Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

This was a pretty decent mini-pack. Several things could have been better, but I was satisfied. In the future, you should:

- Reward the player for getting through areas. It was sort of puzzle after puzzle with no break.

- Add more eyecandy. A level that appears to have one color is very lame. I’m referring to the cave levels. The one using 7th lava Fall was fine.

- Use annoying stuff sparingly. A lot of the puzzles were really good, but the mazes covered by layer 3 got old after a while. There were also areas with spikes where you couldn’t get through without getting hurt (unless that was your intention =p).

Otherwise, I liked it.

I would have found it more helpful if the levels indicated that you have to play as Spaz for the pack to make sense. I usually play as Jazz, and I found it irritating how I always got spawned in the upper-left tile.

It’s overall good, and I liked your use of eyecandy. Go easy on the dark areas in the future. I would recommend Set Light 0 and use Steady Light to mark the main path.

It would be helpful if you provided information on WHERE to put the .dll files. Does this program manage the episode files so they won’t overcrowd the menu, or is this simply used to create the files? If so, I think there is another editor out there (somewhere).

The zip file for the music was empty. Good job!

So what kind of bugs does this fix?

Finally, you’ve seen the light and made something I can truly use.

Color 5/5: Lovely. This pack has d*mn in five different color schemes. All of them have good contrast and you even made a custom texture background. Very good, indeed.

Layout 2.9/3: I used the original d*mn tileset a lot with the first level I uploaded on J20 (and two others I never finished but had better quality if anyone’s wondering) and I can say that this is a SERIOUS improvement on the layout. The tileset is MUCH easier to use now. The fixing of the vine is a definite plus. Please remember when you “improve” on a tileset that you include the original eyecandy and not just new stuff (there was a pillar with razor/steps around it in the original, I believe). Aside from that, it’s great.

Originality 1.5/2: There have been other d*mn conversions, but this one far exceeds their color and layout.

Effort 3/3: For once, you have put a lot of effort into making a good conversion. Great job, PJ.

Here’s the re-review.

Color 3.7/5 : The color is very good in the day version. The evening version, however, needs a re-do with the background. Purple sky AND mountains AND lake is a little bland, and I find the color hard on the eyes. I think an evening version could do better with an orange color to match the carrots in the tileset. The storm version is okay, but I would prefer it if you put the rain in single drops rather than clumps. It makes the level very hard to navigate. All three tilesets could have used a better color for the carrots. They seemed to be wilting, unless that was your intention. The background trees and castle in the night version should have been darker than they were.

Layout N/A: It’s not any different from the original except for the added tiles. if you can help it, make the next tileset more user-friendly than the original.

@Cooba. I don’t care whether the original tileset is more or less easy to use. There is always room for improvement, and I prefer to rate based on effort.

Originality 2/3: I like it, yet it’s been done before in a sense. The tileset is somewhere between TSF Easter and the original Carrotus tileset.

Effort 1.8/2: This was nicely done. I think you could have touched up the layout of the tileset. Also when you make a tileset you should consider how the background is going to contrast with the sprite layer and other eyecandy.

This is an amazing conversion.

Layout 2.8/3: The tileset is much easier to use now, although I would appreciate it if the water reflections on the ground in the underwater tiles from the original had been included.

Usefulness 2.5/3: The first version isn’t a great deal more useful from the original since they both share many of the same tiles. The added waterfalls are very nice, though. The evening version could have been a bit lighter, and the storm version could DEFINITELY have used more light. It’s very hard to see your way around in it. I would suggest giving the tiles in the storm version a blue tint either through the whole tile, or along the edges to make them more visible. Other than that, they’re very nice additions.

The Conversion 1.8/3: It could definitely use lighter tiles in the evening and storm versions. A light outline on the edges of ground tiles would do the trick.

Originality 1/1: The storm version is definitely cool. I’d be tempted to use it if it wasn’t so dark.

