Originally Posted by
Nanluin
Greetings, Mike;
Overall, I think that the level made excellent and extensive use of the The Islands motif (Goodies Bag items, decorations, music) from Story Mode -- it felt very much like a sequel throughout. Some of the platforming was quite clever, either unique to itself or offering a unique twist on something familiar, which always makes me smile (because being 'unique' in the realm of platforming is *hard* to do). A few suggestions are included below, for you to consider:
Atmosphere:
-- The atmosphere was primarily that of a dusty, Chinese village under the glare of a hot, summer sun. The major contributors to this were the orange fog-color and the 'washed out' color filter (global lighting effect) you used. Was this what you were after? If Japan is what you were really after, think: vibrant, *rich* earth tones (greens, browns, rock-grays) in the background, with highly-contrasting black, white, bright reds, greens, & yellows for the houses/structures in the foreground.
-- I greatly appreciated the soundtrack in the level, particularly the use of very selective tracks from The Islands and Wise Owl. The one place I would suggest a change here is in the very beginning, where you pop into the level with multiple tracks of The Islands playing full-out, which then gets toned down once the actual game-play starts. You might try inverting this: begin light and soft, set the initial theme, give the player an 'appetizer', and then build up musically as the level progresses.
Platforming:
-- I would recommend using 'invisible gas' *only* for places where a player can somehow get out-of-bounds (out-of-platform) by wild jumping or being thrown; that is, as an invisible platform boundary. Otherwise, deadly hazards should be either visible or rather obvious: it's annoying when you have to discover that the innocent looking stretch of sidewalk ahead is *really* deadly by, well, dying.
-- Flaming or electrified spikes are rather redundant (and a little cheap, with regard to fire -- you *think* you can touch against it once...nope!). I would recommend choosing one hazard for an obstacle and sticking with it for that section.
-- With all of the fun and *new* bits of platforming that you included, it was a bit disappointing to encounter direct bits right out of Story Mode here and there. In particular, I never liked "evil Sushi on a tilting platform" in the first place, and here it was again. That said, my 9-year-old loved being able to shove them off the platforms to their death...the ones on Story Mode are electrified.
Story:
-- Please, please, write out dialogue in proper sentences: with good grammar, capitalization (where needed), and **punctuation marks**, with no emoticons / abbreviations / texting-speak permitted. Write your dialogue in the manner in which your character would actually TALK, *not* text/IM. [Nanluin steps down from soap-box, pet-peeve expressed.]
-- Your story-line was a mix of old cliches, and could perhaps be dressed up a little --> although this IS a platforming level, such that the story need only get you up on the platforms! The use of the term "Grasshopper" from teacher to student is right out of the old Kung Fu television series, where Cain is being trained as a Bhuddist Monk (not a Ninja), so I found that to be a bit disjointed (supporting a Chinese theme, not a Japanese ninja theme). I was also confused as to whether there were several different masters / teachers? or was there only one who was following your training, just appearing differently each time you encountered him?
-- The ending, to me, was a bit of a let down, and *not* consistent with the rest of the level: the rocket-powered "slow boat to China" (the scoreboard). I was sort of expecting a graduation ceremony in the Main Hall or dojo or something. If you keep the raft ride, you might considering having it propelled by a slow piston, rather than the rocket: I wanted to tell the master, "Dude...you raft is on fire!"
Please take all of the above as constructive. It WAS a fun level to romp through, and I let my much-better-at-twitchy-platforming son have fun in it too.
-- Nanluin
