Escape From Transylvania! - Creator's Cut (SPOTLIGHTED!)

[skumchunk]

In this level you take on the role of a misunderstood vampire as he tries to escape from an angry mob.
Help him escape not only his neighbors, but also the diabolical traps in his own crumbling castle!
Don't forget to wear your fangs for the full effect.

I tried to implement a few of the new tools from Creator Pack 1. Another thing I tried was multiple paths, so please give each one a try. (I made it painfully obvious where the path splits)

During the creation process, I ended up making quite a few concept sketches. I've included some of these sketches along with a picture of the finished product. Please excuse the picture quality.

The destroyed gallery:




the mines:




The graveyard:




The village:




The boat:




I had a blast creating this level, and I hope you enjoy it.

my PSN ID: skumchunk

[AJnKnox]

Ok just played through it for the 2nd time.

1st impression:
I love custom content, always makes a level better and unique. I like your music selection as well.

Thought the villagers with their stakes were cute.
Loved the swinging pendulum (Axe I think) really cool element.
Didn't like the turning platforms (very overdone I think)
What was the green creature? Why was he there?
Don't take that harshly as it is only a question your players are asking themselves.
Your steamer ship was a nice touch but seemed to move too fast.
Liked your roof top run. (wished you had done more with it...a puzzle or some platform element.)
You had good detail elements outside the sticker-ed stone to look like snow was a nice touch. I felt it was almost like an artist view of the world.

You get alot more points if you go down than you do if you follow the upper path. You should try to even them out so you don't take a score penalty for choosing one over the other...Count yourself very lucky if people want to play your level again (most don't because they have so many choices to choose from.)

I liked the gas maze and it did kill me twice but I finished. Sometimes it was hard to see where to go due to gas haze or jet pack exhaust.

On the whole a cute level with some cute characters but is missing some challenging play. Most of the platforming was very easy (1st time through type stuff)



I gave it 3 stars and a cute tag. Would be more if you had more platform and puzzle elements.

[skumchunk]

Thanks for the great feedback, AJ.
I'll definitely go back through with some of your suggestions. I edit from the MOON, right?

As for the green monster, do you mean the fellow who bounces you up to the gallery area, or the Multi-eyed monster of ill temper?
I assume you meant the latter, and I don't have much of an explanation for him.
I've always loved how random old monster films could be (like how the Frankenstein monster just happened to be buried under the mansion in House of Dracula), so I guess he's an expression of that. Besides, I find at least three of four dozen of those things when I go into old mines.

The three platforms ARE kind of a pain. They were a nod to some of the platforming in the old NES games I love so much. If I can think of a good puzzle, it'll probably go in that spot.

Thanks again for the feedback, and definitely let me know if there's any more levels you want me to look at.

[Matt 82•]

I rather liked this. Very cute.

- One or two areas look really good, while others are missing visual polish. The rooftops being especially plain, and the wooden carved animals wall looking a little out of place.
- It is easy. I would`ve loved it if there was a proper challenge.
- Loved the monster with all the eyes.

Overall I think it`s a right good level. If I were to suggest one thing it would be to improve the visuals. Like when you take the low road, the caves look great, but the ghost you swing on looks poor. And the part with all the score bubbles is all the same material. Varying things up works wonders.

I gave it 4 stars and a cute tag.

[Coxy224]

I played your level and I was really suprised at the eautiful art style you have developed for the level.

Pros:
+It looks fantastic. Some of the quirkiest visuals I've come across
+The sticker switch (and the fact the sticker was given out later).
+The villagers - a nice touch
+The random monster and the sign next to him
+The general humour of the level really caught me
+I really enjoyed the ending

Cons:
-Sometimes all I was doing was jumping


Overall I rated your level 4 Stars and tagged it ingenious - because that is just what the plotline deserved!

[Burnvictim42]

A lot of my comments have been addressed above, but i'll just rehash them anyway :P

Wonderful design on the props and the artwork (i particularly liked the lanterns and the "elvis" sackula), it looks pretty cool, and custom content is always a plus. The villagers are cute, i like how you individually face painted them instead of using copypasta. The axe is kinda cool... i wish there was more use of it though, dodging a single obstacle then moving on is a little odd IMO. I get what you're doing with teh rubble there... but you need to move the motion sensor. I got up on my first run and went "ooh, maybe theres stuff on the left!". Long story short, i triggered the sensor, and had to restart BC i was stuck. Things like that can really PO players =/.

Zombies? ... i'm kinda confused, i thought this was a vampire game... but whatever :P creative license. The many eyed monster made me think of the Great Black Beast of AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGH! from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Your paths are very unbalanced pointwise, you should really add some incentive to take the top route. Also, the red x on the left doesn't work, you can still escape :P I had some fun flying around the level, i only wish there was some logic to look at XD

I like the garlic joke... though i didn't get the bullwhip one... maybe i'm missing a cultural reference lol.

