Thanks, guys.
Here's one of the tilesets that I'll be using in my pack. Very early WIP. Somewhat War of the Worlds inspired. Somewhat Sludge & Stoner rock inspired. Expect some Carrotus assets, some Beach assets, some Medivo and Marbelara assets, a Caterpillar, custom enemies (yay!) and custom platforms that can be implemented through JJ2+. The background will be forest and mountain. As much as it sounds as if this will be a conversion, I'll try to make it as more original as possible.



Of course, criticism will be appreciated.

Originally Posted by AvalancheMaster

Didn't save it in JPG, I made a screenshot and Ctrl+V-ed it in imgur's upload window. And as for the sky... Er... There's no sky in the screenshot? It's winter white in colour, so it fits quite nicely.

I might try to increase the contrast of the snow, though.

Thanks for the advises!

I don't mean the sky at all, but a type of blue. I'm pointing out that the dark blue ground feels artificial in colour and I suggested more appropiate colours to try out. Sorry, should've referred to that.

Chances are, imgur compressed the image in a JPEG manner by uploading it directly. I can definitely see the artefacts in that pic so there's something not right. Save it on your computer first and imgur likely won't do that again.

As for the tileset, you are limiting the gradient too much. I'm also not sure what the red is really meant to be, and the top of it barely has any contrast. There's also nothing to make it look smooth. Also, the grey ground has what I like to call paper shading/lighting (which is basically when it's not applied like it's a dynamic surface, but rather it's all just applied to the left and right directly). Here's a simple, hasitly done image of what i mean (with limited colours because lazy).



I'll make an edit sometime...if I knew what the red stuff was meant to be. If it's grass then it doesn't feel like it symbolises it very much, perhaps partly because the roots are hard to see. Also if im not lazy, I may fix up the perspective and make a simple template for the rest.

Originally Posted by Treylina

I don't mean the sky at all, but a type of blue. I'm pointing out that the dark blue ground feels artificial in colour and I suggested more appropiate colours to try out. Sorry, should've referred to that.

Chances are, imgur compressed the image in a JPEG manner by uploading it directly. I can definitely see the artefacts in that pic so there's something not right. Save it on your computer first and imgur likely won't do that again.

As for the tileset, you are limiting the gradient too much. I'm also not sure what the red is really meant to be, and the top of it barely has any contrast. There's also nothing to make it look smooth. Also, the grey ground has what I like to call paper shading/lighting (which is basically when it's not applied like it's a dynamic surface, but rather it's all just applied to the left and right directly). Here's a simple, hasitly done image of what i mean (with limited colours because lazy).



I'll make an edit sometime...if I knew what the red stuff was meant to be. If it's grass then it doesn't feel like it symbolises it very much, perhaps partly because the roots are hard to see. Also if im not lazy, I may fix up the perspective and make a simple template for the rest.

Eh... should the red stuff be something specific? I mean, what's the yellow stuff in Labrat? The yellow... snow (yuck) in Inferno? It's not a grass per se, but it is a moss, like the green ground in Psych. Think of it as a red chewing gum plant. It currently needs some props for as context.

As for the stone, I know what you mean, but I am lazy and quite limited by their small size. If I fix this, it'll be one of the last things I'll fix.

Here's another preview.

Is there anyone here who tried using the castle tile set?

Making detailed levels with that is a nightmare. The large variety of blocks and the fact that the background is practically the same thing makes making levels literally take a month.

Here is a screenshot of a level I made:



This is the third level in which I used this tile set and I was already fed up with its complexity while I was doing the second level.

What are your thoughts on the matter?

Also here's something I made in half an hour after studying the carrotus levels for another half an hour.



I just began this level, there isn't really anything to show, so make of it what you will.

It reminds me. Back when I was very young the first tile sets I tried out were the diamondus tile set and this one. I created a carrotus cave which I filled up with thorns. There was a part where you had to climb up on the thorns, getting hurt was absolute.

Now thinking back it was pretty ridiculous considering difficulty, though I think I'd try using this idea in an upcoming carrotus level I'm planning to make.

What do you think? (Considering you're an "average gamer" and not somebody who's into "kaizo stuff".)

Originally Posted by FarkasUrdung

This is the third level in which I used this tile set and I was already fed up with its complexity while I was doing the second level.

What are your thoughts on the matter?

I blame tile arrangement. I only ever use tilesets when I really consider their layout easy to work with, and there's hardly anything that throws me off more than the official tilesets. Castle is a perfect example, with useful layer 4 tiles being placed on top and bottom of the tileset, split with background layers, foreground curtains, and those nearly useless slide tiles. Another offense they're guilty of is that you need to try really hard to make the most basic things tile correctly. Speaking of which, good luck with that in Carrotus; I spotted 3 subtle tilebugs in your picture so far (outside of the obviously unfinished bottom of the screen). I believe that reasonable amounts of Carrotus tilebugs are widely acceptable, just because they take ages to avoid - and because official levels also contain them - but no potential justification can speed up the wearisome process of reducing their numbers.

