Expedition Yagon - Part 1

[Shiwayari]

So I am finally finished with my first level after LBP's release (not counting the Switch Level). I have been working on this since a few days after release and have probably spent more than 200 hours and 100 (not all through whole level, though) playthroughs on it. The thermometer is 100% full. I can't even place one block of glass, or it overheats and I can't save it. Like always, what took the most time is fixing bugs over and over again. I'm always surprised when another exellent creator published a 5 star level and says it took about 50 hours, but maybe it's just me being slow.
My initial plan was to make a really big level, but realizing the thermometer limits I had to give up on that and decided to make a series of levels. This is part one.
After working on this level for such a long time, I have totally lost the ability to judge it myself, so the following description might not be 100% accurate


I'll list some aspects of the level with comments behind; I think it's easier to read than a long description..

- Story driven
As far as I got due to thermo restraints. I'm more of a logical person myself and not really into writing, but I tried to make it decent. I found it was ok while playing it a few times.

- Designed for one player.
I wanted to add some multiplayer experience, but halfway through I realized that I don't have thermometer-space nor did I check if gameplay was good with more than one player. I hope it's still a fun experience!

- Platforming elements combined with puzzles.
I hope they're not too easy or too hard to figure out, I can't judge it anymore ^^

- Backtracking.
If I just look at the level neutrally, it's not really big, but the thermometer is still full. The thing is, you have to go back a lot, which helps expanding the experience and I found also adds an interesting way of discovering things.

- Difficutly:
Only taking in count my own abilities here, noone else played it yet.
_- Avarage to Hard in some places.
_- Easy to complete, because of mostly unlimited checkpoints.
_- But a real pain to ace. (Still didn't after ~50 plays xD)
There are no prize bubbles, as I didn't want to annoy players with more useless stuff. No acing prize either, because I think it's to hard. Might add one later though.
_- Okay, after some feedback, it seems the level is actually **** hard =o..

- Hopefully no "****, I'm stuck"
One of the most important things I took into account when creating, is that it is (almost) impossible to get stuck. If you try hard to get stuck, then you might, but you should not get stuck by accident. If something goes wrong, you can always go back and try again.
_- What I mean with getting stuck is that it gets impossible to finish the level. Due to the difficulty you might get stuck somewhere, meaning you won't know what to do next.
_- It seems there are still some bugs, but I never encountered any more than I fixed.

- No cheating.
Another main focus. I made sure that a challenge does not disappear because you died once and come back. If you die, you have to try again.

- A bit of MGS.
When I was about half finished with the level, the MGS content came and I totally loved it and thought it fits well into the theme. Though I didn't use it a lot, it wouldn't have been possible without.

Some not so good things:
- There is one minor bug, which I cannot fix. The cause is the object capture and emitting bug of patch 1.07, so I cannot do anything about it. It should not be harmful to the gameplay in any way though. You might not even notice.

_- **Even though MM now fixed the bug, it still didn't vanish from the level. I don't know if I'll be able to fix it at all, as the mechanics are hard to take apart.

- Sadly, I'm not skilled at making stunning visuals. I tried my best while going through the level and I think it looks ok. I tried to add some more decorations at the end, but the thermometer soon gave up and didn't let me add anymore.

- The global lighting. There is a part in a cave and I did not find a global light setting which looks dark, still has enough light to see and creates a good atmosphere. I wish there would just be an option to turn of those **** shadows, that are there due to the sunlight. I left it at daylight in the end, feel free to comment on how to make it look better.

- The badge. Yeah it's a small issue.. but WHY can't I make square screens and only 16:9 ones D=.


Hmm.. that's all I can come up with.
When giving feedback, keep in mind that I can add absolutely nothing. However, if there's something negative, feel free to tell me that this and that could be added. It still helps, even if I can't do anything about it. Also, please comment on difficulty. I think it could be quite troubling at some places and I can still tweak some settings.

So.. after a couple of feedback, I decided to make a video anyway, to use as a walkthough, because it seems the level is really too hard. I had to split it into 2 parts, because the level takes about 15 to 20 minutes.
So here they are:

[Watch YouTube Video]
[Watch YouTube Video]

Sorry for the really bad quality. I don't know much about video compression and then there's also those annoying lines whenever I record from my projector..

