All Dressed Up

All Dressed Up by iGotFancyPants
Made this level for the Halloween Spooktacular :D

Search bug fixed w00t!

It takes place in an eerie town where trick-or-treating has started! You try to get going but a sack witnesses you do something you wish you hadn't. This gives you the great idea of running away! But what could you discover along the way?


If you find glitches/problems tell me via PSN. I will address them as fast as I can.
:)
SCREENS!!! (Some are old and look different in-game)
http://i806.photobucket.com/albums/y...s/APhoto_4.jpg
http://i806.photobucket.com/albums/y...s/APhoto_3.jpg
http://i806.photobucket.com/albums/y...s/APhoto_6.jpg
http://i806.photobucket.com/albums/y...s/APhoto_7.jpg
http://i806.photobucket.com/albums/y...s/APhoto_5.jpg

Looks awesome!!! I'll try when I'm feeling better. Looks like you put allot of time into this.

Sorry, I searched "igotfancypants" and "all dressed up" and got zero hits on both! :[

:( I guess I could comment on your level 'Who steals our delicious delicious brains?'

Thanks for trying though! :)

EDIT: The comment is there, you can access my level now :)

Ill play it later, u can play my levels also. thanks!

Awesome - I was able to find you as a creator after you left that comment!

First impressions - cool jack o lanterns! You did a lot with lighting and it's well decorated. I really want to see the rest of the level based on the opening!

VERY cool lightning effects, and the ghosts flying away was a cool touch too!!

Some solid platforming, nothing too challenging - I'd have fun playing with my friends, even the ones who aren't total LBP-heads :D

The grabby elevators - after riding the third one up, I misstepped and fell to the bottom - but I had already triggered the darkness switch. This made it hard to see the grabby elevators the second time through.

The vertical ropey platforming - This was OK. It's hard to judge the height you're going to get from your jumps on platforms like these, so I had a little trouble. It made this part less fun than it should have been.

Too many text bubbles! Have some faith in your players. Some of this stuff I would have found out even without the text bubbles. I think just removing all of these text bubbles outright would be fine. Make the grab switch more visible with a sticker or texture, then you won't need the "Grab this!" text bubble.

Wow! This next part was really cool - the part with the spawning grabbies controlled by gravity? I'd love to see lot more of that!

The beginning of the race blew my mind, great platforming and cool mechanics there! The next part was pretty OK - and then I really liked the swingers at the end. And wow, the lighting effects after the race were awesome! What's going to happen next?

Again the speech bubble on how to operate the cart - probably uneccessary. I would have figured that out! The mechanics of this part were cool! Can you make the pistons look like ropes instead? It might look better aesthetically that way. Also, can you adjust the camera lower? I didn't die on this part but I was still nervous since I couldn't see much below me.

Two people joined the level at this point, and about twelve speech bubbles from back in the level triggered! Starting with "Yikes, I hope nobody saw that", and a couple others.

Overall, very good! I gave it five stars and tagged it "beautiful". Liked the aesthetics of the level, and the variety kept me guessing. A few rough layer transitions, I think you already know where some of those are - you even had a "hold down and press X" text bubble at one part. Now that's just dirty! A few other small rough edges, I'm not sure how many of them you can iron out. The first major problem imo would be the vertical rope platforming - Some of my friends wouldn't like that part, they'd probably just miss the jumps over and over and fall to the bottom until I beat it for them. The second major problem is the text bubbles - there's just too many, it feels like someone's holding my hand throughout the whole level, telling me things I'd rather figure out for myself.

Great level though! Hearted, I can't wait to show it to my friends.

Wow, thanks for the feedback! And yes I'm aware of the hole speech bubble problem. I was planning on fixing it within this week. As for the vertical roping, I doubt I will fix it. I seem to be blocked in terms of creativity right now but if I got a great idea I might change.