Overall: Well done! If you could just make a new upload with tiles that were easier to see and work with, that would be great. At the moment, I think levelmakers would be forced to make a day version of a level and then switch the tileset just to know what tiles he/she was using.

Edit: You know, I agree with the comment below me. There’s a lot of eyecandy that’s missing from the original tileset.

This is really quite good for a MS paint tileset. I’d never use it, but you did very well for having such a limited resource =p

Eyecandy 3/5: There wasn’t a whole lot, but some tilesets don’t necessarily need a whole lot. I would have done the stars in the background a bit differently, but that’s just my preference. The ground tiles were hand drawn quite well, though the spikes are very hard to see against a dark background. I would have made them a different color entirely such as reddish brown to contrast the other colors.

User-friendliness 2/5: The tileset is fairly small, so you won’t get lost looking for specifi tiles. However, there could have been many more types of tiles for events such as poles or sucker tubes.

Originality 0/1: Slimy Land and ET’s Planet are both similar to your tileset, but I still commend you for doing so well with MS paint.

At a brief glance, I can say there wasn’t a whole lot of work put into this. It may have a cool theme, but it could have been better.

Layout 1/3: Same as the original castle except for the added, ripped tiles.

Usefulness 1/3: as stated above, nothing was changed about the original tiles or their masks (aside from color).

The Conversion 0/3: In all honesty, I think all you did was change the Hue of the whole tileset using Photoshop. This would have been reasonably okay, but you added barely anything to CONTRAST the blue — therefore, it is drab and plain. I think the yellow suits of armor are the only contrasting colors. Having a differently-colored textured background would have helped greatly.

Originality 1/1: The one thing I can’t deny you.

I think you should consider making an original tileset for a change. You keep zipping out these tileset combo/conversions that have rather limited use.

Awsome. If every one of the levels in FSP2 is like this, I will give you a 10 without a doubt. I would recommend adding more carrots to hard mode, though. I never finished the level, but it was worth dying three times :3

Edit: The other serious flaw in the level is areas where v/h poles throw you into an enemy that you can’t avoid.

Actual rating prompted by Cooba >_> :

Eyecandy 3/3: Excellent. You threw all kinds of tiles into areas where there would otherwise be plain-colored walls. I can’t think of any complaints at the moment.

Gameplay 3.5/4: The gameplay was great, and challenging. The only trouble I had was getting thrown into enemies via a pole. That just frustrates the player. Also, I would have provided a save point for the boss or at least made it slightly easier. Copters tend to be frustrating on the player since you can’t change the direction you’re facing. The wide variety of events you used was amazing. You’ve inspired me to use a similiar method.

Item/enemy Placement 1.8/2: Wonderful. I just would have wished for a few more carrots. Some of the enemy locations were frustrating sometimes, but I enjoyed the challenge (examples: lizards 1 cell under vines, baddies that poles throw you into). Otherwise, it was very good.

Originality 1/1: Granted, the coin collection concept has been used many times before, but the level itself was quite original. The eyecandy was used in a very different way, and you used a tileset I had never seen before (until I searched the database for it =p).

User Friendliness 1/1: It’s a very small tileset, so there’s not much you could miss when actually using it.

Overall look 1/6: It’s just another MS Paint tileset to me. Use a proper program next time like Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop (or whatever the guides suggest). The colors used in the textured background need to be placed in the right rows of the tileset palette in order for them to not get the messy white color (see JCSref and the othersites to understand this).

Usefulness 0/1 It doesn’t have all the basic tiles needed in a tileset. There are a few eyecandy tiles, but not enough to give a level variety in scenery.

Size 0/1: Make it bigger in the future.

Originality 1/1: Yeah, it’s original. That’s about it.