To finish:
PSN: Shiwayari
Level Name: Expedition Yagon, Part 1: Crystals open the Gate to Darkness?
Description: A discovery from a few months ago has told about ruins named Yagon and of an unbelieveable object being there. There are only a few days left to find them, but the hope is almost gone. Will you find them today?

______________________________________

I published a V2 of the level (omg, almost been a year? ), for more info, see my post on page 3 on the bottom.

[bren13240]

I'll check it out!

Her'es my level: Removed

[Doctor Ramatool]

Hey, just finished playing your level, didn't finish but here's what I thought of it so far.

PROS

-The backtracking is very well done...did have a problem with it though.. I'll list it later in the cons. May be what you intended though.

-Loved how you started the level...was really neat.

-That blue crystal challenge is just great... really one of the best challenges I've had in LBP in a while. Did have some problems with it though.

-Difficult.... I think one of the harder levels out there in my book... Its a fun difficult though and thats sometimes hard to pull off. So good job at that.

CONS

-Had to restart two times due to getting stuck... not because I died... the first time I took the blue crystal to where the yellow crystal door was located and it popped... couldnt go get another one either

-The second time... the part where you have to drop the stone down to access the cannon.... I dropped it... went down and it wasnt there heh.

-The blue crystal gas challenge... the first part where youre going vertical and not horizontal. Sometimes the gas would completely disappear and I wouldnt be able to see it at all. Also, some of the platforming there was hard to land on... not because of its size or anything.. but the angle I'd try to jump on it... probably took me 15 tries to get past this part.

-That whole part with the lava and figuring out where to take that red crystal or whatever it was keeping you alive ( awesome by the way ), was very confusing on what to do... I thought I had found all the things I needed to use it with... took the boat back and learned I needed the gold crystal.. had no idea where it was... and was on my last life on the boat (mainly because the falling fire blocks during the first trip with it... which seemed like they need not be there... couldnt avoid them and it just slowed what was an already slow boat ride down with the deaths)

-The cannon part with the blue crystal. Was very hard to tell where you needed to shoot it... in fact I was guessing the whole time... probably took me 5 minutes to figure out where I had to shoot it.

Suggestions

-Either make that blue crystal behind the moving stone guy a little more visable, or make it able to grab another blue crystal after its been shot up to the second spot for it.

-Not sure how you can fix the gas part.. but since it only happend a couple times and theres unlimited checkpoint for it really not a big deal.

-The lava part... make it more visable as to where you need to take that red crystal.

-I would just take the falling fire out of the boat ride.

I really enjoyed the level outside of the few problems I ran into and will certainly give it another try... I'm sure I just made a stupid mistake and missed that yellow crystal. Hearted you and the level. 4 Stars.


-

[Shiwayari]

Had to restart two times due to getting stuck... not because I died... the first time I took the blue crystal to where the yellow crystal door was located and it popped... couldnt go get another one either

Hmm.. I actually never thought of that possibility. I think I'll just make it impossible to take it down again by moving up the floor a bit.

-The second time... the part where you have to drop the stone down to access the cannon.... I dropped it... went down and it wasnt there heh.

After 100 times I have never experienced this.. I have absolutely no idea what would make it disappear. It's not made of dissolve and there nothing to smash it either..

-The blue crystal gas challenge... the first part where youre going vertical and not horizontal. Sometimes the gas would completely disappear and I wouldnt be able to see it at all. Also, some of the platforming there was hard to land on... not because of its size or anything.. but the angle I'd try to jump on it... probably took me 15 tries to get past this part.

Hm yeah I noticed that too, but it's a problem with the game and I can't do anything about it.
And the horizontal part was actually easier? I thought it would be **** hard xD I'm not sure what messed up your jumping, but I think I know what you mean. I could try making the platforms bigger, depending on what the thermo can endure.

-That whole part with the lava and figuring out where to take that red crystal or whatever it was keeping you alive ( awesome by the way ), was very confusing on what to do... I thought I had found all the things I needed to use it with... took the boat back and learned I needed the gold crystal.. had no idea where it was... and was on my last life on the boat (mainly because the falling fire blocks during the first trip with it... which seemed like they need not be there... couldnt avoid them and it just slowed what was an already slow boat ride down with the deaths)

Hmm.. I held back on explaining with the red crystal, I thought it was kind of small down there and it wasn't hard to figure out where to take it. Maybe I'll mark them a little more somehow.
But not finding the gold crystal surprised me. The first time you arrive with the boat, you can see a stone-material-stickered-crystal lying in a hole directly above you. There is even a quite big radius set to activate magic mouths, which tell you how to get the gold crystal.
About the falling fire stones. I was wondering wether it was okay or not, I guess it wasn't after all. Putting an infinite checkpoint onto the boat wouldn't be too easy and I probably can't do it due to the thermo. I guess I'll remove a few dropping fire stones.

