Not recommendedReview by Violet CLM

Posted:
19 Feb 2024, 23:16
For: my first level
Level rating: N/A
Rating
N/A

Using a layout you're familiar with is a smart way to get used to a new editing tool! One thing you can try next is changing layer sizes and other layer properties, so the background sky can be the right size. You can press Ctrl+8 to edit layer 8's properties, for example. Another good thing to focus on is making sure you're using tiles that look right next to each other… most walls should look a little different on the sides than on the middle. But you've figured out how to place events and that's a good step, and the big carrots look great. I'd recommend looking through this site: https://www.ninjadodo.net/htjcs/

Also, this is a good source for JJ1 music, they're directly converted from the original files and have a much smaller filesize than mp3 versions: https://www.jazz2online.com/downloads/3151/jj1-music-pack/

Review by Violet CLM

Posted:
13 Feb 2024, 04:47
For: Cybercity
Level rating: 9.2
Rating
N/A

The struggle I have with this tileset is I don't believe it's a city. There are hints of scaffolding, abstract skyscraper silhouettes, and a handful of signs suggesting buildings, but none of it quite convinces me, not when there are actual mouse cursors hovering around on top of what look more like banner ads than billboards. To me, "City" evokes something more like in "Tales of the Neon Sea." But I guess that's the difference between a cyber city and a cyberpunk city. This is a city that's inside a computer, but a more up to date version of a computer than the old green matrix stuff we used to get. This is Ralph Breaks the Internet. It's not what I was looking for, but it is, in itself, coherent and consistent.

Ten, twenty years ago I don't think we'd have liked this very much… the colors are flat with next to no attempts at shading, perspective lighting, anti-aliasing, what have you. It looks nothing like what Nick Stadler would have done. But somewhere along the way, flat colors became a style, at least when you got the shapes right. And this does do good shape work! There's a very cool mix of straight lines and rounded corners, and most of the ads (except the ones that just say "AD," which don't look so great) have nice detailed art. More importantly, everything's constantly flashing. (Except the most basic ground tiles… I guess that would be a bit much.) It definitely helps sell this tileset as digital and vibrant.

One nice thing about this set is how unique it is for JJ2. There are a couple other ad-centric city sets I can think of, though neither are on J2O, but they're both clearly physical cities, nothing like this purple-and-black cyberscape. It's always good to have something genuinely new to play around in. There are also a very respectable number of other incidental graphics, all or mostly also animated, besides the ads. There's no shortage of ways to keep levels looking interesting. Very good work there. I'm also fond of the harsh diagonal lines used by some of the background elements.

I can't deny that I'd prefer a hypothetical version of this set that did have shading and things. I do think there could be more here that signifies city, like vehicles of some sort. But this tileset has a very clear and unique idea of what it wants to do, and with only minor hiccups (again, the "AD" animations) it succeeds impressively.

RecommendedQuick Review by Violet CLM

Posted:
24 Jan 2024, 02:46
For: Knapweed Bog
Level rating: N/A
Rating
N/A

I think the pairing of the big vertical areas and the vertical weapons works well here, though it may feel even more random than usual whether you hit people—Minimap might be in order. Bogs aren't the commonest theme but this hits it well, though fewer straight lines would help. Seems like a fine little level to me!

Quick Review by Violet CLM

Posted:
24 Jan 2024, 02:32
For: Azure Alluvion
Level rating: N/A
Rating
N/A

Judging MP gameplay is hard but this is roughly symmetrical, has cute tubes to go directly to the bases, and has great caves and plants to keep everything looking properly naturey. I see what the gems are doing but I think they're a little too distracting, likewise the fast water. Generally good at making a JJ1 set look good at big resolutions.

