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The Strange Denizens of Interzone

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The Strange Denizens of Interzonepickled-punk
What is the place called Interzone? Enter this weird domain and find out… now.

http://www.lbpcentral.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=19267

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This is part 4 of my Lady Masquette-story levels.

*There is now an extra 2 player area included.
*Thanks to Tjapan for educating me about scoreboards and secret doors a while back. It sure came in handy for this level.
*Thanks to o___Neo___o for teaching me his cool paint-trick		2010-04-24 09:38:00

Author:
pickled-punk
Posts: 598

Positives:
The level really is fun to play, and you've come up with some truly brilliant puzzles! I really liked that I had to do some exploring and think in order to move the sponges into the correct spots. I also love your characters and dialog. I also thought the chamber of doors was a neat idea. I had fun playing the level start to finish.

Suggestions:
Overall, there is just something missing in the visual aspect of your levels. I love the way you decorate and sticker your levels, but your terrain editing comes up short, especially when compared to every other element of your level. If you could be as creative in your terrain/corner editing as you are in your puzzle design, character design, story design, and overall game play you would be one of the best creators in LBP.

4/5 stars.		2010-04-24 19:45:00

Author:
RoharDragontamer
Posts: 397

I liked the idea, but the scenery needs a bit of a overhaul. I appreciate the cardboard asthetic and the idea behind it(your "behind" the level) but cardboard isn't the most visually appealing material, so the corner editor is key. Alot of the scenery was flat. I'd recommend playing "World of Cardboard"(sorry if I got the name wrong, I'll double check later). The characters were cool though. There was also no background details(trees, rocks, foliage etc.)

I didn't finish because the puzzle where you pull the cardboard platforms into place, then drag the circle sponge into the hole, I got the sponge circle stuck inbetween the platforms Dmake the sponge on the front layer). I'll try to finish it later.		2010-04-24 20:09:00

Author:
Unknown User

Hello pickled! I gave this level a shot and the puzzles were quite fun. I'm guessing there's a multi path experience here because I just seemed to be all over the place! Lol. Just a few minor mishaps. The part where you talk to the orange guy.. well there's 2 orange guys on the bottom. I got stuck in between a wall and the second orange guy and couldn't get out so I had to pop. When I got to the old dead looking guy, he says something but I don't know what he says because it's all in asterisks. Hmm, I got to this part with the orange sponge with the red X on it and I dragged it down by the candle and got it stuck there. I knew I did something wrong when I saw the red X somewhere else. I progressed through the level only to find out that I needed to drag a thin long piece of orange sponge down for the orange red X sponge. Problem is, the orange red X sponge isn't being re-emitted so it's stays permanently down there by the candle. I don't see any other way to progress so I had to quit the level. If you like the layout/puzzle of the orange red X sponge then have it re-emit with an emitter.. otherwise I dunno.. put another puzzle or something lol. I'll play this level again sometime in the near future 2010-04-25 05:16:00

Author:
MrTran
Posts: 216

Thanks for the great feedback guys!

Rohar, when adjectives like 'brilliant' are coming from a skilled creator like you... wow, thanks!
I agree I still have a lot to learn and experiment with the terrain. Don't know if I can do much on this level though (thermo is maxed out.) I'll get there eventually (still have a lot of ideas for the next parts of my story.)		2010-04-25 11:05:00

Author:
pickled-punk
Posts: 598

PaddyJ, you got stuck at the beginning of the level, there's a lot more stuff later on. More details etc. Give it a try if you like, and let me know what you think. I'll give the suggested level a play through, thanks.2010-04-25 11:06:00

Author:
pickled-punk
Posts: 598

MrTran, good to see you liked the level.

I see what you mean: the Poe-quote has become a bunch of underscores. It still looks okay in Create-mode, but is unreadable in Play-mode. What the ****! Anyone knows what this is?? I'll experiment and try and fix it.

