LBP Showcase / Reviews / Recommendations #1
"Little Dark And Stormy Night" (now 2.0!!!) - with pictures! - Spotlighted!!!
Archive: 132 posts
| Level: Little Dark And Stormy Night 2.0 PSN: Dobi6 EDIT: If you found the first version of this level too hard, 2.0 is a moderate version of this level  I hope everyone enjoys it! I tried to go very atmosphere heavy on this level. Little Dark And Stormy Night is based off old horror films. I chose a black and white style to create a feeling of gloom and doom. You start out stranded in the rough mountainous terrain. Your carriage broke down a while back, and you are in trouble. Weather is coming, and you need to get to some shelter. You had heard there was a castle not to far away that might provide you some shelter for the night. The only problem is that there are all sorts of rumours about the castle. It is said that no one who has gone into the castle has come out. Please check out this gothic tale. http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k138/scottvphoto/ds1.jpg http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k138/scottvphoto/ds2.jpg http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k138/scottvphoto/ds3.jpg http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k138/scottvphoto/ds4.jpg http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k138/scottvphoto/ds5.jpg http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k138/scottvphoto/ds6.jpg | 2009-03-30 16:50:00 Author: dobi6  Posts: 359 |
| Looks pretty creepy and cool - I'll check it out tonight! | 2009-03-30 17:19:00 Author: Morgana25  Posts: 5983 |
| Ok, just played through your level and I have to say (however critical the rest of this feedback is) that I had fun and never thought of giving up Pros: +The art style, it's just beautiful the whole way through and really captures that whole black and white movie era +The atmosphere, although not entriely scary, it was convincing and sucked me into the gameplay +The platforming, difficult but rewarding great fun to be playing through +The detial and decoration, everything is planned and executed perfectly and it looks amazing +The lightening effect, works perfectly without even seeing anything +The "treasure" signs always kept me on the look out for something +Having unlimited lives, and I really needed them too! Cons: -Perhaps a ittle on the difficult side (took me around five minutes just to do the first platforming section! -When it rains, it only rains to the right of you......and stays "dry" on the left -You have to activate each checkpoint or start all over again Got 5 stars and a heart from me  If you're looking to do F4F then I would really appreciate you giving my (slightly easy and cartoony) level Coastin' in the Jungle (link to thread is in my sig). | 2009-03-30 17:21:00 Author: Coxy224  Posts: 2645 |
| Oh!!! Another Dobi6 level! I'm playing it this afternoon. I had JUST gone in and re-played Lost Under Glass and King O Side.... | 2009-03-30 17:26:00 Author: CCubbage  Posts: 4430 |
| -Perhaps a ittle on the difficult side (took me around five minutes just to do the first platforming section! That is why I have the unlimited life gates I might have made it a touch too hard in that part... I may try to make this section a touch easier if I get a bunch of comments on it. -When it rains, it only rains to the right of you......and stays "dry" on the left There is no way my thermo would allow a larger rain section. I even added the rain at the end to make sure I could even fit it at all. -You have to activate each checkpoint or start all over again That is one of the reasons I made the magic mouth tell you to make sure you active them. Thanks for the 5 stars and heart! I really appreciate it. The playtesters made this level WAY better... I can't thank them enough. If you're looking to do F4F then I would really appreciate you giving my (slightly easy and cartoony) level Coastin' in the Jungle (link to thread is in my sig). I have been planning on it actually. I have been a bit out of commission with a puppy suffering from Parvo, but she is better now; and now that my level is up, I plan on catching up with my F4F plans. I have been looking forward to checking out your level since you posted it in the first place. | 2009-03-30 17:30:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| Looks promissing. I will play and film it next noon. | 2009-03-30 20:31:00 Author: Vanemiera  Posts: 329 |
| Film it? super cool | 2009-03-30 20:34:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| Oh!!! Another Dobi6 level! I'm playing it this afternoon. I had JUST gone in and re-played Lost Under Glass and King O Side.... Thanks! I think it is the best one yet I am not sure it is as innovative as my rotating machine in the last one... But I think is is way more of a complete package I think you will like it! | 2009-03-30 20:39:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| Okay, first of all - absolutely loved this level. The custom content, the ambience, the gameplay... everything was top notch. Ok, couple suggestions: 1. I'm going to start with the one that was kind of a game-killer for me - the infinite checkpoints are always bad. Sometimes they mess up.... and I was unfortunate enough to run into one the very first time I played... I got to Marduk's layer, flipped the first 2 switches to enable the catepult. Jumped on the cateput, turned on the first light... fell, died (I did all this without dying once!) and.............. you have lost all your lives. Restart, return to pod........ I believe Cornish Yarg is supposed to have an actual unlimited checkpoint, but until then - use 2 double life checkpoints. I can't tell you the number of levels this has happened to me on. 2. In the Marduk area - it takes a bit away from the ambience to have the bubbles telling me what to do. You could probably change the text to say something like "It looks like I need to pull that switch..." so it fits more into the story rather than sounding like an on-the-fly tutorial. 3. Skulls near the beginning - since you only get one shot at this, if you make a mistake you have to start over. Generally, this kind of design can frustrate players. I personally don't mind starting over, but some may. In my case, I get the skull onto the cart, jumped over the skull to pull the switch and accidentally pulled the "open" switch and let the skull fall... thus forcing me to restart. I'm not totally sure how to fix this, and I'm not sure it matters too much - but it can happen. Maybe not allowing the switch that opens the bottom to activate unless over the holes - which would at least minimize it happening. Anyway, absolutely loved it. It's great to see a creator trying COMPLETELY new things every level. It's actually hard to tell you're the same creator for all 3 of your levels. (I also loved seeing my user name in the level... heh) Great job! 5 stars and a heart. | 2009-03-30 20:40:00 Author: CCubbage Posts: 4430 |
| Okay, first of all - absolutely loved this level. The custom content, the ambience, the gameplay... everything was top notch. Thanks! 1. I'm going to start with the one that was kind of a game-killer for me - the infinite checkpoints are always bad. Sometimes they mess up.... and I was unfortunate enough to run into one the very first time I played... I got to Marduk's layer, flipped the first 2 switches to enable the catepult. Jumped on the cateput, turned on the first light... fell, died (I did all this without dying once!) and.............. you have lost all your lives. Restart, return to pod........ I believe Cornish Yarg is supposed to have an actual unlimited checkpoint, but until then - use 2 double life checkpoints. I can't tell you the number of levels this has happened to me on. Was it just the final checkpoint you had problems with? Or with all of them. On this level, I really didn't want people to get frustrated by keeping the platforming challenging... And when I have played it, I didn't have the end screw up and kill me off - and when I was playing, I purposely played badly. I have thought about making it just a standard double life gate so that they had to own up to making it at this point - it is the boss area after all. 2. In the Marduk area - it takes a bit away from the ambience to have the bubbles telling me what to do. You could probably change the text to say something like "It looks like I need to pull that switch..." so it fits more into the story rather than sounding like an on-the-fly tutorial. I will definately take care of that! I totally agree. I put them there, as playtesters talked about being a bit confused as to what to do. 3. Skulls near the beginning - since you only get one shot at this, if you make a mistake you have to start over. Generally, this kind of design can frustrate players. I personally don't mind starting over, but some may. In my case, I get the skull onto the cart, jumped over the skull to pull the switch and accidentally pulled the "open" switch and let the skull fall... thus forcing me to restart. I'm not totally sure how to fix this, and I'm not sure it matters too much - but it can happen. Maybe not allowing the switch that opens the bottom to activate unless over the holes - which would at least minimize it happening. I really like the idea of making a the thing not open unless it is over the graves... But I played it a while, and it is really a situation where it is hard to screw up... You have to make an effort to fall off the gantry, and you have to jump to open the trapdoor. With the infinite life gates, There really isn't a lot of finality about the game, so I have to think about this one. I want the skulls to be hanging... Which took out the option to have them emitted. - I thought about it a long time, knowing I would hear about this one. Anyway, absolutely loved it. It's great to see a creator trying COMPLETELY new things every level. It's actually hard to tell you're the same creator for all 3 of your levels. Anyway, You got the credit because you have been an invaluable help to me to get me to where I am in my levels. | 2009-03-30 21:19:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| I'm publishing a level soon called "Lotsa-Life and active checkpoints" you can get my 152-life spinning checkpoint wheel and active checkpoint too. (I know I'm not supposed to advertise my levels, but it might help you out, and that's all I'm concerned with right now. I'll get on it though.) | 2009-03-30 21:26:00 Author: SawronZXZ  Posts: 463 |
