I need comments on my levelpack
 

I re-released 2.2 of my levelpack few days ago due to a server crash. I wanted to fix it and release 2.3 but I can´t because I need comments on how to improve it. Of course since I´m the author, I can´t see what´s wrong.

If anyone is ready, could you please try to play it and tell me what needs fixing or improving, point me to tile bugs, what level is too easy and why it is and how to make it harder, too little eyecandy or too much food etc. etc. etc.

You can download it in this link.
http://www.jazz2online.com/J2Ov2/dow...p?levelID=3567

The pack is 9 big levels so this might take some time.
Tell me everything that bothers you about it. :)


Thanks for any help!
(btw, don´t be hard on me if there are alot of tilebugs, I got very bad vision)

The problem of it is it lacks any story or originality. Have you ever noticed how Single Player levels get much more fun if they have some story parts in it, or something not seen in every level? What's originality you may ask. Play FSP: Rent Collection then. Or Tomb Rabbit. Or TDI / TDI 2 (unfinished) from Moonblaze. Story? Play Another Story from Stripe. Then decide what's wrong about your pack. ;) Good luck.

Do you mind if I reupload your new upload to here instead? We generally want people to reupload things to their old versions and ask the reviewers for a new review rather than starting over again with a new upload (meaning old reviews get lost)

That´s fine with me FQuist. :)

@PHT2: Sorry but it´d take me months to redesign the pack to add a story and new stuff. So no is my answer. It´s not worth the problem for 0 reviews and less than 200 downloads until it goes out of sight.
Like you can read, I´m asking for bugfixes and if a level is too easy or not and why e.t.c.

Let´s stick to that, and I hope someone isn´t too lazy to do this big favor for me.


And btw, I can´t play any levels I download, JCS crashes when I try to open them, same for JJ2.
Which I find odd, I´m using 1.23 like the levels I download.

Well, start a new pack then. :) You will get reviews once you do something with your levels. Linear levels which have nothing new in them hardly get reviews, well, because that's the way it is.

Maybe you have too many episode files? Did you download any level packs with .j2e-files inside? Too many of those crash JJ2. If you've downloaded Time Tripping - JJ2 or The Lost World Episode browse through your JJ2 folder and delete the .j2e files that came with those packs, but beware not to delete the original ones.

It happens to all level/packs, with or without j2e files. :/

But really, what can I do to make a 2D game different from the original game? The only way I can think of is to use new tilesets or create new type of puzzles. Which can be hard due to the lack of possibilities in JCS, for example, I´d like to be able to make moving tiles and you can control their moving path. Something that can open up bunch of new possibilites, and not to forget extra layers etc.

I wish Epic would release new patch that creates the glory of 2004/2005 for JJ2.

Could you copy + paste the error message please?

Again, look at all those masterpieces I mentioned before. There are more ways to do something than you think. If you are not willed to do some hard work, you won't get good ratings though.

I wish that too, but they won't. :(

Do you think I don´t put hard work into my levels? It´s just a matter of creativity, I´ve always used Epic´s tilesets, maybe that´s the reason why I can´t make more creative levels. I´ll try 7th Lavafall, what do you think about that?

I can´t look at these levels you mentioned, I´ve tried many levels, usually high rated, but that goddamn crash problem...

Just tell/show the bug and we might be able to help. Sorry as I probably not review it.

Just play all the levels and tell me everything what you think. Maybe one level is way too easy or other one has too many checkpoints e.t.c.

Every single thing you want to note me about. :)

It's a good idea trying other tilesets, as the Epic sets have been used to death and you will probably end up creating places you've seen in the original game.

For creativity, of course it can be difficult, but it's not as hard as most people think.

For example, try to do something well known the other way around. I've seen invisible tiles which could be shot to get platforms, instead of blocks which can be shot to clear a passage. Everythings possible.

You can also try thinking about what you can do with events and what you can't. For example, the floating sucker event. It's normally used as an enemy. In FSP: Rent Collection they were used to make glowing floor, which hurts the player.

Of course I believe you put hard work into your stuff, it's just that you seem to neglect some important parts.

That´s good point.
I started a level using 7th Lavafall, awesome metallic tileset. I´ll see if I still can create levels, since it´s been months since I created a brand new level and finished it.

All games I create levels with, for example Serious Sam, I´m the same person there, I created new maps but with same style as the ones in the game itself.
This tells that it´s my mapping style, it´s very hard to change one´s mapping style, because if you map against your will, you get bored pretty soon.

