Journey to the Moon--Spotlighted! Yay!

[Bercilak]

http://lbp.me/v/534m27

NEWLY UPDATED!

I have just made some fairly substantial changes to the level, which address some problems, as well as make the gameplay a little more slick and, hopefully, a little more fun, too. I have returned the gravity to 100%, as opposed to 70%, making the platforming a little more sprightly rather than floaty. I've added bounce pads to the first section of the Moon proper, both to alleviate some problems with people getting stuck as well as to add some dynamism. For the most part, I've turned off the automatic bounce, which I think was a brilliant move on MM's part. Spinning platforms have been sped up a bit, not so much in the interest of additional challenge, but to help with pacing.

The big change is the replacement of the Paintinator with a Creatinator Death Ray, which, I think, is pretty funky in its retro-futurist stylings, and adds something to the overall atmosphere and aesthetic of the level during the shooting section. I really love the physicality of the paint, as well as the splotchy mess it leaves everywhere, but I wanted to add some extra vintage sci-fi groove to the proceedings.

I'm thinking now of tweaking the boss to make it more of a challenge. Right now it's a total pushover, and while I think most people like how it looks, it doesn't really live up to its menacing denouement. That said, I really want to get to the sequel, "Escape from the Moon," so the sawblade monstrosity may just have to wait...

This level really began with some crazy, steampunkish laboratory gizmos and a freaky sawblade monstrosity, all of which somehow prompted me to watch Méliès silent film, Le voyage dans la lune, and, suddenly, the introduction to a level was born! The second half is a composite of silly spacecraft I've been cobbling together, and some ideas around putting things into orbit around other things using movers and rotators and the like. Hope you like!

[bdT96000]

You have a very good level here. The introduction is well made as are the other cut-scenes. It looks as though you spent a lot of time on the design of the level and it seems to of paid off. I especially liked it because the scenery has never been done before or not that I've seen. Combined with some good game play, this level is very entertaining. I couldn't find any problems so well done!

[biorogue]

what an awesome thread. Thank you for caring enough about your level, to put the time and effort in to posting a brief description and adding pics. I love the way it looks. I think I was hooked from seeing your rocket made from the barrel and house tops. Off to the queue

[rialrees•]

There is a really great style to this level, and I had a great laugh playing through the first few sections. Some really interesting ideas for gameplay, and a unique take on a moonscape theme. I wanted to let you know however about a little issue which prevented me from continuing at one point.

When I first picked up the grabinators, and had a meteor next to me, I assume I was meant to throw the meteor so that it would orbit around the cupcake. However, in my hastiness, I slid off the edge and fell to my doom, and the meteor did not respawn for me to reattempt.

Just thought I'd let you know. Otherwise, a great level!

[Bercilak]

That's odd. The meteor has a tag sensor and should blow up if it falls anywhere other than the cupcake's orbit. It must be getting stuck on the clouds below and still within range of the tag. I'll check it out tonight or tomorrow. Thanks for the heads-up.

If you have the time and patience, try continuing through the end of the level, and definitely let me know about any other game-breaking bugs.

[rialrees•]

For sure - I mean to return, have no fear

EDIT: You're going to come to hate me.

I triecd again just now, and the asteroids do indeed respawn, but there was a problem with the cheese. (god how randonm does that sound? lol!) where I would throw the asteroid towards the cheese, but the orbit wouldn't trigger. it worked once, but then broke multiple times afterward. The asteroid did however respawn, but only on death (returning to checkpoint) so it may be an idea to add an asteroid resapwn at that point also. Not sure what's happening with the orbit though, trying again now!

LAST EDIT: Whoot! third times the charm!

Finally finished and I'm really glad I perservered. I found no other game breaking issues that need to be resolved, and boy the level really does heat up after the section I was having trouble with, so I really hope you can fix these issues, to make sure more people get to see what I just did.

This is really a great level - fantastic visuals, great enemies (that boss was really well planned out, and engaging) and a great all round treatment of the theme.

Yayed, hearted, and tweeted for good measure :P

[Bercilak]

Thanks again. I'm glad you liked the latter portion.

The respawn problem had to do with a bit of logic I put in to try and make the asteroids refresh upon death. I was wonderimg if people might get antsy waiting for the asteroids to orbit back round if they had to come back after dying. The trigger was one second platform, though, so you had to make it that far for the asteroids to emit. It was all about convenience, though, so I just got rid of that switch.

I don't know what the deal is with the orbit on the second part with the cheese. The orbiting objects throughout the level use a tag system. The cheese and the planet above it each have tags that switch on and off to make the asteroid do its figure-eight double orbit. If the bottom one is off, then the asteroid just falls when you throw it. I'll check it out again, but I'm pretty sure the problem you had was the result of the respawn issue, so it shouldn't happen anymore.

Thanks again!

[Daniesi94]

This looks nice, I'll queue it up!

[LittleBigDes]

Ooooh (eyes wide open at the fancy pictures) this looks very steampunk come moonscape type of level. I'm adding it to my queue straight away. Be warnbed PSN is due to be down today so I may not get to play it today and I have a small backlog of levels. But I will get to it.

[Erebus]

Played it and....whoooa what an amazing LV you created their also played some of your other LVs and I have to say you truly deserv more plays greatings and keep up that good work.

[LittleBigDes]

Hi played your level and a left a review:

Great design & opening scene, with some unique obstacles & gameplay. But I got stuck at the spaceship you shoot that turns over to reveal jump pads.



The gap to jump was just too big. Maybe I missed something BUT I'll be back. Let me know as it seems odd as I've hearted it so I can come back and try again. Then I can give you a better feedback.

[Bercilak]

The gap to jump was just too big. Maybe I missed something BUT I'll be back. Let me know as it seems odd as I've hearted it so I can come back and try again. Then I can give you a better feedback.

Crap! That mecha is attached to the nearby rocket with an invisible string. I thought I made it shorter after the same thing happened to me, but I guess I didn't make it short enough. I'll fix it shortly.

UPDATE: Now fixed!

[StaticLinuxpro]

Looks great!

[danny41445]

This is an an absolutely magnificent level that should be more popular indeed. The abstract, steampunk theme was thoroughly detailed and I was flabbergasted at the time and effort you put into this masterpiece. I'm going to look into more of your levels because this is one of the greatest levels iv'e seen.

[JustinArt]

That was an amazing level, despite the bugs that prevented me from going through process of this level.

VISUALS:
The steampunk style at the beginning looked pretty impressive, and the moon world is filled with clever visuals like the stickers and the destroyed ships. Also, the Victoria's Lab background surprisingly fitted well in this level.

SOUND:
Good use of sounds and musics.

GAMEPLAY:
The platforming gameplay is very good in this level, and it has good use of the Paintinator. I think what should be changed is that when the balancing pillars at the beginning of the sublevel that's on the right side, when the left pillar is high, players cannot go back on it when they're near the rotating moon. You should have probably add a bounce pad near it or something like that. Also, near the gate that looked like leads to boss' arena, the gate didn't seem to open. Maybe there's a logic failure that prevented the door from opening.

OVERALL:
I couldn't finish this level because of a couple of bugs I mentioned, but it was a blast. Congrats on having this level get spotlighted. A yay.