The hardest test have Been created !,but as you said it is very good for challenge
Nice, but you should give the background some texture mode effect, like legacy tunnel or whatever. That way it looks way nicer, and players can achieve that basic look by putting their settings to un-textured and low detail. Also it was quite difficult to get out of the big hole trap… A bit too harsh imo xD But maybe it's fun if it gives you a lot of free kills :P Anyways, it's fun none the less, to have a 1v1 or 1v1v1 on this map. Especially if you're a good player who knows how to wall climb and rocket jump.
Very Good Script and Idea,Nice Work Turbo
Fun Level, Pretty Colours, Very Innovative
I didn't finish this, but based on my experience before I stopped playing this, I can say the following. It's clear that a lot of creativity and ideas went into this level and there are a lot of features that try to break out of the mold of standard JJ2 puzzles and test elements.
But it's presented in a way that makes it exhausting rather than fun for me. Just at the start, there are four long text signs to read with instructions, some of which contain information that is not relevant, such as notes about playing the level in Co-op while I was playing it in single player. Then just a little bit further there are some crates, all with their own instruction sign, and then you dive in the water where more signs await. I don't want to read an instruction manual while playing the game! If you need to explain everything in such detail, that should be a sign that the puzzles or gameplay elements you came up with are not clear enough to the player to understand at a glance or with a little trial and error.
It's a shame because there are some interesting ideas here – a separate gun you need to collect to be able to shoot underwater, needing a shield to pass through an area with enemies, toggling between helicopter ears and double jump – but they are presented in such a way that I do not feel very motivated to try and explore them.
One reason for that may be that the level is not linear – you can kind of run around and try the different challenges at your leisure. That's a nice idea but it also means there is no opportunity to introduce each new feature on its own and e.g. explain it through the level design, by adding a low-stakes obstacle that can only be passed if the player understands that feature. That is how most games introduce things and it works well, but since that is not possible here the player gets a lot dumped on them at once and instead of being able to try things out first you just have to read the instructions and get it right. I did not enjoy this.
As a last note – there are several text signs that are used to explain the difference between hard mode and normal mode or that say "this only applies on hard mode" or something along those lines. You don't even need scripting to make events specific to one game mode – even good old JCS lets you configure a Text event so that it is only present in a specific difficulty. You can use this to not make a player read text that doesn't even apply to the difficulty they're playing – one less thing that can get in the way of them enjoying the level for what it is.
I really like the tileset and the level! It works well as a battle level because all parts are recognisable enough for such a small level so you can easily navigate through it. Great for a 1v1 or maybe 3 players even.
It's also really cool to see how you setup the water surface part below the main part. I tried to figure it out in the .j2l file with MLLE and saw the wave layers. I didn't know this was possible yet! And the level has enough nice looking details (eye candy). I also like the color scheme and atmosphere, in combination with the sinister music.
I also really like the background, the starry night with gothic/fantasy/medieval castle & towers and the moving clouds below them, it really adds to the mystical vibe.
It's not really missing anything, but the angel script is quite simple, I imagine you could add something creative with it to make it a 10. But it's only a 0.5 point deduction (the least amount I can deduct is 0.5) because this level doesn't need it. But on the other hand; if this level is hosted on a server with lots of mutators the angel script might cause conflict so you gotta be careful with that. In that case it's safer to keep it simple like you did.
Thanks, this helped me a bit getting started making my own 32-bit tileset. Although eventually I had a really different approach than yours. I just make a 32-bit tileset with paint.net, and the masks I placed like before; in an 8bit tileset. But I like to see your approach and to see what 32-bit is capable off. This inspired me (together with other things) to really give 32-bit tilesets a shot.
Hey, I like that you upload things here. But I can't really test it alone since it's for MP. If you want we can test it together on my server? And I advise you to add screenshots, they really help giving the viewer an idea what it's about. I don't give this a rating yet because we have to test it together first.
Nice vibe, if you wanna battle me on this map, lemme know. Just for fun.
It would be nice if you add some screenshots though.
But I really like the tileset, and I know Blade's tilesets aren't the most easy to create with, so good job!
I am a huge fan of Violet's levels as he is so creative in using JJ2+ building facilities. He always comes up with amazing gameplay never seen anywhere in JJ2. This project is no exception to that. It consists of 60 puzzles in which you need to reach your flyboard without getting lost in outer space. It is veeeerrrrry difficult and I have to admit I was only able to master the easiest 'incidents', as these puzzles were called. Perhaps this gaming style is not quite my taste. But hey, that doesn't mean that it is all bad, since it absolutely isn't! This level is a huge recommendation for anyone looking for something new in JJ2 playing. And Violet, please build another sequel to this, maybe a little easier for people not used to this kind of gameplay. My idea for a setting: ORBITUS, so you introduce have cool gravity puzzles in that one!