The one speech bubble I think I will keep is the operating cart one, simply because I've had people that tested my level/friends play through absolutely clueless about what to do. One also told me to warn the people about the swaying. :)

All in all, that was the greatest feedback I've seen on any level (lol) and I'm glad it was on mine! The factors you pointed out were important and will be adressed as soon as possible! Thanks again! :)

Just wanted to let you know I checked it out tonight and really liked it :) I don't want to get into too many specifics because of the contest but I really did enjoy it :) Thanks!

Thanks Morgana! Great to hear from you :)

EDIT: I will expect a full-out review from you after the competition... :kz:

Hey FancyPants!

Sorry to have kept you waiting with your F4F, but it's been a busy week for me... anyway:

I liked the overall look&feel of the level a lot, it reminded me a lot of dan_e2040's wonderful Monster kit level "Ghostly Branch", one of my all-time favourites. It was varied, full of platforming sequences and something unexpected around every corner. I think the high points are definitely the great use of sound and the well placed and executed race part. There were some things that were a bit weird or disappointing, though:
- At the start, the monster hiding in the little alcove above the place where Sackboy starts says he's going to catch Sackboy, but if you tarry overlong or turn back during the flight to safety, there is no danger looming there whatsoever... it was a bit of a disappointment for me, I expected something to give chase. :(
- The catapult that is triggered by a falling boulder could use some tweaking, even when jumping upward it's difficult to nail the trajectory needed to land on the platform from which you can go upwards. You have to jump to the right just after getting catapulted to have a chance of making it, which is a bit counter-intuitive.
- During the race sequence the flaming rolling logs spawn a bit too fast in my opinion, a less skilled player could easily get frustrated and quit there, since it's not in line at all with the overall difficulty of the level... however, if you intentionally wanted to make that sequence harder than anything else, leave it as it is, you've achieved that goal. :)
- At the drawbridge with the three sack balls hanging from ropes, there's a chat bubble that's only visible for like 0.5 seconds while Sackboy is flung upwards... consider upping the trigger range so the players can read it without having to backtrack and find the small circle in which they can trigger it again, it's not that fun. ;)
- At the fall at the end, if you move towards the right or even leave the left analog stick alone while in mid-air, you'll simply land on the scoreboard without seeing the scene to the left of it, which just cuts the level short, making it feel like it was rushed towards the end... if I hadn't replayed it a second time I'd have missed that part of the level altogether. :p Perhaps you should steer the player towards the left with a slide of some sort to make sure they don't finish the level prematurely. :)

All in all it was a fun experience, with only a few minor issues separating it from the highest rating. In its current form it gets :star::star::star::star: from me. Good work and keep these coming, I like good platformers!

Pros:
+ fun platforming
+ varied scenes and locations
+ good use of sound
Cons:
- A few unpolished obstacles

Story: The level starts right into the introduction of the plot... Where does it go? It seemed like a great motivator for the level, something for us to work toward, but it almost immediately died off. I spent the entire level wondering if I was missing some story elements, but I wasn't. The introduction captures our attention but then we're forced to forget about it because the plot isn't continued. I would have been much more immersed in the level if I felt like there was something guiding it. You had an interesting idea with the plot, but didn't deliver it to it's full effect.

Gameplay: The platforming was pretty nice, offering a bit of variety. The player never has to endure a 2 minute section of the same stuff... but it's pretty run of the mill. The platforms held up by the ropes were my favorite platforming section. I liked the idea of the mine cart with the left/right controls, but because the checkpoint was loaded in the cart with me, I died and spawned rapidly when I hit the gas. I sat and watched as my Sackboy died and spawned about 6 times as the cart slowly lowered

Visuals: I really enjoyed the visuals right at the top, the part where the character falls through the floor and everything goes all dark. The wood contrasted with the yellow light was beautiful. Further into the level, the color contrasts became quite jarring. The section where you have to run through the ghosts was plain unnatractive to me. The color correction changed too quickly and too extremely. When I got to the treasure area, my mind changed again. I was captivated by that scene.

I had fun playing the level, but my main concern was the lack of story filled in the middle. It's like you gave us the hamburger buns but kept the patty for yourself! Don't be afraid to throw in some plot!

If you get a chance, take a look at my levels. I'd love to get some feedback.