Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

A clan level… Sounds good already. Let me praise the level in my review:

GAMEPLAY:

Not good at all… It isn’t too balanced and even if it was, the bad flow alone could just kill the level. It’s too cramped in many places and it occasionally frustrated me. I hope when you said “a plain, simple CTF warping lvl” doesn’t mean you’re ever going to make another one again, because excessive warps can be annoying in a CTF level or most levels for that matter. If you’re going to use warps, I suggest using them with better ideas for strategy. Like in Diamondus Warzone for example, there are two warps to a carrot in a box. Something like that would be better for CTF.

EYE CANDY:

As far as I know, there is none. The level is black and off-white with an annoying flashing background. I’m hoping in the future you use better tilesets; ones with actually usable eye candy.

CARROT AND AMMO PLACEMENT:

Add a carrot so I can criticize the placement. As for ammo placement, it’s sadly one of the better features of this level. It seems to appear in small groups of clumps throughout the level. In the future, try using a full energy carrot and some power ups.

HOST THIS OFTEN?

Nope. You’re going to have to stick to the basics before you can get higher ratings. 5.2 unless if I find my rating index card and it tells me different.

cough not 1.23 cough

Can you even make 1.23 tilesets? I would be willing to help…

It’s a nice tileset, but why TSF?

Probably FS’s best level so far. I’ll explain:

GAMEPLAY:

Even though this level has bases at opposite corners, it’s balanced for the most part. The warp near each base helps balance it. The layout is simple and easy enough to get from base to base. It almost reminds me of Happy Semiconductor CTF, which is a little strange since FS doesn’t like that level a whole lot (though IMO it still owns). Nevertheless, I’m not going to go into much more detail, but the gameplay’s good and that’s all that really counts.

EYE CANDY:

Definitely above average. I liked this feature the most in this level. The 3rd and 4th layers looked good, but the BG layers were a break from the ordinary. You can definitely tell some effort was put into the eye candy.

CARROT AND AMMO PLACEMENT:

There’s a full energy carrot placed somewhat between the two bases—nothing wrong with this. And for some added strategy, you could jump down to get it from above, or swipe it from beneath with a copter. There’s also some good ammo and powerup placement, not to mention TNT for a little bblair feel. Everything is good here.

HOST THIS OFTEN?

I would say so. I enjoyed the brief time I played this level online (even though I was losing the whole time). 8.2 is my rating.

FYI: 404 error.

You might want to fix that…

Hmmm… Overrated. The average rating of 8.9 is a little deceptive. The level honestly is short, boring, lacks eye candy, and isn’t too original. As for difficulty, the level wasn’t too hard (just a lot of baddies). Just because it’s the intro isn’t an excuse to make a level as bad as this one. I’m hoping that in the full version you make major improvements and you add some new ideas (the story might need some work, too, but it isn’t too bad). If this was as good as I thought it was, I wouldn’t have bothered rating this. But it isn’t, so I’m giving a 6.2 for this level. I’ll expect something much better from the full version.

Too bad that last obstacle won’t work online…

One Silver Penny? What an evil idea…

GAMEPLAY:

I can’t find anything horribly wrong with this. I can get around easily. It looks balanced for the most part. I don’t think I can get stuck anywhere. And one coin for the coin warp sorta adds a little originality. I barely played it online, but everything seems alright; No real complaints here.

EYE CANDY:

The eye candy is pretty good. It looks a little bland with all of the purple on purple on purple, but that’s just the tileset. Other than that, it’s definitely above average.

CARROT AND AMMO PLACEMENT:

And here is the evilest part of the level: a full energy carrot only accessible with a coin. Nice idea, maybe too evil since you could hog the coin and keep anyone else from getting it. I like it; it adds some strategy. I have nothing bad to say about where the ammo and powerups have been placed.

HOST THIS OFTEN?

If you suddenly get the urge for a duel or a 2vs2, consider this evil level. I’m giving this an 8 just because.

I’ll just write a short review, assuming that you won’t make any more CTF levels in the near future:

Just Your Typical Level

GAMEPLAY: Semi-cramped with bad spring usage. No borders at the top?
EYE CANDY: Not bad.
CARROT PLACEMENT: I’ll tell you when I find one.
AMMO PLACEMENT: Alright, but TNT?
HOST THIS OFTEN? Nah.