Originally Posted by FarkasUrdung

It reminds me. Back when I was very young the first tile sets I tried out were the diamondus tile set and this one. I created a carrotus cave which I filled up with thorns. There was a part where you had to climb up on the thorns, getting hurt was absolute.

Now thinking back it was pretty ridiculous considering difficulty, though I think I'd try using this idea in an upcoming carrotus level I'm planning to make.

What do you think? (Considering you're an "average gamer" and not somebody who's into "kaizo stuff".)

This is not a commonly explored field and I suspect it's often assumed to be a trait of bad design to create level sections where it's impossible not to get hurt; however, it can be pulled off relatively well. Deserto Orbital Base has the radioactive contamination area and I don't recall seeing anybody complain about that. The general rule is: place a full energy carrot before the challenge because you can't possibly know how much health the player got there with. Optionally add a checkpoint. You may also want to give the player a subtle hint that this is indeed the correct path to follow - climbing thorny vines might seem counter-intuitive. In the aforementioned example, EvilMike solves this by clearly leaving no other path and no way to backtrack, which is probably the best solution. Something as simple as an arrow sign might do but could instead give impression that you need to activate a trigger to get past. Meanwhile, a straightforward text sign would achieve the intended effect but get rid of most of the magic.

Originally Posted by AvalancheMaster

Eh... should the red stuff be something specific? I mean, what's the yellow stuff in Labrat? The yellow... snow (yuck) in Inferno? It's not a grass per se, but it is a moss, like the green ground in Psych. Think of it as a red chewing gum plant. It currently needs some props for as context.

As for the stone, I know what you mean, but I am lazy and quite limited by their small size. If I fix this, it'll be one of the last things I'll fix.

Here's another preview.

I really like the gray bricks, but the red moss looks kind of odd color wise.

Originally Posted by Sir Ementaler

I spotted 3 subtle tilebugs in your picture so far (outside of the obviously unfinished bottom of the screen).

Do you mean these 3?



As I said, I just begun this map. I usually spend hours with making each tile fit together perfectly. I often place a tile, then replace it, then undo the change, then do something else, then try a different pattern until I feel like it's acceptable. What caused making this nothing nearly half an hour was that I tried to fit those 1/8-tile bottoms. So I am bound to notice these errors myself anyway.

Originally Posted by Sir Ementaler

Castle is a perfect example, with useful layer 4 tiles being placed on top and bottom of the tileset, split with background layers, foreground curtains, and those nearly useless slide tiles. Another offense they're guilty of is that you need to try really hard to make the most basic things tile correctly.

I believe the reason for that is they already made a level with the tileset, then decided not to use the slide after all, but kept in just in case, then came up with the tiles on the bottom.

Still, it's a puzzle in itself just to find the pieces you can use. They did this with the carrotus tile set as well. The 1-tile-large bottom in the darkened area is nearly at the end of the tile set with tiles that differ from the basic wall tiles by a few pixels (they have vine coming out of them and whatnot).

Originally Posted by Sir Ementaler

The general rule is: place a full energy carrot before the challenge because you can't possibly know how much health the player got there with. Optionally add a checkpoint. You may also want to give the player a subtle hint that this is indeed the correct path to follow

Of course, that is self-explanatory. I'd never think about not having any of that considering I intend to utilize both the normal and hard difficulties.

Copy and paste man, copy and paste. Do so in an irregular way, mix it up, but it saves time and no one will really notice if you do it randomly enough. If you got some good wall pieces arranged that look nice, do exploit it. As someone who's been working on a levelpack with lots of levels with the official tilesets - for literally years - I can assure you that it did take me a good while to find everything these tilesets have to offer and how they work, and it is a pain in the ass, but the results can be really pretty - still not enough custom tilesets look as good as Stadler's. Just rest assured you're not the only one struggling but you can get the hang of it.

also, hope you're ready for trying the hell entrance tileset, because it's one hell of a ride

I'm using the level editor for JJ2 1.20. How can I copy placed tiles with that? The only thing I discovered is F mirrors tiles.

Actually, I'm not struggling. I'm used to this stuff. (Hell, I once began ripping every tile set from a SNES rpg by taking screenshots and got done with about 3/4 in 5 years.) And yes, I will use inferno. I am going to use every tile set in the game (or a modified version of them found here) and plan to make 3 levels each.

B.

Check the readme, there are other helpful hotkeys like Ctrl+E and Shift+E and (though no one seems to agree with me on this one) Backspace.

Oh, and is there a fix for the mirrored animating tile causes crash bug?

JJ2+.

Originally Posted by FarkasUrdung

And yes, I will use inferno

Good luck with that. I bet you'll make at least a few tilebugs because inferno is such a pain.

Btw, still going to make an edit on that tileset.

EDIT: I started working on it. It's taking longer than I thought, and I'm tired so I'll finish it tomorrow.

