[ti]Harder[/ti]Sepia by PAHC [6 Stars]

This is actually really good! (in depth review later)

Now.

Gameplay
The level starts off with a well-made cube section. My only suggestion here is to try and balance the orbs and add more regular cube jumps. The ball is quite balanced, but don’t add moving block immediately after a transition, as this will the player in frustration. You may also note that the second platform can be skipped. Try to always check for skips when play testing in the earlier phases of creating, so that it will not be an issue. The wave is also a pleasure and balanced but there is a secret way and a cube portal skip. This is a major problem and must be fixed immediately. The next cube section is alright, but personally I felt that the gravity portals were overdone. Try not to use them in excess. The next robot and ship were great fun and a general pleasure to play, and as such I have no concerns. In the next mini wave, try to add complicated structures to enhance the enjoyment as well as the difficulty as this is too easy compared to the rest of the level. I was not a huge fan of the next UFO section however: the portals switch too quickly to enjoy the gameplay and the gravity portals were overused once again. This can cause frustration and make the UFO somewhat auto. The next cube section was extremely enjoyable, but the ship in-between the cube was too similar to the UFO, in a bad way. The ball and wave were mediocre; I suggest you add more complex gameplay in those areas. The robot in the next section was enjoyable but I personally felt it was too similar to the previous part. Try to mix it up! The remaining of the level is like the rest, and my previous advice is recommended for the the next quarter. However, I would like to appreciate the uniqueness in the ship section. This is the type of gameplay that should be in the rest of this level, to make it feature-worthy. 2.5/4 (Decent)
Decoration
First of all, I would like to congratulate you on the wonderful custom backgrounds, this standard is not expected in a first level. They were very detailed and smooth while not distracting the player. Moving on to block design, I like the overall simplistic theme but as you stated, the block were too basic and bland. It appeared to be just a base without detail such as grass, smaller blocks and a different variety of block on the inside. Watch a tutorial on YouTube on how to do multi-depth and layer block designs. Another spot that could be improved on was the theme. I love the whole ‘Sepia” idea but the level just stayed with that theme. Use a variety of them! There isn’t much to say about this segment because the visuals are generally great. 2.5/4 (Good/Decent)
Sync
The sync was actually good. The smooth movements of the objects went well in time with the music and in this segment the level does have feature-worthy sync. (2/2, feature worthy)

TOTAL:7/10 (Good)
If the secret way is removed, this may well have a rating, even a feature if you're very lucky
Thank you for waiting for this review. Enjoy my 500 word wrist-breaker

-cos

Secret way is indeed patched.

In addition to Cosmonarium's review, allow me to add some things.

Stuff like 12%, the orb are completely offscreen and by the time they rush into view the player has probably already missed it and died. Make sure transitions are readable to avoid annoyances in gameplay.

As was said about the decoration, there is little depth. Simple styles are always fine if they achieve the goal. That goal is using less objects to more or less achieve the same effect as a very object heavy level, having a level feel filled up and in depth as was said. Using multiple different layers of different shades of the same color, add patterns and shapes, and just do anything to make the level more populated. Add more nonessential decorational foreground structures and fill up the empty space. Also outline the structures more and make them brighter to distinguish them from the background, your layers are just becoming a solid block of unreadable color.

34% you can fly into the ceiling. 41%, secret way that skips all gameplay until the wave, by tapping at the first blue portal in the ship auto section, then as the wave go above the cube portal to continue until around 58%. This again is because of the lack of foreground filling, and also just lack of covering gaps in the gameplay.

71%, empty black section looks completely horrendous and breaks the flow of the level. Never do this.

And the final auto can be buggy Which also, avoid invisible auto pads or excessive auto at all.

With the gameplay consisting of way too much orb spam, secret ways, bad transitions, and the decoration being too basic, with random invisible pads, and the foreground/background turning into a conglomeration of color. All of this taken into account, I think this level Needs Improvement.