RecommendedReview by Violet CLM

Posted:
31 Dec 2023, 04:39
For: The Queen's Tower
Level rating: 8.8
Rating
N/A

Such an immense level would seem to warrant a similarly immense review… it took me 80 minutes to complete. But the level isn't all that variable, so it's possible to summarize. You're wandering through an immense tower, trying to reach the top, but before you get there you want to collect 600 coins, and that's going to take forever, so really most of the time you DON'T want to reach the top. Rules like "always turn left" or "always turn right" do help (moreso the latter), but there are occasional rooms surrounded by loops which you have to visit intentionally, and occasional one-way passages due to gravity, so navigation isn't always automatic, you do have to pay attention sometimes. There's generally a visible distinction between passage and room, and just about every room has one or two coins, but rarely more than that, so there's a lot of level here.

Along the way, you pick up just about every ammo type, usually isolated to specific areas of the tower. There are occasional fastfire pickups, but those are useless given how many enemies you need to kill before you can get there. There are also a good number of shields, invincibility carrots, birdcages, and apples to keep things varied and make sure you feel rewarded as you wander the endless tower.

Really, the best decision being made here is probably how easy it is, as a result of how the game works: if you ever died, even if you had 599 coins, you'd lose 100% of your progress. No player is going to want to start from the beginning. So the level has obstacles, absolutely, lots of spikes and enemies, but they're all very visible and there are plenty of carrots. Again, you have to pay some attention, but you're not being given insurmountable challenges. (The latter levels even demonstrate the author CAN do harder stuff than this, but chose not to.)

The music's fine in my opinion, but since you're going to be here for an hour or more, there's basically no track that will keep you occupied that long on loop. Turn it off and listen to a playlist.

Ultimately The Queen's Tower is a form of meditation. You're doing the same things against familiar enemies in square passages, on and on, with occasional breaks in scenery. There are distinct areas with distinct gimmicks, such as spike balls or glowing lava pits, but mostly you know the drill. Sit back, hold down the fire key, and relax. I think the level might actually work better if it were linear so you didn't have to worry about making choices about which direction to go, one less thing to think about, but I was successful, after all, so probably you can be too.

The second level is a boss fight, it's not too exciting. The third level I like a lot, even absent the context of the broader pack. It's just really good stuff that doesn't overstay its welcome but still poses fun platforming challenges with a cool unique aesthetic. Very good. The fourth is puzzles. Basically every level in this is totally different from the rest. I mostly just talked about the first because it's the main attraction and super long, but I do like the third quite a bit.

I can't fathom how long it must have taken to make this, by the way. Some rooms are more creative than others, certainly, but every room seems to be different, not copied-and-pasted at all. The graphics aren't especially advanced, just blocks in brick patterns, but again, the level is ridiculously huge… doing anything more than a repeating 1×1 pattern is impressive.

RecommendedReview by Violet CLM

Posted:
30 Dec 2023, 07:34
For: The Town Pack
Level rating: 7.7
Rating
N/A

This pack is even more city-heavy than Sonic Generations, but the levels really are quite different. Though one thing I do think reappears throughout is the problem of the trigger crates. It's almost always hard to tell what they do, because they tend to target things off-camera. The third level does the best, I think, with text signs accompanying most or all trigger crates to explain where you should go next, though you have to do some thinking to figure out which areas are described by certain words. The first level does okay, because it's pretty consistent, though the presence of layer 3 in front of some of the trigger blocks is off-putting. The second level is the most confusing, despite being filled with cool related tricks. This is a fundamentally difficult problem of game design, but trigger crates alone are not enough of a varied vocabulary to explain to players what they need to do next, especially if all trigger sceneries (no matter their trigger IDs) use exactly the same tiles.

Jungle City is linear with a gimmick: a bird does all your combat for you. Well, mostly. You can still buttstomp and stuff. There's also a whole fetch quest thing associated with this gimmick where first you have to find a bullet, then you have to find a birdcage, and then you put the two together to get the bird out, and if you ever get hurt you have to do it all over again. (Though fortunately they generate if you're still in the area; if you've moved on further in the level you may want to find a new bullet/birdcage pair.) Honestly this feels like a little too much punishment for getting hurt… just find some way to give me the bird permanently, that's the more engaging part of the gimmick.