-The cannon part with the blue crystal. Was very hard to tell where you needed to shoot it... in fact I was guessing the whole time... probably took me 5 minutes to figure out where I had to shoot it.

I actually had an arrow-sticker there before, guess I'll add it again. I just hoped that it would be easy to remember where the "hole in the ceiling" was ^^.

-Either make that blue crystal behind the moving stone guy a little more visable, or make it able to grab another blue crystal after its been shot up to the second spot for it.

I think I'll add a light there.



Thank you for the feedback, this has helped a lot! I'll get back to improving things tomorrow. Hope it wasn't frustrating and you'll check back again. There's still about 1/3 of the thermo left after the golden sign
And maybe you forgot, but should I check out any of your levels?

[Doctor Ramatool]

After 100 times I have never experienced this.. I have absolutely no idea what would make it disappear. It's not made of dissolve and there nothing to smash it either..

Yeah I dont know either... I did grab it like at the lowest point though from the looks of it... maybe it got caught on something.

Hm yeah I noticed that too, but it's a problem with the game and I can't do anything about it.
And the horizontal part was actually easier? I thought it would be **** hard xD I could try making the platforms bigger, depending on what the thermo can endure.

I think it may be caused by the fire background... not positive but its a possibility. I think it was really only one platform that kept giving me trouble.. it would look like a perfect landing but I would still slip off the side.

Hmm.. I held back on explaining with the red crystal, I thought it was kind of small down there and it wasn't hard to figure out where to take it. Maybe I'll mark them a little more somehow.
But not finding the gold crystal surprised me. The first time you arrive with the boat, you can see a stone-material-stickered-crystal lying in a hole directly above you. There is even a quite big radius set to activate magic mouths, which tell you how to get the gold crystal.
About the falling fire stones. I was wondering wether it was okay or not, I guess it wasn't after all. Putting an infinite checkpoint onto the boat wouldn't be too easy and I probably can't do it due to the thermo. I guess I'll remove a few dropping fire stones.

Yeah.... I got no message whatsoever about the gold crystal... and yeah I'd mark them a little more on what you need to take the red crystal to. Or maybe add a light to where you need to take it or something...

I actually had an arrow-sticker there before, guess I'll add it again. I just hoped that it would be easy to remember where the "hole in the ceiling" was ^^.

Yeah after I had to restart for the blue crystal popping, I easily remembered... but it would be cool if you could angle a camera so you could actually see the hole or some of it, not sure if you were able to with the limitations though.

Thank you for the feedback, this has helped a lot! I'll get back to improving things tomorrow. Hope it wasn't frustrating and you'll check back again. There's still about 1/3 of the thermo left after the golden sign
And maybe you forgot, but should I check out any of your levels?

Not a problem at all, just glad I could help.
Yeah sure, you can leave some feedback on the one in my signature whenever you get the time. Thanks!

[Shiwayari]

I just said I'll go look at it tommorow, but I went and did it just now anyways xD
I removed a few emitters at the fire-drop boat ride to add a few lights here and there. Again, the last light was overheat =o
I also made the platforms on the descent just a tad bigger.

I didn't do anything about the gold crystal yet though. I said the radius was quite big, but you still have to go up there to get the message. After at least one lava-rise (out of the 4 possible), you can reach it per jetpack.
Let me know if it's still confusing and/or hard to notice, then I'll alter the message and make it unavoidable.

[Doctor Ramatool]

Let me know if it's still confusing and/or hard to notice, then I'll alter the message and make it unavoidable.

Nope, managed to finish the level... and yeah, great job. Had no problems with any of the parts I hadn't seen before. I still almost lost all my lives on the boat/red crystal part again... but I did see the crystal this time. I did have to restart again though! The yellow crystal popped in one of the narrower tunnels on me... lol I think I've just had some really bad luck with this level. The level seemed very long, but it kept me entertained the whole way. Gave it 5 stars that go around. Nice work!

[Shiwayari]

Hmm, I knew that it wasn't obvious that you could get a new golden crystal, by going back to get a new crystal ore to emit. But I didn't really know how to explain it. Maybe I'll also think of something corncerning this.
Anyway, thanks again, I'll be checking out your level tomorrow.

