Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

It’s not very exciting, and takes too many leaves from EM’s book. There’s an original plot going on but it’s pretty cheesy to be honest. The levels start off as pretty linear but become better over time. Apparently CR knows how to make custom tilesets but they need some work to look good. All in all it’s pretty average.

It’s probably not very useful now, anymore, but the background bugging out is simply caused by the level having too many destruct scenery tiles.

A maximum of 48 of this event can be used, and no more than abut 20 should be tried, otherwise you’ll trigger the ‘tilespam’ error, where all tile #0 are replaced.

Otherwise I pretty much agree with Violet, even though I wouldn’t be as harsh really

Again, an excellent JJ1 level editor.

Unlike J1CS, this program is very convenient and user friendly, and not just a proof of concept, either. Once you spend about ten minutes fiddling with the interface and the hotkeys, you’ll be able to create levels in the blink of an eye.

There’s a ton of included features which make JJ1 editing a fun, curious exploration – amongst which are editing enemy attacks, modifying sounds, custom tilesets, etc…

When combined with Doubble Dutch’s swiss-army-knife JJ1MOD, the modification possibilities are basically endless. Those who know how to design will surely appreciate Newspaz’s excellent work.

Even if you’re not exactly crazy about JJ1, you should download this – even if only out of curiosity. But if you do feel like getting your feet wet, then download this right now and get started!

The 2.0 version gives me this error:

Access Denied.
Press OK to ignore and risk data corruption.
Press Cancel to kill this program.

Then it doesn’t detect my JJ2 folder, or something (says that Directory does not exist, which is not the case).

EDIT: I saved PlusLLEdit in my JJ2 folder. It opened correctly when I copied it to desktop, but as soon as I tried to change the installation directory, the same error popped out. It did create a configuration file in my JJ2 folder, though.

EDIT 2: That fixed it! Thanks a ton.

If I may have a feature request, can you add the multiple file selection (with Shift and Ctrl) to the level list? Right now I can add multiple files but not delete multiple files. :P

Outstanding MSPaint skills.

No Orbitus 2 fix?

J2O doesn’t allow using commercial tracks in uploads. Please reupload with a different track.

This set seems to be getting two different reactions… people either like it a whole lot, or like it only a bit. I’m torn between either because this set is really something of a diamond in the rough…

The artwork is exceptional, that’s a given. There’s a massive amount of detail everywhere, which is natural for a primarily handdrawn set (kudos for making most of it in the horror that MSPaint is!). The style is very cartoony, not in the same way as JJ2 is but it doesn’t clash blatantly, or anything. It’s very colorful and vibrant, giving the tileset a properly cheerful, happy, full-of-life feel. It’s almost as if someone sparkled some beauty powder over the whole thing – I mean, how can you possibly walk next to those pretty trees or buildings and not feel even a little bit happier?

How usable is this set, though, is something of a mixed bag – it’s easy as pie to use, the mask seems to work, the somewhat messy layout I don’t mind. However… tilesets like this really make me wish that JJ2 had more than just 3 background layers – personally I’ve always wished for just one more. This is where my biggest annoyance with this tileset comes – as minmay said, it’s very reliant on layer 5. Most tilesets are, and I usually don’t care – but here it feels like a huge waste, which could have been avoided (the volcano is not going to be used too often, for example).

This is a very good tileset. Could have been a great tileset, but it’s nice to have a tileset actually released in the first place. I was going to give this an 8, but then decided to give a small bonus because it’s just so pretty and the theme hasn’t been attempted before. A pretty damn good start to 2010 if you ask me =P

More experimental than fully practical, but the theme works, and it’s a fun exercise to use. And it’s always good to see another LMAT set finished!

This is pretty much okay but also hideously overrated…

Underworld is more or less the regular Xargon fare. It’s supposed to feel as if it’s underground (the vertical layout helps, granted), but it’s a bit vague and transparent. Okay so there’s a dark background, dim lighting (with the huge crystals being light sources), and the music, but this isn’t the strongest theme out there. Really it feels like a generic Xargon level with some details thrown in, rather than a completely new setting.

Gameplay wise it isn’t anything outstanding either, as it’s pretty small and a little bothersome to navigate. There’s all regular ammo types available here – an odd choice since not all weapons will be effective here (for instance, I can’t really see RFs or Pepper Spray being too useful). Toaster + Fastfire as the only powerup, well, I’m not a huge fan of toaster as a weapon but I figure it can work here. At the bottom there’s two warps that lead back to the top – fair enough. All in all a pretty decent levelThe size suggests that it might be good for duels but I wouldn’t really want to duel here.

Deinspirated Mayhem (a really cringeworthy name, IMO) uses Tubelectric – not a tileset you see often anymore. But even though it’s Tubelectric, which I usually like a bunch, this level lacks some sort of spark (hehe). It’s not as interesting or good looking as the tubelectric classic e-Line Circuits, and that came out seven and a half years ago. It doesn’t look like there’s much mayhem going on, or anything going on – it’s a pretty static landscape of bricks. Bricks, and little else than bricks actually. It makes the level look very purple, almost monochrome in fact. There should have been more wooden/green circuit/black parts to break the monotony.

The layout shows that this level was pretty much uninspired – not that I mind a lot to be honest. It’s bigger and more spacious than Underworld, and also more horizontal. RFs and Bouncers work in this layout fairly well, as will Pepper Spray. There’s three carrots, two of which are placed in semi-evil dead ends – not a problem. I did like how the blaster powerup was placed – it reminded me of some older levels. Not sure if being half-secret is the best spot for the weakest powerup out of the three available, but it’s not a huge deal.