The other issue I have with the level is that it really, really likes layer 3. There's nothing wrong with some secret areas, but (and this is a pattern that reappears throughout this pack) it's hard for the player to know what's a secret area and what's the main path, and there are a lot of places where the room is partly obscured by foreground and partly not. None of that is inherently bad, but it's so constant (at least aboveground) that it starts to feel more cruel than exciting.

Otherwise, though, when the level sits back and lets you play it, it's pretty cool. Slaz is always good at making levels that are playgrounds with things to do, and there are goodies everywhere here. War Torn is one of the best tilesets out there and (this edit of) it looks great here. More importantly, the level really is designed to be played with a bird, it doesn't just feel like an afterthought. Enemies are rarely very tough, and sometime you even get to shoot through destruct scenery because there are enemies on the other side, which feels really cool.

French Town is probably the normalest level, as it's roughly linear and you have guns, though there are a lot of times where you have to wander around to figure out how to open some door or other. There are lots of nonscripted gimmicks here too, really pushing the envelope, and lots of mysterious, hard-to-see passages that may or may not be necessary to find in order to progress. When this level works, it feels great, but sometimes it does verge into the obscure. Sections where you have to shoot certain destructible blocks to progress through them at a different angle are very cool, though it's hard to notice some of the tiles you need to shoot through.

I think my reaction to Industrial Town is a lot more positive than abgrenv's, though there's no denying it's difficult. It's a very non-linear level with two different types of trigger crates: three that unlock the end area, which is clearly labeled from the very beginning, and some more that do other things that you have to figure out. There are a lot of paths to navigate, some of them probably optional, and you approach areas in different orders and from different directions. That's a tough level design challenge but I think Slaz nails it. I think getting rid of the intermediate trigger scenery obstacles would make this play that much more smoothly, but in general, if you don't mind things being on the cramped side, this is a good experience.

Slaz's levels are for when you're in a specific mindset of wanting to explore. They're not designed for people who want to zip to the exit: you're rewarded for exploring, and there are too many obstacles to go quickly even if you wanted to. These three levels all take different approaches to this—constant back and forth between sewer and aboveground, inventive puzzles, non-linear layout—but they do share that. And they look good too, that helps.

Quick Review by Violet CLM

Posted:
29 Dec 2023, 07:04
For: Strange New World
Level rating: 7.6
Rating
N/A

It's certainly an interesting level. Plenty of space to play around and go on optional adventures. Perhaps too optional—you can run and copter ear through most of the level. The final bit with all the wind is just a miserable slog. But the rest is nice if you're in the right headspace, or are just willing to play along with unenforceable rules.

Quick Review by Violet CLM

Posted:
13 Nov 2023, 22:50
For: Titanic Sinked Ship
Level rating: N/A
Rating
N/A

Accurate level description, sums up the entirety of the level. A rocket turtle flies by for no clear reason but doesn't do anything—otherwise, you're collecting coins and then laying TNT. It's reasonably novel but not all that engaging, since you're doing the same thing five times. Graphics are functional but smart tiles would have fewer bugs.

Not recommendedQuick Review by Violet CLM

Posted:
12 Nov 2023, 21:35
For: The Mad Eva Boss
Level rating: N/A
Rating
N/A

Trivially beatable by remaining directly under the falling coins and buttstomping enemies until ten coins fall.

Review by Violet CLM

Posted:
12 Nov 2023, 21:02
For: Shaddow Game
Level rating: 6.5
Rating
N/A

The trap that scripting springs on unsuspecting level makers is suddenly there's no reason to take shortcuts, other than, well, they're easier. The Medivo level pits you against enemies that have been given boss health bars, but there's nothing to ensure you actually fight them instead of skipping them. Text strings politely ask you to go back if you didn't fight them, but that's all. In the Psych level, an invisible coin warp takes you to a TNT pickup and another warp back, instead of a script giving you the TNT ammo directly if you have enough coins. If the levels had no scripts at all, these would be understandable compromises, but because other things are scripted, suddenly these are points worthy of criticism.

