Little Big Thief: Lord Bafford [Spotlighted!]

Mh ... the **** wall ... sometimes I can crush it with the first swing, sometimes it takes a lot more. I already made them hollow and out of styrofoam. maybe I will implement some invisible helping mechanism because I still want the player to swing and crush the wall himself.

The boss is a real thorn in my flesh because some realize him some don't. That he dissappears after killing you and rescuing the szepter is wanted but maybe not made clear enough.

I will look into your levels as soon as I can. But since I like to write in depth reviews it might take some time.

As for the styrofoam blocks, maybe make a small wedge of dissolve that goes away when the ram hits the wall - making it topple. - just a little wedge.

I remember having a lot of trouble at that part too, now that I think about it.

I never did get the septor either. So I guess I didn't realize your boss the way you invisioned it.

Hey Fjonan I played this level today, here are my thoughts

Pro's

- Really great looking, I really like the colour and all the detail in this level, especially at the start when you are in that village/town. (This got 3 of the stars that I gave you.)

- Some great gameplay, most of the gameplay I really liked, the gameplay I didn't like I loved the idea's.

- Nicely hidden point bubbles and nice little extra challenges.

Cons

- Some visible switches.

- Some parts were frustrating, not challenging. You had some really impressive gameplay idea's you just didn't present them cleanly enough in my opinion. Also, I suggest making the bit when your in the wheel easier.

- Boss too quickI think it could of been a really cool chase but it lasted a few seconds.

Gave it 5 stars and a heart, 5 stars because I really appreciate it when creators go into alot more time making their level look nice. Plus, it is really fun and challenging with very minor setbacks.

Weldone!!!

Thanks a lot for your review! Which things did you find frustrating? Which was not presented good enough?

Well after you mention the Boss, too, I think i will rework the whole section.

Nice to hear you appriciate the secrets and the visuals. I gave it a lot of thought and wanted it to suit the general idea of the "Thief" series.

Is there a level you want me to review from yours?

Hmmmm, the bits that I found frustrating were the hamster wheel and the other wheel section in the cellar. Also my advice is to make the things a little less frustrating and remake the boss at the end so it's little bit more epic. Delete the one that you have published then publish it again so you can start with a clean slate.

Also I wouldn't mind if you played and commented on my levels, cheers.

No, I will not deleted it. If it has to grow better over time, so be it.

Could you say what exactly is frustrating? The statement "It is frustrating" does not help me a lot by itself. :)

The bit in the hamster wheel wasn't really frustrating for me, but because the post things are too high and at first it seems like you can't get the wheel over, people will just give up and rate it badly. I think you should take CCubage's advice on it. You could make that section really fun.

Just keep in mind - a change to the wheel COULD be a very minor change - just a tad more responsive by taking a bit of the edges off the wheels on the cart. Once I had practiced it a bit I had no problem either, but you aren't going to get that chance with 99% of the players so I gave you my first-impression experience which is most important.

And I gotta say - I personally wouldn't write as much as I have in this thread if I didn't really enjoy this level. If you want me to go back in and test it again after small tweaks I would be happy to.

I will take you on that. :)

Sorry for the double post, but I am so excited. Someone from LBWorkshop made some HD videos of my level. Klick on the video twice, to go to youtube directly to watch in in HD, it's worth it.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPJoP7hdF1A"]YouTube - Little Big Thief: Lord Bafford (Part 1)[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAlENmOhCrQ"]YouTube - Little Big Thief: Lord Bafford (Part 2)[/ame]

It also showed me very vividly where I need to change things.

Well, I was in this level (testing it) from WAAAY before the Earth had cooled from it's molten state. And to be honest, I like it better each time I play it.

I'm not terribly crazy about what I call "the fire pit" but it is now doable where before I couldn't figure out for the life of me how Fjonan managed to get down it without dying (I died almost every time - except for the "accident" where I didn't die).

Punching through the wall is pretty annoying. Not that it is impossible, but it is takes far too much time. My sackboy has wimpy little strings for muscles.

The carts work far better than they did originally. They are far more responsive. Personally, i preferred the rubber look for the wheels - they also looked less rough than the sack-wheels.

I'm still not overly fond of the section where you jump up what look like blocks to flip a switch. It looks overly obvious. Had there been more blocks on the wall (giving it a more consistent feel) I think I would have liked it more.