I've played through your whole pack, and wrote a review. Please don't be dissapointed because a 5.0 rating is not all that high, but if I'd give you a 9.8 it won't help you either, right? ;-)

The only thing you must consider is being different and having lots of details in your levels. Oh, and good luck. Should you need betatesters, contact me under pht2@gmx.de

EDIT: I don't want to say you're levels suck or something, they only lack "the special element". You're "mapping style" has also some good points, like your levels being pretty long. Keep on it, ok? :)

I got two comments about your review. ;)

- I mentioned that I got very bad vision so tilebugs are 100% likely to be seen quite often in my levels.

- Story isn´t a neccesary thing, this levelpack is a pack of levels, this was never intended to have a story or connected levels, just few levels to have fun with. I joined them together so people wouldn´t yell at me for not doing so.

I think you underrated alittle, that special element shouldn´t affect 25% - 30% of the score. ;)


But of course I´ll use your advices. I might release 2.3 but it won´t include the special element. I´ll only make levels harder, decrease ammo and take out various checkpoints and carrots.

Can you give me in-depth list of annoyances in each level? I really want to fix all tilebugs and make the pack as enjoyable as possible.

Thanks for your comments. Please be more specific when you say too easy, what makes it too easy? Too many carrots, extra lives or checkpoints? Or something else?

Get glasses then. :P

Maybe next time you can write that into the description, so I won't rate story. :)

The problem is I either have to rate level design or fun factor, otherwise the review would be unfair. If you wish so, I can rate fun factor and therefore make creativity a little less score affecting. However, I'll do so tomorrow because I'm too lazy now.

Good thing. ;)

Maybe I can do that tomorrow, but I'm too lazy today. I was on a punk-rock concert yesterday, and therefore had only a few ours of sleep. :)

The factors which make it too easy are
a) the enemies are not placed in a strategically way (like I've explained in the review)
b) there is too much ammo
c) strong weapons like seekers or 3-ways should be harder to get, and there should be less of them
d) I've seen some fast fire guns, which you should delete because they make the game too easy
e) The bosses are pretty easy to beat, maybe add a special arena (like in the last level) or some regenerating enemies, etc.

That's all, I'll edit the review and maybe write a more explicit description of bugs tomorrow. See you then.

Thanks.
I´m working on a level now, non-Epic tileset but I´m really stuck when it comes to make puzzles or put enemies on clever places...

Maybe I'll think off a puzzle for you tomorrow. :lol: You needn't make puzzles, if you don't want to, but I think it's at least worth a try. ;-)

I made one where there´s a crate that´s stuck to a chain, when you break a crate, the crate raises up and you can go through.

Is that something you´re talking about?

I forgot to mention, I already have glasses. They don´t fix night-blindness and nearsighting. But they fix the blurryness.

To PHT:

Imagine a 10 quality level where someone gives it a 7.8 because it has no story. In other words, I am severely dissapointed by that review. A 5.0 because of lack of story and too much "strong weapons like seekers or 3-ways"? RFs are barely useful in singleplayer if you didn't know, and there aren't all that much seekers, unless you conserve your ammo.

The glasses thing is a personal attack.

Fastfire pickups making game too easy and thus he should delete every single one? You put that in a context suggesting that collecting one gives Jazz mortal powers.

And at last, you complained about how the pack is overall unoriginal and then you suggest something which has been done to death. Yes, respawning foes nearby bosses IS an overused method.

I´m going to make a clever boss arena, I hope it´ll be something new.

Frank is right, if your active/unbanned account used it re-upload! Well, let me give you example, JungleRabbit is the best level I ever made! However I got worse avarge rating then I re-uploaded by clicking Upload buttom insteed of re-uploading!

I think this is fine, since I´m not planning on releasing 2.3 until I get more detailed list of what´s wrong.

I´m happy with it, but the author shouldn´t appeal to himself. That´s why I want the players to speak. ;)

Nothing is overused if you do it right.

Have you tried putting things like big rocks/boxes on top of belts?

Actually what surprised me about the first 3 levels of the pack(I haven't played anything farther at the moment) was that if they were linear, it was very hard to tell. I just kept thinking When I finish playing the pack I shall write a review.
My list of Changes so far are-
Not so many carrots, while sometimes I wish I had one, more health makes me reckless and I just lose the heart anyways. But that's just me.
The first tile bugs I really noticed were in the Hell level, theres one near the beggining going up the slope(an extra tile was placed, doesn't ruin the gameplay but it just looks odd) and I found it odd that I got hurt just touching some normal looking ground.
I think thats it, oh, and if the levels were linear(as I said I couldn't tell), if you made them unlinear that would rock, but thats only if you want to make them unlinear if they were linear.

