Love Lost Sonata (Survival Challenge) by jeffcu28

[jeffcu28•]

Love Lost Sonata (Survival Challenge) by jeffcu28

This is a tale of lost love. A bride abandoned at the altar haunts her mansion, awaiting the return of her lover for revenge. With an assault to anyone who enters her sorrowful estate, will you survive her disembodied wrath?

Description
Well, I've been pretty busy these days, but Taffey's Survival Challenge motivated me to make another level on account that it was just a minigame. I was wrong. I learned so much from the experience as if it were a full level, especially with logic and ways to tame that pesky wobble bolt. I ended up using a lot of behind the scenes moving parts, and it took its toll on the level. I apologize ahead of time for the lag, but this was the best I could do. It does make the gameplay a whole lot easier, so I guess that's a good thing!

To be honest, I've never taken interest in survival challenges before, except for a few really good ones on the PS3, as I found them to be a bit shallow in gameplay. I tried to compensate for this by adding a storyline, so I hope the subtle story (and movie!) enhances the experience.

I had a lot of fun making the level and the movie, so I hope you all enjoy!

Acknowledgments
I would like to personally thank Monsieur Salieri for playtesting my level and for giving indispensable feedback. I would also like to show my appreciation to Monsieur amazingflyingpoo for his technical expertise.

F4F
I'm still in college, so I can't promise to leave feedback for everybody. I can promise the first five though, but it may take a while. Thanks for understanding.


Steven Sackberg,
jeffcu28

[MattAstr]

Wow, just by looking at that video I know something amazing is going to be in-store.

I'm gonna go try it now and edit my post when I've played it.

EDIT:

Alright, got to play it, and it's amazing!

The intro and visuals are mindblowing, they're in my opinion as good as they get. The way you presented the storyline (without speech bubbles) was great, and the look of everything in it was perfect, mainly the chariot. The music and sound effects were very fitting too.

Now for the actual gameplay, the most important part. It felt like a very unique survival challenge, since some other survival challenges don't move past one scene and almost all of them don't have a story, which makes your level stand out alot. The platforming was top notch, and quite addicting too, the only problem being each time I failed I had to watch the opening scene again. It's great to watch but just a little time consuming. But none the less..

5 stars and a heart!

[lbpawesomeness]

YAY another level from Jeffcu 28, i've played all of your levels and think their amazing. The visuals were mindblowing, especially the chariot and all the detail gone into the buildings and intro is amazing. It was very fun and is quite addictive, the story was great aswell. This is a sure winner for the contest and is probably one of the best survival challenges i've played. I loved all of your other levels and this didn't dissapoint. Good luck for the contest! and a .

[Alismuffin]

Ok now this level is AMAZING!
But I will let you know a few things that bothered me.
First off, although the intro is EPIC!! (loved the storytelling aspect) it was a pain to have to sit through everytime u restart. I suggest giving the option to skip the intro. Next i found that the chandalier u have to survive on wasnt clear enough on instructions. It could have said something because at first it seemed like a platforming survival.

[Alismuffin]

But although those two things were bothersome, overall the beauty of the visuals, storytelling and gameplay gave u a solid score of 6stars and 5 hearts

[famouscustard]

Hey jeffcu!
This is an incredible level, really, really good. The design was beautiful, the look anf feel of the level was definately the highlight. My only complaint would be the same as ali, it wasn't that clear at the beginning where you had to go or what you had to do, so I was wondering aroun for a bit.
Nevertheless, brilliant level, an obvious heart.

[jeffcu28•]

@ MattAstr

Wow, just by looking at that video I know something amazing is going to be in-store.

I'm really glad you enjoyed the mini movie. Hehe. I had a blast making it, and I kept chuckling the whole time.

Also, thank you very much for your kind words about the level. I kind of felt like I rushed it a bit because of school work, so I'm really happy to hear that you think it's "top-notch." Will you be publishing a survival challenge too? I'll leave feedback for it if you do...Thanks for playing and your feedback again!


@lbpawesomeness
Thank you for playing my new level and for being such a loyal player. Hehe. I'm thrilled that you liked it! I'll be leaving feedback for Graffiti City when I find time...