The hoops (not the hoop cart) is my favorite part of the level. I just think it is a whole lot of fun and really the most clever part (sorry, I know you put a lot of time in the carts, but I find simple to be terribly engaging).

The end feels a little rushed and I'm not sure if I'm supposed to run, do some sort of attack (what?) -- in the end I lose the scepter so it doesn't much matter :)

I hearted it - the backgrounds are great. The game play is solid. And for what it is worth, I only broke it a couple of times -- I played it today and pinged Fjonan and his first question was "Did you break something again?" :)

All in all it is one of my favorite levels. Very few text bubbles, which was nice. Felt very much like a Mm story level.

I went back and played this - did something change here? The wheel seemed MUCH more responsive and I had a lot more fun playing it. It seemed lighter.

Woohoo I like to hear that.

@Felon: The blocks are meant to be obvious since the player does not see the switch up there which I could do with a camera angle but I want the player to figure it out by himself. And since the figuring out must not be too hard, I made it obvious. It is meant to break up the ride a little.

After seeing the video (back on page one and the last post on page two of this thread) I finally got wat exactly is so hard at the hamster wheel. I will rework that section, helping single players getting the wheel running better. I also will make a third effort in re-designing the wheel cart to make it even more responsive. I also got the boss fight on my list which I am not very happy with, it does totaly not work out the way I wanted it.

Yeah I got quite some things to do but I am happy I can. It is a lot of fun to make the level better and see that people like it. I even got my 4-star-rating back.

Thanks a lot to all.

Oh, and I did not forget about the F4F. I simply do not have a lot time during the week. I already have a little note lying on my PS3 controller with the names and levels I want to look at and review. So stay tuned.

It's up to you (changing the wheel further) - at this last tweak the wheel ended up working perfectly for me. Originally I had given the level 4 stars but no heart, but this time I gave it 5 stars and a heart. I liked the balance. Before I would jump to the left and grab and it would work slowly or even stop. Now I would run to the left and it would roll nicely, but if I wasn't careful it would fall off the cart - which is great because it adds a bit of "be careful...." to the mix.

Also, getting it past the wheel with the "spokes" was still challenging enough, but was more a timing thing rather than an excercise in frustration (the first time I went a little too far and it spit me really fast to the left and completely off the cart into the gas - which was pretty sweet! But I felt like it was my own stinkin' fault - which is the way the player SHOULD feel).

I think about it. The flicking effect when you get too close but not close enought to be smashed was absolutely unintentional but I loved it when it happend to me first. If you are fast enough you can manage to stay in the cart by running like hell to the right.

Really fun level to play. I thought the wheel section was really interesting and fun! Not much to add except I liked playing it. Thanks for sharing it.

I played this last night. Thought the mechanics were pretty great. There was some really interesting stuff going on here. I made it through, too, and I'm quite awful at the game, so that's saying something :P ... The wheel kicked my butt, but I got the hang of it, and all was good. Great work!

Thanks a lot morgana and xkappax. Your feedback means a lot too me. I released a new version of the map, making the cellar wall easier to crush and added a few little helpers in the hamster wheel section (who ever gave it that name, I love it) and some minor changes to avoid possible errors from appearing.

Hey Fjonan, I finally got around to playing you level, it was great!!

A fun level with great visuals, athmosphere and some neat mechanics.
Yes, the hamster-wheel was a pain the first time around (it broke right after the elevator took it up, then the elevator decided not to go down anymore) but when it works, it's awesome!!

+ Visuals
+ Mechanics and gameplay
+ Hamster-wheel

- Hamster-wheel :)

I gave it 4.5 stars (played it twice, gave it 4 on my first playthrough and 5 the 2nd time around. :))
and hearted lvl and creator.

I really, really liked this level. There's just so much gameplay and visuals packed in, it is a great experience.

+ Hamster wheel sounds like it belongs in a ramp level, but it fits and is very fun here
+ Ramming the wall in was fun
+ Extremely detailed and believable
+ Fun platforming
+ Awesome vehicle (With the hamster wheel on top of two wheels)

- The ending seemed anti-climactic. The music starts up, and then you run outside. I like the concept of stealing the scepter and running, but it could be a bit longer of a run

F4F: Frost (in sig)