Answer 1

alright. here are my thoughts as a veteran map-player (i wouldn't dare to call myself a veteran map-maker).

playability concerns first. the number one most annoying thing about this map is the overabundance of blind drops. when you make a map that's as physically large as this one, you've gotta account for the fact that the player cannot always see where he is going to next. putting in spikes in a place where they cannot be seen ahead of time is pointlessly hindering. obstacles are designed to test the skill of the player—there's nothing skillful about overcoming a blind drop. you die once, learn the location of the spikes and that's it. one drop that particularly annoyed me was the one after the first super; why is there that little 22º spike tile above the floor, EXACTLY where the player would normally land? it's impossible to see that tile ahead of time, so there's no way to react to it.

another thing would be the moving enemies. it's difficult to consistently practice a precise spike-hover segment if the enemies required to clear it are not always in the same spot (cf. blobs and bucket before the "reactor core")

visually, this map is definitely lavishly decorated. you used the background layers well and there's a lot of really nice parallax. that being said, there's no cohesive aesthetic that ties the entire map together. the use of all the tilesets (save the forest one) without the concomitant use of a coordinating fog trigger or visual style makes everything look haphazardly placed. the beginning of the map looks most erratic; the later bits are definitely more intentional in appearance. overall, though, the received impression is simply too disorienting for my personal taste. there's nothing wrong with melding tilesets, but i think you overdid it a little.

Answer 2

I agree with pretty much everything you've said.  I'd like to add that in more than a few parts of the map, background is mixed with foreground (middle section with slime walls especially) so it's hard to tell if you're about to hit a wall or you're just going to fly through it. Don't mix foreground and background.

Answer 3

This map is really fun with dustkid

Answer 4

Those are some really awesome critiques and I appreciate it. Managing the camera with the blind drops was probably my largest concern, but by the time it became clear I had already balanced around certain camera angles. I can especially appreciate how the drop after the first super is an issue and I have in mind a solution to correct it.

I also understand where you're coming from when it comes to mixing foreground and background tilesets, as I find that to be an issue in a lot of custom maps I've played. My intent was to use the trigger shading to properly darken the background layers, but being that I spent so much time entrenched in the map, it was hard for me to take myself outside of where the path lay and view the piece more critically. I'll try to go back and reassess what I want to use for foreground and background to straighten things out.

I tried to use a consistent color palette of secondary colors and black/dark gray to tie the disparate tilesets together, with purple being the main environment and orange/green acting as accents, but I'll see if I can tidy it up and bring things together. I'm sure just by balancing what tiles are foreground and which ones are background it will move me in the right direction. I agree that this will benefit from some visual simplification.

Overall, this was exactly the kind of constructive criticism I need to get back in there and make corrections to it. I really appreciate you taking the time to write this.

Answer 5

All that being said, did anybody feel like it was just that one blind drop after the first super that was an issue? The other two (the one immediately before it and the one after it) will drop you right onto a platform for a split second before you're in any danger, or are those also too sudden?

Answer 6

hot DAG yo

Answer 7

Lot of confusion, can't tell collision platforms unclear routing hard to see at times and lots of the level feels blind and oddly spaced. Other then that i enjoyed the parts that didn't seem like a problem, just the rest made it not playable for me.

Answer 8

I definitely understand this. Thanks for your input.

Answer 9

This is the map that I saved from being a corrupted file!  Glad to see it finished, good job.

Answer 10

Wow! So much going on in this map! Awesome write-up as well.