Splitting into gameplay and decoration...
Gameplay
Syncing seems to be really off this time, especially at 16-30%. Although it is hard at that part, it is possible to sync. Astral Divinity did that by giving it a rhythm to follow similar to the bar before the drop, so at least the players feels like they are tapping to the music. The readability of the layout is very good though. Here are some other places I want to talk about.
- 21%: Allow enough place for the wave to land. The entry point of the ship can be different. If the ship enters the portal from the top, it is possible for the newly spawned wave to crash on the spike. It is okay to give some wiggle room and a small moment of rest to ensure that the gameplay is bugproof.
- 24% to 26%: While slopes are lethal to wave, it is harmless to the ship, leaving the only obstacle at this section the spikes. If you intentionally design this as a breather, don't. The intense part has not come yet, they don't need breathers.
- 30%: Don't stack orbs. They often don't activate together. I checked: you only need the yellow orb there.
- 31% to 36%: This part feels fun to play and syncs well. Keep that up!
- 48%, 56%: Spamming wave can really mess up the momentum, making the reaction for the upcoming ship part very hard. Not impossible, but annoying. Consider spacing the transition.
- 63%: Teleporting through a 1-block wide hole with the spider is quite hard. If you intentionally do this, don't. This causes a difficulty spike and disrupts the flow of the level.
- 67%: Spamming wave registers a lot of input, which can cause a misinput before the player realise that it's already in ball mode. The slow speed does not help, as the player is still spamming.
Decoration
Did I say that 1.0 style is not going to work? Did I mention using more triggers? I suppose you know what I am going to say, because the deco has not been improved from your previous level. Maybe you have rushed the level - the last post you made is less than one month ago, which probably gave you a lesson. Rushing never does any good. Here is a simple checklist for you so that you can at least know if a deco is okay.
- A level must have air deco, block design and background. Make sure you have ALL of them and they fit well with one another.
- The decoration should show detail and depth. Check that your deco is at least made up of different types of objects. A deco is beautiful when dots, lines and shapes blend together.
- Colours should look well. Gradients and complementary colours will do. A block deco should not be only black and white. By the way, if you need help in colours, consider using an online colour wheel.
- The whole level should suggest a theme. It can be anything, such as cave, neon, vaporwave, etc. Otherwise the deco will feel random.
- The longer you take to make deco, the better. I have mentioned that levels come in months in the last review, so please, take your time and build the deco bit by bit. If you really need a specific period of time for reference, I would say 1 month is the bare minimum, or half a month if you have too much time to spare during the quarantine.
Some more little tips:
- Don't enlarge portals, they don't look nice. While generally creators design gameplay so that enlarging portals is not necessary, but if you really need portals to cover the whole y-axis, consider placing several portals from top to bottom, like what you did at the near end of the level. Here is another better illustration. (This does not work for mode portals and dual portals. For those, properly design the gameplay.)
- Please don't spell your name with orbs. Just design a more cool-looking signature, or design a logo. I didn't mention that in the last review, sorry.
Verdict
Needs Improvement. I would admit that last time I have been loose because the gameplay is quite intriguing to me. To be frank, I am quite excited to see how you performed after reading my review. Seriously, pour time into decoration. Trust me, if you really dedicate into this, your level can be rate-worthy, even feature-worthy.
One last tip: be ready to scrap anything that does not look well to you. Something that does not belong should be gone. Just delete everything or scrap the whole level if you think it does not work. It is better to publish quality levels than to force yourself to finish a certain idea about some innovative gameplay.
PS no it's not that hard I just have a personal life so please give me time