Deep Into That Darkness Peering

Deep Into That Darkness Peering by cthulhu82
Sackboy has just begun his first day of work at the local gold mine...unfortunately for him it is going to be one of those days

Falling into an old system of caves during his first day at work in the local gold mine, Sackboy must use his wits and athletic (grabbing) skills to try and make it out alive. But as he explores deeper into the cave he will discover that he may not be the first person to have ever been down there...and he may not be alone.

Deep Into That Darkness Peering is a 1 player game in which you must guide your little Sack-person through a cave which is simply the opening act to a planned series of levels. I really hope you check it out and leave your thoughts ;)


http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...APhoto_2-1.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...t/APhoto_4.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...APhoto_7-1.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...APhoto_6-1.jpg

Hey man I just finish playing your level and it was good. The visualization was nice but a little off because you use many 1 big layer try using different layer the level will look way better and try using the corner editing tool. The Gameplay of the level was good but need some work for example try creating a puzzle it wound look incredible. Also the opening of the level was strange because you rid that car for 5 secs and they is no background. Also put some music in the level you started with music then no music.

Overall score.

Visualization: :star::star::star::star:
Gameplay/Puzzle: :star::star::star:
Originality: :star::star::star::star:
Music/Sound Affects: :star::star::star:

Overall I gave this level a :star::star::star::star: it was good but you need to work on some stuff :p

Ok well I have started to add some more use of layers to the game and a puzzle but I am limited to what I can add because my thermo is close to full, still I shall see what I can do. I am also attempting to slightly increase the time spent in the car at the start but again I am limited by the thermo.

As for the music the first song is supposed to be the car radio and the next song is the radio the miners are listening to. As for the actual caves I decided to not have any music as I felt the silence would be more fitting for the mood of the level

Okay I have made some changes to the level and republished it so please check it out and let me know what you think

Oh and don't forget to explore a bit to find all the hidden / off the main path areas for more points and some prizes

looks coolio! ill have 2 play! :D

The mine (Prologue)

My observations:

http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/t...wanbullets.jpg To begin with, The title could be a lot more unique. A search for "The mine" turns up at least 2 pages of levels.

http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/t...wanbullets.jpg If you are determined to have your level begin at the far left, then you should put in a facade wall to make it a better match. That will also take care of the gap between the ground and the edge of the level where the player can fall off the level.

http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/t...wanbullets.jpg The jeep is a tad slow. While I appreciate that you want the player to see the titles, They will tend to get bored if forced to read them t...h...a...t.......s...l...o...w...l...y.

http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/t...wanbullets.jpg If the player walks to the left (many will) after the cave-in, they will be plunged back into darkness and probably die in the first pit trying to re-trigger the lighting.

http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/t...wanbullets.jpg If you die in the first pit-falls, you are re-spawned at the check-point above the elevator, making the level un-finish-able. There should be a check point after the elevator. At this point, many players will quit, vote "one star" and "rubbish".

http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/t...wanbullets.jpg Be sure to double-check for punctuation, spelling, and grammar (Especially at the beginning of your level, where a player gets a first impression of how seriously to take the level). You dropped a (comma/period) on "There, that did the trick.", for example.

http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/t...wanbullets.jpg The button on the explosives box: If you change it to "One-shot", it will look much better than just having the emitter cycle over, and over.

http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/t...wanbullets.jpg The pressure pad is fragile. If it gets broken, there's no way to finish the level. Consider making an alternate route, or re-spawning the pressure pad, if it gets broken, or even making it out of more sturdy material.

http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/t...wanbullets.jpg The bomb puzzle is kind of slow-paced and repetitive. It would be better if you just deleted the explodable wall to the right. There's no real reason to make the player do the same puzzle twice, here.

http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/t...wanbullets.jpg Parts of the level are flat, and dark. You make some interesting use of the global lighting, but you also need to complement it with sourced lighting. Think of it this way; Theater and film "dark" is not actually dark.

http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/t...wanbullets.jpg In the booth above the stairs, The text reads "*****************************************" you are using some character combos that the game filter doesn't like.

http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/t...wanbullets.jpg Just before the finish, you can pretty easily jump over the wall to the right, and fall off the level.

http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/t...wanbullets.jpg http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/t...wanbullets.jpg Well, this level could use a little love, but it's not terrible, and some quick adjustments like these will take care of it's larger problems.
It has some cool things going for it. I liked the "turn up the music" gag. The falling bridges and obstacles were were nice. The pressure plate puzzle was nice, too. I also liked that you used a lot of slanted geometry.

~ Hope that helps.

