Xyzzy

Rating
8.2
Reviews:
5
Downloads:
394
Date uploaded:
1 Nov 2009 at 20:56 (Minor update on 14 Nov 2010)

Download details

Re-upload/Edit Download
Author
Superjazz (More uploads by Superjazz)
Type
Capture the flag
Credits
cooba, FawFuL, PurpleJazz, and Snooze for betatesting
Version
1.23
Satisfaction
100%
Screenshots
xlmxyzzy.zip (292.88 kB)

File contents

xlmxyzzy.j2l Xyzzy 16.19 kB 23 Oct 2010
xlmxyzzyx.j2l Xyzzy 16.71 kB 23 Oct 2010
WTFAcrid.j2t WTF - Acrid 231.46 kB 23 Oct 2009
FURY-TECKNO.MOD Fury-Teckno 48.79 kB 23 Oct 2009

Description

Taken from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

“Xyzzy is a magic word from the Colossal Cave Adventure computer game.”

The idea for this level didn’t come out of the name though. I got the inspiration about things from here and there. The level design was’t influenced by anything, although the theme and tileset-choice was. Well, my previous CTF level is from March, this year, so it’s been once again a little while, heh?

Xyzzy is a large industry-level that is layered to three floors. Your base is located on the second(middle) floor, and so is your enemy. However the tier in the middle separates your and your enemy’s zones a bit. Recommended for player-amount of at least 3vs3.

Music is a remastered module-version of a track from a game called ‘Fury of the Furries’.

Reviews, even quick reviews would be well appreciated. Enjoy!

UPDATE (2010/10/23): Added Xyzzy v1.1[xlmxyzzyx.j2l] – Repositioned copters and fastfires to dig in an extra route to the bottom level for more gameplay variety. Included the old version under the same filename. Enjoy!

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Quick Reviews Average: 8.1

RecommendedFireSworD rated 8

The main appeal for me here is the crazy theme, with the bg layers and some layer 4 eyecandy making the level feel busy, but not so much that they’re distracting or annoying; in particular, the moving white dots and scrolling bg. The layout seems very solid and playable, if not much variation.

RecommendedSt. Louis rated 8

Another solid, but not spectacular level by SJ.
SJ’s levels are always fun to play, and they manage to be ‘good’ or better in every single aspect almost always.
This symmetric one ain’t any different.
Just as SJ said, this plays well with at least 6 players. It isn’t a huge level, but the layout definitely makes it feel bigger.
Thumbs up.

Recommendedsnzspeed rated 8.3

Its a good level with WTF set. when i first saw this, i didnt know what to think of the moving white dots and the huge waterfalls, so glad you fixed them. the level still feels weird, probably because of the name, layout and music choice.

I would say its not sj’s best level overall, but its still very high quality.


User Reviews (Sort by Helpful Index or Date Posted) Average: 8.3

Review by cooba

Posted:
10 Nov 2011, 22:41 (edited 10 Nov 11, 23:19)
Carrot Juice Addict (326 Points)
Number of reviews with ratings112 Featured reviews32 Average helpfulness86%
Rating
7.9

I had some trouble with reviewing this one. Though it’s two years old at this point, I’ve never really played any serious games in it (and I certainly don’t remember testing it, unlike the credits field says?), and every time it appeared in a JDC event, I never lasted more than a couple minutes because an RF would usually explode in my face. But seeing how this does get played every now and then (and nobody complains about it ever!), there’s no reason to assume it’s broken, so I decided to just give this a run in LAN mode and say what I like about this and what I don’t.

While obviously SJ put effort into the visuals, as the tileset’s creator I’m biased here. The eyecandy is largely a mix of organized and unorganized, some places have so much detail that they look busy (especially when exposed to the intricate background) while some have big swathes of gradients or black backgrounds. Some things feel repetitive, and some look rather tacky, like the animated lights, or the dust(?) at the sides.

Also, while WTF is pretty much a “do whatever you want” type of tileset, some things bother me because they were never meant to go together: the green [X] tiles don’t look good when combined with the brown stone tiles! It feels like SJ used the tileset as if was a nature set, which gives a rather strange result. The only thing I can compare this to is Atom Heart 243.5, which is another SJ level which I didn’t find too good looking. Maybe SJ should just keep using nature sets? I definitely prefer SJ’s nature levels to SJ’s tech levels.

Xyzzy has a rather impressive size of 200×70, though it uses it space differently than other large levels – the layout is a standard three floor fare, and the corridors are spacious and open. Still, it’s not suited for a 3vs3 or anything of that size (a quick check reveals that this level was played in a whopping zero 3vs3 games in the past three JDC seasons). RFs and Seekers will largely dominate this level, and we all know how that ends :P. And while it’s not as enclosed as Sanguinary Sanctuary, the route from base to base takes longer in this level somehow. The bottom path helps a bit (it puzzles me why wasn’t it there from the beginning) but I’m not sure if the wind events were all that necessary.

To sum it up, this is a good level objectively speaking, but I can’t really enjoy it for a bunch of reasons? To quote the legendary Trafton’s reviews on Atom Heart:

a fundamentally good level tinkered with until it just doesn’t quite “work.” That isn’t to say that it is a bad level.

My rating may seem low, but that’s simply because there’s no way to give a 7.99 rating. Please make more levels like Conflux and Mt. Helens SJ! ;)

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