Overall coolness 0/1: If this tileset was properly drawn and featured the sort of scenery you would see in the Andes (jungles, mountains, plains, etc), this would be a great tileset, but I think you need to put a LOT more work into your tilesets if you attempt to make another. Make a checklist and be thorough when you make a tileset. It should have:

Ground (all angles and corners that anyone could possibly need)
Tunnel (indoor areas where you use layer 5 scenery)
Vine
Hurt (spikes, etc)
V and H poles
Buttstomp and Destruct Scenery
Animations
Signs (exit, bonus, and text)
Directional Arrows
Hook
Collapsing Scenery
Teleport
Disappearing Ground (invisible tiles with a mask that allow people to make secret paths or drop enemies/items from above)
Extra Scenery (foreground abd background extras; any kind of eyecandy you can think of — add as much as possible).

Now go and make a better tileset :)

Wow..

Eyecandy 3/5: The layers with lava were nice, but there wasn’t a whole lo of sprite layer scenery.

Gameplay 2/5: Frustrating. There was no real reward for the player completing an area.

Originality 4/5: This was an awsome concept except for the fact that’s a remake of the original. You’ve taught me some new tricks, and I had fun playing the level regardless.

Enemy placement 3/5: It was ok. Sometimes it was frustrating due to the sheer number of enemies.

Item placement 2/5: You didn’t reward the player a whole lot. I’d strongly recommend making the level longer and adding food next.

I’m not giving a rating since this was a remake, but I would definitely encourage people to download this…just for fun.

Eyecandy 0/5:

The eyecandy of this level was very poor. Most of the tiles were used improperly, and had a jagged appearance. You need to make your tiles match up with their respective partner tiles. The levels had no lighting at all, which is hard on the eyes. You need to make the level a little darker next time. Also, there were a lot of pointless areas that served no purpose.

Gameplay 1/5:

I have to say, you really got lazy on these levels. All you did was use the same layout with four different tilesets. Most of the level involved killing enemies and warping to the next area. This was boring because: 1. There were mobs of enemies to kill with no reward for doing so, and 2. The warps were not obvious (the player had to search for them). There was no food in this level. That made it even more boring.

Item placement 0/5. You need to spread out the pickups more rather than making masses of them. There was no food in the level.

Replayability bonus: No….just no.

Originality: You did the same thing every other inexperienced levelmaker does….make a level that’s lacking in all respects.

Sorry, but this fails. No download recommendation. Play the levels other people have made, and pattern yours in a similiar, but original fashion.

Granted I played in hard mode, but these levels were a bit frustrating. I didn’t finish them.

Eyecandy 4/5: Pretty good. I liked the cave areas, but some of the walls seemed plain. The food was well placed decoration-wise.

Gameplay 3/5: There were a few too many enemies, and some of them were placed in annoying spots (edges of cliffs, under the foreground layer, above springs). The part with the vines was simply frustrating. Once you get to the final vine and try to jump up to the next one, you end up jumping off completely because you don’t quite “Stick” to the next vine. There could have been more food/ammo, but that was used mostly for scenery purposes.

Originality Bonus: I didn’t get through much of the second level, but the design was nice. You did a good job making the player backtrack.

Fun Factor: I really thought I was going to like the level until I got frustrated and gave up. I may play it again someday, though. Good replayability.

times 42 divided by the speed of light and ground into pie shell crust = 7.7. You put some good effort into these levels, but I think you should use less enemies and more pickups to reward the player. You might try making the level design itself more challenging rather than putting enemies in tricky places.

Oh, one other thing: ADD CHECKPOINTS D:

Edit: You know, I keep playing this level, and it’s fun each time. I’m raising the rating for leet replayability.

Okay, so I see that no one really liked the difficulty of it. My original plan was as you said: keeping the player on his toes. I guess I could add more food to keep the player rewarded/interested, but I get so sick of playing levels where there’s clumps of food/ammo EVERYWHERE. I’ll add more food in the future, but I want to keep the ammo placement roughly the same for ammo (-)s like myself. The ground tiles…yeah, I got a little lazy on that. I didn’t want them to look cluttered, though. I’d like the player to die once in a while, so why don’t I just throw in more food and carrots?

