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Check out my level, Rz22g's Stunt Bike Race (1-2 player). Its not a grab and go level. You do have to control the angle of your jumps in order to clear some of them and in order to land correctly to get bubble multipliers. I have a three player version coming soon once I figure out how to position the stunts so bubbles are available to each rider.
Also check out this video of my daughter owning this level :)
[Watch YouTube Video]
Wow, sweet. I need to check it out. Nice work. both of you :D
The three player version is coming along. Its the same stunt setup but I had to do alot of selective placement so its possible for each player to get bubbles. Some sections are going to have to remain together because of the jump size. I have already tested it with some friends and its a blast especially when everyone makes it.
At first I thought you were the kid... I'll check this out when I get on the PS3
Hahaha, "She's probably my #1 Rival."
Good one.
Okay, just finished playing this with my son.
Verdict: this is the first motorcycle racer I've played that I REALLY felt was worth it. Great stunts, nice difficulty elements thrown in, like the need to slow down at certain points in order to maximize points over the jumps, or to not crash the bike. Plus, I thought the stunt design was fantastic. I also noticed you had an invisible shield over the top of the bikes to prevent the player from flying off if they let go - nice touch!
My only suggestion is that you move the checkpoint to the end of the level if you die. It's a little thing, but since you can't complete the race without the bike it would make it feel more refined if you dropped the players on the finish line at the end if they died..... plus it would make the younger ones feel a bit better that they got SOME points :)
Or, if you don't want to allow them to finish you could drop the players in a "Retry" bin if they die (I've never seen that before, but it sounds pretty funny).
Other than that, I had a great time. Nice work on building the bikes!
I love it when my favorite level creator comes out with a new level. I can't wait to get on LBP tonight!
EDIT: I just played it and here's my feedback:
PROS: It is a pretty good race level, and can be pretty addicting. I like how the spotlight spins with the loops, that must have taken forever to get just the right tweaks. Another thing I like is all the jumps, how they're positioned just right except for that one big jump.
CONS: It was really simple, and had a lack of decoration, materials, etc. If you decorated it a bit more and added global lighting and made it longer, it would be better. This was probably your worst creation yet (No offense; it's still good, just not compared to your other levels.) I expected more from my favorite creator. :( Another thing is that you should give a warning on the big jump, because the first time I played it, I died there and had to restart.
OVERALL 3/5. No heart yet, it still needs many things improved.
Glad some people are enjoying it.
The bikes are not actually mine. I have done quite a bit of modification and tweaking to them but the original designer, to the best of my knowledge is drdbanner. His verison is also about 4 times as large so I resized it for obvious reasons.
I see what you mean about the checkpoint. Im very bad about designing my levels for the way I play, which is finish or don't..heheh. I just recently got around to adding the ability to call up 7 tanks from reserve at 4 spawn locations on my tank level. For the longest it was just make it or die, which again is the way I like to play. Im going to take your advise and add that. The shield over the bike was added for just that reason you said. Even though I can make it without the shield, I could just tell it would be annoying for alot without it. Im going to tweak more and make the bikes auto flip upright.
Three Player Version is published now!!!
Checked it out last night and while I agree it's not so hard that your daughter can't play it very well, (adorable voice too and mad LBP skills!) she would totally wipe the floor with my measly skills on your level. I can get through but I flip the bike alot. lol
It's not a bad thing - It just makes we want to play it more so I can get better at it!
Love the tricks and tracks you put in. Really great concept - you have to throttle back sometimes or you won't be able to finish. I wish it was a little longer but that's just because it's really fun!
I'm curious why you didn't make original bikes? Not that I mind you re-purposing another persons bike since you do give them credit and you've modified it significantly, but I am curious why you made that choice?
I gave it 5 stars and hearted it.
I actually had no plans to make a bike level. Some punk has commented on my tank level with the usual punk response.. you suck.. So I went to see who he was friends with and he had a level with this bike and someone elses cars. He gave no credit for the bike to the actual designer but had the level as copyable. I got the bike, found who the creator was and then went and got it as a prize from his level. Resized significantly and did some mods. I threw together the level and to my surprise it got 4 stars and 65,000 plays.
I plan on making my own bike. Its quite simple but since it was already done and was a legitimate gift, i spent more time on designing the level itself.
This was fantastic. Loved how you could actually "get better" at riding a bike. In most levels there is no getting better and just a simple hold R1 or not hold r1.
As far as gameplay goes its definitely a 5/5 with good use of LBP physics to keep me interested.
As far as visuals go i'm certainly impressed with what you were able to do with these bikes, but I wish it had more atmosphere surrounding them. Other then that it was amazing fun and one of the best bike levels i've played just because it had that much more interactivity.
Thanks..
I have never been that good at setting the atmosphere. I could throw some stickers on. On the two bike the level the bikes are 2 thin layers and 1 thick so that leaves just one thick layer in the middle so I could throw somthing there. On the newly published 3 player version, the bikes are 1 thin, 1 thick so with all three bikes on there, I have the one thin back layer so I could add some stuff there.
I played your level and I really enjoyed playing it, but got annoyed that I couldn't get as good as your daughter :mad:
Pros:
+Lovely tracks
+The fact that each player could gain their own score bubbles
+That is was a race, adds some competetiveness and replayability
+The bikes are very nice
Cons:
-Getting owned by a 9 year old!
- Although the track was well built, there wasn’t much to interest the eye.
