LBP Showcase / Reviews / Recommendations #1
Poe - A Survival Challenge
Archive: 29 posts
| Poe - A Survival Challengeezbadfish http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff241/ezBadfish/Poe2.jpgA survival challenge loaded with style and atmosphere. Based on Edgar Allen Poe's short story "The Pit and The Pendulum" http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff241/ezBadfish/Poe2.jpg A survival challenge loaded with style and atmosphere. Based on the short story "The Pit and The Pendulum" Poe A bone chilling new survival challenge by ezBadfish awaits! A stylistic experiment in TERROR! ANXIETY! CLAUSTROPHOBIA! DEATH! and POINT BUBBLE COMBO MAAAAAAADNESS! How long can you avoid the ever present threat of the pendulum!? How high can you combo under pressure!? Experience this veritable "Poe-pourri" of four classic Poe tales. Can you spot them all? After many, many hours of testing and a lot of help and advice from some great friends and creators, who both really helped me realize what the level could be and eventually became. You two helped me not only realize how this level's game play could be better but I have a feeling that all my levels to come will be better because of your help. Thank you. Very much. I hope you all enjoy the level. I'm really proud of how it turned out. I know that many of you will find this hard to begin with but with just a few plays it becomes manageable. So don't feel deflated. Also if you have already read the text (or if you just want to skip it) you can grab the floor at any point, skip the intro and get to the challenge much more quickly. Thanks everyone. Hope you enjoy. | 2010-02-10 03:32:00 Author: ezBadfish  Posts: 52 |
| Brilliant survival challenge. Loved the style and links to edgar. I'd love to see a normal style level based on this poetry and style. Well done. | 2010-02-10 19:17:00 Author: TheAdipose  Posts: 533 |
| OMG this is an awesome concept ,but it suffers from the survival challenge syndrome (being punishing and unsatisfying ,because it doesn't tell you what to do and does not give you another chance to experience it ,for the sake of plays and only that ) add lives for god sake ,it has an unnecessary intro, with the name of the level and creator ,that doesn't add anything to the expirience ,but take out a lot of that mystic awesome theme your are trying to interpret or to allude at least ., all the other aspect of the level are amazing ,that not saying much since the only thing left is cartoon Poe talking . 3 stars and keep the Poe levels coming is a great concept to use . | 2010-02-10 19:39:00 Author: maxjeager  Posts: 39 |
| You know what. You're probably right. The intro is pretty self indulgent and unnecessary. I think I'll ditch it. I'll at least get rid of my name and "presents". I like the level name though, i think the faint heartbeat adds to the atmosphere an tension. Maybe I'll make the Raven in the first scene break the poetry vibe and give a brief description of what you should do, although I'd like to keep the atmosphere intact as much as possible. How about putting the instruction in the description? Or is that not enough..? | 2010-02-10 19:59:00 Author: ezBadfish Posts: 52 |
| You know what. You're probably right. The intro is pretty self indulgent and unnecessary. I think I'll ditch it. I'll at least get rid of my name and "presents". I like the level name though, i think the faint heartbeat adds to the atmosphere an tension. Maybe I'll make the Raven in the first scene break the poetry vibe and give a brief description of what you should do, although I'd like to keep the atmosphere intact as much as possible. How about putting the instruction in the description? Or is that not enough..? Or how about making the player intuits the rule of the survival by giving him or her a trio of extra lives , is not rocket science ,but it doesn't have to be punishing(dont do design flaw ,acceptable just for plays sake, we are here to make better levels for the enjoyment you get making levels and sharing our art) . The Poe intro is cool. I'm glad you find my feedback constructive ,take care and cya on LBP. P.S. Plz check out me level link on the signature. (lol I totally forgot about F4F) | 2010-02-10 20:10:00 Author: maxjeager Posts: 39 |
| Yeah. I'll be sure to do F4F tonight. Kinda a strong claim to say that its hard only for the sake of plays though as that's not the case. Maybe I just like more difficult levels. And including lives would make it a mini game and take away from the tension and difficulty of the survival challenge in my opinion. I mean i wouldn't suggest that MM start adding lives to their survival challenges. | 2010-02-10 21:06:00 Author: ezBadfish Posts: 52 |