[ZepOfLed]

After about 5 attempts, I finally finished your level. I know you said that you playtested it to make sure you couldn't get stuck, but in the four attempts prior to finishing that was the reason. I didn't get killed (thanks to your infinite checkpoints) but I couldn't progress. On the first attempt, I got stuck on the part where you fire the blue crystal from the cannon. I accidentally pulled the blue crystal off of the ledge killing be and making the crystal disappear. I went back to the spot to try again only to find that there was no blue crystal. I don't know how your triggers are set up, but you might want to double check that part. Also, it would be better if the cannon actually dame down to touch the stone platform, that way you couldn't lose the crystal down the gap between them (like I did).

The next three failed attempts were completely my fault, although the level could have made it clear what I was supposed to do. The reason I got stuck has to do with the fact that you can raise the level of the lava multiple times. It does tell you that you're supposed to raise the lava, but not by how much, and since you can't really see the lava rising when you're going around underneath, I wasn't really sure if anything was happening. On my first time through this part, I went to at least two of the exploding rock areas; when I went up to the top, the boat was on top of the rock ore near the blue light so I couldn't get to it. On my second attempt I still didn't realize that you could raise the lava multiple times (having not witnessed the change the first time). I raised it once and got the ore down to the bottom, picked up the gold crystal, and then couldn't figure out how to get it up to the blue light (the lava had only raised once, and was still too low). I think if you mentioned that the lava can raise multiple times, and that each of the exploding rock areas raises it once, it would be much more clear what you're supposed to do. The third and fourth times I still didn't realize that you could raise it more than once. On the fifth attempt, I FINALLY realized what was happening and then proceeded through rather quickly.

The parts leading up to that point are well thought out, but some of them are more annoying that fun. The sections where you are surrounded by red gas are particularly frustrating; the vertical one was okay, but I was getting really annoyed with the horizontal one (at one part in particular). The last lone platform before you jump onto the boat made me so angry. I would make it to that point and then jump to the platform only to have two fire logs thrown at me. There was nowhere else to jump because the red gas had enveloped both adjacent edges. This happened several times, and resulted in my immediate death. I think that if you made the space between the gas wider this problem could be avoided. (Or you could not have logs land on that platform). In general its not good to have fire logs fall onto the ONLY place you can possibly be.

The logs falling during the boat section were annoying, and made it slower than necessary.

Well, I know that was a lot of fire to take, but now I can sing your praises:

*Some of the scenery was bland, like the entrance and first sections of the cave, but I really liked the part leading down to the volcano. The fact that everything is moving makes it feel like you're treading on very unstable ground. It made that part very exciting (when I wasn't annoyed by the lone platform, as stated above).

*I especially liked how you had to hang on the stalactite, which then crashed through the floor to help you get to the cannon. That was top notch!

*The dungeon part (behind the yellow crystal door) is, in my opinion, is the best section of the level by far. I loved how you had to backtrack to open new pathways and obstacles. The difficulty was just about right and the progression is very logical. The lighting was good here too. It felt very much like a puzzle you would find in the Legend of Zelda series. Great job here!

Overall, it is a solid level, but I believe that the red gas sections should be amended and that the volcano part could be explained more clearly. Once I figured out what I was supposed to do I really enjoyed myself. I'm looking forward to seeing what you have planned next! 4 stars/hearted

[NinjaMicWZ]

I couldn't figure out what to do after I grabbed the first red crystal, and my party leader left... will try again later. Am I supposed to go back up out of the cave?

[Shiwayari]

(Actually, you're supposed to jump into the lava with the crystal and take it to 4 marked areas, which will each make it rise a bit. Watch out for explosions, as the text says. After that, go to the centre area, there's another crystal-like stone. I think I should probably make that one more obvious after all)

It's 2:00am for me, I guess I'll go sleep soon; so I can't answer for some hours =o

Edit: Ah, I think I just replyed to the wrong question. You mean the very first red crystal on the string? Yeah, you're supposed to go up again then, but not completely out. The red smoke will be gone.

[NinjaMicWZ]

(Actually, you're supposed to jump into the lava with the crystal and take it to 4 marked areas, which will each make it rise a bit. Watch out for explosions, as the text says. After that, go to the centre area, there's another crystal-like stone. I think I should probably make that one more obvious after all)

It's 2:00am for me, I guess I'll go sleep soon; so I can't answer for some hours =o

Edit: Ah, I think I just replyed to the wrong question. You mean the very first red crystal on the string? Yeah, you're supposed to go up again then, but not completely out. The red smoke will be gone.

