Yeah, I can see the reasoning behind that. Unfortunately, that means it may be a LONG time before I can upload this. :(

Just making levels, and custom tiles for each individual level is enough work for me right now. Thanks for the suggestion though.

Oh, and yes, you're quite welcome to test once I've got it ready for that. It'll be just a little longer than I thought because of the new tiles I'm adding. They're mostly done, but its going to take some work to make them look a bit better in the stage.

As soon as that's done, I'll make some screenshots to get some input from you guys, and get to work on the pinball segment of the level. The pinball will take some time to make sure it's challenging but not too frustrating.

Enemies and item placement are about 95% done.

I meant that with teh HTML as an uhm... helpful remark ;) for your idea to upload the pack in parts, which will not be appreciated by the admins, I am afraid, so this might be a good replacement. just a thought *shrugs*

This is easy to prevent, however. Just put one-way on the floor tiles, and you will not sink into them. (The same can be done with Psych animated spikes)

Hope that helps.

Didn't know that
*goes to fix*

Thanks!

Update: I have only some minor enemy placement issues to correct, and the level will be ready for testing. I promised screenshots, so I'll try to get those taken tomorrow.

When you will upload your level pack on j2o -I can't wait to play it -this stuff looks gooooood.

For your amusement:

[IMG]http://www.foxmage.com/flamep/IF3.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://www.foxmage.com/flamep/if3b.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://www.foxmage.com/flamep/IF4.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://www.foxmage.com/flamep/if4b.jpg[/IMG]

Sorry for the delay. Bad case of the flu took all the energy right out of me. :r

Unless I can strike some kind fo deal with the powers that be here, it will be a long, long time, becuase this is the beginning of what I hope will be a very large level pack. If you'd like to play sooner, you can help test it for me :)

That scenery looks... bland. At least it isn't a gradient.

No, the new tiles don't look as good here as they do in action. You can't tell too well from here, but I've used them to create a pseudo-3D look. People that have been testing it for me in person say it has a sort of Sonic-esque feel to it. Anyway, the idea was for the new tiles to make the level feel 3D and textured as a whole through the way the tiles are arranged in the level. With the old castle tiles, each tile had a lot of depth and texture, but the level looked flat no matter how I arranged them.

I doubt it will look a whole lot better in action, but do what you want.

It might look a bit better if everything was that style, but...

Can I assume that the worst part is that big flat orange spot in the bottom right screenshot (below and to the left of where Jazz is standing)?

That and the bridge in the same screenshot.

I can't do much about the latter, but the former has been fixed up a little. I'll keep an eye out for any more blank spots I've overlooked.

Yeah, the big orange spot just looks bland compared to the rest of the tileset. Add some shading, at least. The other thing is the sharp colour changes in them - it looks so unnatural for a level.

Oh, and put the falling red stuff back in. It's in the first screenshot (the one with castle) but not the second :P

I'll see if I can make some tweaks to the color changes, but there's not much I can do without going back and doing some major work on my palette.
There's an example of how much my tile set depends on motion. That fiery stuff is actually shooting up from the bottom of the level, and wanders across the entire stage. It just happened to be in view for the first shot and not for the second. I haven't removed or changed it at all.

Hmm. If you animated the firey things to wave back and forth and up and down a little, gave them some horizontal motion (so the layer moves up and to the right), and made them flicker a bit, they'd look just like embers or fireball things blowing off the surface of the lava.

If you're talking about the bright little specks scattered randomly across every screenshot, that's exactly what I've done. :)

I've gone in and removed some barely-used color entries in my tileset so that I can do more work with the ground tiles. This time, I think the results will be satisfactory to most of you, but it means yet again that this will take even more time. :mad:

I mean actually animating the tile with the spark on it to move around, in addition to the layer, so it isn't always moving with the same speed.

Yes. It bobs up and down. The effect will be more obvious in the second stage (already in progress). In this level, it moves so quickly and on so many layers that it's difficult to tell. I would make multiple animations of it to add variety, but I've got too many animated tiles already.

