The Patient:
I worked at this one for a good 10 minutes and I figured out how to do all the jumps, but I suppose I'm out of practice and couldn't make it all the way through... very difficult level overall. I appreciate your attention to detail and that you employed use of parallax objects. I generally like the look of it, but there's an odd contrast for me between the very torn up looking background and the very uniform (level bounding) foreground tiles. I'd have probably used some more "destroyed" looking stuff around it just to complete the theme.
I like that you got the "wall o' death" sliding properly, but I'm torn as to how much it contributes to the level... either I'd take it out and leave it all as is, or I'd make it faster and make many of the jumps more forgiving. I would also stack a couple of blocks of needles for the "wall" instead of that one scaled one... it looks a bit "meh" being stretched out like that to me.
I also like your use of the smoke FX on the block being hit by the laser, nice! If I were to give any guidance on this one, it'd be to make a little bit more wiggle-room around some of the jumps and maybe go with the needle wall sped up a little more. If this was one of your first levels though, I'm very impressed.
The Patient was actually my third level so, yeah, one of my first. I know, the scaled needles seem a bit 'odd', but I had to make the sliding needle-wave very large because if you would stand still in the middle of the level and get killed, you could see behind the wave and that was really ugly. But I'll try to fix the scaled needles a bit when the chapter comes out. I could increase the speed just a little, but not too much because the very first couple of jumps (the precision ones with the mini-saws and the jump between the two bigger ones) take some time to figure out and execute correctly, and if the wave's coming at you too fast, the frustration level of just getting killed by the wave will be too high. The wave is just there to make you feel like you need to be fast, but not be too pressuring. And I'll try to make the forground seem more ravaged as well instead of just the background. I'm leaving the part at the lasers as-is, because I wanted it to force you to make really precise jumps, but I'll make the end a little easier. The last few jumps are kinda unfair. I'll release some edited versions of these levels when the chapter comes out.
Zealot:
First impression, "UGH that light!" I'd greatly reduce that or move it somewhere, it was rather distracting to me. I could tell I'd probably never beat this level right away... I got up the first wall after a few tries, but there are way too many factors at play for me to try to time my way through.
I did notice that you could go on the left or the right, which was cool. I also liked the visual design for the most part... but it was very chaotic with so many saws moving around. You do know how to deal with paths and you evidenced that very clearly here! I'd take a few of those factors out or at least make the timing much more forgiving.
I'll work on the light, sorry 'bout that. This was my second level, made after Greenpocalypse and before The Patient. The trick to the start is actually to jump pretty much straight away into the wall on the right, slide up a little, and then jump full-speed to the left. That way you should clear the big stationary saw in the middle, and not get hit by the shooting saws. Then you immediatly make a little wall jump to clear the saw in the wall on the left. You stick to that wall to evade one more shooting saw that's coming from the right. Then, just before the two big saws retreat back into the wall, you jump through. The saws should move away just as you jump through. You make a jump to the left and one to the right, jumping under the saw-shooters. You then reach the part at the top where the saw-shooters can't hit you any more. It's pretty much straight forward from there. Just evade the rest of the saws on your way doen and you'll be fine. Watch out at the end of the level though, you'll be pushed away faster the closer you get to bandage girl due to the wind.
I'll work a little on the timing needed at the beginning, make it a little more forgiving. But the rest of the level is not so hard I think. It's pretty short. I'll make a little shortcut at the beginning of the level. Hidden, of course, but if you can find it the level's much easier. I'll put it in the revised version.
Greenpocalypse:
Loved the visual design. Really cool to look at! I had a great time with it until I got to the repulsion sphere... after that I had no idea what I was supposed to do. Unfortunately it was far enough into the level for me that I didn't want to keep starting over to figure it out. This one has great potential if you can balance it just right.
Again, sorry for a little design fault. The camera on the right part of the level isn't placed right. The trick to the repulsion sphere is to run into it full speed, don't jump. It should push you up a little, and you should hit a pad on the right. Stick to that a second or two, jump to the left, over the saws, and make your way up the last bit of the level. The camera is placed so that you can barely see the pad to the right of the repulsion sphere, really sorry about that. I didn't notice it when I uploaded it, because I already knew it was there. I'll fix that to make it more evident.
Pinky Woodworks:
Amazing visual design! Best so far and one of the better looking levels I've seen in general, all around. That goes double since you used the forest tiles and those tend to be tough to make look nice.
I REALLY hope that you change the timing of that saw after the first big gap jump so you can hit it straight out of a spawn... it was really annoying waiting 2 seconds to go after each death so I can hit the timing right after the jump and not die. When you get up to the higher elevation with the small gap and two moving saws to jump through, I died a lot there... I would either make those saws stationary or make the hole bigger. I got a bit frustrated after a while but I'm sure this one will be great too.
It was indeed really hard to make it look nice with the forest tileset, but the level just needed a rotating saw and some trees, so I had no choice. It turned out really nice I think. Again, a lot of work went into it. I'll adjust the timing of the rotating saw, it is quite annoying. And the gap into the building, with the two moving saws, I'll make that more forgiving as well. It's pretty hard to estimate how the levels are gonna feel and play when you're not the one designing it, because I know how to make that jump work pretty much every time. I'll work on some of the jumps and polish the level a little more.
Rant:
Another beautiful one. I don't know about the yellow, but that's your choice. Looks like it could be a missing level from the "Remnants" chapter... plays rather like it as well. I liked what was going on and the slightly more deliberate pacing too. One big problem though... the spikes you laid down (under the first spinning saw on a stick) poke through the wall on the "safe" side and killed me a bunch of times, since I couldn't see where the collision box was exactly. I could probably have finished this one, but that was a bit frustrating.
Thanks! It was designed to feel like the "Remnants" chapter as well. Great that it worked out that way. And the spikes, yeah, pretty stupid, I totally missed that. You're not actually supposed to use that wall in the first place. I should have made that more clear, I apologise. You have to use the block on the bottom right, under the third key, to jump back to the top, then get the fourth key, which opens up the part with the rotating saw on the stick, use the middle part of the wall you need to get the fourth key, and jump from there through the gap with the rotating saw on the stick. I'll make some adjustments so the path is more clear. Here's a picture of the path you were supposed to take, first part is in red, after getting the third key the path is blue, and after the fourth it's green (it's a bit messy because I had to draw it with a mini-trackpad on my laptop, not really the best drawing tool
):
So, all in all, you have some great starter levels to work on and refine for a while and I'm sure you'll make them into a great chapter. As they stand right now, I didn't finish a single one of them... but like I said, I may be rather out of practice. Honestly, they generally did seem a bit overly hard to me, but how you balance them is up to you of course... and I'm aware of the whole pot/kettle situation I'm working on by saying that, but I'm jus' sayin'!
About the pot/kettle thing, not at all the case. I love the feedback you've given me, it's really helpfull to have some good criticism. Now I know what stuff is good and what needs to be worked on. I can now polish them up a bit, and use the good stuf from the levels to make my upcoming ones a little better. I really appreciate it that you put so much time and effort into playing the levels and giving me the great extensive feedback that you have. Thanks alot, and I'll check out that mini-chapter of yours.
It looks fun!
Sincerely,
TwitchFingerNightmare
Super Meat Boy