Lol, for 2002 not bad especially because you made your own tileset, although it's a very basic one and the tiles don't always connect seamlessly it seems. The duck is quite cute and the example level was fun. On to the next!
@SpyrotheDragon2022 Yes. If you're the only player (e.g. Single Player) then there's nothing meaningful to detect. At least 2 players are needed.
Is this meant to be used in multiplayer?
This is essentially a Test level, but made to be played in Single Player rather than online. As someone who never enjoyed online tests that much I appreciate that, and there's less of a sense of urgency when playing just by yourself.
The tests are a mix of standard test fare – jumps, precise sidekicks, etc – and one or two more creative challenges including one where you need to do maths. I don't understand the math clue, which tells me that the formula to figure out what the right gun number is is "[number] x 2 + 1". The number for the first block is 0, so that's 0×2+1=1 i.e. blaster, so far so good. Then the next number is 1, so 1×2+1=3, i.e. freezer? Which doesn't work, so I'm not sure what's supposed to happen here. But overall it's an okay selection of challenges, even if most of it is pretty standard.
Rather than warping back to the start of each challenge, in this level you simply die if you fail, most of the time. Lives are not infinite though, which I found really annoying. Some tests took me a few tries to figure out what I was expected to do and not having the chance to fail more than once or twice seems to only serve to frustrate the player. This was demotivating and I would enjoy the challenges much more if I could take my time trying to figure them out. It also kind of breaks the level once you reach the end of the challenges – you're supposed to shoot a checkpoint and then kill yourself to respawn beyond a wall… but what if you have no lives left at that point?
There's a bit after the challenges where you have to swim through a school of fish. This is pretty easy to do by just speeding through with maybe one or two hits. Then there's a boss, which I found way too hard and no fun at all, but I guess it could be a fun challenge if you're really good at the game. The fact that it takes place in an arena with the same insta-death spikes found in the rest of the level at the bottom feels a little cheap though.
Visually, the level is not terrible, but not that interesting either. I guess using a blocky tileset is more or less a genre requirement, in Test levels – by that standard, this one is one of the nicer-looker ones, with some effort spent on making the background look nice, for example. This level takes place on a world orbiting an oval sun. The argument that it looks right in 16:9 doesn't really work for me – sure, it does, but then everything else looks bad.
Overall, not a bad take on the test genre, but with a bit too many elements that spoil the fun for me to really enjoy playing it.
The level is rather reminiscent of old Test levels, which also forego the usual level design conventions and strip things back to an arrangement of blocks (such as those made with the Top3 tileset), focusing entirely on gameplay over aesthetics. The level looks just about serviceable in terms of functionality, but lacks any kind of visual design flair, mainly consisting of brightly coloured blocks placed haphazardly, like a box of crayolas. There are certainly plenty of far worse looking levels out there, I appreciate that this one lacks many of the more egregious elements found in many similar levels such as flashing colours or obstructive foreground layers. The AI generated clouds look passable but do feel very out of place with the rest of the level, being semi-realistic while everything else uses flat colours.
I didn`t like that I was forced to restart the level after having died once before the water section, that felt like an unfair gotcha! moment. Fortunately it didn`t take long to get back to that section as the level is very short and rather trivial. Most of the challenges I was able to cheese in some way, most simply by doing running jumps as Spaz, such as the Mega Man-esque disappearing block section which I was able to clear in a single running jump (after having died due to not realising the green bar was a pole). I didn`t bother trying to decipher the clue for the destruct block section and just brute force guessed my way through it first time. The water falling section was far too short to be of any real threat. The end boss I just cheesed by jumping to its platform and buttstomping it to death, abusing the i-frames.
Aside from the aforementioned restart, there was nothing else particularly unfair but nothing really grabbed my attention either. If you have been playing JJ2 as long as I have, I`m pretty sure you will have seen just about every obstacle in this level in some shape or form before. I don`t think there`s anything inherently wrong with that, and I can at least applaud this level for not going completely overboard with the difficulty like so many other levels of a similar ilk have done. I feel that the concept of the level, while not exactly novel is an honorable one. It does feel fairly accessible to newcomers unlike other challenge levels which is a nice attribute, although I would still have a hard time recommending it over the vast treasure trove over other similar levels out there that come in a far more polished package and offer a more refined experience. You can certainly do much worse than this, but the bar is set pretty high nowadays.
(My note to the author: please do not feel discouraged by my feedback, I was in your shoes once as well. The best thing is to take feedback as a learning experience, and take it on board for your next project. Making mistakes is a huge part of the learning process for any creative pursuit. Literally every successful JJ2 level creator I can think of started out making mediocre levels but then gradually improved each time with persistence and a willingness to take on board criticism. I do genuinely look forward to seeing your next project!)
