Reviews 4 Hugs, or Gold, either one.

[JonnysToyRobot]

Football Kick by Thunderbolt444

I think the last thing you can call this level is ambitious, it's as simple as it comes: a goal moves up and down and you must press X at the right time so a football goes in a goal. "Surely there's more?" you must be asking, but no I mean it, that's it. Oh sure, you have 2 minutes to score as many goals as possible but if anything 2 minutes is too long.

With a concept this basic, you really expect the execution to be flawless and all in all I'm afraid I found it pretty clunky. Actually aiming your shots is something that seems to have an element of randomness to it, I pride myself on having the reaction time of your average ninja but sometimes I'd hit the ball in the same place as I had before and it would move at a completely different angle, which confused me. On top of this, I've had balls bounce into the goal and then disappear without giving me any points at all.

Thunderbolt444's slap-dash approach has also been applied to the visuals. No effort, at all, has been put into making the level look even remotely like a football pitch and if he wasn't trying to do this (then why the crowd?), then I'm quite sure he could have done much more than making a large block of one material, cutting a square into it and adding 2 stickers. If you want to see what I'm talking about a picture has been put up for us.

Maybe I'm looking at this in the same way that I view a full level and maybe that's the reason I'm being so harsh. But really, for a mini-game style level like this the gameplay+visuals are more important than ever. I guess it is original to an extent, that extent being that it's another take on the basketball levels, but originality only matters if the rest of the level can stand on its own merits, otherwise it's pointless.

I can't help but thinking that this level came out of the creator seeing some repetitive and simple, yet successful versus level, and tried to make his own. Then he could figure out how to make it multiplayer and forgot that these levels are only popular because of local competition.

Now let's have a look at my checklist.

Originality: average
Gameplay: poor
Visuals: poor
Ingenuity: poor
Glitches: found
Impression I've left on any future person who wants a review after a track record of only ever posting negative reviews: very poor.

I didn't like this level, maybe you will if you're in to competing against yourself, but if Thunderbolt444 put as much effort into making the level as he has promoting it then we'd have a much more refined and playable experience on our hands

It may seem like I only do these reviews to rant at people, I don't. Bring on the next victim!

@TnTyson: Oh hi there...

@Thunderbolt444: It's probably a good thing I didn't try the zombie level :P But honestly, I've layered out my points and I hope you take them into account when making new levels. (:

[TnTyson]

Oh and I can only pay in hugs as golds a bit scarce at the mo

[JonnysToyRobot]

LBP: Sack-Kart GP (Stage 1) by Odd-Kid

Grumble gumble, I only ever give negative reviews, grumble, and now I have to break that trend.

First off, this level is good.

Now, I know I said I would put a huge amount of emphasis on originality and this isn't especially original, but it's absolutely solid in all other respects and, in it's own way, does manage to have some originality. Visually however, the level is stunning. I don't think I've ever come across top-down levels that look quite this good, what's more is that there's a perspective trick employed to make it look like some parts of the level are actually sloping (which we all know is impossible) and again, I've never seen that done before.

I think the thing that stuck me most about this level is the little things, that's not to say the unimportant things, but the things that you don't think you'd notice. The first example would be the fake-sloping thing I've already mentioned, however as well as this you have things like the acceleration being mapped to R2 to allow you to change speed and the loudness of the engine depending on the acceleration.

You even slow down if you go on the grass... now that's attention to detail.

The gameplay itself was smooth and well thought out, it isn't possible to just hold your finger down on R2 since there are some places where you really need to slow down to turn and I like that, it incorporates skill into the level. I never found much use for the power-slide however, mostly because I tried it and wasn't sure what it actually did. This is possibly due to my TV being miniscule and the cart being quite small itself though.

It saddens me that this level has such a small amount of plays, but then again this isn't the only example of a great level being completely ignored by the community. I imagine that it's incredibly fun when playing with friends (I had to play on my own because I'm "so ronery"), but then again it's probably because this type of level has been done to death that it hasn't had much exposure.

