It's Spooktober! Boo!

I came to a realisation that there should be many more Battle levels. Also I have not run a contest in some time and I'm feeling generous (within reason).

I am, therefore, announcing:

Halloween Battle Contest!

Create a spooky/horror/etc. themed Battle level.

Rules:

Must be uploaded to J2O before October 31st, UTC-12:00

• That's four weeks to create a Battle level. Battle is by far the easiest gamemode to make levels for - it's essentially freestyle JCSing. There are some "common sensibilities" that levels abide by, but maybe breaking those is more interesting? With JJ2+ you don't even need a single event for a level to technically work as a Battle.

Must be at least as big as You Arena, but no bigger than The Impossible Metropolis

• I don't have the exact dimensions because it's late and I'm lazy. Something reasonably sized is what I expect to get.
• If you really want to make something as large as Hellfire I can't really stop you, but beware of biting off more than you can chew.

Must follow a Halloween-appropiate theme

• This is a restriction, but one that should stimulate creativity.
• Your entry should be within the range of "cartoony levels of spook" and "viscerally upsetting horrors". Unless you can somehow go beyond that!
• Unusual and exotic palette/tileset combinations^[1][2][3] are very welcome. Halloween is a good excuse to go nuts, and Battle does not usually require visual restraint.

Scripted gameplay modifications are permitted

• Within reason. Please submit a Battle level, rather than an example level for your new cool gamemode mutator.
• Feel free to use everything else at your disposal.

Multiple entries per contestant are permitted

• I don't expect any, but why not.

Your entry will be judged by me and me only

• That's right.

There might be an award for the best entry

• Or there might not. We're doing this for fun, first and foremost.
• My entry is not eligible to win.

Go wild!

Wishing good luck to all contest entrants, please be mindful of the fact that many players could be alergic to peanuts, so sorry to be offering this unsolicited advice, but it's important to be aware of food allergies on a holiday like Halloween, so that the holiday celebration can continue without letting it become dangerous for those with food allergies, those with food poisoning, etc. etc.

Thanks for the heads up, Splat. I'll make sure my level contains no peanuts.

Good afternoon!

The contest has concluded with four remarkable entries. Regrettably, after posting this thread I got distracted with real life and ended up not even starting my entry... but I'm confident it would not have been as good as the levels that did get completed. And this way I can be certain that I didn?t put in any peanuts.

Below are my thoughts on each entry (also available in J2O review format), sorted alphabetically by author name.

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Pumpkin Park by Dragusela

Coated in that autumnal vibe of "dusk by 4PM", Pumpkin Park is yet another piece of evidence of how Dragusela has mastered the use of color in his levels. What would otherwise be a rather scattershot of tileset styles (JJ1, JJ2, and Blade) is brought together by the hushed purple and brown midtones to coexist harmoniously - combined with the quite lowkey background music, this level paints a very pleasing picture to look at.

With 2 carrots of a moderate respawn time, and a size I would describe as medium, this level seems to be aiming to be a duel level. But some design decisions become questionable if so - this layout is pretty open, and the carrots are not very far apart, so the first player to get the seeker powerup (hidden in a... candy warp, which is cute, but also pretty oldschool in gameplay terms) could probably dominate the game. And if it's not a duel level - why only 2 carrots?

This entry also lacks a little polish. The FPS, though improved, still errs on the lower side for me, the coin reskins are nice, but with the old sound effect and coin sprite in the HUD they feel unpolished, the title text stolen from The World Spear completely unnecessary and unoriginal, one of the hooks actually uses the Hook event (wtf?), the "final" version uploaded to J2O has no next level setting and still prints AngelScript warnings... combine this with the rather generic layout, and this level comes off as something that maybe needed a bit more time in the oven. (Says the guy who put a deadline on this level in the first place.)

Overall, a very nice looking level, that will probably play well enough - but not something I'd call outstanding.

Bonus points: The purple cityscape in the background is really tickling my TSF nostalgia bones, even if that may not have been intentional.