The puzzle with the red 'X is a bonus puzzle, not required to proceed in the level, (just walk left along the bottom, behind the 3 cut out X'ses). The bonus puzzle with the sponges is only to get to an extra area with some prize and scorebubbles... I kinda wanted to keep those challenges hard... but, maybe a one-shot chance is too challenging here? (We don't want our crash test hamsters rioting now do we?)		2010-04-25 11:07:00

Author:
pickled-punk
Posts: 598

This was an awesome level, to be honest. The way you flipped the level was really mind-blowing to me, because, to be honest, I think I underestimated you.
My biggest complaint is that there's a general lack of direction. There's one part where you go swim in this maze-type thing, just to come back to where you started. You swim in this maze for no apparent reason. Is there a reason, or is this just to add surreality of the level? There are other parts where I found myself moving blocks to get up somewhere only to realize that it's impossible to get there with those blocks and you don't need to go there. The whole thing was very surreal and had a good sense of humor, though, and the visuals were good. The story, though...it just melts my brain. I have no clue what's going on.

Overall, I liked this. It was really weird and I'm interested in what happens in the series after this. I gave it 4 stars and a heart. Pretty sweet level.		2010-04-28 06:58:00

Author:
qrtda235566
Posts: 3664

Ah: brainmelt... mission accomplished!

Thanks for the feedback and heart.
There's more weirdness on the way in part 5!		2010-04-28 07:13:00

Author:
pickled-punk
Posts: 598

Good stuff! Played this again and had a great time. Only thing is maybe add a score bubble on the horse looking thing. I didn't know that there was a path there until we played together 2010-04-28 09:05:00

Author:
MrTran
Posts: 216

Thanks! Will add a score bubble on the GARGOYLE!!
pfff horse looking thing...:blush:

hmmmm must upgrade my corner editing skills		2010-04-28 09:48:00

Author:
pickled-punk
Posts: 598

Hmm.. Reading the comments... It seems very good. I am going to try it for sure.2010-04-28 18:11:00

Author:
FreeAim
Posts: 2462

Just updated the level, fixed some little bugs.
-Fixed the winch, added some extra bubbles etc.
-Also added some camera zones on the two player challenge that will make it somewhat better playable.

The text from Poe keeps getting censored. No idea why. Does anyone have an idea...?		2010-04-29 12:35:00

Author:
pickled-punk
Posts: 598

Ah! What a wonderfull level. Usually I would give all ''Good'' and ''bad'' things seperated but this is what I say:
Good bad and critic: Good things are that you had great obstacles and puzzles all around the level. You also made a fantastic 4th part to Lady Masquettes story. Bad things are that you didn't use corner tool much wich was a shame. It could have been just great with a little better visuals. Critic is :star::star::star::star:. I'll be waiting for next part. BTW I could not pass first obstacle at the first time and it took a long time to figure it out. You could put some signs there.		2010-04-29 14:03:00

Author:
FreeAim
Posts: 2462

I played this earlier, it was pretty decent. The characters were your strong point in the level, they were stickered very well. The gameplay was great too, dragging the cardboard platforms was a neat idea. The visuals were nice, I could tell it was a behind the scenes look. Overall, this was a pretty nice level that anyone who had time should give a play.

I rated it :star::star::star::star:. 		2010-04-30 02:16:00

Author:
X-FROGBOY-X
Posts: 1800

Hi pickled-punk

I'll leave you some proper feedback on the level tomorrow - it's really good by the way; definitely my favourite of the four!

But in the meantime, I just wanted to answer your question about the Poe wording. The censors in LBP pick up on a lot of words which you wouldn't expect to be caught (including words which are inappropriate in foreign languages). One example is the word "happened". There's a thread about it in the Tutorials forum which lists a lot of the words which are banned. I'm certain you'll find that one of the words in your text which no one would think is offensive is censored for some obscure reason.