I managed all 5 laps of this pretty long course, by myself, without getting bored. That should show you just how good it is. This is basic top-down kart racing done to perfection.

Level Hearted. See, I can be nice too, on occasion.

[TnTyson]

See I knew it wasn't just me WOO

Now f you want to have a moan again, you can try my levels. Both are VERY simple (I'm new to all this don't ya know) and I'm looking at incorperating atmosphere etc in my next levels. But the way you write reviews I would be very grateful for your input as to whats good and whats bad.

Feel free to abuse me I've got thick skin

Glasshouse http://lbp.me/v/x67wv6

Grappletastic http://lbp.me/v/yeqrjd



Oh and I'll send you hugs later lolzilla!

[rialrees•]

Hey Johnny, welcome back! Being as it's been a while, I'd still like a review, but now I'd prefer one on my most recent level, a movie intro to my upcoming puzzle/platformer series.

The humour may not be to everyone's taste but I'd love to hear your take on it

http://lbp.me/v/xyws-0

many thanks!

[ll_ye]

http://lbp.me/v/yjyqr2 My level is now updated and I hope you can review it. You're harsh, I like that.

[Thunderbolt444]

You didn't tell me what to do - you just had a massive rant fest. Every other review was 10/10, 5 stars and a heart, and so forth, so you can just be the exception. I even was put on a list on LBL as one of the four best new releases this week.I can't believe "orginality" was only average. I have never seen a level like this before.

As I said, I probably won't take yours into account, basically because you didn't tell me really what I should do. You're the first person to give me a negative review. You're just the eception.

And I think people generally like it by looking at the level stats. Just not you.

And when the goal isn't counted if the ball goes in there:

1. If you knew Football/Soccer, the whole ball must go in the goal for it to be counted;

2. Even if the whole ball goes in and it's not counted, it's not my fault. The ball is to quick and the tag sensor doesn't detect it.

You didn't say anything about the menu. That took a while. You just took all the negatives and mushed them up, leaving out the postives.

[JonnysToyRobot]

Thunderbolt444 please, calm down. I told you what was wrong with the level, and there doesn't have to be a fix for it since I took issue with the concept as a whole. Otherwise, I said that you were messy with the visuals so it doesn't take a huge stretch of the imagination to work out what I want done :P

I know how football works, the fix for that one is to possibly make the lifespan of the ball longer so it get's to the back of the net/ wherever the sensor is before it disappears.

A menu is a nice touch, but it does not make a level better or worse, so I didn't mention it.

A quick reality check for you sir, you always have to be ready to face and accept criticism. Does me being negative make me wrong? No. I'm not in a small minority either - 3:1 Likes to dislikes shows this.

Anywho...

@TnTyson Just played your Glasshouse level, is it okay if I do a half review, half level advice thingy? Think it could be good (:

@rial + ll - I'm gonna go off and play your respective levels right now, I can't promise I'll get the reviews done today though.

[TnTyson]

Yeah Jonny that'd be cool, like I say these things are my first baby steps so ALL advice is more than welcome.

Also I've set your levels to try next time I'm on

@Thunderbolt...
Chill fella, all reviewers look at things differently, Jonny is very often on the harsh side and you can see that by reading some of his stuff. If you want some one to pat you on the head and tell you how good you are you better off asking your Mum/Dad/Gran/pet gopher.

[JonnysToyRobot]

Glasshouse by Tntyson
And a few tips for very new creators

What I'm going to do with this review is to go through a few things that I (as in personally, as in "if I say something you think is wrong don't slaughter me") would suggest to newish level creators and then apply it the TnTyson's level.