When you get a chance, I'd like some feedback on COPYABLE: Gradient Work Shop 2.2

Average level.
-the jeep is slow.
-"THE MINE" letters' pistons are visible
-Put a checkpoint in the lift and after falling down the dark hole. i was squished by the fall, restarted, then fell off a platform by accident, restarted. No checkpoints in these areas means you start at the beginning and cannot proceed because the lift is all the way down and its impossible to get past, so you have to restart.
-some wonky visuals that stand out near the beginning, like pointy layers that are just there and don't add to the visuals, also the visuals elswhere are super-normal
-make it so that the first checkpoint after the big fall is activated before the previous platfoms sinks- if one accidentily fell right before the checkpoint and the platform sank, the player would have to restart unless the platform unsinks.
-the timed bombs are so slow.
-the bigger explodeable material on the left just vanished when i press the timed block against it.

-i liked the dialogue with the workers.

if i think of anything else i'll let you know.

if you're F4F'ing play my spelunking level in my sig.

First of all

The jeep could go 1 speed faster.
I like the opening of the level, try searching for font levels to make it look nicer
I don't know your preference but i think the audio object on the jeep shouldn't be visible.

I loved! how when you fall its all dark and then you light a flare!

Ug well i just had to restart the level due to a glitch. Once you light the flare put a checkpoint before anything hazardous. if you die after putting the flare i got reset at the jeep so i couldn't go down the elevator again. i liked the vines, i'm not sure if that opening at the bottom was the only way to go but it helped me as my R1 is jammed so its hard to do those climb things :p

i liked blowing up those walls at first but then it got annoying.


Anyway those are the flaws but i liked it,
I guess i will heart it and you to encourage you to make the 2nd :)
:star::star::star::star:

I will send you a Messege too but i will leave it here too :)
Feedback this level please
http://www.lbpcentral.com/forums/sho...f-Toys-Level-1

Ok first off thanks for the replies. here is my answers to swanbrown's bullet points which should cover your questions as well

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by swanbrown

The mine (Prologue)

My observations:

http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/t...wanbullets.jpg To begin with, The title could be a lot more unique. A search for "The mine" turns up at least 2 pages of levels.

I have changed the title to "The Mine 1: Unleashed"

http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/t...wanbullets.jpg If you are determined to have your level begin at the far left, then you should put in a facade wall to make it a better match. That will also take care of the gap between the ground and the edge of the level where the player can fall off the level.

I actually meant to do that...so I will. Thanks for reminding me.

http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/t...wanbullets.jpg The jeep is a tad slow. While I appreciate that you want the player to see the titles, They will tend to get bored if forced to read them t...h...a...t.......s...l...o...w...l...y.

I have made the Jeep much faster but you should still be able to read the title.

http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/t...wanbullets.jpg If the player walks to the left (many will) after the cave-in, they will be plunged back into darkness and probably die in the first pit trying to re-trigger the lighting.

I have moved the global lighting up a bit and shrank its radius so that should no longer be a problem, but I have also added a triggerable global lighting next to the automatic one so if it does happen the lights should come back on.

http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/t...wanbullets.jpg If you die in the first pit-falls, you are re-spawned at the check-point above the elevator, making the level un-finish-able. There should be a check point after the elevator. At this point, many players will quit, vote "one star" and "rubbish".

Ok I have added a checkpoint at the cave-in but to be honest the elevator was set to go back up to the top when the player stepped off the lift. It must have reset itself to simply being on / off when I have pressed rewind or something but I will fix that asap.

http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/t...wanbullets.jpg Be sure to double-check for punctuation, spelling, and grammar (Especially at the beginning of your level, where a player gets a first impression of how seriously to take the level). You dropped a (comma/period) on "There, that did the trick.", for example.

Okay I double checked and it looks fine to me but if you see any more (I fixed that dropped comma) then please feel free to point them out.

http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/t...wanbullets.jpg The button on the explosives box: If you change it to "One-shot", it will look much better than just having the emitter cycle over, and over.

Again it was set to one-shot and I have no idea why the emitter is cycling over and over...yet another thing I shall have to look at.

http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/t...wanbullets.jpg The pressure pad is fragile. If it gets broken, there's no way to finish the level. Consider making an alternate route, or re-spawning the pressure pad, if it gets broken, or even making it out of more sturdy material.

The pressure pad is now a sturdier material so it should be fine.

http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/t...wanbullets.jpg The bomb puzzle is kind of slow-paced and repetitive. It would be better if you just deleted the explodable wall to the right. There's no real reason to make the player do the same puzzle twice, here.

Okay you now only have to blow up the wall leading to the pressure pad.

http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/t...wanbullets.jpg Parts of the level are flat, and dark. You make some interesting use of the global lighting, but you also need to complement it with sourced lighting. Think of it this way; Theater and film "dark" is not actually dark.