| As far as I am concerned, go ahead and advertise... I know I can use the help | 2009-03-30 21:31:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| Was it just the final checkpoint you had problems with? Or with all of them. On this level, I really didn't want people to get frustrated by keeping the platforming challenging... And when I have played it, I didn't have the end screw up and kill me off - and when I was playing, I purposely played badly. It was just the last one. I know I activated it. It's actually pretty common for these "emitted" checkpoints to fail every once in a while. Don't know why it happens, and it's about impossible to have it happen at will. Obviously it's your choice... but I would personally choose to have either 1 or 2 double life checkpoints sitting next to each other (although if they are next to each other they need to be spaced out a bit so they work properly). I had this same issue happen with the Hiest 2 final boss and Expedition Yukon with the infinite checkpoints. Every once in a while the emitted checkpoint will fail and you lose all of your lives at once. I really like the idea of making a the thing not open unless it is over the graves... But I played it a while, and it is really a situation where it is hard to screw up... I screwed it up  . I was trying to do it quickly and pulled the wrong one. But, then again.... your call. It really wasn't THAT far into the game where I would have been frustrated. But, generally anytime you can avoid a design that requires restarting if you mess up it's better. | 2009-03-30 21:44:00 Author: CCubbage Posts: 4430 |
| I will ponder how to deal with that area. As for the checkpoints... I will see what the prevailing winds lean towards... | 2009-03-30 22:22:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| Just wanted to let you know, though - the design of the skulls is certainly not a big deal... but if it helps: 1. Maybe have some invisible (thin dark matter) material underneath the moving platform when it's positioned to the left so you can't open the trap door. 2. If the skull is dropped in the wrong hole, emit it back up where it was with a magic mouth saying something like "You moron! That was the wrong hole!". I'm assuming it each skull simply has a colored magnetic key attached to it. If this is the case, it may be a quick fix. | 2009-03-30 22:30:00 Author: CCubbage Posts: 4430 |
| 1. Maybe have some invisible (thin dark matter) material underneath the moving platform when it's positioned to the left so you can't open the trap door. That is a good idea. 2. If the skull is dropped in the wrong hole, emit it back up where it was with a magic mouth saying something like "You moron! That was the wrong hole!". I'm assuming it each skull simply has a colored magnetic key attached to it. If this is the case, it may be a quick fix. Ha ha... I was going to try to make something to kick the skull back up if you did that and say something like that. | 2009-03-30 23:21:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| I liked this level. Not much i can say. A bit creepy and the black and white was sorta hard to get used to. F4f My luxury spaceship level plz. | 2009-03-31 01:33:00 Author: Alexxerth  Posts: 233 |
| OMG! Is there a word greater than love......adore? Yes I adore this level. ok bad stuff first - real quick so I can gush about the level ok? I had the same problem with the 3 skull puzzle that CCubbage did. Although I was dumb enough to screw it up the first time through. 'doh! Also, the infinite checkpoint, although good in theory, was a level ender for me too in the final boss area. You can't jump back up if you bounce down to the bad guy thinking you set off the save point only to realize that you stepped on the button on the way down and your activated check point is now kaput. ok - that's the only problems I had/saw in it. Now onto the awesomeness that is the rest of the level! You had me at the first crack of lighting. The black and white is beautifully done. It's atmosphere is just like the Bela Lugosi version of Dracula - high contrast occasionally washed out by bright lighting - it's just gorgeous! Wonderfully sculpted terrain and details - the rocks you jump before the castle are fantastically positioned and proportioned too. The church and graveyard are excellent as well. The castle section is pure genius I think. Really good use of all five planes of the level so you get some amazingly deep areas. Nice platforming in the castle too. Enough challenge to keep one on their toes but not so much it's tricky. Imagine my surprise to get a shout out too.....for the record - I loved the level before I got to that point. And that's the truth.I'll need to play it again to see your finale but I'm certain it's just as amazing as the rest that I've seen.... unless you put a rocket cheetah in there somewhere?!? j/k. 5 Stars and a heart.... and THIS one got you a creator heart. Really excellent work - I can't wait to see what you come up with next! | 2009-03-31 05:51:00 Author: Morgana25 Posts: 5983 |
Just remembered I had a problem with this level (very minor, and seems to have only happened to me). In the first platforming section, when the rocks fall onto you, well they just missed me and then fell into the gas below. Problem was, whenever I fell down at that point, I wasn't killed because the rocks were clogging the space up  Still, this is a very god level and that's just a minor thing for you to change | 2009-03-31 07:38:00 Author: Coxy224 Posts: 2645 |
| This was a Brilliant level, 5 stars and hearted. Mind checking out my project in sig? | 2009-03-31 07:48:00 Author: dkjestrup  Posts: 672 |
| Now I'm really depressed...your level is so similar to the one I've been creating on and off for the past 2 months that my one now feels completely redundant Everything, from the black and white grading to the lightning, the old castle on the hill and the influence from classic horror films. It's like somehow we read each other's minds... Anyway I'm looking forward to seeing your take on it, even if I think this means I'll probably never finish making my one. It looks like you did an amazing job! | 2009-03-31 08:35:00 Author: CheesyMcFly  Posts: 211 |
| I had the same problem with the 3 skull puzzle that CCubbage did. Although I was dumb enough to screw it up the first time through. 'doh! Also, the infinite checkpoint, although good in theory, was a level ender for me too in the final boss area. You can't jump back up if you bounce down to the bad guy thinking you set off the save point only to realize that you stepped on the button on the way down and your activated check point is now kaput. ok - that's the only problems I had/saw in it. Sounds like I need to fix the life gate in the end. As well as the 3 skull puzzle. I will see what I can do Thanks for all the praise!!! It means so much... And you deserved the shout out... You helped make the level happen | 2009-03-31 15:02:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| Just remembered I had a problem with this level (very minor, and seems to have only happened to me). In the first platforming section, when the rocks fall onto you, well they just missed me and then fell into the gas below. Problem was, whenever I fell down at that point, I wasn't killed because the rocks were clogging the space up Still, this is a very god level and that's just a minor thing for you to change They are kind of supposed to miss you, just scare you... I tried to stick in little "jump" moments (Those moments in movies that surprise you). I will have to fix the gas in this section. Thanks for the note on that | 2009-03-31 15:04:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| I'll need to play it again to see your finale but I'm certain it's just as amazing as the rest that I've seen.... unless you put a rocket cheetah in there somewhere?!? j/k. 5 Stars and a heart.... and THIS one got you a creator heart. Really excellent work - I can't wait to see what you come up with next! No cheetah rocket or anything like that! But when I first made the ending people felt it was a letdown, so I changed it... I think you will like it... Lots of smoke and mirrors | 2009-03-31 15:06:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| This was a Brilliant level, 5 stars and hearted. Mind checking out my project in sig? I will be able to in a day or two... I am totally happy to | 2009-03-31 15:06:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| Now I'm really depressed...your level is so similar to the one I've been creating on and off for the past 2 months that my one now feels completely redundant Everything, from the black and white grading to the lightning, the old castle on the hill and the influence from classic horror films. It's like somehow we read each other's minds... Anyway I'm looking forward to seeing your take on it, even if I think this means I'll probably never finish making my one. It looks like you did an amazing job! Did you get a chance to play it? Sorry about that... The exact same thing happened to me too, so I know how you feel. | 2009-03-31 15:08:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| I forgot to add last night that on the rock jumping section (1st one) if you fall from the top left stone in the back and you fall on the right hand side - there's a space where the gas won't get you - not sure if it's related the the rocks falling area Coxy224 mentioned but I wanted to give you a heads up - just in case. | 2009-03-31 15:50:00 Author: Morgana25 Posts: 5983 |
| I went back and played this again (finished it this time. fantastic final boss, by the way!). I think I saw what probably happened when the checkpoint failed. When I first threw myself across, I wasn't expecting the catapult to function the way it did and I think I held to the left, which slowed me down - which caused me to land back on the check point button.... I may have jumped down accidentally before the checkpoint landed and activated. Something to try.... maybe when emitting the new checkpoint ALSO emit a thin layer of glass in front of the player for half a second so the player is FORCED to activate the checkpoint. | 2009-04-01 01:54:00 Author: CCubbage Posts: 4430 |
| Actually... Ccub... You probably held to the right... I have had that happen to me. I just didn't drop down. I have reworked all the things you mentioned... I am setting it up differently - I little bit of "oh no". You will have to see it again in a bit, I still am tweeking the skull section a little bit more and I will post it back up probably in the morning. I am surprised that no one really commented on my little "jump" moments. A playtester suggested I make little things that are sort of surprises. Originally the only surprise was the hanging skeleton falling... So I reworked the level and added other things to surprise you to keep with the old horror theme. Maybe I didn't quite make it - haha... | 2009-04-01 05:29:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| I would like to add that I was scared the level would turn out cliched, and you would hide behind the b/w effect with no good visuals, BOY was I wrong, this is a very, moody, level. You could fully add some screams and blood splatters too. | 2009-04-01 07:53:00 Author: dkjestrup Posts: 672 |