| Yeah. I'll be sure to do F4F tonight. Kinda a strong claim to say that its hard only for the sake of plays though as that's not the case. Maybe I just like more difficult levels. And including lives would make it a mini game and take away from the tension and difficulty of the survival challenge in my opinion. I mean i wouldn't suggest that MM start adding lives to their survival challenges. Im glad to see you are not doing it for play sake ,but there is a difference between tension,difficulty and being punished for not knowing what to do ,i'm telling you this since your challenge is not self explanatory,and dying for that is a design flaw, that needs to be compensate with :lives ,a training mode etc . It is hard to explain something visual with words even worse when you are limited,so i do not recommend using the description . Im not trying to change ur expression ,in this case the level, im just pointing out a flaw if you want to keep it is okay but the enjoyment is subtract because of it. Cya and take care. | 2010-02-11 03:48:00 Author: maxjeager Posts: 39 |
| Well you are certainly entitled to your opinion. I would just counter that jumping over an obstacle certainly isn't a complicated game play mechanic. It's something that your little sister does every time she jumps rope. There are plenty of signs that indicate danger as well. Such as the fact that its bright red in a world of grays, or that it makes a blade sound as it comes from out of the wall. There are plenty of hints as to what is happening. Perhaps survival challenges aren't for you. I guess I would just say about the level that its not for everyone apparently. Its not watered down or dumbed down because it doesn't need to be at all. Its already a very basic concept. Jump and collect points. The trick is in timing it to string together point combos. If you time it just right you can sting together each drop of points. The record chain that I've heard of is 17x. Myself, I could only get up to an 8x chain. | 2010-02-11 13:04:00 Author: ezBadfish Posts: 52 |
| The intro is awesome (don't change it!) I really like the idea of using E.A. Poe's stories as inspiration. The survival challenge itself is tough, but addictive. | 2010-02-11 15:16:00 Author: pickled-punk  Posts: 598 |
Cool. Thanks pickled-punk. (Great name btw) I really worked hard on making it so that the further you got the more there was to reward you both point-wise and experience-wise, like the flaming walls.  | 2010-02-11 19:14:00 Author: ezBadfish Posts: 52 |
| You got a very nice looking, beautiful, and very playable level here. The only thing I had a problem with was, for a survival challenge, theres to much of an intro and outro. You need to quickly restart and get into the action on a level like this, and thats the missing ingredient I think, quick resets. Perhaps you could have a sticker at the scoreboard, so you can use it and skip the intro/outro? | 2010-02-11 21:16:00 Author: GruntosUK  Posts: 1754 |
| Yeah I was just playing with Grant and agree with his views on it, but you can use the R1 button to skip the speech bubbles. Maybe just a faster way to skip the level name etc? Oh and I thought the camera needed to be slightly zoomed out if that was possible... but I'd guess not... Otherwise I very much enjoyed the level, and I really loved the sounds and idea. | 2010-02-11 21:18:00 Author: Coxy224  Posts: 2645 |
All you have to do is grab the floor at anytime.  There is a little blurb about that in the description. Thanks for the nice comments. I think that I'm going to take a serious look at the intro and reassess the benefits or negative points. I'll also take a look at the camera zoom. There may be some give there still. | 2010-02-11 21:19:00 Author: ezBadfish Posts: 52 |
To be fair, I liked the intro and outro - without them your level wouldn't e anywhere near as good... and now I know to read the blurb  | 2010-02-11 21:34:00 Author: Coxy224 Posts: 2645 |
| I wouldn't change the poetry at all. (Worked far to hard on that aspect) If anything I would remove my name and "presents" from the opening. | 2010-02-11 22:15:00 Author: ezBadfish Posts: 52 |
| Cool. Thanks pickled-punk. (Great name btw) I really worked hard on making it so that the further you got the more there was to reward you both point-wise and experience-wise, like the flaming walls. Yep, after some practive I reached the flaming walls.... ouch... ;-) | 2010-02-12 06:23:00 Author: pickled-punk Posts: 598 |