(Similar issues apply to editing tile(set)s—suddenly every drawing made in history is theoretically available, so why settle for a tile that's close enough?)

Focusing on what the levels do do, though, rather than what they don't: this is pretty all right. Lots of pickups, including the traditional JJ2 thing where individual levels focus on individual ammo types. Trigger crates that aren't too far from their respective (clearly marked) trigger scenery blocks and sometimes do interesting things like sit on top of spikes. Level layouts that go in all directions, not just right, and feature tileset-specific obstacles. For all that the bosses are the most memorable parts of this pack, the levels aren't just window dressing, they're worthwhile (if not amazing) in their own right. Generally a pretty good time, though everything (eyecandy, layout, scripting) could take a bit more polishing.

RecommendedReview by Violet CLM

Posted:
2 Nov 2023, 00:58
For: Burrowsville?
Level rating: 8.5
Rating
N/A

Slaz's levels exist in a peculiar intersection of being incredibly specific to JJ2 mechanics while also not specific to traditional JJ2 level design. There are so many events that this level is built around that couldn't easily be substituted, and yet, this is not at all how the normal levels play. V-Poles, one of my favorites, are used frequently to help the player get around. Pickups are simultaneously numerous and infrequent, often placed singly instead of in groups or four or six. Some food pickups are used to mark where players should jump and so on, classic platformer design goodness, while many more are just incidental to keep the player engaged and the screen busy. Secrets are absolutely everywhere but do a good job of being clearly secrets, not the main path, except for the exit from the dark grave area, which is kind of confusing. Collapse scenery is used to great effect in an all-new(?) way to open up the level as you progress through it: there will be multiple horizontal areas built on top of each other, and once you find the way up to the next one, you can trigger collapse scenery to open up more paths for easier exploration later. Sometimes this is paired with buttstomp scenery, which I think works less well because the stomp blocks are much easier to see than the collapsible bridges, and that makes it look like something you're supposed to uppercut. Things that look like they can be shot can generally be shot. There's just an endless variety of things to do, in a variety of possible orders to do them in, letting players take control of their destinies and craft their unique gameplay experiences. But somehow this non-linear experience manages to be crossed with an ultimately linear level with three or four distinct, bounded areas with their own objectives and layouts. It's an impressive balancing act, the moreso for how natural (but rewarding) everything feels.

Review by Violet CLM

Posted:
21 May 2023, 19:03 (edited 21 May 23, 19:03)
For: MandalaWarp
Level rating: N/A
Rating
N/A

We do get the occasional diagonal level, like Sub Junction 3 from Subtracted Space, but this is the most consistently diagonal one I can think of. Unfortunately it does showcase JJ2’s limitations with diagonal designs, such as flying into space instead of running down slopes; getting stuck running into walls; and a lack of weapons that can reliably fire in the direction you’re moving. Another issue is that there are no powerups and lots of warps that send you to an entirely random location, so there’s not much in the way of strategy here, you just go to random places in a random order and hope to run into someone. The lack of powerups is not helped by how many carrots there are (including some hidden behind layer 3). There are some fun visual experiments going on here, including a number of animated tiles, and it’s always good to see non-standard tilesets getting some appreciation, but ultimately this feels more like an art piece than a battle map. Look at it and smile, but don’t try to roast people.

Quick Review by Violet CLM

Posted:
25 Apr 2023, 05:37
For: Day/Night cycle at Diamondus
Level rating: 7.2
Rating
N/A

I do like the use of split paths here, and some of the alternate dead end routes, though the rewards can be a little lacking for how long the routes are. It’s weird seeing single pickups floating isolated in the air, they usually come in groups of four or more in levels. But everything works all right, there are some good shape variations, not bad.