| Yeah.... any little sound effects would be cool. So far this is simply a fantastic level. I thought the rocks falling were fantastic (although I've been killed a few times by them... noob), the skeleton falling, the birds flapping and flying away (I think this was my favorite one). There's actually so many cool little details in this level it's hard to remember once you exit. Once you get all the little details worked out we should do a re-launch and get it into cool levels. I could definately see this level getting a good 3000-4000 plays. | 2009-04-01 13:08:00 Author: CCubbage Posts: 4430 |
| I would like to add that I was scared the level would turn out cliched, and you would hide behind the b/w effect with no good visuals, BOY was I wrong, this is a very, moody, level. You could fully add some screams and blood splatters too. Thanks - A TON! for that! I tried to go very visual and atmosphere heavy on this one... The blood splatters and screams are a very good idea I am going to have to work them in somehow | 2009-04-01 15:12:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| Yeah.... any little sound effects would be cool. So far this is simply a fantastic level. I thought the rocks falling were fantastic (although I've been killed a few times by them... noob), the skeleton falling, the birds flapping and flying away (I think this was my favorite one). There's actually so many cool little details in this level it's hard to remember once you exit. Once you get all the little details worked out we should do a re-launch and get it into cool levels. I could definately see this level getting a good 3000-4000 plays. I have no clue how to get a level into cool levels. One of my favorites was the falling cage. Although it is possible to jump into it, and be trapped... I thought it was a bad idea... But then I thought it was kind of funny. The birds I won from someones levels... I am afraid I didn't make them on my own. So one stolen item. His bird was so much better than what I could have done. | 2009-04-01 15:15:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| The falling cage - yeah, I got stuck in this once also. You can solve this by drawing rubber REALLY thin so it is invisible and gluing it in-between the bars. | 2009-04-01 15:23:00 Author: CCubbage Posts: 4430 |
| Good idea... - now another thing for me to fix | 2009-04-01 17:25:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| OK dobi, I just got through playing it (well sort of, I didn't finish, finally quit out of frustration). First of all, let me say... thank goodness for your infinite lives system, especially once we get down into the bowels of the castle. Been reading this thread for a while and intending to play... kinda glad I waited as it sounds like you had some difficulty working this out. But for me (as they are now) they worked beautifully (and looked really good to boot). The level looks fantastic! The lightning, sound effects, B&W. design and gameplay were all excellent. I personally am not a strong gamer and I had no real problem until I got down into the catacombs. And even there it was okay, because of the infinite lives - to a point. I managed to work out the timing of the rotating platforms (practice makes perfect  ) and the dropping cage/scream was the first of your scares that actually made me jump (good job!), but I got stuck in the cage. So after 3-4 more tries I got across the platforms and got stuck in the cage. So after 4-5 more tries I made it across the platforms and... hey! I didn't get stuck in the cage. But I died on the spikey/springy thing in the next section, and guess what? On my way through again, I got stuck in the cage (twice).  This is when I quit. I had been in that one section for over 15 minutes. The fun was gone. Sorry.I collected more community objects than I have in quite some time. This is not a gripe - you have made them a challenge to get to and collect. For whatever reason, I just couldn't resist your treasure clues! I really enjoyed the bridge section and the skull/graveyard. Very well designed and thought out (though I know the skulls had been giving some a few problems, it seems to me you've worked that out). All in all , I'd say you've got yourself a winner here! It really is a great level, and I would like to give it another shot - so please fix that cage! | 2009-04-02 07:35:00 Author: v0rtex  Posts: 1878 |
| OK dobi, I just got through playing it (well sort of, I didn't finish, finally quit out of frustration). First of all, let me say... thank goodness for your infinite lives system, especially once we get down into the bowels of the castle. Been reading this thread for a while and intending to play... kinda glad I waited as it sounds like you had some difficulty working this out. But for me (as they are now) they worked beautifully (and looked really good to boot). The level looks fantastic! The lightning, sound effects, B&W. design and gameplay were all excellent. I personally am not a strong gamer and I had no real problem until I got down into the catacombs. And even there it was okay, because of the infinite lives - to a point. I managed to work out the timing of the rotating platforms (practice makes perfect ) and the dropping cage/scream was the first of your scares that actually made me jump (good job!), but I got stuck in the cage. So after 3-4 more tries I got across the platforms and got stuck in the cage. So after 4-5 more tries I made it across the platforms and... hey! I didn't get stuck in the cage. But I died on the spikey/springy thing in the next section, and guess what? On my way through again, I got stuck in the cage (twice). This is when I quit. I had been in that one section for over 15 minutes. The fun was gone. Sorry.I collected more community objects than I have in quite some time. This is not a gripe - you have made them a challenge to get to and collect. For whatever reason, I just couldn't resist your treasure clues! I really enjoyed the bridge section and the skull/graveyard. Very well designed and thought out (though I know the skulls had been giving some a few problems, it seems to me you've worked that out). All in all , I'd say you've got yourself a winner here! It really is a great level, and I would like to give it another shot - so please fix that cage! I think he has the cage fixed now based on the above suggestion. I'm gonna give it another try for testing tonight. If it's fixed you should REALLY check out the rest - the final boss is VERY cool. | 2009-04-02 13:12:00 Author: CCubbage Posts: 4430 |
| Finally got around to playing your level, and I'm so glad I did. I can't believe how much there is going on in this level! Every time I thought I'd seen everything it had to offer, there was something completely new and original thrown at me. The gameplay variety was incredible and it always felt like there was something new and interesting going on. I've read all the feedback in this thread and I'm guessing you've made a lot of changes recently, I had no problems with the skull puzzle or the falling cage or the infinite checkpoints (or maybe I was just really lucky ).The difficulty was perfect, since the infinite checkpoints never made me feel like quitting due to the platforming, instead it was enjoyable to just try again and again until I got it. I wish more levels were like this. The only problem was the boss, where I really wished I still had my infinite checkpoint! I fell into the gas too many times and was booted from the level. It had taken me about 15 minutes to get to that stage, so I didn't feel like replaying straight away, but I look forward to revisiting it very soon! Anyway, you've set the bar REALLY high for black and white levels...now I've just got to figure out whether or not it's worth finishing my one, and if I have any hope of reaching that bar. To sum up: 5/5 stars and a heart. Great job, you deserve all the praise you've been getting! | 2009-04-02 13:24:00 Author: CheesyMcFly Posts: 211 |
| Ok... I just spent last night and all morning adding sound effects and fixing problems... And I will see about adding another checkpoint on the final boss to make it a bit fairer... And yes... The cage has been fixed... You can't get in it now So now it will just scare and not frustrate!!! | 2009-04-02 15:36:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| I don't think I have anything new to add in terms of suggestions, so I'll just echo CheesyMcFly. I have mixed feelings because I loved (LOVED!) this level, but I also might have made up some new curse words. I liked the challenge and didn't get frustrated because of the infinite lives...but that final boss was a !@$#%$&^%&$^$. Once I pulled that first lever, I died a bunch of times just figuring out where to go next, because when you spawn, the camera doesn't show you the switch on the bottom. My second time through, I knew more or less where to go, but kept getting electrocuted at the catapult. I finally made it through my third time on MY LAST GUY. So yeah, you got a heart and 5* out of me, but I also left a "frustrating" tag. I'd consider another infinite lives checkpoint there. There's no harm in it. It's consistent with the rest of the level and certainly couldn't hurt the ratings. Otherwise, no kidding, one of my top 5-10 levels I've played (and I've played a lot)! | 2009-04-03 01:31:00 Author: frizby  Posts: 89 |
| Okay, I played this through again, and LOVE the new changes. I'm going to make a suggestion on the final boss, however: This dude is hard for a new player. Even though the original infinite checkpoint was glitchy (you could end up losing it and accidentally ending the game), the premise of it is necessary. One thing you could do is add a double life checkpoint (or 2 next to each other) on top of a platform at the bottom left of the boss screen. So, the player flips the switch, falls down on the moving platform, and rides to a platform containing a double life checkpoint to the left. That way if the player dies they can just jump up, grab the sponge, get up to the catapult and try again. OR put the double life checkpoint back in at the top, but emit a piece of glass OR strands of invisible dark matter in front of them when they hit the double life checkpoint button to force them not to be able to get off the button until you've made absolutely sure they've activated the checkpoint. This boss is way too hard for a new player who hasn't figured out the boss yet. This level is about perfect. You're so close..... get over the finish line. | 2009-04-03 03:02:00 Author: CCubbage Posts: 4430 |