Yeah, the red crystal... I grabbed it, and it disappeared, but nothing happened. I couldn't make it across the jump, and couldn't go down, and the gold door was still closed - I'll try again in abit.

[phort]

This level's looking like it's really going to be a piece of work! So, I'll start commenting as I go along. Sorry if I say anything that's already been said, I didn't bother to read the other feedback.

I really like the intro. You give the impression of a helicopter flight without building a helicopter that just looks like a toy, as they often do in LBP. The sound is enough.

The part with the falling rocks and the tiny platform is a bit hard, I notice later you used an infinite life checkpoint, but this would be a more suitable place for that since the log jumping is relatively easy. The rocks tend to toss you about even when you're standing firmly on the platform which is kind of irritating.

I really like that you reuse areas of the level repeatedly. It builds familiarity and makes it so every time you go somewhere you don't have to scan all your surroundings carefully just to catch the minor details of a puzzle.

Nice touch with the stalactite falling through the ground to create a platform.

What happens if you drop the crystal into the fog? I didn't because I was worried that would screw it up.

I really like the use of the checkmark to confirm that you shot it right! nice instant recognizable feedback. It seems sort of out of place, but it does the job effectively.

I brought the jewel to the gold wall and it disappeared and nothing happened. Did that cause me to lose? I retried and brought it up the hill.

The moving fog segment is really cool and original!

I like the use of moving platforms for the effect of the rocks floating on magma.

An ancient vehicle with fire raining down on it... what's the point of killing the player here?? That's just irritating.

Minor technicality: You say "lava" a few times but when it's below ground it's called magma.

Ooh, I figured out how the crystal part works! As soon as you let go you move to the front layer which is all gas!

I can not figure out what to do after the bit of text where he mentions something about a blue light and forging a yellow crystal or something. the jetpack tethers prevent me from going under the lava unless I take off the jetpack and get lucky enough to grab the crystal before I die. there's nothing up the red staircase and the boat is immobile. as far as I can tell I'm stuck.

Went deeper and found one more explodey magma hole but I ran out of lives. It's at this point that I've given up because as good as this level is I don't want to have to replay the whole thing.

5/5 stars, hearted, complex. This is a lot better than a lot of the stuff that is insanely popular.

[Shiwayari]

After about 5 attempts, I finally finished your level. I know you said that you playtested it to make sure you couldn't get stuck, but in the four attempts prior to finishing that was the reason. I didn't get killed (thanks to your infinite checkpoints) but I couldn't progress. On the first attempt, I got stuck on the part where you fire the blue crystal from the cannon. I accidentally pulled the blue crystal off of the ledge killing be and making the crystal disappear. I went back to the spot to try again only to find that there was no blue crystal. I don't know how your triggers are set up, but you might want to double check that part. Also, it would be better if the cannon actually dame down to touch the stone platform, that way you couldn't lose the crystal down the gap between them (like I did).

Well yeah, I playtested it a lot, but it was a problem that I only playtested it myself. It's hard to do it properly with your own level I guess.
But I'm confused about why you got stuck by pulling the crystal off the ledge, because it's supposed to respawn if it falls down. I thought I tested that, but maybe the Magnetic Switch froze again.. MM please fix hose bugs <.< I'll look at it.

The next three failed attempts were completely my fault, although the level could have made it clear what I was supposed to do. The reason I got stuck has to do with the fact that you can raise the level of the lava multiple times. It does tell you that you're supposed to raise the lava, but not by how much, and since you can't really see the lava rising when you're going around underneath, I wasn't really sure if anything was happening. On my first time through this part, I went to at least two of the exploding rock areas; when I went up to the top, the boat was on top of the rock ore near the blue light so I couldn't get to it. On my second attempt I still didn't realize that you could raise the lava multiple times (having not witnessed the change the first time). I raised it once and got the ore down to the bottom, picked up the gold crystal, and then couldn't figure out how to get it up to the blue light (the lava had only raised once, and was still too low). I think if you mentioned that the lava can raise multiple times, and that each of the exploding rock areas raises it once, it would be much more clear what you're supposed to do. The third and fourth times I still didn't realize that you could raise it more than once. On the fifth attempt, I FINALLY realized what was happening and then proceeded through rather quickly.