@famous ali custard muffin

Thank you both for playing my level and for the really helpful feedback. You both said something similar that came up when salieri playtested my level, so I will address them together:

it was a pain to have to sit through everytime u restart. I suggest giving the option to skip the intro. Next i found that the chandalier u have to survive on wasnt clear enough on instructions. It could have said something because at first it seemed like a platforming survival.

My only complaint would be the same as ali, it wasn't that clear at the beginning where you had to go or what you had to do, so I was wondering aroun for a bit.

salieri pretty much voiced this concern, suggesting that I split the level in two: make a survival challenge with the chandelier and then make an entire new level with everything in the beginning. The problem was that the level is misleading. The introduction primes the player for a full level when it's actually just a survival challenge, and the ending also seemed abrupt in that sense.

However, I was hesitant to chop off the beginning because I was going along the lines of what MattAstr said:

It felt like a very unique survival challenge, since some other survival challenges don't move past one scene and almost all of them don't have a story, which makes your level stand out alot.

I really dislike quicky levels. As much as it would be convenient to just plop the player on the chandelier on the get go, I couldn't get myself to do it. I needed to do something more. But you're right. Giving the player an option to skip the intro would have been a fantastic workaround, but given my time constraints, I don't think I would've had the time to incorporate it...

As for instructions, I thought it was pretty straight forward; it's just realizing that the chandelier is the actual survival challenge that might cause problems. But if people are still having problems, I guess I can republish with more instructions...

Thanks again for both of your constructive feedbacks; I hope you'll find my feedback for both of your levels as valuable too.


Tiredly yours,
jeffcu28

[Alismuffin]

hmm yea. i mean you could have gas emit to make the player "teleport" to the end of the intro

oh yea yea i meant that it was hard to know that the chandalier was the survival part. instructions are, as u said, unneeded. An indication would suffice

[Domik12]

Hi, jeffcu28! WOW! You did brilliant work! With all its features this level looks like some good adventure level or maybe horror quest. Very beautiful environments and great main idea. I love intro but I agree with ali985 and famouscustard that it will be better to have skip option somehow. Anyway - I had much fun during play on this level and I gave you 5 stars and heart for it! Great work and good luck with Taffey's Survival Challenge.

[himoks]

The survival level was just AMAZING!! All looked good that i gave it 5 stars and 2 hearts.

[X-FROGBOY-X]

This looks awesome, I've been a fan of your levels ever since I played Zen.

[Captain Rule]

Wow, This level is amazing. I love your ?mansion?. It is great! I am working on a level that has a mansion in it and I feel fully shamed at what I thought was a great looking mansion after seeing yours. The scale of this level was amazing. I really love the story and the stage coach thingy was amazing. The survival aspect was good, at first I thought it was going to be ridiculously easy (because of the speed) but it sped up a lot and became much more difficult. It was all really great fun, I gave you and a . Hi5 for another great level.

[Spark151]

Whoa! though this was another new level, until I read survival.
Although, after reading that this level made you feel like if you were making a real level, then that makes this feel more motivated.

Anyways, I'm going to check this level out when I have the time.

[VelcroJonze]

Jeff!!

At last a new level by you. I was so happy when I saw your thread. This is truly a piece of art. Beautiful in every aspect. The carriage ride, the narrative, the mansion (I love how it opened up and revealed the back plane), and then the challenge itself. The moving chandelier was very pretty and very fun. It was easy at first then the challenge begins. I loved it. The lag was noticeable but I think it actually helped me get a couple combos, so I am not complaining. This was a great level you made here.


Don't worry about a F4F, and of course you get a heart for this.

Until Zen II

[Inva]

The level and Design looks really nice, and I love how you made the carriage, But its always bothered me when "survival" type maps include long Unskipable intro's.
And I've played it 3 times before I stoped trying I kept dying when I would "leave" the mansion and go into the garden, My Sackboy wouldn't jump for me, and I got tired of the intro xD. Those are just my little notes, otherwise this is a great level ^_^.