| I have to agree with CCubbage here. I just replayed the level and didn't get stuck in the cage (thank you for that! Though I did get squished by it the first time ), made it to the boss and got catapulted 3 times only to land on the left side of the square thingy, hanging on for dear life until an electro ball hit me. I lost all my lives on the boss after all that work to get there. I did not replay it again. I was tired. As I said last night, this level is fantastic. And the boss is right on par with the quality of the rest of the level. Very well executed, awesome visuals, scary:eek:... But I'm a hack at this game and I needed help at the end! I did still give ya 5 stars and a heart, cuz really man... Wow. | 2009-04-03 03:48:00 Author: v0rtex Posts: 1878 |
| Ok... I have been busy making even more changes to it all, and am going to put the infinite checkpoint back, with a sheet of glass to keep from hitting it with the catapult... It should work well once I post it, which should be tonight... When I was working on it, it screwed something up, so I have to do a little repair... | 2009-04-03 04:40:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| OK, So I make all the changes necessary to hopefully make this a great level, and I can't get onto the network... I am getting a 403 error... Does anyone know what this is? | 2009-04-03 07:35:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| Nevermind... I was able to make all my changes and publish the level... I tried to really ramp up the creepy factor... As well as make the boss battle a lot more manageable... I owe everyone big for this who has been so good about giving me feedback!!!! I know I haven't returned the favor yet, but I am planning on it... Just been a busy work week. | 2009-04-03 08:00:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| Very good level.. It could have used some more original gameplay ideas.. collecting three skulls to put into three graves really does nothing for me. But overall it was very well done. I did not find the platforming that hard, and would actually prefer normal double save points, instead of the more cumbersome infinite ones. The very tricky boss fight were the only part where infinite lives made sense. A few comments: - I accidentally pushed one of the three skulls out of the wagon. It landed on some invisible plane, and I had to start over.. Not good. - It was too hard to use the catapult in the boss fight. The direction I got shot in, seemed way too random. Please check out my level "Save Die Reload!", user "CarlsenJeppe". Post your comments in my thread: https://lbpcentral.lbp-hub.com/index.php?t=t=9714 | 2009-04-03 11:47:00 Author: CarlsenJeppe  Posts: 67 |
| Finally released to the public, eh? I'll check it out. | 2009-04-03 12:27:00 Author: SawronZXZ Posts: 463 |
| Just got done playing it again - great changes! The infinite checkpoint at the end works well now (anyone doing an infinite checkpoint - this seems to be a pretty good model until LBP has an ACTUAL infinite checkpoint. He's emitting a thin piece of glass in front of the dropping checkpoint so you can't accidentally not activate it. Very cool level! | 2009-04-03 13:29:00 Author: CCubbage Posts: 4430 |
| Very good level.. It could have used some more original gameplay ideas.. collecting three skulls to put into three graves really does nothing for me. But overall it was very well done. I did not find the platforming that hard, and would actually prefer normal double save points, instead of the more cumbersome infinite ones. The very tricky boss fight were the only part where infinite lives made sense. Well... A lot of people have had a lot of trouble in the areas you haven't had any trouble in... So I think the infinite ones are a good compromise here. - I accidentally pushed one of the three skulls out of the wagon. It landed on some invisible plane, and I had to start over.. Not good. Invisible plane is a fix so people are less likely to screw up there. - It was too hard to use the catapult in the boss fight. The direction I got shot in, seemed way too random. It is actually consistent depending on where you land on the button... | 2009-04-03 15:20:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| I gave this a quick shot last night. I wasn't able to complete it after 2 tries and was too sleepy and frustrated to give it another shot. I'm gonna give it another shot next time I'm on cause what I've played is really impressive and has a nice style to it. Probably what frustrated me the most was your infinite checkpoints... I don't know why you have them sliding down, as this causes a delay and whenever I spawned my first instinct was to drop down, which meant the checkpoint didn't activate cause of the delay. I see from reading CCubbage's last post that you've dropped a sheet of glass so the player has to activate it before being able to play. This works, but I think you can do it without the glass, or the drop shaft. Snowflakecat's infinite checkpoint is the best I've seen. Very simply but perfectly effective. Here's the thread (https://lbpcentral.lbp-hub.com/index.php?t=t=5794&highlight=superior+infinite) Thinking back now... your checkpoint activation gates are very stylish and really help with the supernatural theme. I will be sure to give this a thorough playthrough and give the feedback it deserves. | 2009-04-03 15:27:00 Author: Pitcard  Posts: 779 |
| It is actually consistent depending on where you land on the button... Of course it not true random, but that is not what I meant. It "feels" too random, i.e. that the player cannot predict the result, and that is IMO never a good thing. The player should have as much control as possible. Invisible plane is a fix so people are less likely to screw up there. I still think you should redesign this part. Make a solution in which the skulls can respawn if you screw up. | 2009-04-03 15:27:00 Author: CarlsenJeppe Posts: 67 |
| Of course it not true random, but that is not what I meant. It "feels" too random, i.e. that the player cannot predict the result, and that is IMO never a good thing. The player should have as much control as possible. Any time you use a catapult, the player can alter the result by pushing in a direction, and it would not be possible to design a catapult that wouldn't alter your trajectory depending on where you were on it when it goes off. so nothing is ever that predictable. But I understand what you are saying. I still think you should redesign this part. Make a solution in which the skulls can respawn if you screw up. They actually do respawn if you drop them in the wrong grave (as well as chastise you for it)... You are the first person to push them off the gantry though... Unfortunately, to make them respawnable would change the theme of the section... I thought about it quite a bit - I knew that people would have issues with them no respawning here.... And I am not sure I want to change the style... I am still pondering on this point - I go back and forth on it. I plan on poking at it though, and see what I can come up with... It sounds like this sort of section in levels are not your thing anyway... So I am not sure I can win this one here. | 2009-04-03 15:54:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| Probably what frustrated me the most was your infinite checkpoints... I don't know why you have them sliding down, as this causes a delay and whenever I spawned my first instinct was to drop down, which meant the checkpoint didn't activate cause of the delay. The drop down is the only way to spawn a checkpoint... I tried other ways... I think snowflakecat probably has a better solution, and I need to check it out. But when I have played with emitters, it doesn't want to emit over itself... And when I tried using prox switches rather than buttons, it was really buggy. The game does tell you to make sure to activate them I see from reading CCubbage's last post that you've dropped a sheet of glass so the player has to activate it before being able to play. This works, but I think you can do it without the glass, or the drop shaft. The glass is only on the boss. I didn't use it on the regular spawn gates. Thinking back now... your checkpoint activation gates are very stylish and really help with the supernatural theme. I will be sure to give this a thorough playthrough and give the feedback it deserves. Thanks for that... When I started the level, I tried to go style and design before puzzles and technical difficulty. My last level was WAY harder for me to design, and I wanted to do something that was more thematic than focus on technical platforming. Anyone who is just interested in a hardcore challenging platformer is not going to be that excited with this level I don't think. I tried to put moments of it in, but I didn't focus on it. | 2009-04-03 16:06:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| The drop down is the only way to spawn a checkpoint... I tried other ways... I think snowflakecat probably has a better solution, and I need to check it out. But when I have played with emitters, it doesn't want to emit over itself... And when I tried using prox switches rather than buttons, it was really buggy. Ahh I think I see your problem here. Basically you can't emit something over something else. What you need to do here is make it so "Max emitted at once" is set to 1 (I think, haven't played with it myself). This way, when you emit one, the last one instantly disappears. I hope this helps as well as snowflake's thread. He has a demonstration level I'd recommend checking it out one thing... I don't think double posting is allowed in these forums, I don't see much harm in it, there's no thread trolls on here | 2009-04-03 16:17:00 Author: Pitcard Posts: 779 |
