Single Player Level Pack (but also for online playing)
 

Prologue
This evening I've been hosting levels at JJ2.. Some of my old classic ones (TEC Hotel, Cracco Mountain and Cracco Moon).. Then I wanted to host my old level Cracco Land of Coins and I realised that despite it taking very long to finish, it's still a fun level (Some of the people who've been playing JJ2 online for some years now may remember that level, also known as LoC). The last version of LoC was kinda messed up because I used 32 triggers instead of 31. So I altered LoC a little, fixed some other things too, and saved it. Then I just got an idea...

Conclusion
The very first version of LoC only had 5 coins (Air, Water, Fire, Earth and Nature). It didn't take too long to complete, but you had to do some searching though.
Most people don't have the patience nowadays to finish the full LoC quest (get all 32 coins), I'm sure that there are only a few people who have. But back in 2000, almost everybody who joined my server had enough patience to get only 5 coins. So..

The plan
What I'm going to do is make a single player pack of about 10 levels (each with a different tileset and theme) and put 5 coins in each. I will do my best to come up with some original ideas, and maybe convert some of the more popular quests in the original LoC (or TaD). I will try to keep the levels well-balanced so they'll be fun and not too hard or too boring. As some people may remember, my old level Cracco Land of Coins barely had any eyecandy. That's another thing I want to improve for the "Land of Coins" level pack, the levels must also look good.

I know I haven't been too busy with JCS lately and I'm about to end my level/tileset-making career, but I'm dedicated to finishing this. I'm uncertain yet if I'm going to do this alone or with help from some other level makers.. Depends..
What I need is; some good, fresh ideas! After having made levels for more than 4 years, I'm running out of inspiration myself. So if everyone has any ideas for these new LoC-like levels, pleaaase share them with me (post them or PM/E-Mail/MSN them). :)

Good luck with that. I know I wouldn't be nice enough to give out one of my ideas without using it first.

1337, I do remember that level. I don't have it anymore though so givign ideas may be hard :P. Could you send it to me?

I think I played this level once... Anyway, I'm waiting for your levelpack. I promise I'll play it.

Level 1 is done.. A traditonally 'introduction' level in the way the original LoC was created.. It takes place in the same village as the original LoC (Delaes) a few years after the coin curse was solved. This time, the farmer is in trouble because his 5 red sheep are missing. Up to the player to find them. This time around I worked with trigger zones instead of trigger boxes, so everybody can play his invidual quest when I host it online. =)

Didn't you already do a bunch of LoC variants?

Yeah I did make TaD together with Hikari/Coolman.. And some sequals to LoC which weren't really sequals because they had no quest or whatsoever (Ruins, BuildUp, Homittle, Hideout, Darco's Vulcano, U-River, Delaes and some others).

Status of the levelpack
 

Chapter 1: Save The Sheep! - Finished
Chapter 2: Santa's Stolen Hats - Finished
Chapter 3: The Head Hunter - Finished
Chapter 4: Snowdust: Reloaded - Working on it
Chapter 5: ??? (a level with Desert of the lazy Donkeys) - Already got some raw ideas
Chapter 6: ??? (a level with Party Casino- A friend of mine already came up with some raw ideas
Chapter 7 - 13: No work done yet


I've already hosted chapters 1, 2 and 3 and I was pleased to hear the positive feedback I received. :)

Whee. When do you expect to be done?

A level with the CI tileset would be cool.

Yeah, I'll make one with the CI tileset, ofcourse.

I can't wait! It's great to have ambitious new projects on the way

Chapters 1 ~ 4 are completed and bug fixed. Chapter 5 is on exactly 40% right now.

It's amazing to see how fast others work. I always have to work on a alevel for at least 2 months before it's completed :(

Nah.. I don't work that fast... I'm happy when I can do one level every 2 weeks. Playing Suikoden and working on a school project takes up all my free time.. Almost noo time for JJ2 or anything related to it, I'm afraid.

In my case, it depends what level it is. If a level for Devil Dash is very story-related or has an important feature, it does take long. If it's a standard level, like the ones made by Epic, it takes me a week or so.

Ok the first 5; finished & released. I got the feedback I need, and the reviews were satisfying enough so I got enough motivation to make the other 5 (or more) as well. I'm now trying to think of some raw ideas for the following levels. Any suggestions would greatly be appreciated.

Note: I think in the final pack I'll make two versions of each level. The original version for multiplayer online and a single player version with enemies and probably save points & more ammo.

:D Please may I beta-test?

Once this pack is finished, can I play it please? Huh? Can I? *puppy dog eyes*

Yes, ofcourse you can. You can already try the beta-pack with the five first levels at;
http://www.jazz2online.com/downloads...p?levelid=3090

Going to start with the sixth level today.. I'm gonna choose between Outerspace, Haggard, Island, DotlD, Holy Moo Land or Amazonian Highway for tileset.. Depends. ;-)

Gonna revive this topic instead of making a new one. I've recently resumed working on my levelpack Godaiku and four new levels are already done. The first of them is uploaded at J2o. The whole levelpack will need about 12 levels...

The progress of the levelpack:

Chapter 1: Save The Sheep! - Finished (22th of December, 2003)
Chapter 2: Santa's Stolen Hats - Finished (26th of December, 2003)
Chapter 3: The Head Hunter - Finished (30th of December, 2003)
Chapter 4: Snowdust: Reloaded - Finished (11th of January, 2004)
Chapter 5: Party Casino - Finished (4th of March, 2004)
Chapter 6: Jungle of Maboroshi - Finished (23th of June, 2004)
Chapter 7: Tropicana Bay - Finished (19th of June, 2004)
Chapter 8: The Tale of Moo: An Epic Story - Finished (20th of June, 2004)
Chapter 9: Alberto's Chili Peppers - Finished (21th of June, 2004)
Chapter 10: Mechanics And Astronauts - Finished (2nd of December, 2004)
Chapter 11: Route 77 - Finished (5th of December, 2004)
Chapter 12: Camping Is For Noobs - Finished (8th of January, 2005)
Chapter 13: Hijackers Paradise - Finished (21th of October, 2005)
Chapter 14: ??? - Something with CF+
Chapter 15: ??? - Something with CX+
Chapter 16: ??? - Something with CY+
Chapter 17: ??? - Something with CZ+
Chapter 18: ??? - Something with CW+
Chapter 19: ??? - Something with CG+
Chapter 20: ??? - ???

Any suggestions for the 3 last levels will be greatly appreciated.

How about a sort of ruined city for level 12? Since level 11 is a high way, some kind of event could happen that destroyed the city and then you had to solve it. Just an idea.