Weightlessness

by vgxmaster
created Mar 19, 2013
Leaderboards
533 views | 697 downloads

Rating
/ 20 votes

Difficulty
/ 12 votes


map notes
Draft 2. Lemme know what kind of map you want me to make next--options at the bottom of the description!

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.

Fixes applied to this Draft:

-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. I also marked checkpoints with NPCs.

-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

Edit:
Hey, guys! Which of the following map types would you like me to try making next? (Jus' lemme know in the comments, or whatever.)

-An open world map with many multiple possibilities. (Yes, I can make this work.)

-A multi-pathed map with no dust (save the finale), instead relying mostly on apples for combo and transportation.

-A complex climing/acrobatic map, like Archive from the Mansion levels.

-A sequel of sorts to Weightlessness.
edited Mar 19, 2013

19 comments

53rdturtle
said Mar 19, 2013
I prefer old any% route. It's like bugs in Castlevania: level designer didn't intentionally designed them, but players will find them and most of them are fun.
vgxmaster
said Mar 19, 2013
I'm not sure I'm following you. Are you saying that you think the map is too restrictive in terms of player choice?
53rdturtle
said Mar 19, 2013
Maybe. Just my personal preference: I hope when players watch the any% run, they will be amazed and open their mouth :D And the new any% route is not that amazing actually.
neeve
said Mar 19, 2013
I fucking loved this map
vgxmaster
said Mar 19, 2013
You did? Yay! :D Thanks for the feedback.
Xan
said Mar 19, 2013
With these fixes, i can honestly say, I REALLY enjoy this map. Good job, and I really look forward to any work from you in the future.
vgxmaster
said Mar 19, 2013
Awesome! Always love to hear that.

Speaking of works from me in the future, which sort of map would you like me to make next? I proposed some ideas at the bottom of the Description, here.
voxanimus
said Mar 19, 2013
some more problematic sections i discovered during the incredibly long time it took me to get a halfway decent time:

right after the first ramp boost section, the tiles on which the player is supposed to ceiling slide are too close to the others; when you hit it at full speed, you naturally overshoot a lot of the dust on the tiles afterward. you have to downdash to make sure you hit the dust, which kills your speed.

the section with the 45º dust slope followed by three small prisms is quite annoying—dashjumping (required to maintain speed in the air) off the dust slope will almost always result in its leftmost corner not being properly cleaned. you should just cut off this corner.

the part a small ways after the ceiling slide over the spikes, where there is a lone small prism (NoobSlayer uses his super here), needs some work on dust placement. someone trying to get max speed at this point will not hit the dust on the 66º slope (that's why noob uses his super).

i still don't like the blind drop into the large prism.

at the very end, the large prisms are positioned a little too close to each other imo. you could do with one less.

apologies if this comes off as harsh; i do think the map is better with the revisions! it's quite fun overall. good work.
vgxmaster
said Mar 19, 2013
Point by point:

Ramp boost: There are a number of places--I think this is one of them--where I put in small twists to encourage players to slow down. It was a smart design choice, but, in retrospect, a downright shitty Dustforce-map choice. The point is to go fast. I'll fix this in future maps.

45 degree angle slope: Think this is the same thing; I'll have to go check.

NoobSlayer's super: Yeah...That was one of the changes in Draft 2, and I don't like it perfectly, but I couldn't get anything else right. I removed a massive portion of dust, there, to try and ease it up, but I don't end up going very fast--I'll tweak it further if I do a draft 3.

Blind drop: I still don't, either. I changed it a lot, so that players more easily realize what needs to be done, but you're right; gameplay-wise, it's just a very appealing part of the map. A number of people have praised it, which is why it's still there, but I don't plan on doing anything like it again.

Large prisms: I know there are too many. Most people hit the second to last two with one Heavy. However, I like to be noob-comforting with this map. If a player DOES falter at this section, they can recover more easily.

No, it's not harsh. I need honest feedback if I'm to get better at this. What sort of map do you think I should make next?
NoobSlayer
said Mar 19, 2013
That section is really the only place to super even if the slope is changed.  It reduces a bit of backtracking that you'd need to do by going further to the right.  There's so much dust on this map and every other possible location to use it is pretty much useless.
vgxmaster
said Mar 19, 2013
Hmm. Do you think that less dust would be preferable, so as to allow for slightly varied routes and such? There are a few places where it's easy to lose your combo if you're not going at full speed, or close to it.
NoobSlayer
said Mar 19, 2013
Probably would be better with less dust.  Although the map is long, I didn't find much purpose for all that much - I was never close to losing my combo unless I actually died.  Not sure how much less dust would help this map with increasing the variety of the routes because your map is very linear to begin with.  Each prism is either completely necessary to get to the next section or pretty much inconsequential (time wise) on how you kill it.
Probably not Towelie
said Mar 19, 2013
There are some parts that really detract from the map if you enjoy boosting and dropping into slopes, for example right after the dash slopes with prism jumps, there is and incline down into spikes, this only serves to be annoying rather than challenging as it ruins the flow of that part. Directly after it when you hit one prism and drop down, there is a piece of dust on the... well more than 45 degree slope that you don't get even if you hit it hard, making one have to attack it, also detracting from the flow. I don't know about anybody else but it doesn't make the level hard, just annoying.

Please don't take this as me trolling or hating on the level, I think its great that somebody is taking so much time to sort out kinks on their level. I'm just hoping to improve the flow!
vgxmaster
said Mar 19, 2013
It's not a very flowing level--I've gotten a bit of a consensus on that. It wasn't designed to be, but that doesn't matter. If people want flowing levels, then I'll make an effort to steer toward that. Thank you for your feedback!
Spoon Pandemic
said Mar 21, 2013
I really enjoyed this map, had a lot of fun with it. As far as critisisms go, I'v not got anything to say that hasn't already been said. But the things that stand out to me are:
- Dust placement means having to slow down at some points
- Large prisms at the end got to be frustratingly close together
- Maybe could do with some more death boxes, as I activiated old checkpoints a few times, but not really an issue for SS

But really just minor blemishes on an otherwise brilliant map.
vgxmaster
said Mar 21, 2013
Thank you! Yeah, feedback has been pretty much a consensus, which is good--it makes clear to me what I need to improve. I'm going to try to make an open-world map, next, and provide players with a bit more freedom.
Metal Shadow
said Mar 25, 2013
I really like this map. Managed to snag 1st in Any%  and having fun trying to beat the time.
vgxmaster
said Mar 25, 2013
Hey, thanks!
o11
said Jun 2, 2013
really calming awesome map. the stuff is intuitive and just a breezy acrobaticmap. the weightlessness is definitely something you feel. also good choice on having the x+c be silent for the end. nice dramatic thing you did there.

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