| Ahh I think I see your problem here. Basically you can't emit something over something else. What you need to do here is make it so "Max emitted at once" is set to 1 (I think, haven't played with it myself). This way, when you emit one, the last one instantly disappears. I hope this helps as well as snowflake's thread. He has a demonstration level I'd recommend checking it out Now when I've tried it, it doesn't work... who knows. one thing... I don't think double posting is allowed in these forums, I don't see much harm in it, there's no thread trolls on here Double posting? do you mean posting twice in a row? I am not a forum sophisticate... So I don't know.. And no one has cared before... Is it because it artifically increases your thread size or something? Now that I think about it, that would make sense... Sorry to anyone who would care... I am not really good at trying to figure out how to quote to more than one post at a time. I will try to figure it out and be better about it in the future. | 2009-04-03 17:34:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| They've actually loosened up a bit on the double posting thing. If you're using it as a mechanism to bump your thread up they might say something, but they lightened up on this rule a bit. It doesn't appear to me like you're breaking any rules. | 2009-04-03 18:50:00 Author: CCubbage Posts: 4430 |
| That is good... I would hate to be a jerk by accident. | 2009-04-03 19:00:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| Dude, it got spotlighted! | 2009-04-03 23:25:00 Author: SawronZXZ Posts: 463 |
| HOLY CRAP! I didn't think it would be in contention for a while!!!! That is awesome!!! Thanks everyone!!! I am going to be doing tons of feedback for people for all their help | 2009-04-04 00:08:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| I'm gonna play through it again to see | 2009-04-04 00:20:00 Author: SawronZXZ Posts: 463 |
| Congrats on the spotlight - all of us in the spotlight crew REALLY dug this game. It's obvious when someone really puts their all into a game and spends a lot of time getting the experience "just right". It's really amazing how far you've come as a creator. Just a few months ago you were struggling with King O Side, but REALLY stuck it out and created a fantastic level. Since then, you've created 2 absolutely incredible levels, and this one made my jaw drop. | 2009-04-04 00:51:00 Author: CCubbage Posts: 4430 |
| Yea - what he said! Love this level! | 2009-04-04 01:11:00 Author: Morgana25 Posts: 5983 |
| I just finished it and it's GREAT! I can see why it was spotlighted. (And, once again, I had the high score until the boss at the end. **** you, Mordock [Murdock?].) And, once again I couldn't find the bubble at the very end. Found all the others though. This is really great, Dobi. (You mentioned me too! ) | 2009-04-04 01:14:00 Author: SawronZXZ Posts: 463 |
| Congrats on the spotlight - all of us in the spotlight crew REALLY dug this game. It's obvious when someone really puts their all into a game and spends a lot of time getting the experience "just right". It's really amazing how far you've come as a creator. Just a few months ago you were struggling with King O Side, but REALLY stuck it out and created a fantastic level. Since then, you've created 2 absolutely incredible levels, and this one made my jaw drop. You are hands down the biggest influence on getting me to really take the time to tweek the levels to get them just right.  Yea - what he said! Love this level!Thank you. Your levels really knock me back too... I am glad I can make something you dig I just finished it and it's GREAT! I can see why it was spotlighted. (And, once again, I had the high score until the boss at the end. **** you, Mordock [Murdock?].) And, once again I couldn't find the bubble at the very end. Found all the others though. This is really great, Dobi. (You mentioned me too! )Sorry that Marduk killed your high score... I hope you don't find the boss too hard. Do you want to know where the final prize bubble is?  If you get it, you get awarded my lightning set ups for getting all the prize bubbles...:hero: (and you deserved the credit line, btw) | 2009-04-04 01:41:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| Oh man - I gotta get that lighting set up! Guess I'll have to play it again. *runs to PS3 saying "yea!"* | 2009-04-04 05:15:00 Author: Morgana25 Posts: 5983 |
| So did you get it? Did you find all the prizes? | 2009-04-04 16:38:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| alas - not yet - but no worries - I'm determined to | 2009-04-04 18:03:00 Author: Morgana25 Posts: 5983 |
| Sorry dobi6. I have to admitt that i wasn't able to film your level. I tried it the day i said to in the first place but got too frustrated after several tries. Today i tried it again along with some other levels i was asked to film but failed again Perhaps i will make it one day but that is far away. The main thing i failed at my tries today was the boss fight. I already noticed some changes but i wasn't able to get to the generator again. Either i get shot by an electric paintball or get stuck in the checkpoint chamber. | 2009-04-06 14:30:00 Author: Vanemiera Posts: 329 |
| One way I found to kill the boss (he actually has a few different strategies in there): After I get the switch at the bottom of the room pulled and ride up to the catepult - After that I've found it much easier to get on top of the boss, jump back a layer (where the plasmas can't get you) and jump to the left to get to the catepult again. Doing this it's pretty easy to get by the plasmas. | 2009-04-06 14:36:00 Author: CCubbage Posts: 4430 |
| Sorry dobi6. I have to admitt that i wasn't able to film your level. I tried it the day i said to in the first place but got too frustrated after several tries. Today i tried it again along with some other levels i was asked to film but failed again No problems... Perhaps i will make it one day but that is far away. The main thing i failed at my tries today was the boss fight. I already noticed some changes but i wasn't able to get to the generator again. Either i get shot by an electric paintball or get stuck in the checkpoint chamber. If you ride up to the catapult, you can just hang out when the electrified paintballs aren't coming at you and just drop onto the catapult button to shoot across to the catapult... If the catapult is giving you challenges, just drop onto the left side of it, and you will shoot nice and high over to the generator. Once in a long while I get caught at the spawn point, but mostly I just rocket over to the generator. One way I found to kill the boss (he actually has a few different strategies in there): After I get the switch at the bottom of the room pulled and ride up to the catepult - After that I've found it much easier to get on top of the boss, jump back a layer (where the plasmas can't get you) and jump to the left to get to the catepult again. Doing this it's pretty easy to get by the plasmas. Do you think I need to slow down the electrified paintballs? They shoot every 1.4 seconds I think right now. - I tried 2 seconds and that was way too slow. I don't want to make it a frustrating boss, just a challenging one. Is it too hard? Or just a challenge to figure out the strategy? | 2009-04-06 14:57:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| Keep in mind.... way too slow for the creator of a level who has played it umteen times may be just right for a player that is playing your level for the first time. By the time I'm finished with a level I usually cut the difficulty in half. Lesson I learned on a commercial game I wrote called "Earth 2500" about 20 years ago. Great game...fairly popular...no one EVER finished it, but I could finish it without breaking a sweat. (by the way... found it being pirated on the internet a few years ago with an Atari emulator. Downloaded it and tried playing it again and "I" couldn't finish it!!!) Personally, I like it the way it is (I LOOOVE challenge!), and I can actually get through this section at this point without losing a single life - but most LBP players will not finish this boss. You could PROBABLY republish this level as a slightly easier level to make it to the top of cool pages easier (and leave this version alone so I can have fun with it). Here are the changes you could make if you wanted to do this: Room with the tilting floors and the bounce onto the grab sponges - make the floors tilt less, and change the springs on the bouncy floors to a piston which nicely bounces you up to the sponge. Boss - make the platform going across the bottom wider, and slow down the plasmas. | 2009-04-06 15:06:00 Author: CCubbage Posts: 4430 |
| No problems... If you ride up to the catapult, you can just hang out when the electrified paintballs aren't coming at you and just drop onto the catapult button to shoot across to the catapult... Yeah that's right but i concentrate on the generator movement to know when there is the perfect time to jump only to find out that i didn't watch the piantballs so my whole effort to figure out the right moment is wasted. Just think about it. Every difficult factor fuses up there. The paintballs, the generator movement, jumping in the right manner and behaving right when you finally reach the generator. That's way to much in my opinion. Perhaps you could make the generator a little bigger target. That would make everything much easier and still challenging. It just eliminates the frustration that accoures when the player finally makes it past the paintballs and the checkpoint chamber just to find out that he lands just an inch to low.  | 2009-04-06 15:27:00 Author: Vanemiera Posts: 329 |
| Yeah that's right but i concentrate on the generator movement to know when there is the perfect time to jump only to find out that i didn't watch the piantballs so my whole effort to figure out the right moment is wasted. Just think about it. Every difficult factor fuses up there. The paintballs, the generator movement, jumping in the right manner and behaving right when you finally reach the generator. That's way to much in my opinion. Perhaps you could make the generator a little bigger target. That would make everything much easier and still challenging. It just eliminates the frustration that accoures when the player finally makes it past the paintballs and the checkpoint chamber just to find out that he lands just an inch to low. You know, the gamer part of me wants to say "this boss game me one of the biggest LBP thrills I've had in a long time - don't change anything!". The more balanced author in me wants to say "yes, this may be too difficult for the average LBP player". Make an easier edition is probably the best answer. But you know, Vanemiera - you gotta admit this level is still easier than that spike laden/ramp containing level you and I were playing with that other dude the other day. HOLY SHNIKIES! Quote "Will you guys STOP MOVING???!!!" | 2009-04-06 15:34:00 Author: CCubbage Posts: 4430 |