The tileset and screenies *Drool*
Oh and i'll test the second level when it's ready for the testing stage, but PM me the Stuff not e-mail it. Because well ummmm *has no e-mail Address*

Better to wait for a good level than play a bad one, right? w00t. Thw only thing I have trouble with now is the ribs, they went with the castle but not with the current blocks.

And if you have no e-mail, how did you sign up?

Well I used to have one and got rid of it since I barely used it and that such. I just wish people would trash the E-mail comfirmation thing.......

Oh and on topic did you rip those tiles when all you have is a J2t file?

They don't go because the space behind them was too flat. I'm fixing it.

You mean how did I do it? I opened up the tile sets in JCS and took screen shots, then pasted the tiles into my own set as needed.

BTW, you don;t need to wait until the second level is ready to start testing. You're welcome to test the first, as long as I can manage to get the files to you.

But I want to test the second level.

What's wrong with testing both?

Is it ready to test right now?

If so, I'll PM you my e-mail address.

Give it just a little more time. I'll announce it here when I'm ready.

Here's a progress report for those who are waiting:

Currently, I'm having to "texture" the entire stage to get the look I want. I'm already 50% done with that. (Edit: Note, this is the last time I change the tiles. I'm very happy with the new look I'm getting, and it will be final... so no screenies. You'll all just have to try it out and see }> )

Next, I have some problems with the enemies at the very last part of the stage. I know without testing that it needs work, so I'm going to get to it before I let a singe person into the stage... but after I'm done "texturing" everything.

Then I'm done! All terrain is in place. Obstacles, secrets, items, and hints are in place.

When I'm finished, there will also be support for all three difficulty settings, one Jazz(or Lori)-only secret, and one Spazz-only secret (in addition to all the secrets that everyone else can get)

Status update:

I'm almost completely done re-working the level to use to the new tiles properly. Just a couple of spots to fix.

I decided to add lighting effects to one area. It looks great for the most part, but it caused a bug in a sequence of secret chambers. Removing one room from a sequence of rooms connected by teleporters fixed the bug. The "removed" room still exists, but it no longer part of that sequence of chambers. It is now a secret accessed from an entirely different part of the level (VERY hard to find, too).

I still have to work on the enemies at the end of the level. Most of them are either too hard to deal with at the speeds I'm, uh, encouraging players to move at, or they're too easy to simply run past and not have to deal with them at all. I need to find a way to balance it. I will keep working on it until it feels right.

That sounds so 1337.

Wow, that sounds like some hard work for just one level. Dedication.

Well I give what I'm doing everything I can put into it, or I give up on it completely. That sucks, considering some of the promising things I've started and abandoned, but once I've let people know I'm working on it, I tend to work on it until I finish.

I think if people with more talent and skill than me would put more time into things (not four years, that was just because of college) we'd have some stuff a LOT more amazing than we've seen done with Jazz 2. Not pointing any fingers, but there are some people around who I think have more talent and skill...

Feel free to point fingers. I won't mind.

Umm...wow! That looks awesome.
Can I beta test? Please?

UPDATE:
Progress will again be delayed for now, as personal problems have come up concerning my long-distance fiance, who is having a severe bout of depression. The wedding has been postponed indefinately, and I am moving away from home to be near her. I won't be posting here or working on the level at all until I have finished moving to my new (and still temporary) home. Even then, progress will be slower while I find a new job in that area. Please wish us luck.

Progress will resume once things have settled down slightly. I'm not letting all this work go to waste by not finishing.


Yes, once I am able to work on it again...

I am now somewhat settled in, living on the couch at a friend's house. Progress on the level(s) will resume now.

I've made a few last tweaks to the look of the level, and I'm finally making progress on the enemies in the last area. I should be ready to start public testing in a week or two. Wish me luck and inspiration! :D

Good luck and inspiration :)