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  #1  
Old 04-08-2009, 01:35 AM
King homer daStupid King homer daStupid is offline
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New level

Hey guys, I haven't made a level in quite awhile (don't tell my boss that though lol).

Tell me what you think!!
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  #2  
Old 04-08-2009, 01:40 AM
Elizabeth Elizabeth is offline
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Old 04-08-2009, 02:04 AM
FaLLChiLD FaLLChiLD is offline
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Been a while Xelt! You still got it, pretty level.
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Old 04-08-2009, 02:27 AM
Codein Codein is offline
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Nice level man
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  #5  
Old 04-08-2009, 02:37 AM
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Ohi Xelt.

Red = Tile error.
Lightblue = I like what you were doing there but the tile errors are just too much.
Pink = Don't do that, it looks ugly. There's a nicer way to turn cliffs.
Yellow = Nice, I like this.

A lot of the tile errors I circled are ones that you'll find apparent "duplicates" of in the tileset. However they have subtle differences that fix the errors. If you can't find it lemme know.

Overall it's a decent level but that's about it. I like the path on the bottom right and some bits of detail are nice, but overall it's a bit plain. Keep at it, I know you can do much better than this.
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Old 04-08-2009, 03:02 AM
Rufus Rufus is offline
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The first thing that stood out for me is the waterfall area. If it is a waterfall then the part where it breaks should be covered by water; unless the waterfall is completely going over the cliff, but then you've got some weird perspective going on. I never find the crabby water detailing attractive either (I really hate it) but a lot of people do it so it might just be me.
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Old 04-08-2009, 03:19 AM
alarid0 alarid0 is offline
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Honestly, I've NEVER understood you level creators and the way you critique other peoples work *looks at crono*

Red (in the cliff) and the pink
Both of them look...fine...I don't see anything wrong with them. Okay, there is a piece on the set that looks very similar but actually makes it a little smoother. So? That doesn't make what he did there look ugly.

Light blue
I like this spot. Alot. There is one tile bit that bugs be on the bottom as it converges into one piece, but it only bugs me a little bit...that's after scouring around it trying to find something that looked bad. Even as it is now, it just gives the impression of a hole in the ground at that spot

Yellow-
Ew. I actually...really DON't like this sort of stuff. EVERYONE throws the random grass clutter EVERYWHERE...and I think it just looks messy It doesn't have a good aesthetic about it, it just looks like a bunch of crap has been thrown onto the floor. And all you guys eat that stuff up. It's everywhere! And it isn't a good level if it isn't there! No one uses plain grass anymore, I havn't seen any sizable chunk of plain green in a long time. I really think these plain areas need to be used to balance out the spots where the floor is so busy.

Everyone makes such a stink over tiny blips, but no one cares about the more noticeable things, like the black frame on the bottom right hedge tiles. I know, there's nothing that can be done, but try and wipe the tileset from your mind for a moment, look at the picture without focusing too much, and quickly scan around it with your eyes.
Those hedges should stick out. Its a big black blocky square edge in an otherwise flowing natural environment. I'm not saying do not use those tiles, by all means, but I'm trying to show how odd the visual emphasis is on what a "good level" is

*end rant*
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Old 04-08-2009, 04:05 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by alarid0 View Post
Red (in the cliff) and the pink
Both of them look...fine...I don't see anything wrong with them. Okay, there is a piece on the set that looks very similar but actually makes it a little smoother. So? That doesn't make what he did there look ugly.
They're not correct. If that cliff wasn't chopped on the bottom you'd see that a cliff that's turned like that will have sides that are longer than the front view. We used to turn our cliffs like that back in 2004 because it's how Wan taught us but it's not actually correct.

Compare his to something like:

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I thought you'd actually catch that, seeing as how working with graphics requires you to pay attention to perspective issues.