Review by Violet CLM

Posted:
11 Apr 2023, 21:17
For: the j2o hoaxes (ultra rare)
Level rating: N/A
Rating
N/A

It’s great to see some of these again after their image hosts took them down! Simply replying to the thread with these might have made sense, but I suppose there’s no guarantee whichever other image host might not go down in turn… J2O is the only site we can really rely on. Some fun images, ranging all the way from wild stuff to totally trivial now.

RecommendedReview by Violet CLM

Posted:
10 Apr 2023, 05:49
For: Easter The 9th
Level rating: 8.3
Rating
N/A

Is this a vanilla, traditional level? Well, sort of, yes. Enemies are the most basic available—thematically, if not mechanically—it’s an official tileset with the standard music, there’s nothing wild about the background use. Slaz even sacrifices an entire background layer just to controlling the speeds of the textured background, rather than let a single line of scripting take care of it. There’s not a lot to describe on these fronts because yes, this is in fact how Carrotus (or Easter) tiles go together—though, to be clear, a very strong example of the form.

But sort of, at the same time, no, tradition is being bucked here. There’s a question that lived me with the whole time I went through the level: what are all these coins for? I got to the end of the level, beat the perfunctory boss battle, and still didn’t know. I had to go in a second time to discover that there was a coin warp I simply missed the first time. Even if you do better than me and manage to notice the warp right away, I think you’re still unlikely to have enough coins the first time you encounter it. Especially because you can’t really know in advance what the target number is.

So you go back and play the level again, this time maybe somehow doing enough exploring to collect all the coins. But why? What’s the reward? Nothing too much. The reward does speed things up a bit, but if you’re replaying the level, you’ve probably already beaten it. You don’t actually need the reward to beat it. You could make a completionist argument, sure, but is it possible—and bear me with me here—the goal of playing the video game is simply to have fun?

Because this makes a lot of things about the layout make sense. This level trusts completely that you want to collect goodies and find secrets. Sometimes you even have to find secrets to progress, unless there’s yet another alternate route that I missed that would work as an alternative. But also there are large areas that aren’t necessary at all. Sometimes because they’re alternate routes to the next stage in the journey, but sometimes large areas that don’t go anywhere, that just loop in on themselves and contain goodies and secrets and things. The goal of playing these sections is playing these sections.

And collecting coins in them, I guess.

Anyway, those were the thoughts going through my head, deprived of sleep as it is this weekend. I can’t promise they have anything to do with Slaz’s actual intent with this level, which has a lot to recommend it even if you don’t stop and get confused about the meaning of coins or whatever. Slaz’s levels tend to have lots of little microsecrets and these are in full force here: some are little holes in walls, some are in the floor, some are more complicated. But they tend to be signaled. There tends to be some visual sign "secret here! try to find it!" on the wall. It’s something I associate with Slaz a lot and it works well here.

In general, this level is filled with moment-to-moment stuff. You enter a new room and suddenly you could climb those eggs, you could go up that slope, you could stomp that block. At least one of those options will probably help you progress. There’s a whole lot of use of vertical space, including clever uses of springs, and even some swinging platforms that it’s actually worth paying attention to. There’s very little flat ground, there are not dull rooms where you walk to the right while shooting lizards, there are not moments where you purely turn your brain off because it takes no work to decide what to do next.

And in that regard, this is not a usual traditional level.

Quick Review by Violet CLM

Posted:
9 Apr 2023, 02:50
For: Leafy Mountains
Level rating: N/A
Rating
N/A

Level design as place, rather than as gameplay encouragement. You can battle here, if you want, and JJ2’s gameplay will shine through despite the level not doing a whole lot to encourage it. But mostly this lets you hang out, in a fantasy of being inside leafy mountains. The kind of thing that usually isn’t uploaded and so risks getting lost.