1) Assume every player is borderline retarded

By this I mean make everything blindingly obvious. This can be done simply, i.e putting everything you need on the screen where the player can see them, by signs or, how I prefer to do it, with game cameras. The first one being the most necessary of course, TnTyson is a bit guilty of putting things you need to grapple where you can't see them and it's only by guesswork that you actually get to them. He does put signs in, I'll give him that, but they're in glass so they're hard to see and personally I saw them and thought they just meant jump.

2) Make it challenging, but not in a cheap way

I want to know when I play a level that I died because I made a mistake, not because the level is bleeding impossible :P My general rule is if I can ace a level I've made pretty easily, it's about the right difficulty. You have to remember that you made the level, so will know every single distance/trick it has so if you die when playing it too often it's usually because you've made it too hard. Again, TnTyson had places in his level where I literally had to repeat 20 odd times to get it *just* right.

3) If it can be done in one layer, do it in one layer, not in all of them

This is a smaller, but nevertheless important thing. If everything in your level is made using 3-layer deep materials, change it to one. This doesn't change how the level plays at all, gives you space in the background to put decorations and it's quicker to make. Be sure to put it all in the front layer though otherwise you can jump off. TnTyson didn't do this and it would've helped a lot if (s)he did.

4) Before you start a level, think of a concept for it that makes it different

TnTyson actually did this, I just wanted to bring it up :P When making a level you have to think "what will make people want to play this?" Now you don't see too many fully glass levels chucking about the place so I commend him on this. However, then you have to think "does this concept work?" and in this case there are many flaws with fully glass levels. For example, if you spawn next to an obstacle you have to backtrack and take a run up.

5) Variety

Within your concept, think of how you can stretch and expand it to allow as much variety as possible. This is especially important with longer levels to stop people becoming bored. TnTyson did this to an extent with multiple grappling hook sections spliced with normal platforming but I felt he could have done more. Even (possibly) adding a part where there's some non-glass material as well to help with the platforming.

At the same time as this, don't try and pack in everything. I noticed a grabinator section where all you did was remove a bomb from a bouncepad. This may have worked better without the grabinator.

6) The Devil's in the detail

You have to think that when you're making a level you're effectively exchanging time for like-ratings. Anything you can do, however minute, will make a level more enjoyable. People will pick up on them and quite a lot of the time will forgive you for a lot of things now that they've seen that you've put that extra bit of effort in.

This also applies to visuals, learn to love the corner editor. Some good creators will literally just lay down one block of material and then only use the corner editor from there on. It allows you to make everything really smooth and stops me from noticing where a square was used, triangle, circle etc. TnTyson again, this is to you :P

7) Practice is horrible but necessary

Do you know how many levels I made before I made 2 half-decent ones? 12. Now not all of them had much effort put into them but you learn form each one. On top of this try to pick up things when you play other peoples' levels or even story levels. "What are they doing here? What materials are they using? How much detail do they pack in? How did they make this?" These are things you should be asking yourself all the time. Also, even though originality is important don't be afraid to take inspiration from other people. This is more general of course, but if you take a little bit of this, a little of that, you end up with something that is unique and yours. No one got anywhere without taking the best ideas and refining them. Think of the lightbulb and car for instance, two inventions that weren't good at all until someone else came over and improved them.

If you don't enjoy doing it, don't do it

Some people enjoy spending months on one level, I don't. So they've got hundreds of hearts and I'm stuck with a lot less :P But I have fun with it and, apparently, that's what matters.

So TnTyson, I know this wasn't a normal review, but hopefully you picked up a lot of things from this and realise the problems that I had (:

[TnTyson]

Thank you very much Jonny, I've had a few people say this and that but I really like the way you've put it all out and I will definitely put (hopefully) all of what you said into practise in future.

I appreciate the time you've taken.

Just as a side note having read your guidance I can see a few problems with the second level I made but please feel free to have a look (Grappletastic http://lbp.me/v/yeqrjd)
I wouldn't expect a full review as you've done so much here but I relate to your feedback and if you do find time to give it quick once over again it'd be muchly appreciated.

And for your effort here is your hug....