Astral Witchcraft by minmay

In what is probably the grandest scripting tour de force since BL18, minmay delivers on her own contributions to JJ2+ and allows the selected music track to wholly control every aspect of the level. The background nebulas glow dramatically, the very ground subtly shifts from grayish brown to purple and back, the candles will suddenly come alive upon hearing brass notes - all to the rhythm, ebb, and flow of A Bard's Tale, a module that would already have been a winner in a regular level. This level is an audiovisual experience like none that came before

It is also an experience that is feels very bespoke - with a flashy makeover for the Blaster, two brand new weapons, a new mechanic to collect (at least one of) them, a Sugar Rush alternative that is more like an ult move, and a very precise layout built specifically to accomodate all of the above, this level feels like a brief window to a modern video game, much different than JJ2. It?s impressive on multiple levels.

I do worry, though, that minmay went a little too far with fun over safety - all the weapons fire rapidly, are very highly kinetic, and cap off at 100 rather than the usual 50 - which was just fine with the number of people I played this in, but I imagine will quickly descend into bullet nonsense that would surpass even BlurredD?s Quick Death Valley. Which, I suppose, is the entire point of the level, but not my personal preference. And while I would be hypocritical to complain about a level that can be both CTF and Battle, the nonchalant non-symmetry of the layout suggest that the Battle version was a bit of an afterthought. It remains a spectacularly designed afterthought, however.

Bonus points: Really appreciate the crazy amounts of SPRITE::MAPPING used here.



Necropolis by SuperJazz

Such a pleasant surprise to receive another Heroes 3 themed level from SJ! I have to admit that this one leaves me a little underwhelmed, unfortunately, since I?m so used to the original Necro town being very dark and gloomy, while this level settles for rather standard usage of Blade?s Fortress tileset. The little extras - the Tomb Rabbit coffins AND mummies especially - are nice, but I think the additions from Castle and Inferno (funnily enough, both of those are also Heroes 3 towns) clash with the ?main? artwork a little, and the background, though multilayered, is a little flat. Would have been nice to see some more layers with more creature dwellings.

SJ claims that the original CTF layout has mostly been replaced, but this level still feels like a CTF to me - the middle is symmetrical and the side areas feel like they?re missing a CTF base each. What?s there is kind of interesting, but also feels like a lot of platforms floating mid-air. I do always say that it doesn?t take much to make a Battle level fun - and this level was fun - but this feels a little purposeless. I don?t think there is a single good use case for the Nail Gun in this level - a weapon specifically designed for vertical climbing - aside from the theme.

Not my favorite, but still enjoyable.

Bonus points: In 1.23, what should be a Pacman Ghost in the background is replaced with Sparks, which looks really funny to me.



Blood Libel by Violet CLM

I had been replaying some older Violet levels this summer and noticed that there is a gap between her SP and MP works - in that the former usually go pretty wild with tileset combinations, while the latter tend to pull their punches in this department. This level in particular, though, does not disappoint.

Although Violet remains careful and prioritises player visibility, the eyecandy in bllib is visibly more diverse - eclectic even, considering those poor disturbed Diamondus trees - than in blcon, even though the latter features 400% more textured backgrounds. The music does a lot of the heavy lifting as well, but the overall impression left by Blood Libel is one of vague, but intense discomfort and dread. And with that eyebrow rising title? Playing this level hits different this week than the last, for reasons I should not elaborate upon.

This is by far the most interesting layout from all the contest entries, built with, and around, one specific gimmick in mind. Navigation is easy, and means of climbing upwards are plentiful, with one direction but many possible paths. Violet is weaving new cloth with familiar threads here - in addition to everything listed in the download description, a seasoned JDC player will be reminded of Ascendance Cliff, Tower of Death, but also The Fingers of Icarus, and even Penelope and/or Falkenstein: The New Order. If the opening post of the contest thread was written specifically to entice Violet, should I be surprised that Violet?s entry seems to be created specifically to entice me, as an easily flattered level designer? Who could possibly tell.

Across all the entries for the Halloween contest, this one is my favorite, and is therefore declared the winner.

Bonus points: The Spike Bomb looks really good in blue.


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Thank you all for entering the contest, and delivering a lot of great work. I will be in touch with you about some sort of prize(s).

Until next time!