I have tried to make the level a bit less flat and I have added some more lights in places which will hopefully make it look nicer.

http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/t...wanbullets.jpg In the booth above the stairs, The text reads "*****************************************" you are using some character combos that the game filter doesn't like.

Hmm not sure what the game filter likes. Still I have changed it so hopefully it should read ok now.

http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/t...wanbullets.jpg Just before the finish, you can pretty easily jump over the wall to the right, and fall off the level.

Some invisible dark matter and that problem is fixed, lol

http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/t...wanbullets.jpg http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/t...wanbullets.jpg Well, this level could use a little love, but it's not terrible, and some quick adjustments like these will take care of it's larger problems.
It has some cool things going for it. I liked the "turn up the music" gag. The falling bridges and obstacles were were nice. The pressure plate puzzle was nice, too. I also liked that you used a lot of slanted geometry.

~ Hope that helps.

When you get a chance, I'd like some feedback on COPYABLE: Gradient Work Shop 2.2

---

again thanks for the replies and I will take a look at your levels very very soon

Personally, I kind of liked the pistons on the titles. Also, I forgot to mention the cool bouncy signature in the titles. nicely done!

Also, It happens, that I have a Font Compilation level called "Font Forest" that may come in handy! :)

P.S. This thread may come in handy

LBP In-Game Censorship List

Ok I will take a look at your font level and see if there is anything there that can help. Funny thing is I meant to hide those pistons but I too have decided that I like them so I think they are there to stay.

Still it has been republished with all the changes mentioned but that doesn't mean I will not be listening to more suggestions to improve it because I am always open to that, just bear in mind that the thermo is close to full (about 7 / 10 ) so I am limited as to what I can actually add, still I think there should be room for some stickers and decorations here and there.

Oh and I shall take some new screenshots later (I shall even try ang match the ones in teh first post) so you can see some of the changes I have made

7/10 is not nearly full. you have loads left.
have a look at this.

http://www.lbpcentral.com/forums/sho...view-and-Guide

Cool level with lots of detail put into it. I agree with what previous posters have said. I'd like to add that you might want to use infinity continue checkpoints. I had to restart the level because I was repeatedly squished by walking into a corner or something, and that was really frustrating. The ending seemed kind of abrupt... maybe put a To Be Continued thing? But other than the quirks like that it's pretty good! :star::star::star::star:

When you get a chance, would you grab a friend and play Little Big Air Sockey? Thanks!

Ok I have made all the checkpoints infinitle lives

now as promised here are some new screenshots. Unfortunately the camera tool is not very good for picking up lighting and detail

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...r/APhoto_8.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...r/APhoto_4.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...r/APhoto_9.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2.../APhoto_10.jpg



http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...r/APhoto_7.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...r/APhoto_5.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...r/APhoto_6.jpg

ok, i absolutely love mine themed levels for some reason, the idea of it just sounds really fun so this is going to be a very generous feedback thingy

first of all sorry for taking forever to give F4F feedback. the level was good, the jeep was a little slow when i played it. Idk if you have fixed it or not. The gameplay and puzzles could be a little bit better. Also add infinite checkpoints, but I read in this thread that you fixed it so thats good :D. Overall I give this level 4 stars. Good job :D

The Mine 1: Unleashed now has a new title

if you wish to check it out (F4F is still valid) just do a search for

"Deep Into That Darkness Peering"

I have updated the thread title and the first post to reflect this name change

i played your level like 20 mins ago so i'm going to review from memory, lol.
pros:
+multiple paths! excellently done!
+i liked the intro after you get out of the jeep
+i liked the atmosphere.

cons:
-i didn't like the intro before you got out of the jeep :p
-it could use more lighting besides the red global lighting
-when you hit the button to spawn the bombs they spawn too far away from tho box so it doesn't look like they're actually coming out of the box...if that makes sense
-i think the lack of music was a decent choice for setting the mood but that high pitched noise gave me a headache x_x

overall i gave it 4 stars! oh and that text still says *************. you might want to change it :p

F4F: ginormo burger

Seeing as no matter how many times I change it the text still says "**********************" I have decided to leave it and simply say that it is creepy static....hmm I may add a sound effect to that effect :p

I shall also see what I can do with the intro

Ok the intro has been changed slightly and I have tweaked and added some more global lighting.

I have also removed the music as I still feel it is more atmospheric without it and instead have put some more sound effects in

+ "Battles" guy!
+ The whole story. I love that kind of stuff.

No major problems.
I suggest cleaning up a few rocks using corner edits to make them look more natural.
Worked well with limited music.