Weightlessness

by vgxmaster
created Mar 17, 2013
Leaderboards
486 views | 727 downloads

Rating
/ 16 votes

Difficulty
/ 10 votes


map notes
Draft 1. Draft 2 is out, now!

This is an acrobatic map of what I hope is about medium length and moderate difficulty. It involves a lot of crazy jumping techniques and flying. I'm new to Dustforce map making and would love more than too much feedback. Seriously--give me some feedback. You'll make my day.

Did you break the map? Find a shortcut that wasn't supposed to be there? It probably was supposed to be there, but tell me anyhow. Was this part too difficult, compared to the rest of the map? Tell me. Please.

Thanks, y'all.

Current Fixes applied to Draft 2 (to be released--i don't want to spam Atlas)
-Lowermost section of the map, under the starting area, has been completely reworked. Many spikes have been removed and replaced with trick jumps, and the tight spaces have been opened up a bit to allow you to maneuver a little more freely. Hopefully, it'll be fun now.

-Uppermost area, just before the endgame, has better jumps--primarily, that means that the jump crystals are better balanced. Looking at your runs, you typically played slightly differently than I typically do, so I adjusted them to adapt to that.

-Fixed a few shortcut areas--sorry speedrunners. Less of the map is skip-able.

-Cleaned up some checkpoints. You still MIGHT get stuck in an older checkpoint, but it's now much, much more difficult.

-Fixed some glitchy ramps here and there.

-Modified the end-game slightly. There's an Apple there, which, well, no one needs, but hell, just in case. It also looks cooler when you win, now.

-Added some spikes and arrows to deter faulty navigation.

-Fixed ramp-based checkpoints.

-Cleaned up obnoxious text boxes
edited Mar 19, 2013

23 comments

ABoss
said Mar 17, 2013
Good job, it's quite a fun map! I can feel you have playtested it quite a bit. On a few attempts I fell down somewhere and accidently activated an old checkpoint so I lost the progress (not such a problem if you are going for SS :)) I found some spots feel a bit weird ( for example after the first narrow column where you go up, if you boost from the ramp after that, I ended up missing the crystal alot of times :p) but it was probably me just needing to adjust. Looking forward for your next map!
vgxmaster
said Mar 17, 2013
Thanks for the feedback! I adjusted that particular crystal a number of times--it was 2 crystals for a long time, but I ended up reliably not need one of them. I'll tweak it further, thanks.

As for the checkpoints, I experienced that too. Other than spraying spikes everywhere, I couldn't figure out how to deter that problem...Maybe I'll put in very thin deathfields.
Damselfly
said Mar 17, 2013
A very fun map indeed! I also missed the crystal ABoss is talking about a couple of times :P There's only one part I didn't like much; It's in about the middle of the map, where there are spikes on a 1-wide "pillar" and two crystals to the left of it. It felt very clunky compared to the rest of the map.

I too am looking forward to more!
vgxmaster
said Mar 17, 2013
I agree--that's actually the part of the map I die most often at. I'll rework it into something more enjoyable. Thanks for the feedback!
Tinker
said Mar 17, 2013
It's good fun, and I liked a lot of the findings you had (small passages between walls, the bit where you first pass underneath some dustblocks and make a little bit disappear, which then afterwards allows you to pass through). Some things to improve on in the future would be the clarity of the map - use the camera to your advantage to guide the player. It's fine to have a map that winds around itself like this one, but often I wasn't too sure whether to fall down somewhere or that was an abyss, or whether I should hit those crystals through the wall or not. It's also rather long; it's a reasonable difficulty so it's no big deal, but Dustforce maps tend to be aroudn 20-50 seconds, and the shortest current time is 1,5 minutes. Neither of these are necessarily bad, just something to think about :)
vgxmaster
said Mar 17, 2013
Noted, thank you! I've added some Prop arrows to help guide the player slightly, but by personal preference, I hate when the camera readjusts on me during a run. I'll see if I can do it subtly, though.

I try to incorporate some nifty tricks like the Dustramp and the thin passages for variety. Glad to hear they're well-received.