| Vanemiera & Ccubbage... I am going to try Ccubbs suggestions on making it easier, and see what you both think... If the Boss area is still too hard, then I will make the generator bigger... Speaking of trying to make a run for Cool Levels, should I wait to even publish the easier version for when I want to make my official run for it? (I figure I still will fall a bit short, but if I am going to make the vain attempt, I might as well do it right). | 2009-04-06 16:54:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| Wow! This level is fantastic, especially the atmosphere. i'm getting sick of people maing levels with decent enough platforming and detail, but failing to add light and suk and ruining therir level. What you've done is the exact opposite - a masterpiece of light and dark! However, I do thing the Titorial-like sections should be changed to a more 'thought process style'. What I mean is hinting what you have to do without acually saying it. Sorry if that has been fixed, I played the level a while back and have just got round to writing this up! All in all a superb level, 5 Stars and a Heart! SP P.S F4F wise, I'd like you to have a lok at my Station B19 level, which isn't built yet, so if you don't mind waiting a bit and then taking a look? | 2009-04-06 22:53:00 Author: Cpt_Sainsburys  Posts: 187 |
| Wow! This level is fantastic, especially the atmosphere. i'm getting sick of people maing levels with decent enough platforming and detail, but failing to add light and suk and ruining therir level. What you've done is the exact opposite - a masterpiece of light and dark! However, I do thing the Titorial-like sections should be changed to a more 'thought process style'. What I mean is hinting what you have to do without acually saying it. Sorry if that has been fixed, I played the level a while back and have just got round to writing this up! All in all a superb level, 5 Stars and a Heart! SP P.S F4F wise, I'd like you to have a lok at my Station B19 level, which isn't built yet, so if you don't mind waiting a bit and then taking a look? Thanks... I have made a lot of changes to the level... I am going to post it in a few days hopefully to try to make a run on cool levels. It has been made a lot more tempered, and depending on when you played it last, there have been a ton of changes to the level - I fixed the tutorial stuff early on in many spots - although I am planning on tweeking the skulls spot a bit more. So if you played it then, it has been finessed a lot more. I will definitely check out your level... If you want, when you first post it, post it locked and get people to playtest it before you release it to the public... PM me when you do and get me a key somehow (when I did it, I made a padlock level so people could get the key, and then just PM'd them the combo)... Then I can really go to town on it | 2009-04-07 00:11:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| But you know, Vanemiera - you gotta admit this level is still easier than that spike laden/ramp containing level you and I were playing with that other dude the other day. HOLY SHNIKIES! Quote "Will you guys STOP MOVING???!!!" *can't stop laughing* Yeah you are probably right but not everyone has the skills our forum members have. I can say without having remorse that we at this forum are merely elite creators. So let him care about his skateboard and us care about our perfectly balanced levels | 2009-04-07 14:21:00 Author: Vanemiera Posts: 329 |
| Loved this level. Really, really works well in black and white. Puzzles were great. Atmosphere was fantastic. I failed the skulls the first time, but that's because I didn't follow the instructions. Prize hiding places were superb. Only thing I thought felt odd was the gas in the beginning when you cross the pillars. You fall quite far behind the thin plane before dying if you can't make your jump. Just felt like the gas needed to be higher up the screen. A minor, minor detail for such a great level. | 2009-04-07 21:02:00 Author: Jaeyden  Posts: 564 |
| Played this again last night with two other friends. The improvements on the checkpoints seemed to work pretty well but I noticed that with three of us in there eventually one of us wouldn't spawn from the checkpoint after getting killed. With the new checkpoint option coming in Yarg that could be a solution. Still trying to finish the level!!!! I love it. | 2009-04-08 23:06:00 Author: Morgana25 Posts: 5983 |
| Wait to try to finish the level when I come out with my new version | 2009-04-08 23:20:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| Sorry this is coming so late but I finally managed to get through your level Its a fairly tricky level, and the black & white filter and lightening certainly add to its difficulty. People who are looking for a challenge will definitely enjoy this, its got a lot of variation in gameplay with puzzles and traps and a tricky boss fight. BUT people who are looking for more of a casual fun-time level will find this frustrating. Personally I liked the level, enjoyed pretty much everything about it EXCEPT for your checkpoint spawn gates. I think if you try to get to page 1 with the level as it is, it might get close but its rating will be destroyed by kids getting frustrated by the spawn gates and the difficulty. My first reaction when I spawn is to jump out and tackle the next challenge... but when you're locked behind a glass sheet, or are forced to activate a new checkpoint each time, it gets really frustrating. Especially if you jump as you spawn, you hit the button again and a new one pops out, you then jump again and spawn a new one...... it doesn't end and you can never get out O_o I read that you've made a lot of changes and are going to publish again to make a run for page 1. I think you seriously need to fix the checkpoints before you put it out. Read through snowflakecats tutorial and try and get his version working. OR just have double checkpoints without infinite ones. I could easily get through with double checkpoints, but it could lead to problems when more than 2 player. I'm only giving my thoughts because you've made an excellent level and it deserves to be played! | 2009-04-09 17:15:00 Author: Pitcard Posts: 779 |
| Sorry this is coming so late but I finally managed to get through your level Its a fairly tricky level, and the black & white filter and lightening certainly add to its difficulty. People who are looking for a challenge will definitely enjoy this, its got a lot of variation in gameplay with puzzles and traps and a tricky boss fight. BUT people who are looking for more of a casual fun-time level will find this frustrating. I have a more moderate version ready to post. But I am waiting to post it till I have the time to dedicate a night to try to push for at least a lowly spot on "Cool Levels" Personally I liked the level, enjoyed pretty much everything about it EXCEPT for your checkpoint spawn gates. I think if you try to get to page 1 with the level as it is, it might get close but its rating will be destroyed by kids getting frustrated by the spawn gates and the difficulty. The amount of time for the gates to drop is a pretty short amount of time. I am getting a pretty even amount of people giving me both sides to the infinite checkpoint thing. I might try to redesign the checkpoints to see if I can make them not droppers... but I have seen snowflakecat's infinite checkpoints, and am not that fond of them, aesthetically. I may wait till the 23rd to try to get the infinite checkpoints in the Creators Pack... Or I may just put double spawn points in the game... You are right. Most spots don't need them - short of the boss... People said that it needs the infinite checkpoints... On the other hand, it is an easier level now, so who knows... I actually have a new idea for a checkpoint spot. I'm only giving my thoughts because you've made an excellent level and it deserves to be played! Don't worry... This is the kind of feedback I wish I would get more often. Getting short messages saying that people like my level is nice, and I appreciate it... But if there are areas that need to get tweeked, I have no idea unless people tell me about it. | 2009-04-09 17:45:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| Ooh forgot to mention a veryvery small thing. At the start of the level, where you have to jump of the tall pillars of rock, I fell down a gap but didn't get killed by gas. I tried jumping around in the gap I was in (which was at the same level as the rest of the gaps), but didn't die. I think it was between the 3rd and 4th pillar. | 2009-04-09 18:36:00 Author: Pitcard Posts: 779 |
| Ooh forgot to mention a veryvery small thing. At the start of the level, where you have to jump of the tall pillars of rock, I fell down a gap but didn't get killed by gas. I tried jumping around in the gap I was in (which was at the same level as the rest of the gaps), but didn't die. I think it was between the 3rd and 4th pillar. Morgana mentioned the same sort of thing.... I looked and looked trying to find it... But I have been unable to find it... When I get closer to putting the new level up, if you don't mind, I would like you to playtest it first... To see what you think. | 2009-04-09 18:37:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| no problem dobi, just add me or pm me when its ready | 2009-04-09 21:00:00 Author: Pitcard Posts: 779 |
| Well, I finally beat this level tonight! The changes you've made are excellent - the boss is manageable now (although, I realize now that I was really dumb my first two times through... I didn't take notice of the last switch (at the very bottom) to "activate" the generator. So I was catapulting myself onto a stationary block - d'Oh!). Still the infinite lives makes all the difference for a thumb-heavy klutz!! I did have a few instances of the same phenomenon described above by pitcard: too eager and jumping before the glass pane is removed, hence spawning another checkpoint. But I quickly realized I needed 1.5 seconds (just a guess) of patience, and all was well for me. Once again - Outstanding level Dobi... I hope it does really well on your bid for the Cool Pages. I might wait for the infinite lives checkpoints from Cornsih Yarg though, if I were you. After all the effort you've invested in this, why not wait for the perfect solution, when it's just around the corner? | 2009-04-11 06:45:00 Author: v0rtex Posts: 1878 |
