Answer 1

I don't know what's real, what's foreground/background. I really like Bengal cats.

Answer 2

Its ok. Foreground is too dark, background too bright.
EDIT- 420 booty wizard, is that you? Or is this a coincidence...? I saw u on the leaderboards O_o

Answer 3

visibility issues in general; eye hurtingly bright gradient on a really dark level, background/foreground is extremely hard to distinguish, very confusing as to where to go let alone where dust is

gameplay has problems as well; for example, literally in the first 5 seconds theres a zetta slope with dust in bad spots that cannot be collected if you dash at end of slope; while its just an annoyance, it seems like this wasnt tested thoroughly which is supported by some of the really random precise boosts out of nowhere and jumps that are barely doable as anyone but worth. deathzones are odd as well; jumping out of a window at one point on the path can just kill you if you go too far, and on the fall at the end you can get caught in that deathzone and wind up stuck at an older checkpoint due to the dustblocks later in the level being gone

while it isnt terrible once you figure it out (some sections play pretty neat), overall it has a ton of glaring issues that could be easily fixed if you had someone test it before posting on the nexus

Answer 4

All of this. Gameplay is definitely a huge improvement from your first map, but still lots of issues, specifically visibility. I may be half blind, but it shouldn't take me 6+ runs to figure out where i'm missing dust because of all the background clutter that has the same saturation as the collision layer.

Just make a fog trigger with 80% white (or maybe black) on layers 12-17 to fix most of these visibility problems.

Answer 5

Darn, I created a contrast between the two since it was hard to distinguish last time around, aaaaand it might be that my screen has low brightness that I somehow didn't notice the eye hurting glow.
I didn't even get to Zetta on Dustforce so I didn't try to make a dash there. It was meant to be a transition from slide to ceiling run since I couldn't predict something as fancy as a move like that.
The jump I believe is the on top of factory one, I think there is a delay before the jump starts, since I was just pressing the button early and was able to repeat the process all the time. Again dash before jumping was not even needed to make it.
The jump over the fire is a joke though, you'd normally have your super meter full by then, so it's basically a no skill triple jump.
Window deathzone is a thing I had to work out, while dying after jumping out of it is annoying, falling down to the end of the level early might have been infuriating. I made them close to window and really small, so you shouldn't die while falling later on out of the blue. I'd say it was a necessary evil, but I'll try to avoid anything like that later.

And don't worry it's not a complaint from my side, the thing is I playtested the Hell out of this map, to the point where my finger actually hurt yesterday :D, so I think the problems come from my weird playstyle more than lack of playtesting.

Answer 6

Thanks for the practical advice, I think the visibility issues come from my screen brightness settings, since the game looked different on another pc.
I'll just have to figure out that sweet spot next time.

Answer 7

A lot of work went into this, but I can't really tell what's solid or background on this map. :(

Answer 8

there's just way too much stuff in this map. no consistency in terms of collision layer tiles vs. bg tiles. if you change the aesthetics of the "ground" every 5 or so tiles, there's no way whether i can predict whether or not i'm going to be able to stand on something, fog trigger clues aside.

Answer 9

I'm pretty sure ground has three tiles throughout almost the whole level- one specific stone shade, one rubble shade and windows on the sides. I think it's just me trying to make backgrounds too complicated that makes those things messy and hard to distinguish. Either way- sorry for the inconvenience.

Answer 10

Everyone else really nailed it with their comments, so I have nothing to add about this map.

I do however, have some advice.  Just play a lot of Atlas maps from Meark, Giamma, Dustcreep, and other resident  "duste artistes" to learn about proper fog triggers and visibility.  You don't have to try and copy them; I just think it will give you some idea of what to look for when you try to go all-in on art.  Also, the max saturation + max brightness colors will always hurt the eyes when used in abundance.

Take a look at this map's fog trigger: http://atlas.dustforce.com/4840/shinconceivable
The pinks of the background are all either fairly dark or only partially saturated (or both), so they don't hurt the eyes.  It's still more than enough contrast with the foreground, and this is an extreme example because the foreground happens to be 100% black.  I did still use some super bright super saturated colors, but only sparingly in the tiny sunray things.  Because they aren't flooding the entire background, they also aren't blinding anyone.

Answer 11

I played a bunch of your maps (shinconceivable too) and probably others' mentioned as well, creativity on atlas never ceases to amaze me. It's almost certain then that the issues come from my brightness settings on the screen, as I predicted from all the other posts.
I honestly don't know about changing the settings just when I make maps (lol) but it seems to be pretty hard for me to notice visibility problems on any map I play/make. Or I could start making normal/virtual maps that focus wholly on gameplay, that would be a fresh air too.

Answer 12

cant see shittttt. (Meaning I couldn't tell where I was and what was possible to stand on)