CRySTaL MeTHoDoLoGY (Part 1) [PUZZLER]

[THe EGG]

http://lbp.me/v/8f1n0j

[LBP COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT] You are stranded on a strange moon, with nothing in your company but a strange spaceman who keeps running away, and a host of crystal-based technology. Solve the puzzles to find a way through in CRySTaL MeTHoDoLoGY by THe_EGG.

1 PLAYER RECOMMENDED.







http://lbp.me/v/8f1n0j

[biorogue]

your avatar makes me want an omelet. this level sounds intriguing, is it any good? Your not suckering me into a zombie sharks chunking lava bricks survival are you? I just went to the LBP.me and saw the pics. yay, it's NOT zombie sharks chunking lava! Looks good and it's resting peacefully in my queue.

[RakasaPlus]

Thanks for playing my level! I'll play yours later today when I get a chance i'm sure it puts mine to shame lol.

[Mr_Fusion•]

This looks and plays pretty well, but I got stuck in a part and couldn't work out how to get past. The camera zooms way out and you have to jump on pink plucks to get over a pit full of water, if you fall down there is an elevator to get back up... and way I grabbed the crystal and dragged it to a red block to go to the next screen but it looks as if you need another crystal to go down the shaft.

[THe EGG]

thanks for playing Mr Fusion!
i did have a hint at that bit which i took off because i wasn't sure it was necessary - i'll put it back on! You don't need 2 crystals - just use the first one on a different way.....

Try it again or have a go at part 2 if u like. Need a reveiw on any of your levels?

[THe EGG]

Don't be shy people - dive in!

It's really cool i promise...it took me months and needs more than 8 plays - i'd really like to break double figures!

i will pay hard cash for plays

p.s thanks for the review Jester946, glad you liked it

[zynax555]

Here's what I have to say so far...

I really liked the aesthetics of your level; they were very well executed. The theme was coherent and original. I especially liked the outdoor segments visually; the shape of the hills give them some very nice rolling qualities. Your use of stickers and decorations was very good as well; I see a lot of people just throwing as many decorations into their level as possible resulting in some pretty ugly stuff, but you've kept everything very intentional and natural looking. The indoor sections were nice too, very clean cut and well thought out, though some of the transitions from hard to soft edged materials seemed jarring.

I liked your puzzles for the most part. You had some clever gameplay mechanics that you built on as the level progressed. The only puzzle that bothered me was the pink block bridge puzzle (part where it zooms out really far). It's rather deceptive and unclear in a not so good way. For the longest time (a good 30minutes) I thought I had to somehow get the far upper right block to come out so I could jump the gap. I was confused whether it was possible since none of the blocks seemed to push it out and worked on that for 15 minutes; I then concluded the upper right block would only come out if I could somehow got all of the other blocks to be pushed out at once, which seemed near impossible as I struggled with that for another 15 minutes. After a while I thought maybe the level was broken since the far upper left block didn't do anything and I thought it was glitched, so I restarted. I eventually just tried to jump the gap from the 2nd closest block which didn't look like I could make, but I did. The puzzle was misleading and had too many elements that could easily be misinterpreted. I would suggest cleaning up the puzzle so it doesn't have so many extraneous elements (mostly just making the bridge part of the puzzle make more sense to solve). Don't get me wrong, I liked that puzzle, just that one element of it was a bit off and led me to a lot of unnecessary frustration.

Anyway, yeah, I liked your level and I'm currently playing part 2!

[RakasaPlus]

Sorry about the delay Egg I'm going to play this level right now and review it , thanks again for reviewing my level.

[THe EGG]

Thanks for the feedback RakasaPlus and Zynax555!

I tried to create something a litlle less cutsie with a sad, lost in space feel so i'm glad you liked the atmosphere. The game mechanics are simple but allow quite complicated puzzles as they are combined. This is really shown in Part 2 but i am worried it's too hard!

Zynax - thanks for the feedback on the bridge. I will tweak this puzzle tonight and republish. The plan is, as you recommended, to adjust the sequence of jumps, make the final jump of the bridge from the top right block only and make the landing more clear! It's so hard to take a step back and think how people will interpret your level once you've been making it for so long. Thanks for spending the time!

[samalot]

Played it and really enjoyed it
ed

No real problems to be honest,
I supose one fun addition could be that if you collect all those pink bonuses, you get a prize

[THe EGG]

Thanks Samalot, good sugestion. I originally made one massive level but then ran out of thermo and so i've split it into two parts with a level link. Trouble is, there is no computer at the end of the first half which means i can't give prizes or give a proper ending (i quite like the flow between the two levels though).

I had thought of this but I'd be interested in peoples opinion - should i put a computer at the end of Part 1?

[THe EGG]

The bridge has been tweaked and a little hint added...should be better and clearer now - let me know any other suggestions!

If you're looking at this thread and are not sure whether to play the level or not - you should. It's better than a christmas turkey stuffed with money

BYe THe EGG

[pickled-punk]

Hi Egg,

I played your levels a few days ago and really enjoyed them.
Very nice, original visuals. Nice juxtaposition of organic outside and sterile tunnels inside. Effective usage of the different layers to create depth and detail. Really nice title sequence.
The puzzles are really well done. Not to hard or to straightforward (the pull-switch-then-push-button variety), but just right. Challenging but fair.

Yes, considering part 2 is WAY harder, I would put up a scoreboard at the end of your first level. Nice to see how your players make do.

Great job! Looking forward to your next levels!

Btw, did you manage to finish my level Hollow World with the hint i posted?

[RakasaPlus]

Hi Egg,

I played your levels a few days ago and really enjoyed them.
Very nice, original visuals. Nice juxtaposition of organic outside and sterile tunnels inside. Effective usage of the different layers to create depth and detail. Really nice title sequence.
The puzzles are really well done. Not to hard or to straightforward (the pull-switch-then-push-button variety), but just right. Challenging but fair.

Yes, considering part 2 is WAY harder, I would put up a scoreboard at the end of your first level. Nice to see how your players make do.

Great job! Looking forward to your next levels!

Btw, did you manage to finish my level Hollow World with the hint i posted?

Hey Pickle, I enjoyed Eggs level too, I was just wondering if your levels (Deliver me from Eve) are all the same kind of level genre because I plan to play them all later today because they look interesting.

[THe EGG]

Thanks pickled-punk, glad you liked it!

I'm happy you noticed the organic/inorganic mix that i was going for. As soon as found the 'rubber with a white sticker' look, the aestheics flowed from that - i love the roundedness and the texture of the rubber material - sounds a bit kinky!

I will put in a scoreboard and maybe think of some reward for collecting the pink score crystals.

For the treasure hunters out there...there is one 500 point crystal somewhere on the level and a secret cave.....

Merry xmas from the UK everyone! Cheers!