Well, the level is amazing! 10/10 Hype.
By the way, my own version of this level contains one xm music module from game "Tigger's Honey Hunt" made by Disney Interactive and Doki Denki Studio, and it was from the level "Beyond the Frog Pond.
This one is a battle level that I am a bit torn between liking and disliking. While I do enjoy the theme and certain gameplay aspects of the levels like the swinging platforms and no-clip sucker tubes, I can't help but feel like the overall gameplay is perhaps a bit too quirky and old-school for my tastes. But that doesn't mean it is a bad level.
The biggest issue I have with the gameplay is the layout that reminds me more of a single-player level or even a race level, rather than a battle map (even the respawn area at the bottom left reminds me of Race1.j2l a bit). I think this level could actually even work much better as a race level (from the bottom-left to the top-left corner) with some adjustments.
From my perspective, it is difficult to create levels with vertical gameplay that would play out smoothly. While there are certain good elements for quicker access to the upper ground, like the sucker tubes and such, I feel that the overall flow could be much more optimized. The flow seems to be favoring Spaz quite a bit more than other characters.
Another issue for me are the cramped passages under the "hill", that just encourage camping in those areas. Especially the area with the Gun8 power up that seems to be extremely difficult to counter from below, although reverse bouncers give a small chance at that. The upper left corner of the level seems also relatively campable, although there are slightly better chances at countering that. There's also that passable "pipe" at the top of the level where I'm having an issue with the tileset masking that gets me stuck momentarily when jumping against the ceiling.
But on the positive side, I like some of the extra spices added to the gameplay, like the double bouncers and other ammo choices, swinging platforms for elevation, long sucker tubes that go far across the level in order to quickly gain higher ground, airboard access that took me a while to notice and figure out, etc.
I find the level's visual side to be decent overall, but maybe a bit lacking in certain areas. Perhaps I'm just not the biggest fan of the core tileset used here. However, I do definitely like the overall blood moon-theme and the way it has been executed.
I do realize that whether you'll like this level or not depends quite a lot on your tastes and what you're looking for in multiplayer levels. This definitely ain't the optimal duel level or a fast action-packed level, but perhaps a more tactical one where wise choices with control for objectives and zones matter. Actually out of custom game modes, this level could do potentially well in LRS-based game modes that encourage finding good camp spots and other key objectives quickly.
What an amazing pack this is! I especially enjoyed Transantarctic Mountains. The complete atmosphere of that stage is such a treat! The northern lights… the soothing background music… the calmness of the floating bubbles, wow. I can't help but to play just that level over and over again. The title doesn't really feel right though, as I don't have the feeling it's a proper mountain stage.
The other stages are great fun playing as well. Shivering Stronghold is a true masterpiece and you really need to take your time for this experience. The Queen battle was unbelievable… to me the ice serpent fell a little short with that. If that one had been left out I probably wouldn't have missed it. Now it felt a bit anticlimactic.
Still: great pack and really recommended to download. I really hope for a Holiday Hare '25… I'll definitely join the project if it comes alive!
Here's yet another space-themed level by Warren and I have to say I greatly favor Warren's space-themed levels so far compared to his other works, which aren't bad either though, which is probably because of the amount of detail and effort put into the visuality and the gameplay traits. This one ain't no exception!
Spherical Coalescence is a level that has a background that could as well be your computer's shifting screensaver background, but not necessarily in a bad way. It's just that visually the background feels a little empty, although that is maybe justified to some extent since the visual decorations are plenty on the sprite layer. The changing background (and palette) is definitely a nice gimmick (although not completely original as a concept I guess) that makes the level feel more "alive" and less "static", since it does not cycle too frequently. The only bad side is that I notice occasional sluggishness in the game when a background/palette cycle happens.
While there is a lot of detail attached to the sprite layer and around it, the visuality is still not too distractive compared to many other levels, especially the ones that use some of the Mez-tilesets. I'm just not sure whether the featured custom sprites for weapons, etc. completely fit into JJ2 graphics, but I've seen worse.
What comes to the level layout, I think it is slightly challenging due to its size and complexity. It can take a little time to get used with moving around the level as there are also a lot of special features like 2-way tubes, custom springs (or spring sprites), custom vehicles and a few custom weapons. The level quite obviously is far from duel-compatible, but I suppose 4v4 games or bigger should be quite enjoyable here. I definitely like the layout as a whole and I notice some level of influence and vibes from other classic levels, like Medieval Skyscrapers, Sacrifice, SILWI, etc.
Regarding the custom weapons, I'm not sure how efficient they are in actual gameplay yet since I've yet to seen a big game organized here, but they definitely seem powerful by first impression. I'll be looking forward to blasting off the Starmageddon gun here especially!
Download recommended!
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