Non-Union Computer Store

GAMEPLAY: Kinda balanced, alright flow.
EYE CANDY: Almost slightly above average. Lighting at top might be too dark.
CARROT PLACEMENT: Probably too many carrots.
AMMO PLACEMENT: TNT again! Why? Else generally decent.
HOST THIS OFTEN? Nope, but I almost like it.

LabLocked

GAMEPLAY: Not too balanced at all.
EYE CANDY: Average.
CARROT PLACEMENT: A bunch of them thown around once again.
AMMO PLACEMENT: Almost alright.
HOST THIS OFTEN? Much less often than the last level.

Stupid CTF

GAMEPLAY: Simple.
EYE CANDY: A change of pace with a moving layer. Nifty.
CARROT PLACEMENT: None that I know of.
AMMO PLACEMENT: Simple with no powerups.
HOST THIS OFTEN? Still no, but I somehow like this one the most.

Overall review: Some of these levels use shields and they all aren’t too spectacular. It may have been accepted back then, but these levels are outdated. They don’t even loop completely, but I suppose you wouldn’t care too much since you didn’t update them in years. I’m not even sure if you care about this review. Anyway, I’ll be nice and make 6.7 my rating. I would say play this mainly for nostalgic purposes.[This review has been edited by BlurredD]

I don’t really feel like writing a long review so I’ll just make a compacted version:

GEMneric CTF

GAMEPLAY: Good enough.
EYE CANDY: Decent.
CARROT PLACEMENT: Alright.
AMMO PLACEMENT: No complaints.
HOST THIS OFTEN? Occasionally.

Just Got Carrot Away

GAMEPLAY: Diagonal yet balanced.
EYE CANDY: Nice, original, but may be laggy.
CARROT PLACEMENT: Only a +1 carrot but works out.
AMMO PLACEMENT: Good. No powerups offset the +1 carrot.
HOST THIS OFTEN? Probably. Good for a 2vs2.

Overall review: I’m guessing that these are the kind of levels I’ll end up liking more and more later on (like Happy Semiconductor and JAIL). This wasn’t what I was expecting, but it’s still worth a download. A 7.7 for these two levels.

The Edit: It started to grow on me. 8.2 is my new rating.[This review has been edited by BlurredD]

Yeah… interesting level. Let me just skip to the Review:

GAMEPLAY:

The layout is probably the best part of this level. The flow is nice, but the way the tubes at the top left and top right were made could be improved. They just seem a little boring and tedious (nothing to do with eye candy). I would suggest at least changing the tubes on the left to be as short as the ones on the right, though it’s not that big a deal. And I don’t know how much of a difference it would make, but I would also suggest changing the blue spring near the Red base so that it doesb’t keep the x-speed. It’s a little annoying to adjust to. I suppose everything else is decent.

EYE CANDY:

I don’t know how to describe it. It’s really really interesting. I liked most of it except for everything that was translucent. Carrotus and translucent just don’t mix too well. And the background is just too weird with the things that almost look like some sort of deformed futuristic buildings… After that, the eye candy is a little above average. But points will be deducted because altogether it doesn’t all that great. This level would probably get a slightly higher rating if it was more traditional and/or if it used a better tileset. If I was going make an original level with this tileset, I would—on second though, I’ll keep my idea and use it for myself (hehehe).

CARROT AND AMMO PLACEMENT:

From what I can tell, three +1 carrots were used: one at the bottom middle, one at the top left, and one at the top right. Full energy carrots would be better IMO, but I guess what you did could work. The ammo placement is… well, unnecessary. It’s like in EvilMike’s SPACE ISLANDS levels, but you didn’t have to put it so close to the ground (at least not all of it). You should have used the traditional method and suspend it in midair, but this way would be a little more convenient (points won’t be added nor taken away for this). Powerup placement is decent (assuming there’s only one) and I have nothing else to say.

HOST THIS OFTEN?

If you like semi-weird stuff and semi-good layouts, then host this a whole lot. 7.0 just because.

Congratulations. This level puts new meaning for my CTF level reviewing system. Finally, a level so bad it deserves an extra long review (not to sound harsh or anything).

GAMEPLAY:

I don’t think I could ever possibly describe how bad the layout is. It’s not balanced, it has no flow, and I was frustrated just trying to find my way around. Let me give you some advice (or a lot of advice) with the problems I saw:

1.) There are no borders around the level, which can create the infamous flag bug where you see someone capturing the flag every second. Always, always, ALWAYS add a border around the entire level of at least one tile (two tiles are recommended).