| Excellent level! Don't change anything, its fine as it is, if people want to skip the intro all they have to do is grab the floor. And you're 100% correct, I saw something coming towards me & my instinct was to jump; also, its a survival challenge, so of course: one life per play. Keep up the good work! | 2010-02-12 08:43:00 Author: ApeCheese  Posts: 369 |
| Nice! Thanks a lot. Yeah, I guess the level just isn't for every one which is fine by me. The people who do like it, like you, really like it and I'm really grateful for that. I'm also huge Pink Floyd fan and Set Controls is my favorite from that era. Especially from the Live from Pompeii video.  | 2010-02-12 15:51:00 Author: ezBadfish Posts: 52 |
| I've never seen the Live from Pompeii video but I've always meant to check it out. And yeah, your level has a unique presentation, which should be embraced, not tweaked & mainstreamed into familiarity. It gives me hope that there are still great levels out there yet to be made, discovered & played. | 2010-02-12 16:12:00 Author: ApeCheese Posts: 369 |
| AH man, you really should. So awesome (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5_0iZQ-TuA) lol on topic: Thanks. Means a lot to hear it. | 2010-02-12 16:19:00 Author: ezBadfish Posts: 52 |
| Hiya mate. Just playing this (again) and it seems to have developed a nasty bug. After we died we either failed to respawn or we were trapped just above the exit cutscene. we played 3 times and this happened 2/3 times. I didnt reload the level completey so it could just be a random - but I thought you should be aware. we were playing 2 player. Adi | 2010-02-12 22:17:00 Author: TheAdipose Posts: 533 |
| oh! wow! yeah I'll take a look at it right away! weird. Haven't had anyone say that yet and haven't touched the level since a week after first publishing it. Thanks for the heads up. Now to figure out what to do about it *sigh* EDIT: i can honestly say i have no idea what happened or why its happening. sigh this might take a bit to fix. Something about the multiple players messes it up. May take me a while to trouble shoot it. Strange because I had tested it with two players. I don't know. I'll work on it later tonight. | 2010-02-13 00:07:00 Author: ezBadfish Posts: 52 |
| I played through it with 3 & 2 players a few times & never had an issue. Hope you figure it out. | 2010-02-13 02:03:00 Author: ApeCheese Posts: 369 |
| Sigh. I just have NO idea whats going on with it. Its going to be something strange and unpresidented I have a feeling. At least in the scope of my experience. ****. | 2010-02-13 06:27:00 Author: ezBadfish Posts: 52 |
| Wow. Amazing! I haven't read any poe myself, but i really like the style and atmosphere (as much as one can like the dark style, though it doesnt feel too dark) 5 stars + heart, and Tricky/Perilous tags. Best i got was #20, how do people survive longer! | 2010-02-13 10:34:00 Author: RCIX  Posts: 250 |
| its not really about surviving longer. I got into the place I am and didnt even get to the part where the walls start moving in. Its all about chaining the combos. That's the real trick. Its not only about avoiding the pendulum. If you're going the "pro route" its about avoiding the pendulum and keeping your chain alive as long as possible. I think that's my favorite thing about this level. It plays well at different levels of experience. | 2010-02-13 15:13:00 Author: ezBadfish Posts: 52 |
| PLayed it.... I really enoyed it. As you said, there's several strategies which is nice considering the simplicity of the design. The thing that most shines in this level is the graphics - I honestly would LOVE to see you do an actual Edgar Allen Poe story in LittleBigPlanet and have him narrating through the story using the character models you've built. | 2010-02-13 20:52:00 Author: CCubbage  Posts: 4430 |
| Thanks CCubbage. Seems like that's the general consensus so I'll probably do that after the level I'm currently working on. A level based on an original Alice in Wonderland story called Alice in the Dark Woods. And just as an update on the whole glitched out thing. It seems like when playing on the same console something goes wrong with the teleport. I can't explain it at all and that means I can't change it at all either.  | 2010-02-13 22:37:00 Author: ezBadfish Posts: 52 |
| Yay! I'm spotlighted! Spotlit? Hmm. Anywho. Yay! Thanks all! | 2010-02-20 16:23:00 Author: ezBadfish Posts: 52 |
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