The cutouts on the boat ride need some tweaking... you got the general shape of the buildings, but theres a lot of visible cardboard still. I liked how it got brighter, as in the vampire needed to get to bed soon... you might want to put a magic mouth that explicitly states that, as i'm not sure others will get why you're holing up in club Nosteratu with a PS3 (besides the obvious reasons :P). Or perhaps i'm going too deep :P

The rooftops were very bland, which was odd compared to the rest of the level.

Dark matter is visible in a few places (as you climb up the stairs at the beginning, and behind the arrows) it would be nice if you could hide it in some manner.

You may also wish to look into using a custom built alphabet for some of your stickering... MM's letters are rather ugly IMO.

Overall, nice level, but needs a little more difficulty, and a bit of tweaking on some of the visuals. 3*

[fusionboxer]

Ok just got done playing through it and taking both paths. Didn't want to read any of the other reviews so that mine wouldn't be biased in anyway because of reading other peoples opinions first.

I'm coming at this with no prior knowledge of the level.

First of all the design was great. Certain areas of the level just looked fantastic. For some reason I really enjoyed the small portion where your in a cave because of the rocks being on the plane closest to the camera. It just looked nice. Also I liked the city portion when your jumping from rooftop to rooftop simply because it was elegantly simplistic. It didn't jab me over the head with too much stuff, but it just looked nice and I was more impressed with where I was rather then what it looked like.

The overall feel of the level was humorous and light hearted and that's how it should be. Although your level lacked in any sort of puzzle elements it did bring me from point a to point b in a stunning fashion. I liked how I felt like I was on an adventure from the get go moving from my ex castle, through a dungeon, into a town, onto a boat, and into a big city.

Other then that it had some refreshing design and humor (I giggled when the bats told me about the advancement in vampire tech) along with fun platform jumping sections. Overall a simple level, but because of its humor and visuals gets elevated above the rest in terms of overall fun value.

For future levels i say keep the humor, variety in environments, and art direction, but add some puzzles, and variety in game play.

I gave it 4 stars and a tag of beautiful because I thought it looked nice.

[Morgana25]

Played through it tonight and have to agree with a lot of the feedback I've already seen here. The story is a great idea and I adore your sketches! Wonderful sense of humor and whimsy - especially for a vampire story! Improvements in vampire tech indeed!

Couple of places need a bit of polishing up (dark matter, empty corridors/roofs.) But some spots are just about as good as it gets. Nice detail work in the paintings, the coffins, the light fixtures and the peasants.

A little more balance/flow in a few of the platforming areas (the city, the garlic field) would be nice too.

Overall I really enjoyed this level and I'm so looking forward to more stuff from you. You have a really unique sense of art direction that I think when combined with a few more LBP skills is going to be amazing! Keep at it and thanks for sharing this level.

[DJLols]

OK, from the beginning!

The "sale on wooden stakes" and "improvements in vampire technology" made me lol.

I love the pendulum blade...

Overall a good level. My ps3 is acting up so I didn't make it to the end. T_T It keeps freezing up... I got to the part where I took the boat out of town, then my ps3 froze. =_=

[rtm223]

I pretty much agree with what everyone else has said - great humour and story elements, not too challenging in the actual gameplay and could do with a little more polish, but the style kind of suited the whimsical nature. I also liked the villagers and the sheer irony of the "secret" section where you getting mugged in new york by a guy with a knife looking a lot like an angry villager (did anyone else even find this? - it's sheer genious). 4 stars from me.

[DJLols]

OK, I got it working and finished, taking the other path this time. I love the multi-eyed monster sign. It's clever.

Aaaand then my PS3 froze after the level finished...

[skumchunk]

OK, I got it working and finished, taking the other path this time. I love the multi-eyed monster sign. It's clever.

Aaaand then my PS3 froze after the level finished...

I sure appreciate your determination to finish my level!
That's horrible news about your PS3 though, I hope you're able to get it taken care of soon.

To everyone who's left feedback:

I really appreciate it, and am working to employ it in my level. I should be able to publish the updated version tonight, so please let me know if there's much improvement. It'll be called: Escape From Transylvania! - Creator's Cut
Thanks again!!

[DJLols]

Nice. I let it sit for a while, and so far I haven't had a problem. I just played through the first three levels of Little Big Apocalypse to test it out. Seems to be fine now. -hopefully didn't just jinx it-

[skumchunk]

I was able to publish the new version of my level!

Here's what I changed:

I tried to balance out the score on the upper path.
I changed some things around on the lower path.
I tried to inject a little more difficulty in the platforming, some spots now require some timed jumps as opposed to just waltzing on through.
I slightly modified the rooftop scene at the end.
I added a boss at the end of the level!!!!! Watch out for his semi-automatic stake launchers!

It'll never be perfect, but I think it's a bit better.
Let me know what you think.

Oh yeah, the title is now: Escape From Transylvania! - Creator's Cut
Should I change the title of this thread?

[AJnKnox]

Great!

I will check this out tonight and let you know what I think tomorrow.