I'm going to add an explanation here, thanks for mentioning that. But you didn't have to restart everytime, the red crystal respawns infinite times and you can always go down again and activate the rest.

The parts leading up to that point are well thought out, but some of them are more annoying that fun. The sections where you are surrounded by red gas are particularly frustrating; the vertical one was okay, but I was getting really annoyed with the horizontal one (at one part in particular). The last lone platform before you jump onto the boat made me so angry. I would make it to that point and then jump to the platform only to have two fire logs thrown at me. There was nowhere else to jump because the red gas had enveloped both adjacent edges. This happened several times, and resulted in my immediate death. I think that if you made the space between the gas wider this problem could be avoided. (Or you could not have logs land on that platform). In general its not good to have fire logs fall onto the ONLY place you can possibly be.

The logs falling during the boat section were annoying, and made it slower than necessary.

Okay, now I have a confirmation that that part is too annoying. I'm just going to remove the emitters at the last platforms.
I already removed half the emitters at the falling fire boat ride, thinking it was really easy to get by, but I guess I'll completely remove these too.

Well, I know that was a lot of fire to take, but now I can sing your praises:

*Some of the scenery was bland, like the entrance and first sections of the cave, but I really liked the part leading down to the volcano. The fact that everything is moving makes it feel like you're treading on very unstable ground. It made that part very exciting (when I wasn't annoyed by the lone platform, as stated above).

*I especially liked how you had to hang on the stalactite, which then crashed through the floor to help you get to the cannon. That was top notch!

*The dungeon part (behind the yellow crystal door) is, in my opinion, is the best section of the level by far. I loved how you had to backtrack to open new pathways and obstacles. The difficulty was just about right and the progression is very logical. The lighting was good here too. It felt very much like a puzzle you would find in the Legend of Zelda series. Great job here!


Overall, it is a solid level, but I believe that the red gas sections should be amended and that the volcano part could be explained more clearly. Once I figured out what I was supposed to do I really enjoyed myself. I'm looking forward to seeing what you have planned next! 4 stars/hearted

Don't worry about being critical, it's what will help me improve. And I kind of knew that the part before the temple turned out confusing, I just didn't have the chance to let anyone test it.
Glad that you liked the looks and feeling, I'm not too good at these, but I tried my best.
I'm also quite happy with the temple-part. It has like a completely new atmosphere.

This level's looking like it's really going to be a piece of work! So, I'll start commenting as I go along. Sorry if I say anything that's already been said, I didn't bother to read the other feedback.

I really like the intro. You give the impression of a helicopter flight without building a helicopter that just looks like a toy, as they often do in LBP. The sound is enough.

The part with the falling rocks and the tiny platform is a bit hard, I notice later you used an infinite life checkpoint, but this would be a more suitable place for that since the log jumping is relatively easy. The rocks tend to toss you about even when you're standing firmly on the platform which is kind of irritating.

I really like that you reuse areas of the level repeatedly. It builds familiarity and makes it so every time you go somewhere you don't have to scan all your surroundings carefully just to catch the minor details of a puzzle.

Nice touch with the stalactite falling through the ground to create a platform.

What happens if you drop the crystal into the fog? I didn't because I was worried that would screw it up.

No problem if you haven't read all the feedback, it still helps to see if the same thing gets mentioned multiple times.
I can't make the platform at the falling rocks bigger as it would push the rocks aside, but I'll see if the thermo allows me to add another infinite checkpoint here.
What is supposed to happen if you drop the blue crystal is that it just disappears and a new one respawns. But there seems to be a bug here, because it didn't respawn for ZepOfLed. I'll check it out again.

I really like the use of the checkmark to confirm that you shot it right! nice instant recognizable feedback. It seems sort of out of place, but it does the job effectively.

I brought the jewel to the gold wall and it disappeared and nothing happened. Did that cause me to lose? I retried and brought it up the hill.

The moving fog segment is really cool and original!

I like the use of moving platforms for the effect of the rocks floating on magma.

An ancient vehicle with fire raining down on it... what's the point of killing the player here?? That's just irritating.

The magnetic switch radius might still be too small for the golden crystal, it happened to me before one and I already increased it, but I'll make it a little big bigger again.
Now that the falling fire boat ride has been mentioned a lot, I'll just remove the emitters here.