Here's a link https://lbpcentral.lbp-hub.com/index.php?t=6932-Odd-Censored-LBP-Words&highlight=censored+words		2010-04-30 03:18:00

Author:
shropshirelass
Posts: 1455

This is a level that i need to try it out lol 2010-04-30 04:01:00

Author:
Arnald23
Posts: 1843

Hey, thanks for all the nice feedback!

shropshirelass, thanks for the nice picture! Also great link, withy that I quickly found the problem in my Poe-quote: 'sharpened' was the offending word. Changed it, so the text is now legible.
Funny thing, that E.A. Poe gets censored in LBP, while the quotes from William S. Burroughs I used remain untouched

X-FROGBOY-X, indeed, I had a lot of fun creating the characters. Good you liked them.		2010-04-30 13:46:00

Author:
pickled-punk
Posts: 598

Played this fully last week before my ps3 broke. The gameplay is good but the scenery needs work. You said it was more varied further on, but it was exactly the same(square, flat). The gameplay was good though. If you work on using the corner editor, and add detail(foliage, multi-layered ground etc.) then this would be great.

Btw, the level I wanted you to play is

"world of cardboard 2"		2010-04-30 15:21:00

Author:
Unknown User

Thanks for the feedback, Paddy.
I think I'm getting the hang of that corner editor. Chapter 5 will have some good layered terrain.		2010-04-30 20:07:00

Author:
pickled-punk
Posts: 598

Hey. I can tell you now, what was the Issue. Somehow I managed to push the platform into the main ground, and it was stuck there. I didn't think about what I did wrong at that time, because I played it late at night, while I was tired. Enough about that, because I've completed it now.

I really like the layout and design. At the start I thought you were making another canyon themed level, but then I fell down beside the door, and stepped into an awesome cardboard world. It looked very good, and it got better and better through the level. I really like your style of level making. It's very good, and your puzzles are nice. You're a creator, who's improving from every level you make. I'm allready looking forward to your next level. I'm considering which style it will be in.

I gave it 5 stars and the first level of yours I hearted, and I think it's a shame, that your levels haven't got a lot of attention, and they doesn't get a lot of plays.		2010-04-30 20:24:00

Author:
ghik16
Posts: 311

As I said, I really enjoyed this level. I loved the wackiness of it, not to say madness (in a good way, lol!). The idea of going behind the level was a cool one and worked brilliantly. It was great the way you followed it through all the way to the scoreboard which was back to front, lol.

I thought the visuals were cool. I like levels that use cardboard in an inventive way. Have you played Bombw87?s level which takes place in a cardboard box? I think that done right cardboard can totally capture that wonderful quirkiness that characterises LBP. Your level used it really well. It was never bland because of the brilliant use of stickering throughout, from the architectural black line stickers at the beginning, through the gorgeous paint splash ones to the Vera Bee ivy at the end ? really nice work. I also loved the little moving eyes in the cracks! Your characters were great too - mad, yes, but great to look at!

The gameplay was excellent. I love puzzles and yours were very satisfying to solve. I particularly liked the cardboard maze with the orange balls and the stashes of bubbles - excellent stuff!

Suggestions for improvement ? well others have already mentioned the corner editor so I won?t labour that point. One very small thing you might want to think about for next time, though, is bubble placement. Sometimes in your levels you have bubbles which you have to deviate from your path or climb to get and because there are only 3, or sometimes even fewer, of them there is no multiplier and so no real reward for the effort of getting them. If you want a high score, though, you still have to go and get them. Someone else once called that sort of bubble ?chore bubbles? not score bubbles! One example is the single bubble up to the left in the scenery painting section. There were a couple of other points where I remember being disappointed there was no multiplier (like where you drop down a small hole in cardboard maze and pick up a couple of bubbles). This is no big deal but some creators are just so good at chaining bubbles together that it becomes a real part of the gameplay.

Very fun level, though. You continue to amaze me with the progress you have made in such a short time with your creating. I gave the level 5 stars and hearted it.