Lets just say this was the nastiest part of Hell. I’ll work on making the levels easier, but it seemed appropriate to have lots of dangerous areas to add to the atmosphere. What else can I do to add eyecandy? I didn’t quite know what to do in some areas, as the tileset didn’t afford a whole lot of stand-alone background/foreground. It seems I’ll have to create some =x

[Filter bypass removal. ~Cooba]

Not that great.

Eyecandy 2/5: It was okay for the tileset used, but it could have been better. You need to properly mask the foreground tiles when you make a secret passage. There were parts where I could see my sprite through the wall.

Gameplay 1/5: It was mostly hurt events and areas crowded with baddies. You didn’t really make anything challenging or creative. The level was far too short.

Item placement: Since this was a custom level, it didn’t really need a whole lot of ammo or powerups. However, if the level had been longer, you could have added more food.

Fun factor: Yeah, it was a good concept, but it could have been done better.

EDIT: Go into layer 3 and put extra tiles around the other passage tiles to hide the character’s sprite.

Like this:

xPPx
xPPxxxxxxx
xPPPPPPPPP
xxxxxxxxxx

Not a bad level. I liked the concept. The only real problem was the length of the level.

Eyecandy 4/5: The regular background could have been better (plain white gets boring). Everything else was great.

Gameplay 4/5: Good. Some of the paths were difficult to find, but it was a nicely done level. I think it would be helpful if you used pulze lights to indicate areas with radiation, however. That would make the level a little less frustrating.

Enemies 4/5: Nothing super. It kept me entertained, so you must have placed them well.

Item placement 2/5: There wasn’t much to speak of. I think the ammo at the beginning was about it :/

Bonus: I liked the concept. Keep making levels like this, and make them longer.

Nah, I really disagree. You put a good bit of effort into the pack, but there were several things that annoyed me.

Eyecandy 3/5
It could have been better, but you seemed in a rush to get these levels out. Please spend more time adding scenery. Also, you need to work on your English. I couldn’t understand the puzzle on the ice level.

Gameplay 3/5
The enemies wern’t really placed anywhere strategically. They were easy to kill and didn’t present much of a challenge. Another thing I had a problem with was all the pits that you couldn’t get out of. You need to warn the player of these or create them so you can see the fire/spikes/whatever just at the edge of your screen when you hold the down key. Nevertheless, it was a decent pack, and not a complete irritant.

Ammo placement 1/5
You need to spread the ammo out more so it’s not in such big clumps (along with all other powerups). The blaster powerup made the rest of the levels too easy. I never even had to use the ammo for a puzzle.

Food placement 3/5
It was okay, but it would be nice if you actually did something with the food aside from putting it into strings of clumps

Enemy placement 2/5
Nothing great. They were all fairly easy to kill and never annoyed me. A big yawn-rating there~

Other:

You need to include the music for your pack in the zip file. I had to search modarchive and j20 for a while to find all the songs I didn’t already have. Assume that someone has just installed jj2 and doesn’t have any extra files.

Work on your english.

and uh..

spend more time on your levels. Make them challenging, but not frustrating. I don’t know why this is becoming such a trend with new levelmakers, but it has to stop.

I really enjoyed this level.

Eyecandy 5/5 : Except for the pole thing mentioned about, it was excellent. You made good use of layers as well. I liked the “rain” that you created.

Item placement N/A: You need to add “useless” items and powerups like food to your levels. It will make them look better, and it will also keep the player entertained.

Monster placement 3/5: Some of the monsters WERE unusual to the level (the monkey, for example). Also, you placed a warp right where a bat spawned. I died twice to that >.> I honestly don’t like enemies that regenerate. It would be fine if you simply made one out of 6-8 enemies respawn rather than forcing the player to kill the whole mob over again.

Other than the item/monster placement, the level was great.