Overall I rated your level 4 Stars and tagged fun :)
Im open to suggestions on what to put as far as eye candy. Stickers are about the limit. I can put something in the middle thick plane but it must be on the ground or it would need to be dark matter or suspended. Both bikes have a thin layer on each side is the reason.
On the 3 player version I can only use the back thin plane. I reduced the bikes to one thin and one thick so I could get 3 bikes in the level.
I like that it involves some challenge to control the bike properly (I like the hovercraft challenge levels too, BTW) but that big jump with the wall dangling off the ceiling - it seems like a ridiculous sort of challenge in a way - the only reason that wall is there is so you can crash into it. :) I guess what I'm trying to say is that it feels a little forced, somehow...
Could you put wafer-thin glass between the three racing layers to isolate each player from the other players' bubbles? Or does the bike itself have wafer-thin layers that would collide with this? (I guess it must, actually...) You might be able to separate layers 1 and 3 this way at least, if layer 2 is safely out of the way...
When playing I was hoping I could figure a way to do some Excitebike-style flips and stuff - no success so far. :D
Yes the piece of wood dangling that you hit is to force players to control the bike and nose it down to hit that opening and make it through. Otherwise its just a gun it and clear it jump.. no skill required. Plus playing single player its cool to fall into the gears and see you and the bike get crushed.
Since I have an invisible cover on the bike to keep players from flying out, each players bubbles needs to be on a different plane than that player, which puts it on the plane of the other player, which puts it in collision with that other bike and since the bikes have invisible shields, it would just hit the bike. I addition to that, to keep players from hopping off their own bike onto the person next to them, I had to put an invisible layer on the face side of the back and middle bikes. The invisible shield on middle bike keeps front bike player from hopping over in mid air when they let off. Same for shield on back plane bike. Keeps middle player from hopping over to him and him from hopping over to the middle bike. That causes another bubble issue since now the bubbles for the middle bike have to go on the back plane so they can be picked up by the middle bike, but not in the way of the back bike. Bubbles for back plane bike had to go on either middle or front plane and a small hole is cut in the invisible shield on the side of the back bike so that player can still get the bubbles but small enough so players cant jump bikes. And then theres the front plane bike but I wont get into that.
To make a long story short... oh wait to late.
Yeah, I get that... Gotta do something to add challenge to the level. I just thought this one seemed a bit forced, like it was too apparent that the wall existed only so people could crash into it. Maybe something as simple as decorating it - making it look like a useful bit of scenery or something - would solve the issue. I don't really know what else you can do to add challenge to a jump like that - maybe set it up so that if someone overshoots the down-ramp, they wind up landing too hard and their bike breaks?Quote:
Originally Posted by Kratos4
Huh. How do you make an invisible cover?Quote:
Since I have an invisible cover on the bike to keep players from flying out...
From your description of the layer issues I can see how this whole thing with the bubbles would be a major problem. :D
Quote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin
You would be surprised at how many people hit the wall continuously even though its completely apparent after you smack into it the first three times. Decorating it would be like hiding it to these people or making it more attractive so the would smack into more. Theres never a solution that pleases everyone unfortunately. Honestly my levels are made to be fun for me, my daughter and a select group in my friends list. If it makes them happy, Im happy. The rest can play the levels where you grab, hang on, and just hold the grab button to the end of the level where there are 10,000 bubbles and everyone ends up with the same score.. LOL. Unfortunately those levels seem to be quite popular along with trophy and H4H levels. Last time I checked hearts and number of plays have not put the first drop of gas in my car or first crumb in my stomach.
Not to void what you are suggesting, I completely agree. Im just not the typical creator. I have accepted that my levels are not going ot please the masses. There are creators out there that can please the majority.. Im just not one of them :)
Played this a couple days ago and really liked it! I had to restart a couple times, because I destroyed both bikes, but I didn't really mind since the level is pretty quick. I actually enjoyed the challenge as well, because you don't really see that in LBP driving levels and really, it wasn't that difficult, you just have to let off the gas a bit or shift your weight.
The designs of the ramps and the bikes were very well done as well. I enjoyed it. Nice job.
Hm, possibly. I can see how making the obstacle look too much like part of the environment could lead to people ignoring it...Quote:
Originally Posted by Kratos4
Maybe setting it on fire would do the trick? It would certainly fit the whole theme of a stunt bike course, and I think it could help players more immediately recognize this is something they need to avoid...
Well, I hope you're not throwing me in with that group... IIRC I managed a top-3 score on one of the hovercraft challenge levels - took me some time to manage that, too. Hopefully that gives me some kind of credibility - I don't want to see the level become yet another "hold R1" level, I'm not looking for the challening aspects to be removed - I just see things that I think could be improved and like to think about how it could be done.Quote:
Theres never a solution that pleases everyone unfortunately. Honestly my levels are made to be fun for me, my daughter and a select group in my friends list. If it makes them happy, Im happy. The rest can play the levels where you grab, hang on, and just hold the grab button to the end of the level where there are 10,000 bubbles and everyone ends up with the same score.. LOL.
I like interesting vehicles and machines (most interesting part of the game, IMO) and levels built around using and controlling them... I feel like creating good vehicle control levels (wheeled vehicles, anyway) in LBP is inherently problematic, though: nuanced control is difficult to accomplish, and requires letting go, and letting go means you may fall off the vehicle. (The invisible canopy on the bike is probably a great help there...) It's something I want to solve as well as I can when I finally publish a level...