A little smoother? Alarid the piece exists because not using it results in a tile error, one of the most important things to do when making a level is to make sure you don't have tile errors.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Alarid
Light blue
I like this spot. Alot. There is one tile bit that bugs be on the bottom as it converges into one piece, but it only bugs me a little bit...that's after scouring around it trying to find something that looked bad. Even as it is now, it just gives the impression of a hole in the ground at that spot
It's a good idea but if you look, the corners of the cliff have chips sticking out of them. I know you can't get around the tile errors they create but the errors themselves just stack too much for me.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Alarid
Yellow-
Ew. I actually...really DON't like this sort of stuff. EVERYONE throws the random grass clutter EVERYWHERE...and I think it just looks messy It doesn't have a good aesthetic about it, it just looks like a bunch of crap has been thrown onto the floor. And all you guys eat that stuff up. It's everywhere! And it isn't a good level if it isn't there! No one uses plain grass anymore, I havn't seen any sizable chunk of plain green in a long time. I really think these plain areas need to be used to balance out the spots where the floor is so busy.
Blades of grass with pieces of the cut-bush tiles thrown together to fill in empty plains of grass is a bad thing? Plain grass isn't used because it's not attractive to look at. Sure it depends on the styling but a balanced amount of detailing tiles is better than nothing, for me. Xelt's style is ok in my eyes, it could be better but I think it's adequate and much better than other LATs of today.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Alarid
Everyone makes such a stink over tiny blips, but no one cares about the more noticeable things, like the black frame on the bottom right hedge tiles. I know, there's nothing that can be done, but try and wipe the tileset from your mind for a moment, look at the picture without focusing too much, and quickly scan around it with your eyes.
Those hedges should stick out. Its a big black blocky square edge in an otherwise flowing natural environment. I'm not saying do not use those tiles, by all means, but I'm trying to show how odd the visual emphasis is on what a "good level" is
I'm trying to look at this from Graal's view. My first aim is to always take away tile errors. Next is what Rufus brought up, which is perspective. The waterfall looks weird and doesn't make much sense, but first things first which is proper use of the tiles themselves.

We all know the tileset has a lot of ugly content but it's how you use it in the end that counts. The hedges do stick out, and they do not look great, but there's nothing he can really do about it unless he alters the graphics. In which case he could also alter the cliff tiles on the bottom left to remove the tile errors.

In the end it's all subjective. What I like is not necessarily what you like, however there are technical aspects that can be looked at objectively such as tiles and errors in how they are used/not used.
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Old 04-08-2009, 04:50 AM
alarid0 alarid0 is offline
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I'm in an odd argumentative mood at the moment. I don't know why. Sorry.

The cliff going down at an angle, instead of the way it is...yeah I did consider that...the fact that it's sticking straight out to the right isn't good....
but I got too hung up on the thought of another tile directly replacing it what you were arguing - that it could go straight out like that, but use a different tile to transition.
I was narrowing down the critique for that part to be a little too focused on the detail.

As for the bushes and grass bits...
Like I said, it's just clutter and makes everything look so busy. Sure, go ahead and use a little bit for accents and in patches, but the bulk of levels use it too generously.

Instead of rocks mushrooms bushes and tall blades of ugly grass having 90% of the visual weight, accented by the flat grass (which is all I see), it should be the other way around. Maybe not 90, but the bumps and blips diversifying the ground direct too much attention to themselves.

Obviously I'm outweighed in my taste by...ah... the entirety of Graal.
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  #10  
Old 04-08-2009, 06:05 AM
Draenin Draenin is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by alarid0
Like I said, it's just clutter and makes everything look so busy. Sure, go ahead and use a little bit for accents and in patches, but the bulk of levels use it too generously.
They make grass-on-grass tiles for a reason, you know. Those patches you see are to create a sense of topography to the land, other than just flat ground and mountains.
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  #11  
Old 04-09-2009, 10:39 PM
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I like it. :]
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  #12  
Old 04-10-2009, 09:39 AM
WanDaMan WanDaMan is offline
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Really nice level! I'd suggest you add some tiles yourself to make the errors less noticiable! I really like the cliff bottom left, nice job!
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  #13  
Old 04-15-2009, 04:51 PM
King homer daStupid King homer daStupid is offline
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Thanks guys, I'm fixing the errors now
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