Most people complain about too many carrots and/or checkpoints.
I hopefully make very hard level, I´ll finish it maybe after a week, I´m very busy at school so I won´t have much time.

I was talking abou normal tiles, from a tileset. And they could move without needing a belt or vind, just move and you can control their speed.

I'm still not sure what "control their speed" means. You mean ingame or just with JCS? Also, knowing exactly what to you want to move around would help.

It´s just a tile that has the ability to move ingame.
These would be the events you could use in JCS.
1) Movable Tile - Put this onto the tiles you want to move automaticly ingame
Properties.
"MoveOnTouch": The tile will move when touched
"Wait": How many seconds must pass until the tile moves, if MoveOnTouch is flagged, it´ll move after this many seconds after touching it. If MoveOnTouch is not activated, it´ll move after this many seconds after starting the level

2) MovTile Marker: This one is neccesary, or JJ2 will crash when the tile should move. It marks where the tile should travel. If you wan the tile to go special path, you put these markers to tell the tile where to move.
Properties:
"Direction": 1 = Up, 2 = Down, 3 = Left and 4 = Right.
"Distance": How many tiles the moving tile will pass, it must be enough so it gets to the next marker. If you want to create a loop, you just create one with the markers.


This idea is confusing but this is my best explanation.

First paragraph: I'll change that review a bit and rate fun factor instead of story, for the thing about weapons, RFs are pretty useful when upgraded imo. For the seekers, I think there should only be a few seekers, so they're something "special".

Second one (well, it's not really a paragraph, but who cares): I didn't know it was meant serious, I didn't want to personally attack him.

Third paragraph: Of course fast fire pickups don't give Jazz mortal powers or something, it's just my opinion that they should be removed, he needn't follow that.

Fourth paragraph: First of all I agree what Violet said, second I'm not a master designer or something, not everything I say must be right.

Thank you for your opinion, this is my opinion. :-)

EDIT:

@ Bjossi: That puzzle sounds pretty cool, nice! :)
For the thing about your vision, I'm sorry, I misunderstood that. I thought you were just likely not to see small tiling errors, so sorry for that. Of course, finding tile bugs is difficult then. I'll think about a solution.

I'll edit the review now, but bug guide will probably follow tomorrow, because I had no internet for the whole day now and I'm too lazy to do it all on one evening, I hope that's ok. :)

I have one. Bjossi, send the level to coobshop@gmail.com WID.

Ok, it´ll probably be finished before next weekend, if not, in the weekend. :)

@ Cooba & Bjossi: I've edited the review, and increased the rating to a 6.2. I hope you're more satisfied now. :)

The level is coming along good, but it´ll be alittle linear. ;)
But there are few missions like braking a crate to continue. I wish I knew how to use Trigger Zones. I haven´t learned them yet. And that´s the only thing I don´t know about JCS, I didn´t even know it existed until I viewed these forums.

Ok, I your next version a review ONLY IF you'll include a custom tileset!

Trigger Zones? Try JCSref!

Here's some ideas for originality:

• Try making custom enemies.
• Add in custom items. This is super easy once you understand trigger zones. Look at foo races for more info.
• Be different. Make up level types. Use tilesets in messed-up ways. Fool around with the tileset and discover some secrets, such as the parallax-able bricks in Tubelectric.
• Make a hotel.

Dang, all this makes me want to make new levels. ;P

Thanks for the tutorial Unknown Rabbit. :D

Custom enemies? I have no idea how to program...
Use a tileset in messed-up ways? It´s hard in the tileset I use now. ;)
But I did find a tile that´s empty space like the first tile in all tilesets, but it´s masked. I can therefore create blocking volumes to prevent access to certain areas.

I think we're asking for too much from Bjossi.

What I'd like to see is less Monkeys near the end of the Jungle level. Hate them so much...>_<

And no witches! The one in the Diamondus level (I think there was one) is a total pain if you don't cheat.

Lies. That was fun to beat that witch with buttstomping. :D

Anyway, use fun belts, caterpillars and such. :rolleyes:

...Now I feel really stupid. XP

There was one area in the Jungle Level that I couldn't get to, I'm guessing it's Jazz's path through that level.