Fantasy Realm by Cornexium [With Video]

* I don't judge on a point scale like some others. I recommend you read through and look at my suggestions for a full overview of what you did well, and what you could improve. I try to be as objective as possible, to help improve the level in ways that will make it better for everyone, not just me based on my opinions.

=== Gameplay ===
//Readability (How well can I see what's happening)
Something I see happening quite a lot in this level is very quick and hard-to-follow transitions and portals. Specifically at ~10%, kind of 54%, and 67%. Though, 67% isn't a very big concern (I'll explain why later). There are also several gameplay mechanics that you employ here, most of which are kind of confusing to the player until they memorize what happens. The teleportation through the lines from the bottom to the top of the level at 23% is a good example of this. The lines aren't really well visible, so this is more of a design problem, but it still concerns the readability of the level. This is similar of the design of the portals from 34% to 39%. Other than these, though, your level does fine in terms of readability.

//Layout (The overall composition of the level and its gameplay)
I have to say, there are a few parts in this level that feel kind of awkward to play through. A lot of this has to do with sync, so I'll talk more about it in the next section. However, there are just a few things I'd like to point out: I found that a lot of orbs were very easy to accidentally overshoot or mistime, particularly in the latter parts of the level. For instance, the blue orb at 53%, some of the orbs at 65% and beyond, and so forth. Also, a few of the jump pad auto sections just felt kind of awkward to go through. I mostly attribute this to when the icon barely hits one of the pads, or if it's timed poorly. This could easily be a problem only I have, but I thought it was worth mentioning. Some examples of these awkward sections are around 20% and 43%. The overall use of gamemodes and such is fairly well done, I don't see any problems with abuse or overuse of a particular gamemode, though maybe replacing a few of the cube sections with something would have enhanced the level, particularly the last cube section (which also seems like a very small section). The level does end a bit strangely, in the middle of a high upbeat section of the song. It's definitely not a terrible factor of the level, but a powerful ending can make or break a level in certain circumstances.

//Synchronization (How well does the gameplay sync to the music)
So this one was kind of a doozy. I'm very familiar with the song, though I often found myself dying trying to make clicks synchronized with it. There are quite a few areas in your level where the clicks are placed slightly too late. A good way to test this is to actually close your eyes and time jumps with the music. Generally, if you die to an obstacle before you even hear the part of the music you're trying to sync a click to, the object is placed too early in the level. I'm not sure if it's as obvious to you, as you have worked on the level for quite a while I presume, but some sections just don't sync incredibly well with the music. Now, I'd like to point out, there is no section where the sync is absolutely abysmal or even terrible, but even just going through the beginning of the level, almost every orb is very slightly mistimed; either I died before I even heard the part of the music it was synced to, or I clicked it when the music indicated to click and I died as a result (see: the second green orb in the level, it propels you into the ceiling if you click right on time with the music). There are, however, some nicely synchronized sections that match the music well. 45% - 65% is probably the best part of the level in terms of synchronization. Also, as a small note, the speed during the "drop" of the song really isn't that fitting. The triple speed boost close to the end of the level brings the level up to speed, but is awkwardly placed in the middle of the upbeat part of the song. I would personally recommend matching the level speed to the music speed/intensity unless you have a good reason to ignore that relationship (something else in the song would work best if it were slow speed, etc).

=== Design ===
//Block Design (How well-designed are the blocks)
This is one of the stronger parts of this level, early on at least. The design is not *super* unique, you see this type of design in quite a few levels. But uniqueness doesn't immediately make or break a design, it really just matters if it fits the level or not. In this case, it does, mostly. The beginning two or three sections of your level are the best designed, and after that it starts to fall off a bit. Anything beyond ~45% is a bit below average. The block design becomes very simple, which is not intrinsically bad, however it doesn't really fit in with the theme of the earlier sections, and to be honest, kind of makes it seem like whoever was designing it lost a bit of motivation. When designing, it's vitally important to keep the entire scope of the level in mind, which is kind of lacking here. The block design in later parts of the level really should have been a bit more vibrant and complex to match the beginning, and there isn't really a noticeable change in the music that warrants the downshift in quality. Levels with more "empty" or darker themes often utilize the simple/faded block design seen near the end of the level, and they make it work well. However, the music used here is very full and vibrant, not really mixing well with the design provided.

//Additional Decoration (How well designed are the effects and external decoration)
Here is where I think you could improve the level a lot, besides gameplay. Early on, the effects fit. The song is slower and more leaned back, so not much needs to happen in the level. However, as soon as the drop occurs, the level just kind of stays in the same vein as before and continues to be lacking in terms of effects. The only real synchronization between design and music in the later parts of the level are the flashes of color that appear on the borders of blocks. You could add a lot more "flow" to the level by adding in effects and such that aid the swing-y feel of the song. You want the player to be able to feel the song in the level. The only part that really did this was 55% - 65%, with the top swinging along with the music. If the level included more features like that, it would have added a lot more swing to the actual level.
The next major problem is the effects/external design itself. There's not a whole lot going on outside of the blocks, especially beyond 50%. A few basic, slow moving objects, some rainbows, and so forth. The decoration of your level is often the crux of drawing people in to play it, and if you want that to happen, there needs to be improvements to the visual pleasure of your level. It just kind of looks dead compared to the music. Like I was saying before, definitely try to add more effects or design that works well with the music and matches the quick BPM featured in the song. Always remember, you want the design to draw the player in, and the gameplay to make them keep playing. Your level would definitely be rated, if not featured had this aspect been put into better consideration. Again, though, the beginning of your level works perfectly fine. The only flaw is that, the more intense the song gets... your level doesn't feel like it changes to accommodate that.

//Colors (Do the colors work within the level)
It's pretty much the same story. Your level starts off great with vibrant and exciting color combinations. The further you go, the more diluted it feels. I'm not going to sit here and keep saying the same thing over and over again; I think you kind of understand what I'm saying at this point. If you matched the quality of color choice from the beginning of your level to the end, it would have been much better off. Unfortunately, the player is just left with a kind of depressing monochrome color scheme that periodically changes. Also, fully saturated blue is almost never a good idea as such a prominent color. If you're going to go with a solid color, which definitely can and does work in certain cases, at least desaturate the color a little bit to make it easier on the eyes. This is something you'll see featured levels do a lot; that is, pair desaturated colors with neutral colors (brown, white, black, etc.) to make a fairly pleasing monochrome design. People like knobbelboy will often (always tbh) make levels that feature a full rainbow spectrum of desaturated colors, which creates a very interesting color palette to work with. Again, just to recap, the colors at the beginning are perfectly fine and well done. But later it, it just sort of fails to capture the essence of the level.


=== Conclusion ===
Overall, your level is not bad. But there are many, many ways you could improve your level. The overarching theme here is that your level falls in quality later on. This is actually an incredibly common problem, and easy to spot. When designing a level, it's easy to start to speed through designing it just to try to get it done. I'm not saying this is 100% what happened, but offering it up as a suggestion as to what may have happened. Always keep an eye on the quality of the level as you build it. Make sure you remind yourself to maintain quality throughout the level, as that's infinitely more important than just finishing the level. In the end, if your improve on the points I've raised here, you most definitely could have a featured level on your hands. I see a huge potential here.

Very, very close to being classified as a 'good level', however there are just too many small (and definitely fixable) problems. Thus, I would consider this a decent level.