2010-05-01 18:04:00

Author:
shropshirelass
Posts: 1455

Thanks, ghik. It would be nice to get some more plays, but I'm still having a blast creating my levels. And the reactions that I do get are very cool.

The style and setting for my next level will be very different again; I like to experiment a lot.		2010-05-02 14:33:00

Author:
pickled-punk
Posts: 598

Thanks a lot, shropshirelass, for your kind words! I was rather content with that flipped-over scoreboard myself. Seemed fitting. Cool that you noticed.

Great to see you again bagged the highscore. You make a very good point about those scorebubbles; I'll add some more in those hard to reach nooks and crannies. Do you happen to know how many bubbles you need to get a multiplier? (x2 after ten bubbles, x3 after twenty, and so on?) I figure you're the bubblehunter to ask?

I'm working simulteanously on parts 5 and 6 now, and I've got some more mad characters lined up.		2010-05-02 16:53:00

Author:
pickled-punk
Posts: 598

Thanks pickled-punk. I think I was knocked off the top spot a while ago, lol!

Multipliers come in groups of 5. For 5 bubbles in a row you get a 2x multiplier, for 10 a 3x and so on. As it happens, Incinerator22 has literally just published a thread in the Tutorials Forum which describes the LBP scoring system in detail. Here's a link https://lbpcentral.lbp-hub.com/index.php?t=26224-LBP-Scoring-System-Analysis-Guide

I look forward to the next 2 levels. 		2010-05-02 20:18:00

Author:
shropshirelass
Posts: 1455

Thanks Shrops! Very good link. I'll be placing more bubbles soon. No more chore-bubbles... promised! 2010-05-06 18:16:00

Author:
pickled-punk
Posts: 598

Hey man, this is a pretty groovey level. Heres a run down from what I saw :

Good stuff :

- Very interesting idea, not seen a level set behind another level before.

- Good humor, which is always nice.

- Cunning puzzles indeed, sometimes a bit too cunning, but still good.

- Nice use of all 3 layers when it comes to navigating the level, lots of jumps that make you change layers all the time, the spyrally blocky staircases were groovey.

Stuff to think about :

- There are a couple of points, that if the player fails the first time, it requires a level restart. Ideally, in any level (unless its a survival or survival hybrid) this shouldn't be the case. To name a few, the section where there are hollow blocks, one big and one little, and you push them to the right. The first time I grabbed the right one and pulled it from the right hand side, and it wedged itself at an angle. Another point a bit further in where you have to move the red X circle sponges, when I saw the plank fall down, I thought that was just there to stop the player running left, because of the way it blocked the hole. I didn't know you had to use it to bridge the gap so I pulled the sponges into the hole and was like "oh".

- I don't know if you did or not, as I broke the level a second time and stopped playing, but what would be cool is if you get the player to keep going back and forth between the interzone and the real level through those doors, as a proper mechanic, rather than just as an introduction to the level.

- Some of the sponge puzzles, especially the one where you pull the big hollow block into the hole, the one with the light sponge in the wall, that one was hella confusing, I didn't know what the heck I was supposed to be doing, and i'm pretty sure I fluked not breaking the level there.

- The lever box jump pad thingy doesn't have anything that kills you underneath it, might want to whack some gas there.

- The scenery isn't as good as it could be which is a shame to the good ideas in the level. I think you could abuse stickers more, but specifically the black outlines. They looked really good, like brick work and patterns. Also, you could touch up some of the corners with the corner editor.

- Also, if you spent a bit more time on the detail at the beginning of the level, when you are in the real world, then that would juxtapose going into the interzone nicely, the contrast would be visually pleasing.