| Once again - Outstanding level Dobi... I hope it does really well on your bid for the Cool Pages. I might wait for the infinite lives checkpoints from Cornsih Yarg though, if I were you. After all the effort you've invested in this, why not wait for the perfect solution, when it's just around the corner? Well... I hope you like the changes I made to my 2.0 level (soon to be released).... I managed to make an infinite checkpoint that doesn't fall and is instantaneous... So I am really happy about that... And that means that I won't have to wait. And the 2.0 level should be a lot more consumer friendly... I made the really hard spots easier, and added more points and such... And a few little other "moments" So I think I will make my official push for "Cool Levels" on Tuesday... Ccubbage was suggesting making my run for it on a weekday... So I was thinking I would publish it on Monday, and have people on LBPCentral give it a go to make sure I am good, and then go for it on Tuesday... | 2009-04-11 15:19:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| Give me a PM when you get it set up on Monday - I'll definitely give it a play (or 10) to help get it off the ground. | 2009-04-11 17:17:00 Author: v0rtex Posts: 1878 |
| The only problem I had was that I kind of got stuck in one of the Checkpoint booths for a bit. Eventually made it out though. The infinite checkpoints will be out soon enough anyway so won`t be an issue after that. | 2009-04-11 17:30:00 Author: Matt 82  Posts: 1096 |
| The only problem I had was that I kind of got stuck in one of the Checkpoint booths for a bit. Eventually made it out though. The infinite checkpoints will be out soon enough anyway so won`t be an issue after that. Actually, I already fixed the problem with the checkpoints, on my 2.0 version - scheduled to be out Monday... Thanks for the play | 2009-04-11 18:48:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| Ok...this review is well overdue...but its better than forgeting i guess *shrug* Alright let me just start by saying i did not actually complete this level, so i will be reviewing up to where i died. The location of my death was when i was going for the treasure as soon as you enter the cave...i died...a lot. Pros: + Amazing atmosphere (<--- did i spell that right?), its was actually really creepy and the sound effects added to that perfectly. + Awesome use of background, i dont know if thid was intended, but you can see progression through the level, because in the background it goes from forest to big castle wall. (Im talking about the actual background, the one MM made) + Cool puzzles/ secrets, I like how you added the treasure hunt concept, and the skull puzzle was cool too. + Good difficulty, its not a cakewalk which adds the excitment of it. Cons: -Cornish Yarg, in a few cases the rods and strings took away from the atmosphere, just flip those to invisible and it will amp up the appearence. -For the unlimited life checkpoints, have the barrier remain there for a little big longer, in a rush to gain some momentum the first time i played this i never activated the checkpoint and had to restart, oops. This level is very well polished, i enjoyed playing it and ill try to beat it soon. | 2009-04-20 16:15:00 Author: King_Tubb  Posts: 435 |
| I think most of your concerns will be answered in my 2.0 version (which is more moderate) Note: You don't have to go for the treasure in the caves... You can just go off to the right and keep going As for the stuff that shows, this will be addressed I am not sure I will get rid of everything- and I don't think I used any rods.As for my unlimited life points... I came up with way better ones (Even though I know the new creator pack will have new ones) So when I release that to the public - I am going for cool levels and will release it to the public tomorrow evening - I will let you know | 2009-04-20 23:15:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| Don't forget it to unlock it for me, too | 2009-04-21 14:10:00 Author: Fjonan  Posts: 359 |
| Played v2.0 and I FINALLY FINISHED IT! Yea! *clears throat all business like* I love that you modified the final boss. Much less chaotic and understandable dynamics in that section now. And I don't know if I missed it before but I found your bubble drop - really nice surprise. Gave it 5 stars - tagged brilliant - hearted of course! Good luck on the Cool Pages! | 2009-04-22 05:45:00 Author: Morgana25 Posts: 5983 |
| The level was really good dobi6. 5 stars and a heart from me. It's a chance you did put those infinite checkpoints because let me tell you that I died ALOT. But I felt compelled to finish it anyways. . | 2009-04-22 06:20:00 Author: RangerZero  Posts: 3901 |
| Yeah - I just replayed the level... well actually, I played the new version for my first time. It does take a while to get through, what with all the dying, but it definitely hones those jumping/landing skills! Great level man... just great. Good Luck this week!! | 2009-04-22 07:52:00 Author: v0rtex Posts: 1878 |
| Little Dark And Stormy Night 2.0 is finally up and live to the public!!! And as of 9.36pm PST the level is officially on Cool Levels!!!! Thanks everyone!!! | 2009-04-23 01:20:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| Great level, have played it multiple times and really appreciate your sharing it with the LBP online user community. Tried to leave some additional comments in LBP but for some reason they didn't come through. Just want to let you know I came across an issue in the level. I was able to jump up into the first window of the castle (after coming up the stairs and out of the rain) and was unable to jump out. I ultimately had to do a retry to get unstuck. Just thought I would share. Again, wonderful level and I will be back for addtional play-throughs. | 2009-04-27 17:36:00 Author: badgerfan89 Posts: 33 |
| I saw it on Cool Pages - page 1 last night! Cograts! | 2009-04-27 17:52:00 Author: Morgana25 Posts: 5983 |
| Great level, have played it multiple times and really appreciate your sharing it with the LBP online user community. Tried to leave some additional comments in LBP but for some reason they didn't come through. Just want to let you know I came across an issue in the level. I was able to jump up into the first window of the castle (after coming up the stairs and out of the rain) and was unable to jump out. I ultimately had to do a retry to get unstuck. Just thought I would share. Again, wonderful level and I will be back for addtional play-throughs. Hmmn... I will have to look into that... I am sure there are lots of hidden things like that. Thanks Morgana!!! I saw that this morning... What I am wondering is that if a Level gets solidified, does it drift around later? Do you get onto Page 1, only to have it move later? | 2009-04-27 18:19:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| A level will only stay in cool pages for a week, then it disappears from cool pages. Which means soon yours will disappear. It is possible while on cool pages to get kicked down a page if a more popular level moves into page 1 and gets higher ratings, but with yours I just can't see that happening. You're getting really good ratings and hearts. | 2009-04-27 18:23:00 Author: CCubbage Posts: 4430 |
| Played this last night. + visuals and atmostphere are stunning, with some of the best lightning effects I've seen in LPB. + plenty of hidden off-route areas to encourage exploration. - I couldn't progress past the part where I was supposed to drop the three skulls into the pits below? I did that and nothing happened. Just told me I'd had my last chance and to get it right next time. This happened on all three of my play attempts. Is this section intentionally designed so you have to start the level again if you drop 'em in the wrong holes? Anyway, four stars and a "creepy" tag. Shame I can't get past that skulls bit to see the rest of your level though. | 2009-04-28 08:47:00 Author: Ungreth  Posts: 2130 |
| Played this last night. + visuals and atmostphere are stunning, with some of the best lightning effects I've seen in LPB. + plenty of hidden off-route areas to encourage exploration. - I couldn't progress past the part where I was supposed to drop the three skulls into the pits below? I did that and nothing happened. Just told me I'd had my last chance and to get it right next time. This happened on all three of my play attempts. Is this section intentionally designed so you have to start the level again if you drop 'em in the wrong holes? Anyway, four stars and a "creepy" tag. Shame I can't get past that skulls bit to see the rest of your level though. You need to make sure you grab only one skull at a time... Did you do that?, or did you load all three up at once? The skulls telling you that it is your last chance is a lie.. It will keep giving you new skulls so you can try again. The skulls spawning is designed to keep you from having to play the level over. | 2009-04-28 17:42:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| Played through about half of this last night before going to dinner with my wife and it was great! In fact, I almost told my wife to go to dinner by herself, so I could finish playing it, but I decided that probably wasn't a good idea. Anyway, I was just blown away by the atmosphere you have created here. In my opinion, black and white levels are tough to pull off, but you did it and you did it very well. Highlights: - Visuals: Black and white visuals combined with a great environmental design create one of the creepiest atmospheres I've seen. - Fun puzzles: I loved the skull puzzle, although I did have to restart a couple times because I dropped one down the cliff side and broke one at another time. Also, liked the bridge section, where you have to hit the three switches to lower the bridge. - Lots of hidden areas: Hidden areas with prizes seemed to be spread throughout and I felt rewarded when I found one. I did manage to fall in to the one down the cliff one time, before lowering the lift, and I became stuck in that room. Criticisms: - None that I can really think of thus far. The jumps were pretty tough, but satisfying and with infinite checkpoints, it's not really that big of an issue. I can't wait to give this another shot and see what else is in store. If the last half is as good as the first, I'm in for a treat. Well done! | 2009-04-28 18:36:00 Author: mrsupercomputer  Posts: 1335 |
| MrSuperComputer Thanks for the feedback. If you made it past the bridge section, then you are about 2/3rds done... When you get towards the end, to the credits, make sure you read all of them. And I can't wait to hear what you think of the level as a whole. | 2009-04-28 18:52:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| dobi, This has been one of the most challenging and rewarding levels I've played since we acquired LBP. It deserves all the recognition. Congrats on being on page one for a (few??) days - it seems that it is gone now, which makes sense since it was one week ago that you released this. I found it amusing and interesting that LBP puts the in-game pics up in color... It really makes me want to ask you for a "colorized" version (you could credit Turner, but you'd prolly get moderated). | 2009-04-28 22:31:00 Author: v0rtex Posts: 1878 |
