New project - I need feedback!

[snzspeed]

I am working on a project right now, and people who have seen it say it is very promising. personally, i'd like to perfect it as much as possible, so i decided to create this thread to see if there's any interest in this, as im probably going to upload a demo or preview before i upload the final episode on j2o. the levels will be non-linear and are based on a new coin concept which was inspired by TR2 and fsp..

If i upload that preview, it will be here in few days most likely. but I still need testers and feedback and stuff. Is anyone interested? :)

(and yes, i am aware they are against j2o's rules, but im not uploading it to there!!!)

[EvilMike]

Previews and demos are "technically" against the J2O rules, but mostly because no one has ever bothered to change the rules page.

Suffice to say, it's not going to be deleted by anyone if you do choose to upload it there. I don't think this rule has ever been enforced, except for maybe the very early days of J2O.

[snzspeed]

yeah well, I still think its better to upload it to some filesharing site and post the link in this thread, that way it would be easier to separate the final product and the preview.

[Violet CLM]

No, we try to remove demos from J2O unless they are explicitly of abandoned works that will never see any other kind of release (e.g. TR2, TDI2) or do not contain material that will be in the final release (e.g. Shade Castle, or the JJ2 demo itself). I think the rationale is that releasing a demo limits people's motivation to continue working on the project until it's actually done.

On-topic, I like the screenshot. It has a very peaceful feel and I like games with doors.

[snzspeed]

http://www.mediafire.com/?1u5g5vzmmlm

its not completely finished, but it should be good enough for somekind of a preview. and I could always use feedback!

The tileset is also WIP, but it is complete enough so that I can build with it. however, its definately not finished so please dont use it :P

EDIT: it also requires TSF

[Violet CLM]

Excellent use of parallax layers to create different areas.

[EvilMike]

Good level. Something I noticed though: your "letterboxing" in this level is a bit uneven, since there is more black space at the bottom than at the top. I would suggest making it even, or if you can't do that, make it reversed so the top part takes up more space. The reason is because it's more important to see what's below you than what's above you.

Also, are there even 100 coins in the whole level? I didn't find all the secrets, but it seems like there aren't nearly that many coins.

[cooba]

The atmosphere is good. The jungle setting is pretty compelling, with the "raw", organic sounding music complimenting the photosourced tileset very well. Like Violet said, good layer work. Didn't care much for the letter box to be honest.

One thing that this needs is to break from its influences. The TR2 (and FSP, to a smaller extent) inspiration, or however you wish to call it, is more than obvious, and people <em>will</em> compare your pack to that, primarily negatively because of how good TR2 was. This area needs work.

How new is this coin concept, exactly? It seems basically like FSP's (with the small bonus of a 1up - again, TR2 influences). Not sure what to think of the double entrance to the temple, too, what's here right now doesn't really encourage backtracking.

[Violet CLM]

Asking how new the coin concept is: basically ridiculous. Collecting a certain number of something in order to progress is just as basic a level format as getting to an exit without collecting things. It especially bears little resemblance to FSP (Rent Collection) because the coins are numerous rather than five or ten hidden in obscure places and they're not even all required (fifty necessary, and then apparently another fifty scattered around somewhere else?). Yes, they're all coins, but that's simply what mechanism JJ2 most easily provides for such purposes. It's a gamemode that dates back to Pacman and it doesn't make any sense to point at this or that pack as being ripped off any more than it does accusing Shellion's Xtreme Revenge of ripping off Another Story because both of them require you to reach level exits.

[snzspeed]

Thanks for the feedback people. i am thinking that if enough people suggest it, ill just remove the black lines and whatever because I think its only purpose is to .. well I dont know. I just like small details like those.. removing it would give me one free layer for more transition. Is that a good idea? :P

EDIT: I decided to make it symmetrical and smaller and the textbox is now removed considering its not really useful..

[EvilMike]

Letterboxing can give levels a more cinematic look, and it can also be used to make levels harder by lowering the amount of visible space (consider how much harder jj1 is than jj2 - its because of the resolution). However, you have to design your levels around it, and it also limits how many layers you can use. And a last point to consider is that some players find it annoying.

I personally recommend going without it, but its really up to you what style you go for.

Oh yeah, and another thing you can use that for is a sort of GUI - think of what Tomb Rabbit 1 had. You can do fancier stuff these days since it's possible to trigger stuff in the foreground (use Reworder). Think of the text box you had in that example level, but actually useful. You don't need to use a black bar for this though - it would work just as well to have a small unobstructive box at the side of the screen. I notice that you are going for a style where the level tells you when you find a secret area; perhaps you could add triggers to that, and make something pop up in the foreground? Like each time you find a secret, a thing lights up, and if you light up all of them you know you've found them all (and maybe get a bonus at the end of the level or something). This is more interesting and more useful than text.

[snzspeed]

Letterboxing can give levels a more cinematic look, and it can also be used to make levels harder by lowering the amount of visible space (consider how much harder jj1 is than jj2 - its because of the resolution). However, you have to design your levels around it, and it also limits how many layers you can use. And a last point to consider is that some players find it annoying.

I personally recommend going without it, but its really up to you what style you go for.

Oh yeah, and another thing you can use that for is a sort of GUI - think of what Tomb Rabbit 1 had. You can do fancier stuff these days since it's possible to trigger stuff in the foreground (use Reworder). Think of the text box you had in that example level, but actually useful. You don't need to use a black bar for this though - it would work just as well to have a small unobstructive box at the side of the screen. I notice that you are going for a style where the level tells you when you find a secret area; perhaps you could add triggers to that, and make something pop up in the foreground? Like each time you find a secret, a thing lights up, and if you light up all of them you know you've found them all (and maybe get a bonus at the end of the level or something). This is more interesting and more useful than text.

That is a good idea, and it would work with a smaller black bars too, so Ill probably use this rather then text.

[cooba]

Violet: I understand, and yes, that comparison to FSP (really should have compared it to Hocus, if anything) was probably out of place. But it wasn't me who called it a "new coin concept".

[EvilMike]

The new part seems to be allowing you to collect either 50 or 100, with 100 giving you a bonus. Seems like a fusion between the traditional "collect the coins to win" type of level, and TR2's system. Even this idea isn't really new, since I know it's been used in other levels, but no one has ever based an entire pack around it.

[snzspeed]

when I said new coin concept I wanted to mean that no one has based a pack on it. Then again, its still really not a new concept so uh.. well. It allows me to do non-linear layouts and thats the most important thing. Also, I wanted to encourage exploring for the one extra live, because you wont find any in the levels itself unless you play in easy mode (and even then there is like 1-2 in the EP.) so yeah.