Edit:- I also meant to say it's nice to have an objective point of view, most people who've played my level are friends and well they just say things like "Yeah, it's alright mate."

[JonnysToyRobot]

The Printz Diares: Prologue by Rialrees

Now I have to start by saying that I don't think I'm really qualified to review a movie seeing as I've never made one. In any case, I'll have a crack at it. Just expect some rookie errors :P

I've always been skeptical of movies, in my mind at least they're often used as a cop-out from making a "proper" level. By that I mean that they take less effort and often get more plays than a level since people know it's not going to take any effort to get through, unless it's terrible of course. However, I'm happy to announce that this little movie is actually surprisingly good.

Let's see what we can talk about.... oh yes, scenery. Seeing as this is a movie, the detail in the scenery is incredibly important. Rialrees does a good job of it, not amazingly so but it's got a noticeable amount of polish on it, I'd just like a few more little details to give my wandering eyes something to be pleasantly entertained by :P There were some really excellent bits though, such as the puppet-shadow scene which I thought was really inventive and well executed.

The script was good, a few funny moments here and there but it's nothing too sophisticated. There aren't any undertones or really unusual quirky parts but then again you shouldn't be expected to worry about them. I just study Shakespeare, I need my undertones . The voice acting was pretty good, nothing special but you're not exactly going to pay poeple to do it, are you. (are you?) I have a funny image in my head of you herding your family round a mic and forcing them to say lines, I have no idea how close to the truth that it :P Oh, the mic itself is a bit annoying at times. It's just a little too fuzzy. I'm not sure how much of that is LBP though. Again, I don't make movies.

There were little things like the sound effects and comic-style lighting effects that I really enjoyed and stood out to me as coming from someone who knows what they're trying to achieve and how to go about doing that. It worked too, which is more than you can ever ask for.

If you want a few minutes to relax in between stressful survival levels and want to see something genuinely entertaining, I'd recommend checking this out.

I don't know what else to talk about with movies ):

Looks like all other reviews will be tomorrow, it's getting a bit late now and I want at least some time when I'm not writing :P Thanks for the hug TnT

[Thunderbolt444]

On the new Football Kick version, it's about 1:7 dislikes to likes.

And you honestly don't think a menu makes a level any better?

I mean, here's an example of another review:

"Here's what I thought.

Football Kick:
PROS:
Unique- I have not played a level like this before. It was nice to play something new.
The crowd of people was a nice touch, I liked the fact that there were spectators.
The menu was another great thing about your level. The fact that you explained to people what do do. A lot of people just put their players into their game with no explaination whatsoever. This was well done.
CONS:
I could not aim. Maybe this was just me, but I couldn't aim the ball where I wanted it to go.

Overall, I would rate this a 8/10. It was unique, it has a lot of potential and it was very fun! Although, I couldn't aim the ball which I thought was somewhat aggravating."

I mean, you should at least state the Pro's and Con's in a review. Not just all the bad stuff and mash it up.

Oh well.

[JonnysToyRobot]

Can you please take you attitude elsewhere, you're beginning to embarrass yourself. You came here asking for a review, not outright praise so more people play your level.

If you actually read what the other review said without only going to the score, you'd realise that he said your level did not work but he was only being nice about it. I "took all the bad stuff and mashed it together" (which doesn't make sense by the way, oh and also I thought you want to improve the level) because that's all I had to work with. Seriously, you need to grow up. Now kindly go away and annoy someone else. :/

[Thunderbolt444]

If it "did not work", why did he give it 8/10? If you read it, he said he couldn't aim, not that it didn't work. (The aiming is when you kick the ball, by the way).

Furthermore, what doesn't make sense with "took all the bad stuff and mashed it together"? That's what you basically did; that is took all the negatives and mashed them up into a 'review'.

At the end of the day, I'm a 13 year old kid who's trying to make levels to please everyone and tell you what you should add to your reviews (pros and cons). I don't want to argue with you.