2.) The events are either misused or just don’t work out. Like with the water, are you trying to make the level much more frustrating with it? And there is the problem around pos 26,34 with the steam where it is easy to get stuck there if you’re not very careful. And you used hurt events? If there’s one event you should never use in MP, it would be that one. It just gets in the way and can even kill the server.

3.) The level has too many dead ends, and not just routes that lead to nowhere, but places where you can actually get trapped and never get out. Don’t use horizontal springs the way you did in this level.

4.) And I think you took the advice to use animations one step to far. It seems as if you used animated tiles for more than 80 percent of the level. When others said use animations, they probably wanted you to use the tiles made just for animations (like with the blue “shock rods” you didn’t bother to animate). You, on the other hand, misinterpreted this I thought that they wanted you to make animations like where the tile disappears and reappears. You can use the disappearing/reappearing animation tiles if you want, but seldomly. The Mez tileset you used just naturally lacks tiles for animations. A lot of other tilesets are better for this.

5.) If I had to guess, I would say you have no idea of how to make layer 3 align with layer 4 (or really anything layer-related for that matter). All you have to do is go to layer 3 and right-click with your mouse and then click on properties. In that, go to where it says “Relative movement”. Next to the “X-Speed” and “Y-Speed”, change the number to 1 (it normally says 1.5 if you haven’t changed it). And you can resize the layer under “Properties” next to the box where it says “Tile width” and “Tile height”. I suggest experimenting with this and with all of the other options (I don’t feel it is necessary to explain everything in that section of JCS).

6.) And finally, the level looks more like a single player level than anything else. This fact alone could kill the rating of this level. It seems that you tried too hard to make the level work when really a simpler level would receive a much higher rating. If you’re going to make a CTF level, look at how other people made their CTF levels. And when you’re making your next level, look for some beta-testers and make sure they barrage you with a lot of suggestions. It appears you will need it. Keep making levels; practice can always help.

EYE CANDY:

I’ll tell you when I find any. It’s definately way below average. The background tiles weren’t used correctly (you’ll have to resize the layer and/or put the layer in “Textured mode”). You were lazy with a lot of the tiles in this level. Look at how other levels use eye candy and try to be more creative in the future.

CARROT AND AMMO PLACEMENT:

Not good at all. Too many carrots in one place and no ammo. Hypothetically, if this was the greatest CTF level ever created but you only messed up on this one thing, it would already be rated a 7.0 at the highest. CTF levels just can’t work with bad carrot placement and no ammo. And powerups are always nice. I’ll give three possible suggestions of what you can do with the carrots:

1.) Use one full energy carrot placed in the middle or somewhere near the middle of the level. Make sure that it is easily accessible, and generally same distance, from each base.

2.) Use two full energy carrots placed not too close to one another. From each base, it should be easy to get one of those two carrots but not both.

3.) Use a +1 carrot, similar to how I said to use the full energy carrot in my first suggestion, but don’t use any powerups (I doubt I myself would ever use this suggestion, but it’s still a good choice to use).

Personally I use the first suggestion the most in my CTF levels, but you can experiment with whatever you want. Also, I can’t really say much about ammo placement since you didn’t even use any. Take example from the way other level makers place ammo in their levels. And when you’re using events like these, use a generator (20 or 25 would be good). You just have to click “Create a generator for this event” where you select the event to use. Then change the number next to “Delay” to 20 or 25 or whatever.

HOST THIS OFTEN?

If I said host this often, that wouldn’t make me much of a reviewer. I’m rating this a 2.5 just because you remembered to put two CTF bases in the level. If I get bored and can think of other things to suggest, I’ll add on to this review.

The Edit: No, I had no idea how long it took you to make the level, but I can tell that during that two month period you didn’t focus on balance, ammo placement, flow, and several other things that I’ve mentioned in my review. I don’t want to discourage you to the point where you don’t make any more levels, but the one you made isn’t even decent. And just because you worked on a level for two months, it doesn’t necessarily make it a good level. Practice and opinions of others is where you get improvement from. Make sure you read all of the advice I added in the review.[This review has been edited by BlurredD]

Blackraptor’s latest level. Better than the last eight. It’s not horrible or great nor original or clichéd, but it’s decent.