Minor technicality: You say "lava" a few times but when it's below ground it's called magma.

English is not my native language, so I'm glad that's the only error mentioned until now ^^ I'll reword that.

Ooh, I figured out how the crystal part works! As soon as you let go you move to the front layer which is all gas!

That's how it was planned to work, but I found it doesn't as sackboy refuses to change into a layer of gas by himself. I have a big area of gas attached to a piston beneath the volcan, which will move in and kill sackboy if he moves out of a sensor attached to the crystal. It was a hassle to find a workaround to the 1.07 object emitting bug.

I can not figure out what to do after the bit of text where he mentions something about a blue light and forging a yellow crystal or something. the jetpack tethers prevent me from going under the lava unless I take off the jetpack and get lucky enough to grab the crystal before I die. there's nothing up the red staircase and the boat is immobile. as far as I can tell I'm stuck.

I'm not sure what you mean here, but you may have to rise the lava more. There are 4 exploding rock areas all together, which you have to activate. After that, you should be able to easily take the crystal ore down.
But I'll add an explanation on that there's are 4 areas, which each make the magma rise once.

Went deeper and found one more explodey magma hole but I ran out of lives. It's at this point that I've given up because as good as this level is I don't want to have to replay the whole thing.

5/5 stars, hearted, complex. This is a lot better than a lot of the stuff that is insanely popular.

I wonder if I can add an infinite checkpoint to that boat, it seems neccessary.
Thanks for the good rating, maybe you want to check it out again after I made some improvements. There is still a completely different part to come after the golden crystal sign, which I believe is much better in terms of explanations.



Edit: I have now changed all the things I mentioned above. However, I had to remove a lot of point bubbles, including those at the beginning, to get thermometer space. Sadly, resetting the scoreboard is not possible, so just enjoy the level without worrying about score.

[NinjaMicWZ]

OK... me not remembering that there was a red fog above where I entered in, was entirely my fault... I think you should add cut scene cameras that direct the player towards the next triggered event, even though it should have been obvious to me.

I have to give you an extensive compliment on your mechanical aptitude here... the rising/sinking smoke, the intro sequence (though the change from pensive thought in a helicopter to standing on the ground is a little abrupt and could be more seamless), the cannon with the blue key and it's accompanying Y/N signals (amazing touch), stalactites that are invisibly functional, and the awesome magma section - I felt like I was descending into the depths of Super Metroid all over again.

The open, backtrack heavy design of this level is a first in LBP IMO... it's not quite non-linear go-everywhere, but it's structured and feels like a good old Metroid/Zelda Action-RPG design where you do something/get something that opens up new areas.

The rocket pack section under the magma is just wow... genius, and the tectonic shifts and looks are amazing.

...but, I can't get past this. I unlocked 3 magma points with the red crystal, all of which killed me everytime. When the magma rose the 3rd time I could actually connect with the lower jetpacks and had to deftly try and hit O and drop and catch with R1 again to stay alive and drop to the lower section of the stairs. After dropping a certain amount of crystals in the magma, they wouldn't respawn anymore - I kept dying and eventually the infinite checkpoint stopped working too. I'm dead now, and I really want to play through this level... please get it going, because so far it's an amazingly deep and rewarding experience.

Some small complaints about dying in general - the red smoke in the volcano seems to lower too slow, if you widen it's breadth so that the player is still able to move at a decent speed I think it would work a little more fluidly. The smoke at the bottom, is too tall - when you die and respawn you often land into the smoke as it's going by and go through 2 lives for no reason - that sections a bit touchy.

Alot of the platform jumps aren't hard neccesarily out difficulty and timing, but because the platforms themselves are so tiny and narrow - I can't really fault that because I do severe jumps in creation too, but these just feel geometrically wrong to me. Alot of your thermometer is probably maxed with the points and cracks you've put in everything, which is great, I like that - but if you try to shape things a little less pointy and have just some blockiness and roundness to the crevices it'll achieve a more natural and solid look, and probably free up some thermometer space as well without all those unnecessary vertices everywhere. There's a part on the ship where the shifting magma plates in the foreground have too distinct a separation - the square flat edge doesn't blend into the preceding plates low corner and it just looks sloppy right there.

I like the dialogue in this level so far, and the plot is very compelling. Anyway, PLEASE don't take anything I've said the wrong way, because I am thoroughly enjoying this level in all the ways that count and has so much going for it and am only nitpicking for feedback purposes.