Splitting into gameplay and decoration...
Gameplay
It’s bland. I’ll make it straight. It lacks variety, and it does not sync. I feel like playing an auto-scroller of an unpolished platformer. This is not you want here. You are not creating a trick level in Mario Maker, or making a troll game. Your level should fit with the song and vibe with it. This can be done in simple ways, for example, don’t use slow speed at the fast drop, and instead reserve it for starts or ends so as to build up mood or relax tension from the stressing section players just passed.
Your job is to make the players feel the song. Make the players get more out of the song than just listening to it. That’s why the song is here, or I would argue, that’s why levels are built. We don’t just listen to songs. We vibe with it.
Here are other stuff I want to talk about.
- 13%: The dash orb went down too late, which gives you little time to react. If you think it adds difficulty which is good, I would proudly tell you that it is false. It adds difficulty, sure, but only by a margin, because humans have what experts call memory. People can remember that there is an orb there. Yet, it annoys the players because you are trying to be cheeky. This is not good practice. Nobody wants elusive orbs appearing into the scene. It sucks.
- 15%: If you are forcing people to the coin path, why put a coin there? Coins are supposed to be challenges for players to do optionally. I know that many people prefer putting a coin at the end of a level, but IMO that’s bad practice. Coins indicate that you took a challenge either by taking a harder route, or exploring the level and finding hidden paths, instead of just beating the level normally.
18%: I’m not sure why you made the 4 yellow orbs there impossible to clear if you jumped from the platform at the start instead of falling down it, but I guess it’s a choice. Do bear in mind that when you request for a 5-star, try to make the layout as readable as a 5-star level should have.
- 27%: Okay, let’s talk about the sky runway. Why? Why bother to solve a problem that can be easily fixed just by placing invisible spikes above it? Why handing out extra percentage when you can just kill them on-spot for missing the orb? You want them to have false hope? You do know that if any level has a secret way, it is not getting rated, right? Why claiming something exist when everyone knows that they won’t? Is it funny? No, absolutely not.
- 40% to 42%: Do not abuse shake triggers. It matters in gameplay so I’m putting here instead in the deco section. Shaking violently not only makes readability worse, but also hurts people’s eyes. Imagining if you are doing this again in a Demon, and people are attempting the section over and over again. You are destroying lives, bro. Eyes are important.
- 68% to 73%: A wave passing through a straight tunnel for 5% of the level. Spamming is not fun. Waves should go up and down, as this is what waves do.
- The remaining parts of the level don’t have stuff to mention, but they aren’t good either. Remember, you are required to pick a song for a reason. How do you want the player to move with the song? How does the song feel? Should you go slow or go fast? Where’s the build-up and where’s the drop? Answer the questions before you even make your first move on layout. Think and plan before you go.
DecorationThe level is empty. You can easily pick out empty voids filled out with plain colors. This is not good. A level should fill up empty spaces with either block decoration (I mean detailed ones), air decoration, and a custom background. These are the three basic things a level should have. Without one, it is very easy to make a level look bland and “missing something”.
Colors are also used poorly here. Aqua blue blocks on aqua blue BG so basically a patch of light blue? Blocks changing between colors of rainbow in front of a orange BG?
Maybe a color wheel will help you understand what colours go together and what does not.Other things I want to mention include:
- 69%: Why place a “bug” there? If you want to make a joke on the percentage, don’t do that. If you just think that a “bug” is cool, don’t do that either. Block deco should be coherent and fit with one another to suggest a theme.
- 81% to 100%: You know you can do the credits with smaller text, and you can do it on the ground, right? Just a reminder that the ground is a thing. For extra swag, use a gamemode that has a ceiling (e.g. ship, UFO, ball) and make custom fonts and animation to make the credits. A swag example I can think of is the end credits of Sonic Wave Infinity.
- Your block deco is not detailed enough. Try playing levels rated, featured, or are epic in 2.1 and you will see what I mean. My advice into making more detailed decoration is to experiment. Make a separate level, name it Editor fun, and just explore what the Editor has to offer. Pull out every object available in the editor and try to mix and match into some block decoration. Many awesome stuff are found there, but hidden in the multiple tabs. You should try all of them, and you will get a glimpse of what you have in hand.
TriggersI see that you know how to use triggers, but do you know that easing exist? Easing is an option for movement triggers such as Move and Rotate. It controls how the object moves at the start and/or the end of its movement, so you do not need to use 16 triggers for a single movement. Sometimes you may want to fine-tune how blocks move, but you don’t need to do that here. Easings are probably enough.
Alpha triggers and move triggers are very versatile tools, and you can easily see them in levels. If you pay a little bit attention, you can see creators use them everywhere, ranging from moving gameplay, to special effects, to moving backgrounds, to animation, and beyond.
Try to use more of them, try to think about how these triggers can make you express the level better. Ultimately, they serve as tool to make the players further feel a level.
VerdictNeeds Improvement. I recently like to describe creating a level as telling a story, because it really resembles one. How much effort would you put to describe to setting, the plot, the climax, everything? What is seen in your eyes, and how are you going to portray that into an artwork? Think of what you feel and what you see when listening to a song, and expand your thoughts into a level. A level without
thought, without imagination and without anything the creators themselves want to tell, will only be a bland level, no matter how many tricks you put into the level, or how many effects you try to make, or how confident they are in the level. So, what’s your story? What’s in your mind?
>>> Moving to NI.