Not recommendedReview by Violet CLM

Posted:
17 Mar 2023, 19:47
For: Infernal Fortress
Level rating: 6.2
Rating
N/A

There are some particular ideas that work here, like the super long hurt areas to encourage copter-earing, or the tiny blocks in front of enemies so the player slows down. The use of springs is good. But mostly this level just feels a little too empty to me, graphically and functionally. The gems just off the main path are a good start, but there need to be more pickups in general, especially ammo (e.g. bouncers and ice for the Bilsy fight), and some more variety in wall size, and a lot more visual detail.

Review by Violet CLM

Posted:
17 Mar 2023, 18:57
For: Fortress
Level rating: 4.8
Rating
N/A

There’s a definite logic here, an internal vocabulary, even if it’s not the one we’re used to seeing in JJ2 levels. The massive supply of RFs at the start sets us up to run through the level at high speeds, blasting missiles in front of us to take out the unknown enemies waiting ahead. It’s not a challenge, but it is fun, and I think that’s worth celebrating. It does mean that the morph monitors get destroyed by accident, unfortunately. The two platforming segments and the dungeon also show good instincts to change up the gameplay at intervals, especially as two of them are preceded by steep drops which serve as good signals that the player is entering a new area. Graphics are largely rudimentary, despite the clever use of the foreground to cover gem rings, but get their job done. The level is over very quickly but I can see this kind of design philosophy being put to good use.

Review by Violet CLM

Posted:
15 Mar 2023, 08:39
For: Diamond level
Level rating: 6.7
Rating
N/A

It’s always interesting to see the occasional level with a fundamentally different idea of what level design should look like. Some of that seems to be produced by a lack of technical knowledge—layer 8 and the coin warp stand out—but the long open passages also make possible a sense of uninterrupted speed that can go missing in JJ2 SP sometimes. This is not to say that every choice here contributes to that feeling—in particular, the float enemies take too many hits to dispatch quickly, and it would be nice to find some way to make the ammo alcove areas somehow flow back into the main level so the player doesn’t have to completely reverse direction—but it still does feel like something that could be worth pursuing, especially with an easy to use tileset like Diamondus that doesn’t make it hard to have super big levels. This is very fast (and drastically overestimates the difficulty of the tuf boss) but everything certainly works in it and it’s nice enough to spend a minute or two in. All the trees are a good touch.

RecommendedReview by Violet CLM

Posted:
15 Mar 2023, 08:24
For: Future2055
Level rating: 9.7
Rating
N/A

In a community that sometimes seems to strive to produce the most beautiful landscapes and luxurious buildings, it takes some courage or at least ingenuity to aim for something bleak, desolate, and screwed. This is a mixture of War Torn (by theme and perspective), Casualty Mines (by palette and, in some places, shading), and just a little bit of Baltyville Sewers. The aliens from Future that have spent the last however many years hoping to go mainstream make another appearance here as well.

Standout artwork here includes the tentacles, the ruined walls that curve away from the camera, the cozy lumpy background cave, the intricately pixeled background hills/buildings, the bones, and the barbed wire. The green slime is colored and outlined well but is a bit off if you look at it too closely. Giant Dreempipes-style tubes are always cool and these are great examples of the form, with lots of cracks and bones and things to keep them from being nothing more than gradients.

Weaker elements include the pillowy garbage bin, the depthless floor texture, and honestly the palette, which is mostly a little too obvious and a little too discrete. The ruined buildings suffer the most here, looking for all the world like they use the sprite palette like in Shrunken Jazz. A soft tint to the tileset could help, to make the disparate elements blend together more, as could gradients that start and end in slightly different hues, so the player’s screen is a little less obviously a blotch of this color on top of a blotch of that color.

Right now, despite how comparatively unique they are, the ruined houses are letting the rest of the set down a bit—I also wonder if taking a trick from Haunted House would help, allowing some foreground walls for layer 3?—but this is a moody, elaborate, and downright innovative set with lots and lots of different options to try out, both the main elements (walls, caves, tubes, houses, slime, aliens) but also the sheer wealth of incidental drawings (tires, furniture, electrical poles, barbed wire…) to keep a level feeling fresh and interesting and not-machine-generated.

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