10 - a rough level, but it looks really neat!

Things I Noticed -

In "Echo Base", one of the enemies is off-tune with the wave.

In "Golf Course", part of the room at the bottom is blocked by the roomname.

In "India Ink", there are no conveyors on the top, but there are in "...and Juliet is the sun."

In the room right after "..and Juliet is the sun", there's a collison error is you exit by re-entering the room from the bottom

... That's as far as I got. I had to play with invincibility on, and the nameless room next to, "... and Juliet is the sun", had spikes placed to where I couldn't pass. :'( I couldn't fix it in the editor cause I don't know WHAT you named the file.

Ciolf

----"... That's as far as I got. I had to play with invincibility on, and the nameless room next to, "... and Juliet is the sun", had spikes placed to where I couldn't pass."

:o

Oh, man, I spent all that time in that room making sure I didn't have any 1x1s or floaters and I totally blocked it off.  Crap.

OK, just a second....

Dispensers Heal

"AND IF I HAVE TO RESCUE VICTORIA'S SCARED ASS ONE MORE TIME, I'M GONNA FLIP. NOT THAT KIND OF FLIP, THE MENTAL KIND."

That does sound funny...

This level gets a V Rank.

bigkahuna

#8
Hey there! I really enjoyed your level. Challenging, fun, and nice terminal chat ;)

I liked your "censorship" comment as well.

Violet-Viridian exchange was nice :)

...but, the hidden spike pit was uncalled for. A tomato surprise that was actually annoying, considering I thought that *maybe* it was a secret until I died from it.

EDIT: The last terminal and the Viridian-Viridian exchange were golden ;D

Rally well designed and fun level.

Had a few bugs.

In the room after the first terminal (red room, starts with a 'B', can't remember the name for the life of me), you can flip immediately down the shaft instead of going the long way like you're supposed to.

Going from "Golf Club" to "Heartbreak Hotel", staying in the inital vertical shaft makes you glitch spradically into the unnamed green "stand-still" conveyor belt room.

The "Ping-Pong" room was too easy. I waited for an opening on the top platform and made it to the other side with one flip.

"Two to Tango"... was the jump meant to be impossible (because it was...), or was the safe spot right after the jump meant to be on purpose? If so, very smart puzzle.

15/15 Trinkets! Slightly easy challenges at times, but enjoyable.

Buttons

Haven't finished yet, but I'm really liking it so far. I laughed out loud at the "Delta Blues" pun. One quibble: the comma in "Wherefore Art Thou, Romeo" makes absolutely no sense.

Ciolf

Oh yeah... my apologies to the Bard.  It's been 15 years since I've read that, and I forgot that "Wherefore" meant "why".  I'll fix that shortly.

Damn It AL to Hell

I read a couple of comments and I will try out your level, let's have at it!

:verdigris: That is the lamest thing you ever said.

Damn It AL to Hell

Okay, that was cool and hilarious, but a major pain in the ass when I get to Bravo!! because I could barely get past it, and needs a few more checkpoints like in the room where there is a ton of gravity lines leading to a warp token, but it was pretty cool 10/10 :viridian:

PJBottomz

Quote from: Ciolf on September 20, 2011, 08:44:21 PM
EDIT: Fixed an obvious glitch in the room between Juliet and Kilo.  Thanks, PJ!

No problem! Happy to playtest!

ThePaSch

#14
Played your level, and while I enjoyed it, I have noticed something that has been bothering me all the way through.
Checkpoints are there to be placed so that players can use them.
In many of your rooms, I made it through the room and then died right at the end, having to do the entire room again because you often only placed one checkpoint at the beginning - a big pain in the rear, to say the least.

While overly used checkpoints can make a level very easy, sparsely used ones don't make it hard, they make it annoying and frustrating. Combine a genuinely hard level with sparse checkpoints and you get a level that you'll play halfway through, then stop because you don't want to do room X for the stonkizillionth time.

I'd positively mention Lima Time here, since you have two checkpoints in that room, one before each challenge. That keeps the flow going.
I'd negatively mention Lima Time too, although that contains Mike and the Mechanics too; why have the player repeat the last bit of Lima Time? Couldn't you just place a checkpoint in front of that warptoken at the end of Lima Time?
That in conjunction with no immediate checkpoint in November Rain almost made me quit the level and is, in my opinion, an example of bad level design.

Nonetheless, the level was well designed and challenging. Work on the checkpoint issue and it'll be perfect.

In one "don't-move" level, I found it strange that you suddenly had to move at the end, since I was totally unprepared. I then had to watch the entire room again, because, again, there were no checkpoints at all. Either remove the quicksand over the spikes at the end, or make it more clear (the "!!!!!!"s really weren't helpful) that the player is going to move by himself after that.

The first time I played, Sierra Club made me quit. The room is really hard per se, and having to do the entire "first floor" again when I die on the second because there's no checkpont between them annoyed me so much that I just stopped giving a turd.