| dobi, This has been one of the most challenging and rewarding levels I've played since we acquired LBP. It deserves all the recognition. Congrats on being on page one for a (few??) days - it seems that it is gone now, which makes sense since it was one week ago that you released this. I found it amusing and interesting that LBP puts the in-game pics up in color... It really makes me want to ask you for a "colorized" version (you could credit Turner, but you'd prolly get moderated). It makes sense that it is gone... It was nice being on Page 1 I was wondering about the in-game pics being as is... I guess it is to save on their memory... Since all objects have known color, it makes it easier for them (though it looks crappy otherwise).I have to ask though, who is Turner? A colorized version would unforunately look stupid. My bushes for instance were made with seaweed (which is brown).. It is a great effect for b/w, but would look bad in color. I chose stuff for the textures. I am kind of curious if anyone found all of my treasures... Of course, now that the "keep prizes" turned off, no one is going to get my lightning... | 2009-04-28 22:48:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| I have to ask though, who is Turner? Ted Turner (media mogul and owner of TCM-Turner Classic Movies) became dubiously famous for his 1990's / TNT campaign to colorize classic B&W movies. A colorized version would unforunately look stupid. My bushes for instance were made with seaweed (which is brown).. It is a great effect for b/w, but would look bad in color. I chose stuff for the textures. Yeah - Understood (might be kinda funny tho). See responses above... | 2009-04-28 23:02:00 Author: v0rtex Posts: 1878 |
| I remember beta testing this a while back. It's come a long way since then. The finished product is fantastic! Congrats on getting onto the cool levels. | 2009-04-28 23:06:00 Author: Killian  Posts: 2575 |
| Oh, right - that makes sense - Turner Classic Movies.... It would be kind of funny... I will play with it a bit... Thanks, Killian... I couldn't have gotten the level where it is without you | 2009-04-28 23:14:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| MrSuperComputer Thanks for the feedback. If you made it past the bridge section, then you are about 2/3rds done... When you get towards the end, to the credits, make sure you read all of them. And I can't wait to hear what you think of the level as a whole. And I was right, the rest was just as good as the first section! The only issue I encountered was the ability to bypass the platforms in the room with the rotating skeleton. I was able to just hop down around the spikes and pull the level. I'd fix that, as your platforming elements in that room are really cool! The boss fight was great as well and I thought the way that you defeated him was a lot of fun, jumping from platforms, pulling switches, and then catapulting to the generator. Very cool ending to a great level! And thanks for including me in your credits, that was very nice of you...even if you did spell my name wrong! | 2009-04-29 00:36:00 Author: mrsupercomputer Posts: 1335 |
| And I was right, the rest was just as good as the first section! The only issue I encountered was the ability to bypass the platforms in the room with the rotating skeleton. I was able to just hop down around the spikes and pull the level. I'd fix that, as your platforming elements in that room are really cool! I am not sure I can fix that section (the way I want to anyway)... You have to work hard to get there... And I think most probably won't try... I will see what I can dooo And thanks for including me in your credits, that was very nice of you...even if you did spell my name wrong! I had to misspell your name - I did it on purpose... "computer" is one of the censored words of LBP... I had a hard time figuring out why that magic mouth was being sensored.... I think computer has some spanish word in it that is bad, like "pute" or "puter"... I am not sure what... But it is on the list... I am sure if you used the word "therapist" it would get censored too... Because it has the word "rape" in it. Oddly enough "cuckold" doesn't seem to be... Someone used that; and it means someone who cheats on their wife. | 2009-04-29 00:43:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| I meant to ask. Not that it matters these days really, but how did you solve the problem of the checkpoints spawning with another already in the way? My guess is you emit it at speed right? | 2009-04-29 01:22:00 Author: Matt 82 Posts: 1096 |
| I had to misspell your name - I did it on purpose... "computer" is one of the censored words of LBP... I had a hard time figuring out why that magic mouth was being sensored.... I think computer has some spanish word in it that is bad, like "pute" or "puter"... I am not sure what... But it is on the list... I am sure if you used the word "therapist" it would get censored too... Because it has the word "rape" in it. Oddly enough "cuckold" doesn't seem to be... Someone used that; and it means someone who cheats on their wife. Oh, that's crazy that they would censor that. Very ingenious going with the 'v' as a 'u' though! | 2009-04-29 01:36:00 Author: mrsupercomputer Posts: 1335 |
| I meant to ask. Not that it matters these days really, but how did you solve the problem of the checkpoints spawning with another already in the way? My guess is you emit it at speed right? I have the spawn point attached to a piece of dark matter - so it solves the problem itself I don't know why I didn't realize that before | 2009-04-29 02:20:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| Does dark matter respawn if something is in the way? | 2009-04-29 02:59:00 Author: Matt 82 Posts: 1096 |
| It seems to be able to respawn over itself... It seems that if it spawns an object, it can spawn another object in the same place. I don't think it would respawn over something else... | 2009-04-29 03:48:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| Ah right. I didn`t know that. Might come in handy one day. | 2009-04-29 03:50:00 Author: Matt 82 Posts: 1096 |
| I can think of a lot of things I could use it for - floating steps for one - just hide some dark matter in the middle of a block. As for infinite life checkpoints... Well, that is a bit moot now... | 2009-04-29 03:52:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| Played your level until the skull puzzle and it broke for me. I did not understand, how they tried to tell me which one has to get into which tomb so I took a guess. At one point a skull even fell out of the wagon and it was relly hard to get it into the tombs. Didn't find eh motivation to try again just yet, but what I saw just yet looks great and is a great source of inspiration since my actual level is some kind of catacomb. | 2009-04-29 10:15:00 Author: Fjonan Posts: 359 |
| All you really need to do is just grab one skull... Then the grave lights up... So you go over and drop the skull in it, and so on... Are you grabbing all of them? Or are they just not working? | 2009-04-29 14:56:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| The grave is lighting up? I did not see/notice that. | 2009-04-29 15:18:00 Author: Fjonan Posts: 359 |
| The grave is lighting up? I did not see/notice that. Yes... Light should come out of the grave you are supposed to drop the skull into... As soon as you grab the skull, light comes out of the grave... Then when you drop it in, the light goes out... So that is why it is important to just grab one at a time. | 2009-04-29 15:34:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| I have found 100% of the prizes, and as of last night (around 11:30pm CST), I had the top score of ~ 8,300. Again, great level! You deserve all the accolades you are receiving. Regards - badgerfan89 | 2009-04-29 16:07:00 Author: badgerfan89 Posts: 33 |
| FINALLY!!! someone got found the last prize... No one seems to be able to find the last one. | 2009-04-29 16:37:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| I am assuming the 1 people are missing is right before going into the final boss fight. I missed that 1 multiple times before figuring it out myself. | 2009-04-29 18:28:00 Author: badgerfan89 Posts: 33 |
| That is the one they don't seem to find... I figured it shouldn't be that hard as there are not that many places to look there. | 2009-04-29 18:37:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| I think it's being missed because it's so simple. Sometimes those things that are obvious are just overlooked, which I believe is certainly the case with that location. Have a seperate question for you...do you know what the max multiplier is after coming down the elavator and then going into the area to throw the switch? Best I've been able to get is 11x, but have always had a few bubbles that I didn't get in unison with the majority. Any feedback would be appreciated. Regards - badgerfan89 | 2009-04-29 19:03:00 Author: badgerfan89 Posts: 33 |
| Sorry, I honestly have no idea on the max multiplier on that one... I just dumped a ton of bubbles over there to startle people | 2009-04-29 19:21:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
| You need to make sure you grab only one skull at a time... Did you do that?, or did you load all three up at once? The skulls telling you that it is your last chance is a lie.. It will keep giving you new skulls so you can try again. The skulls spawning is designed to keep you from having to play the level over. I thought that might be the case because I noticed a skull respawn after I dropped it in the wrong place, but then I botched it again and I wasn't given any more skull respawns after that. Random glitch perhaps...it happens. Anyway, I'll play again and see. | 2009-04-29 21:04:00 Author: Ungreth Posts: 2130 |
| They respawn?? What da hell did I make wrong? And they should respawn endleslely, there must never be a puzzle that can only be solved for a limited time, it should always be solve- and resetable. | 2009-04-30 11:37:00 Author: Fjonan Posts: 359 |
| They respawn?? What da hell did I make wrong? And they should respawn endleslely, there must never be a puzzle that can only be solved for a limited time, it should always be solve- and resetable. They are supposed to respawn endlessly... And the crucified guy does warn you to be careful, anyway. | 2009-04-30 15:19:00 Author: dobi6 Posts: 359 |
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