I know the map is long--I seem to have a tendency to make long but easy (easier, ahem) maps, instead of the short and sweet ones that are typical for Dustforce. I'll try making a more traditional one sometime, though.
Dragoslove
said Mar 17, 2013
I just want to reinforce what tinker is saying.  Many of the best maps in dustforce are short ones where every hundredth of a second counts.  Of course this is coming from someone whose last maps was 2:30 or so, and is working on a 3 minute monstrosity right now.  

I do recommend sending rough drafts of maps to friends though instead of uploading to atlas. If you upload early versions, its much less likely that people will play the final version at least based on my experience.  I gave up on this level after reloading at earlier checkpoints twice in a row.  I eagerly await an updated version.
Jvcpro
said Mar 17, 2013
Not sure if this has already been said, large text blocks intimidate me . :P. However, i think you should add some deathboxes after falls. Had about 3 or four runs that i couldn't even complete because i fell to a previous checkpoint.
vgxmaster
said Mar 17, 2013
Large text blocks are bad? Hm. Why is that?

Yeah, that's in the update notes--I fixed that. Well, mostly. Sorta.
c.C
said Mar 17, 2013
If you play on a smaller resolution like me, large text blocks cover more than half the screen.
vgxmaster
said Mar 17, 2013
Damn. That's a good point. I'll take them out, thanks.
Riokaii
said Mar 17, 2013
The map is pretty good for a first map, though some parts i'm not a fan of, it just couldve used a bit more polish imo. Otherwise pretty good :D
vgxmaster
said Mar 17, 2013
Anything more specific? Even if there were only one or two segments that you liked, I'd like to know just so that I can figure out what the community enjoys most, for future maps.
Riokaii
said Mar 17, 2013
the start is kinda weird, the peak is kinda pointless, the 1 tile climbs just felt weird but weren't too bad, you had a couple slopes that just kinda ended which im not a fan of, the blind fall into the 1 prism was easily the worst part of the map.  and you had some spots where slope boosting doesnt flow very well
Probably not Towelie
said Mar 17, 2013
didnt really get stuck ever but it wasnt very clear where to go at some times, i ended up trying to clear the first tower of blocks before i went through most of the map, just a pointer or hint might be a good idea.
vgxmaster
said Mar 17, 2013
I've added more Prop arrows, and I'll try some camera work to make clear where you have to go next. Thanks for the feedback!
js951204
said Mar 17, 2013
I think the flow isn't very good. I got lost at the first run, the one prism block that I have to hit after falling. And the small prism after the boost of fall made me feel kinda bad.. like aboss said
aolkbird
said Mar 18, 2013
good for the first map tho
53rdturtle
said Mar 17, 2013
I think you should add borders such as spikes somewhere to prevent players from getting lost. Moderate amount of spikes don't add to the difficulty but let the level clearer.

You can also send WIP maps to players to let them help you playtest before uploading it to Atlas. Then you can upload until the map is well-polished enough.

Just some small advices. Good work and keep on! :D
vgxmaster
said Mar 18, 2013
I've already added those spikes, plus some camera work and prop arrows to make the map clearer. I figured uploading a bad map to the Atlas and getting excellent advice was better than the reverse way--this way, in a month or two, I'll be making superawesome maps.
voxanimus
said Mar 18, 2013
my favorite parts were the air segments; the ground stuff felt kinda ungainly. most of the problematic segments have already been mentioned, but here's a few more:

improperly placed checkpoint after the first 1-tile wide climb; it should be more to the right to facilitate movement down the slope.

both of the boost-off-of-this-ramp-and-hit-a-prism-to-continue parts. the prisms are placed too far rightward, making it annoying to hit them and continue to the walls.

a small note about camera pathing. while i agree with you that a jittery camera is incredibly annoying, a useless one is even more so. good camera angles really help the player understand where to go next.
edited Mar 18, 2013
vgxmaster
said Mar 18, 2013
About that checkpoint; you're right, thank you! I've nudged it over to facilitate a better ramp slide.

About the boost-off-of-ramp-hit-prism parts...I replaced one of these with the larger Heavy Attack prism and moved its position, but every time I test these areas, I get different results. I may try replacing them entirely, but I'm not sure yet...

Camera pathing, yes, I'm working on adding that to make things more clear. It's difficult to get right, but Draft 2 will include it. Thanks for the feedback!
Probably not Towelie
said Mar 18, 2013
I wouldnt go overboard with this level, just start anew and keep in mind whats been mentioned, that what i do at least.

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