GAMEPLAY:

The layout in this level isn’t hard to get around in, but a few tweaks could improve it a lot. The thing I dislike the most about this is it lacks balance. For example, at the top there’s a lot more space around the Blue base on the left side than the Red base on the other side. On top of that, Spaz can take a shortcut to the blue base by double jumping, while Jazz will be forced to use the route with the two poles. And one thing about poles: use poles as seldom as possible. And try to avoid putting them into one of the main routes to a base (though you can avoid at least two of them in this level, like the pole near the Red base). Also, try to get rid of some useless things like the tubes near pos 93,29. Think about making the level more strategic and stuff like that.

EYE CANDY:

Somewhere around average, I guess. There’s nothing I find appalling in the eye candy. But what’s with all of the Mirrow pics in the level? Secret obsession? Even Disguise didn’t use that many pics of him in his example level of the Mirrow’s Kingdom tileset. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone (except everyone that reads this review). You can keep it in, but it doesn’t add for eye candy much.

CARROT AND AMMO PLACEMENT:

I can’t really say I hate the way you placed the two full energy carrots. It’s a little boring, but it’s alright at best. Just like the ammo placement and the powerups (I suppose). I also don’t feel like analyzing all of it at the moment.

HOST THIS OFTEN?

If you somehow find this level fun, play it 24/7. If you’re like me, then don’t. 7.0 because I don’t know. Maybe I’m being “nice” again.

One other thing: I normally don’t mention things like this, but the music could not possibly fit any less then it did in this level. Don’t do that. Use better music next time (it’s better suited for Shadow’s ShockWave), and maybe some you found on your own.

The final version of this level is much better than the previous version. I can’t seem to find any major problems in it.

GAMEPLAY:

It has a good layout and the “Crusher” system is a nice touch. It’s a basic CTF level, but a good one at that. I had no problems getting around the level. The only thing is it’s not too original, though I still like it.

EYE CANDY:

It’s slightly above average at best. There isn’t anything too bad in the way you used the tileset. It’s generally good and no improvement is really necessary.

CARROT AND AMMO PLACEMENT:

The full energy carrot is placed in the middle of the level—good enough for me. Ammo placement is alright. And I have no complaints as to the placement of the powerups.

HOST THIS OFTEN?

Probably. It would be good for a duel or maybe a 2vs2.

BunnyElmer made another CTF level. Amazing. It’s slightly better than the last level but no major improvements here.

GAMEPLAY:

The layout might kinda work, but it looks really boring. You placed Blue base much higher than the Red base, which could be a bad idea and can possibly hurt the gameplay. You should maybe try sticking to wider levels in the near future. And a little originality couldn’t hurt too much. I don’t see intense CTF play in this level, but it shows some potential.

EYE CANDY:

Not bad at all. Average and almost lazy in some places. Nothing much to say here.

CARROT AND AMMO PLACEMENT:

The placement the full energy carrot is alright, though a little annoying. Ammo placement isn’t that great, but it’s not bad either. And some of the powerups are hidden. Evil. Try not to do that too often. Just maybe try to make them hard to access instead of hard to find.

HOST THIS OFTEN?

Nah. I would like to give this a 7 but it’s not quite there yet. I’ll give this 6.7 for now. I’ll expect to see much improvement in later levels.

This level is much better than I expected (I didn’t really like the last level he made). But as good as it is, there were several things I disliked.

GAMEPLAY:

It’s good for all I know. Nothing makes the layout in this level too hard to get around. It’s nice you took that bblair thing, just to make the level unnecessarily evil (I won’t add or take away points for that). The gameplay is not too original, but it will do.

EYE CANDY:

I would say just slightly above average mainly because the BG wasn’t annoying like in the Persian Paradise example level. I didn’t really dislike anything except the way the tubes and those other tiles around the carrot were made. Other than that, the eye candy is pretty good.

CARROT AND AMMO PLACEMENT:

I don’t know exactly how this level will work with the full energy carrot placed so close to the Blue base. And on top of that, more than 2 routes to the carrot. I wouldn’t know if this will hinder gameplay a lot, but I don’t really agree with it. The ammo is placed good enough with all of the powerups and such. I have nothing against it at the moment.

HOST THIS OFTEN?

