Desert Serpent by Toni_

Desert Serpent Battle, by Toni_, requires at least version 1.23, with JJ2+

Rating: 8

Description

This is my entry for the PJ’s ODT level contest.

This is a small-medium sized level made for up to 6 players. This level works good both in duels and in 2v2s (team battle).

3 carrots +1 health placed: bottom left, top middle, top right.
2 PowerUps placed: Bouncer bottom right, Toaster top left
Fire Shield: there’s a 20 coins warp on top middle platform that leads to a shield that lasts for 15 seconds.
1 Gold Coin placed above the copter on middle. It’s an open space so you could get hit from everywhere. Risky if you camp there.
9 Silver Coins carefully placed around the level to make it balanced and not campy.
Fruits spawning faster than normal. You need 50 of them for Sugar Rush.

I was trying to make this level balanced and not campy like some battle levels are. Background and eyecandy are rushed because I got no time to work on it, but it doesn’t matter, since only gameplay matters. There’s a dead end at copter if you come from bottom. I made it on purpose so you’d have to challenge a player there while waiting for copter to spawn (3 seconds – quite a lot if you’re trying to escape from there). It’s possible to walljump there, too, but it’s a little bit risky if you fail. It’s possible to RF climb from the middle platform to the upper one at gold coin with both Spaz and Jazz (harder with jazz, tho). The warp that leads out of the shield box has 3 warp targets, making it harder to predict a play by shield user.

Big thanks to PurpleJazz for making the AngelScript for shield being not hittable and copter lasting for only 2 seconds when taken. I’d like to thank to Shaker for suggesting the coin warp to the shield; Cell and Sperry for testing it in a duel, especially Cell since he is the one of few Jazz players out there. I edited some spots so it could be available for Jazz to climb easier, and be balanced for all 3 characters (Cell’s suggestions and reports). Also I added a wall at gold coin and it’s again Cell’s suggestion. Thanks to OutbreakEDM for letting me using his remix of Medieval! Thanks to everyone I forgot to mention, who were testing this in my server, who gave me suggestions and reported bugs.

NOTE: This level uses pepper instead of fireball by default. There are only pepper and RF (long range guns) with which you can ‘‘hunt’‘ your enemy when running behind him.

Credits & Acknowledgements

PurpleJazz, Cell, Sperry, Shaker, OutbreakEDM

Contains 4 Files

xlmdesertserpent.j2l	Desert Serpent	6.15 kB
CasMINE.j2t	CasUaLTy [MINE]	220.75 kB
Outbreak Medieval Jam.mp3	Medieval Jam (Outbreak MiniRemix)	4618.12 kB
xlmdesertserpent.j2as		0.29 kB

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Reviews and comments

ShadowGPW 19 Feb 2015, 22:54 (edited 19 Feb 15, 22:59 by ShadowGpW)

Featured

7.7

As a JDC entry I’m going to judge it as a ODT. As since this level follows what JDC wants.

The level is short, fast and tricky, it keeps the flow inside. The carrots forces you to think about your actions and calculate what your enemy is going to do. Total map control is absolutely needed in order to win at this map. Well done.

Camping is minimalistic, there are a few tiny spots but you can easly counter that if you just think a bit.

The eyecandy is a bit blant and very dull, but as the tournament admins said. Don’t pay to much attention to it. So i’m not really looking at it, it is functional atleast.

Music choice is purely optional and personal. Won’t remove any points because of this. However I wouldn’t use this track for this tileset/level. It doesn’t feel right.

What I absolutely dislike is the chopper area, this will effect the flow to much. I feel cornered in a dead end as a Jazz player. It should be a help, not a necessary gimmic.

Anyway thumbs up, you are absolutely in the run of being the winner in my eyes.

Jelly Jam 19 Feb 2015, 21:17 (edited 30 Apr 20, 18:04)

EDIT 30th April 2020 – Originally I gave this a 9, but after spending years of playing various quality battle levels, this one is probably not as good as others of the same rating. It’s still a very good battle level definitely – eyecandy is OK and the layout is good. Though the music choice is not my cup of tea.

Anubis 19 Feb 2015, 22:26

8.5

The level plays well, much of the gameplay is concentrated around timing the three carrots, which can all be shot further down to make things more tactical. Just as the author intended, it’s not campy at all, the only place where I would think of camping is the right-most area because of the stairs and the proximity to the bouncer PU and one of the carrots.
There isn’t really time to pay attention to the coins, so sometimes you end up randomly walking through the coin warp and taking the shield. The warp also works nicely as an escape route in the biggest open area of the map.

Eyecandy looks nice despite being rushed, interesting decorations inside the walls. Overall the level is worth trying for a duel or teambattle 2vs2.