:star::star::star: for now, but if you fix those puzzles and maybe tart it up i'll be happy to play it again and re evaluate it up to 4/5 stars 		2010-05-28 18:01:00

Author:
Asbestos101
Posts: 1114

Heyy I really liked this alot, lots of secrets and good tweaking in your music but I didnt finish, when i got to the part where you move orange rectangles with cardboard stuck to them ontop I couldnt figure out what to do. The bigger rectangle cardboard was stuck I think you might have accidently glued it down. I tried going back to the last obstacle and pulling orange circles over to this part haha, but i faillled. This probably would have been a heart if i got through it, intresting place and characters. four stars.2010-05-28 20:15:00

Author:
drei
Posts: 158

Hey punk, thanks for the feedback on my level.

I liked this level. The characters were great; probably the best part. However I got confused in several parts of the level about what to do. The part with the paint gun and the part with the tilting semi-circle. I went past them without using the gun or the sponges so I may have missed something there. You had a really good use of the 3 planes and movement in between them.

Overall it was good, but I would've liked a little more indication of what to do in those areas.		2010-06-01 03:47:00

Author:
Unknown User

Thanks for the feedback, guys!

Please take note that most of the more cunning puzzles are only optional (as is the two player area, off course). You can finish the level without solving all the puzzles. But if you want to collect all the prize and score bubbbles, then you'll need to put your thinking cap on.

Drei, I don't know what happened. I think you mean the platforms on orange sponges? Strange that one of them got stuck, I have never seen that happen. (Just checked it again and it's fine.)		2010-06-05 11:12:00

Author:
pickled-punk
Posts: 598

Hey, I enjoyed your level overall. A little weird and pretty funky, but I like that, and I thought it was really intriguing as a whole. Well done. Your level design was pretty unique as well, and overall I had fun.2010-06-25 18:11:00

Author:
obsoleteXeo
Posts: 134

When I played it I was like WTF??!!! Most of the time I had no idea what I was actually doing! xD I like your level because it's really weird and the characters look really great. I also could see that it must have been alot of work. I just played it one time and missed alot I'm sure so I can't say too much about it. I gave you 4 stars.2010-06-29 19:58:00

Author:
Chrree
Posts: 554

Thanks for the comments!

Also: just fixed some small stuff and updated the level.

Now I have to finish up the next part... almost done...

Sequel is out now:
https://lbpcentral.lbp-hub.com/index.php?t=30149-Drones-of-Genius-Loci		2010-07-06 12:28:00

Author:
pickled-punk
Posts: 598

My level just reached 100 plays! (That's a big number for me!!)2010-07-12 07:12:00

Author:
pickled-punk
Posts: 598

Added some pictures.2010-07-15 12:02:00

Author:
pickled-punk
Posts: 598

Enjoyed this level!
Mostly because it was a break from the norm.
The exploring was really fun, (no hidden corner didn't have a few bubbles), plus optional puzzles are the way to go imo. (still haven't figured out what to do with the paint gun )
Most of the time I didn't know where the heck I was supposed to go, or what the frick I was doing, but that was what I loved the most about it. You don't have any arrows or visible switches, you just let the player experiment with the enviroment.
5 stars + heart from me. 		2010-07-15 12:57:00

Author:
midnight_heist
Posts: 2513

Thanks!
Yeah, I agree about the optional puzzles, I hate it when you're playing a good level and then you get stuck because you can't solve the puzzle.		2010-07-16 19:13:00

Author:
pickled-punk
Posts: 598

Hey MidnightHeist: if you're hunting for bubbles, I've added some new targets for the paint gun.
Many thanks to (___NEO___) for teaching me his neat Neo-effect (Try his cool level if you haven't done so already!https://lbpcentral.lbp-hub.com/index.php?t=31802-Color-up-your-life)

Also fixed some small stuff (like adding a noxious case of b.o. to the big painter-guy.)		2010-08-02 20:06:00

Author:
pickled-punk
Posts: 598

Thx for the promotion pickled-punk - I will try your level as soon as possible :-) I apreciate that you calling this color-trick the "Neo-Effect" :-) the more I hear and read it: the more I love it :-)) great! hehe2010-08-02 21:40:00

Author:
(___NEO___)
Posts: 206


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