Host this occasionally, you might like it. This was a 7.5 since it does need some improvement. But after some online play, I decided to raise the rating to a 7.7 instead since I liked it just a little more.[This review has been edited by BlurredD]

It’s time to whip out yet another long review (Not Trafton AKA Aiko long, but just semi-long). Angelic Warfare is a major imporvement compared to CelL and RagE’s last collaboration.

GAMEPLAY:

As far as layouts go, it’s good. It sticks to the basics and has nice flow. The bases are placed almost as far as possible, but you can find quick routes from base to base. The only thing I’m against is the way the JAIL concept was made. It looks like it works faster than in Happy Castle CTF, but it might be more glitched. After some testing it worked like 4/5 of the time. It might just be lag related (I can barely run multiple JJ2 spawns with the translucent clouds in the foreground and background). I’m not going to take too much of the rating for this since I’m not 100% sure and it only gives the Red team wrong triggers until they die.

EYE CANDY:

It’s among the best I’ve ever seen with this tileset. That doesn’t say much though since I haven’t seen too many levels that use the tileset to its full potential. I liked the eye candy for the most part except where it looks like it took almost no effort to make (like around pos 3,45). I still dislike excessive use of transparent tiles since it can create some lag (especially with lighting), but since you can use Hardware Accel or Low Detail to avoid it, I won’t take off any points.

CARROT AND AMMO PLACEMENT:

The full energy carrot is placed well in this level. It’s not the most original thing that could have been done, but you can’t go wrong with it. The two warps on each side of the give access to the carrot in the middle. I also don’t really have anything bad to say about the ammo placement except maybe the team based powerups could unbalance gameplay, but that has yet to be determined.

HOST THIS OFTEN?

If you feel like having a 3vs3, consider hosting this level. Host it often if you like. I’m giving an 8.2 for this level.

I won’t rate this either, but the idea amuses me. I almost thought of doing the same to battle1.

This is the third version of the CTF level first seen in July 27, 2002. It has become better over time in some ways, but needs work nonetheless.

GAMEPLAY:

To me, it seems a little too linear: not too many platforms and a limiting water route at the bottom. And the bases are a little too far apart. In your server I suggested cutting down the distance betweeen the bases, but you kept it the same. The level still isn’t all that balanced. The collapse scenary under the red base would be impossible to get through from the bottom without using TNT or something. It’s not the biggest problem but you should use blank tiles instead. You also might want to use warps in your next levels.

EYE CANDY:

Not bad, but could be better. I don’t know if you have an old version or not, but you could have used the tileset better. I can’t tell you exactly what you should change (it’s really a matter of opinion), but it is a slight improvement over previous versions.

Another thing: You said that you couldn’t put the dino’s in the BG because it was already used in that area. This shouldn’t be hard to get around it. You didn’t have to put the lightning on a different layer than the rain or the solid blue BG. You just have to incorporate the rain or the blue tile into an animation and it would let you have another layer. This way you can have room for more dinosaurs in the background.

CARROT AND AMMO PLACEMENT:

Carrot placement isn’t as bad as it used to be. There’s a +1 carrot near each base, which isn’t so bad. But the full energy carrot is too close to the red base. You should place it somewhere in between the two bases. The ammo placement, on the otherhand, isn’t good at all. There’s barely enough and it needs to be spread out more. The blaster and bouncer powerups are placed well enough, but the pepper spray powerup (which is with the full energy carrot previously mentioned) is a bad idea.

HOST THIS OFTEN?

Maybe like once if you get bored. This level is a 6.5 at best. But I’ll be nice and make it a 6.7 because of your persistence.

By the way, don’t expect great reviews after uploading one of your first levels. You can’t expect high ratings right off the bat. It takes lots of time and practice to make really good levels. You can’t expect that you’ll be able to make vast improvements after editing the same level over and over again. Try making other levels (preferably with other tilesets), and experiment with layouts. Not all of your levels will be good in the long run, but just remember other authors started the way you did, and even the greatest level makers make bad levels once in a while.

Also, take example from good levels other people made. Don’t actually take the level and edit it, but instead use some of the ideas the author used. And in my opinion, the easiest way to make a balanced level is to make one side of the level and then mirror it (vertically) so each side is symmetrical. After you master this, it will be much easier to make balanced levels with unsymmetrical layouts.

An edited level…

No. Don’t do this. Don’t edit levels and then upload them to J2O.

And don’t make levels for multiple purposes. Just make a battle or a CTF level or something.