This is probably worth a download. Deinspirated Mayhem is the better of the two levels (ironically), but Underworld is not bad either… and then again neither of them are all that spectacular. They’re decent levels, and much better than Eigus’ older works, but still not quite great.

Well, well… this pack right here is definitely something of a small gem.

It goes without saying that you’re probably downloading this pack just for a few levels out of all fourteen. It also goes without saying that most of these have gone wrong in a way or another, either by being full of superficial gimmicks, by an erroneous layout, or excessive eyecandy (or a combination of some of these).

But what’s not obvious is that every single level here had potential to be very good. Some of the levels definitely have their visual moments – Myopia’s stone-and-nature parts, for example, I really dunno why weren’t they used as a common motif. Downtown Maze has this real tranquil, dreamy feel that’s uncommon. Those levels that aren’t outstanding are still good and fresh looking. And unfortunately, some levels cross the fine line between “a lot of eyecandy” and “complete inconsistent mess”. For example, Pleased with Presents had a really cool 70’s disco theme, until it became a chaos of christmas toys with a gay rayman rap track. And I’m not even going to beat the dead horse that FurnFace is…

One thing you’ll definitely notice is that Faw has a soft spot for gimmicks. Almost every level will have some, and almost every one will misuse them. This pack will attack you with fly carrots, freeze enemies, cheshire cats, pinball pads, walls which seekers go through, etc. It’s almost as if Faw tried really hard to make each level unique and original. In case of which, it’s probably slightly ironic that the best (in my opinion) levels from the pack are those which didn’t try too hard to be original. This includes nearly all the CTF’s and hardly any of the battles…

In two levels you can even hear FawFul’s musical skills backing up the themes, this aspect should be probably expanded in the future. It’s really too bad that this pack wasn’t as polished and refined as it could have been – there’s a ocean full of potential here.

Think positive!

Nothing terribly exciting but pretty much OK nonetheless.

It’s been nearly a year since FireSworD uploaded a new level to J2O – time sure flies fast huh? While last year we were graced with Enter the Chaos (quite a controversial level, but still an instant classic), today we turn 180 from mayhem and turmoil.

Golem Landscapes brings us to a highly abstract battlefield. As FS himself explained, this level takes action on a stone golem, which is a shockingly good idea, especially with the given tileset (a recolor of Carrotus). The theme is realised very well – taking the obvious aside, you can notice that all the walls (including the ones in the background) form a logical, solid mass of rock – like a giant monolith. It’s also a very stoic and tranquil landscape – dim lighting, leaves slowly falling to the ground, and the relaxing background track, with a beat that’s vaguely like a heartbeat – perhaps to imply that the golem is asleep?

The gameplay is far from tranquil, however, as this level sports four different kinds of powerups, lots of dodge space, fast movement, and shortcuts. This layout will remind you a lot of the classic OLC CTF levels – it’s highly interconnected and very spacious. With fast routes, two +1 carrots and one full, and no place to hide, this becomes an ideal level for 2on2 matches. You can get from base to base fairly easily with the aid of warps, but you’re not going to last like that too long, as most key items are out of the simplest route. There’s a ton of situational tactics (that I’ll leave you to discover and abuse…), so every game here ought to be interesting.

This is one of FS’ best releases up to date, so go download, play it a lot, and get inspired!

This level is an insult to other levelmakers

“And levelmaker is better, when he can make his level faster.”

That is the most retarded opinion about level design I’ve heard in ages

Don’t listen to the people, don’t make a TSF version.
Everyone else – want to use this tileset? Get over yourself and download TSF already.

What the hell, this is ingenious :D

Haha this thing is cool! I loaded a sp level and shot out all my blaster ammo (would be neat if you’d put a counter) to see if it would work. Then I had to get through a destructable wall and got screwed :—DDD

Giving this a 7 because it could have had more options (such as less health, or a tougher ammo limit). Other than that this is fun!

Now I can rest assured that my claim about Desolation being very flexible turned out to be true…

This level is plain insane. The idea of having gateways leading to different planets is very impressive, and manages to be pulled off fairly well in most instances—Starshine Valley being probably my favorite. The music choice is also contributing to the feel, using the same track as Unreal’s NyLeve Falls is a cheeky reference to how that level and this are very much about exploration.

However, there are some mistakes that break the immersion – the fact that players are apparently able to travel between one area and another without using the gateways, and that most “planets” feature the same white colored background, which which wrongly implies that all the places are located close to eachother rather than light years apart.

Some planets don’t look very appealing either – the Temple of the Ambient Moon, while a well done concept, it falls short in terms of eyecandy, by being rather bland and too open. The hyperstation core one, while it features extreme amounts of detail, overall it looks too cartoony with the red/blue/counter tiles used seemingly randomly.

Now onto the gameplay… I can’t say I’ll be sure to play this level in a game. Six control points is a /lot/, I honestly advise people to treat 3 points as a standard maximum. Anyway, I’m not going to get into all six into detail – what I noticed in general is that they appear in rather cramped spots (Gnome Hyperstation being a bad example), which will cause a bunch of “khaos” in-game.

Some design ideas were just not good: secret powerup stashes, scarce and randomly scattered ammo, ricochets (prone to cause fake health), the water shield (not the best idea in Domination), no carrots (?), a control point that’s randomly accessed (???). I can understand that the powerup stashes were there to put even more emphasis on exploration, but I advise you to fix everything else I listed ;)

Overall, this is a highly inventive level, which unfortunately went further with the idea than with the execution. My final advice is: don’t make more content than is needed, and focus on what you already have — in this case I’d have preferred less planets but connected in more intuitive ways. And don’t stop making crazily themed levels like this!

EDIT: In hindsight, I overrated this a slight bit. A 7 should be okay. Sorry ):