Originally Posted by Treylina

I bet you'll make at least a few tilebugs because inferno is such a pain.

I'm annoyed to hear this from a second person now. It's possible, yes.
While fixing my mistakes from earlier I realized what a piece of shit that carrotus tile set is. The partial bottoms only work when you make 1 tile long surfaces, they don't fit very well with the other blocks, which clearly states the tile set creator(s) didn't know what he/she/they was/were doing.

I'd say it's not so much that he (Nick) didn't know what he was doing, but that tiles were constantly being added as the level design required it. I think there was something along those lines in an interview a while back, but it doesn't seem to be in the articles section so I can't actually check.

This is a draft for the remake of the Resurrection of Devan Shell episodes. It only includes 4 background layers and a few sprite layer details at the moment.
I have no touch screen to draw with, so I draw the draft first, then I redraw it shaded, and then I redraw each layer on the PC to avoid tilebugs. Ofcourse, i will first need to find a good software to do this.

Not only devres does not need an AngelScript remake, it absolutely does not need a remake which applies annoying, anti-fun changes like

jumpStrength = less than 3 tiles

keyRun = false

this could be cool as a separate thing entirely, one unrelated to evilmike's episodes

I agree; don't redo other people's work, do your own.

Greetings all, I'm the latest member here.

I'm trying to work on a whole series of levels, based on an older game known as King's Valley II. The project has been going on for a time and I hope to release screencaps of it soon enough.

Welcome to the forums; fire exits are north, south, and dennis.

Anyway, that sounds fun, I look forward to seeing it.

Thank you.

I have so far 48 levels out of the 60 complete and I am also looking them over and testing them to ensure everything goes the way I want it to go. More details will come as soon as I'm allowed to make a thread in here so I'll be able to inform all of you of the current progress.

Originally Posted by Robo4900

Welcome to the forums; fire exits are north, south, and dennis.

Anyway, that sounds fun, I look forward to seeing it.

Please do not open the nostalgia valve unless absolutely necessary.
He said VALVE! HL3 confirmed!

I've just making a strange laboratory map on my free time.
...and nothing to to more talk about it :P

P.S.
I'm kinda worried about releasing JJ3DX 'Zeta'.
It's already completed and test was success, But I'm worried about should I upload it..
I was counting on more reactions and advice,

but actually..

it was failed.

Download rates still stagnant, and no more reviews(well, 72 downloads and one quick review with rating 10 is quite big success to me but..). It does mean peoples doesn't care about it actually I think.

So, Zeta version will not uploaded until more reviews are replied about JJ3DX.
I think I need to more test about it.. :/

Originally Posted by CrimiClown

Please do not open the nostalgia valve unless absolutely necessary.

Says the person with a nostalgic signature

Originally Posted by Louis K

[video]
I've just making a strange laboratory map on my free time.

Looks awesome!

Originally Posted by Louis K

So, Zeta version will not uploaded until more reviews are replied about JJ3DX.
I think I need to more test about it.. :/

It's not that people aren't interested, it's that they don't know what to say. They can say random praise such as "Fun game." But they generally don't, since they think it's a waste of time unless they have something they really want to say.

That's my experience anyway...

Still drawing stuff:

Nice! Very detailed. Hope the rest of the tileset has some other colours as well though

Yeah it does look pretty :>

I'm still drawing stuff too;

Originally Posted by snzspeed

Its coming. Not forgetting christmas this time around.

EDIT: Just incase, Im viewing it in the mask mode. Its not actually pitch black bland level.

Image isn't working properly. This might be why;

"no hotlinking to large images, use supplied link and thumbnail"

I use postimg and it's reliable (I think) with no stupid thumbnails or registering required.

Originally Posted by Treylina

Image isn't working properly. This might be why;

"no hotlinking to large images, use supplied link and thumbnail"

I use postimg and it's reliable (I think) with no stupid thumbnails or registering required.

OK I will upload a better screenshot tomorrow.

feels good to be using JCS again after so much work I had to get done recently

That reminds me of one of the Band Land levels from the original Rayman.
Looking forward to the final result.

Originally Posted by Robo4900

That reminds me of one of the Band Land levels from the original Rayman.
Looking forward to the final result.

Ahh, Rayman 1. The amazing game which made me cry when I was a kid...

http://i.imgur.com/GijM2Ii.jpg

Rather a large image so I'll just leave this here instead of breaking the thread by directly displaying it here.

~17 ish j1 levels coming to a j2o near you sometime in the near future

Originally Posted by Blackraptor

http://i.imgur.com/GijM2Ii.jpg
Rather a large image so I'll just leave this here instead of breaking the thread by directly displaying it here.
~17 ish j1 levels coming to a j2o near you sometime in the near future

Yeah, saw a screenshot of one of your lvls the other day. These all look awesome!

The raptor is loose and hunting down SWAG's territory!

^ woah at all the above

Some of those tilesets do look familiar! Looking forward to what kinds of wacky enemies and stuff will be roaming the halls.