LORD OF THE RINGS : “The Bearer - Part I: Incipit” - SPOTLIGHTED -

[Takelow]

Hi everybody,

It is now time for me to reveal to the members of this forum my last project and levels.

OVERALL PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
The whole project is called “The Bearer” and is a series of levels constructed under the theme of The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien. In this series, it is useless to search challenge in the firsts levels, since the difficulty and gameplay challenge will be increased progressively level after level, as Sackboy Frodo get closer to the end of his hard journey, in the Mordor…
Then, the first two levels are contemplative and their purpose is to give stars in the eyes (and not cramps in fingers). The “Part I” level is the only one that is unlocked for everybody and you will find the Key for the “Part II” in it. And the key for Part III, will be placed in the Part II level…until the last level. I actually don’t know how many level will be necessary to complete the Frodo’s journey…. Initially I was projecting 4 levels for “The Bearer”, but since the Part I and Part II are complete, I think it will probably needs at least 8 levels…
Let’s me now present you the First level of the series:

Level: “The Bearer – Part I : Incipit”
Creator: Takelow
Location: New Zealand
Type: Contemplative level (TEASER) / Tribute to “The Lord of the Rings”
Difficulty: *
(*: not challenging! …*****: Very hard!)
Gift: Custom items , KEY for “The Bearer – Part II: The Ring”
Multiplayer: The level support multiplayer (no multiplayer gameplay section per se however), but was designed for ONE PLAYER.

EDIT: The Part II had been temporarily unlocked. It will be until further notice.

OVERALL LEVEL DESCRIPTION:
When I first had the idea of a series of levels concerning LOTR (I must admit that it is my wife fault… She asked me to look again the Peter Jackson’s movies during Xmas holidays… just when I was thinking : What will be my next project??? ).
Altought the idea was very incitative for me, I was wondering if I would be able to construct something visually interesting. LOTR movies are strong references for a lot of people, and their visual value is awesome and extraordinary! Hard references! So I opened an empty moon place and start some test for environments and overall artistic orientation, with one thing in mind: Is this reminding of LOTR for the player? After several hours of test, I started to like what I have done and decided to transfom this “test level” in an “introductive level”.
This is how “The Berear - Part I : Incipit” was born…
So, I polished the level and guided my constructions to give at this level a function of Teaser (as movies teaser). Its purpose is only to immerse the player in the LOTR universe of my levels slowly, giving him just little touch of what he could wait for the next levels in term of visual references. It is really a teaser. It’s second purpose of course is to give you the key for the Part II…
In term of storyline, you will start the level in a strange library and quickly meet an unconventional Book. Actually, the One Book… It will propose you to take a rapid overview of what have been written on it. So enter the Book world and open your eyes…

VIDEO Review:

Thanks to Aeroblue for taking the time to record this review

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELDm0A5Ph0I"]YouTube - LBP Level Review: "The Bearer: Part 1 - Incipit"[/ame]


PICTURES:















Now, if you want TO KNOW AND SEE MORE about PART II and III take a look here:
The Bearer - Part II : The Ring
The Bearer - Part III : The Fellowship"

Finally I would like to gratefully thank OCK here for its critical help in playtesting this level and for these very useful advices It is the second time you do such a thing for me : Thank you a lot!

[Senrir]

Wohoo!! Finally a LOTR level ^^"

Gonna try them out tommorow! Need to sleep. >,<

[Kog]

Probably your best work so far.

Pros:
+The Lighting, omgygosh, the lighting... how can such beauty be put to words...
+The story was awesome, even though it was copied from LotR.
+The detail was great! I especially loved the books.
+Gameplay was good, it was fun to do, and not just a story.
+The letters that you used to spell everything with looked amazing!

Cons:
-Some switches were visible. (Ya, that's right, only ONE con!)

That was an amazing, detailed, epic level. One of my all time favourites. I'm excited to see the next level (Which I'll get to right now and get some feedback for that.)

AMAZING job! 5 stars, and hearted!

[OCK]

I have been waiting for this for a long time and I am happy you finished and published it. I played it earlier today, here are my thoughts:

Your description of this being contemplative and like a movie teaser was spot on. It often did feel like I was playing a movie trailer and I mean that in a very good way. I don't remember playing a level in LBP that conveyed a similar feeling so thank you for that.

I am a big LoTR fan having read the books and of course watched the movies and I really loved all the references that acted as a "preview" of things to come. The elven forest, Rohan, the mines, it is all here and everything has a style that is your own but still true to the movies/books. Great job!

I have written this once before but I will do so again: you are a Master of Lighting! There is no other creator that I know of who has perfected the use of lighting quite the way you have. My favorite parts with this level in particular was the use of blue spotlights in the mines (simply stunning) and the lighting used for the Elven section (it was so bright, beautiful and magical that it was almost too much for my eyes lol) but really the whole level has amazing lighting that impresses throughout.

Love the logo, love the logo, love the logo. What more can I say?

The books you made at the very beginning, especially the open story-book, were fantastic and perfectly constructed. Your custom creations always bring a smile to my face.

The part near the beginning where you are pulling the ring from the pond was ingenious and so true to the LoTR story. I also love the water bubble effect you created here, very impressive.

I enjoyed the ending the "Eye" was perfect. I loved your use of logos again here

Suggestions:

- There are prox switches at the beginning and at the very end that are visible.

- At the section where you use the jetpack to pull the ring from he pond it is possible to fly all the way up (outside) and see the construction of the room. Shortening the chain length will solve this problem.

- Color your checkpoints

- At the section that says "Nine men....)" it is possible o bypass the electric rings by walking in the background and maybe this was not your intention.

Really amazing work once again. 5 stars and hearted! I will play part II this evening and get back to you with my thoughts then.

[CCubbage]

Gotta say, Takelow - you are an absolute MASTER at visuals. I'm a big LOTR fan, and I absolutely loved this. It may have been designed as simply an introduction with a little gameplay, but I enjoyed every minute.

My list of issues locked EXACTLY like the previous post, so I kind of wish I had read it first....

The only thing I can add is the magic mouth near the end looked a little out-of-place among your other work. I would personally rather see a statue face or something there. But that is an extremely small request (I wasn't even sure whether to mention it, but there it is...)

Great work!

Now over to the part II which I played at the same time...

[Takelow]

Probably your best work so far.
Pros:
+The Lighting, omgygosh, the lighting... how can such beauty be put to words...
+The story was awesome, even though it was copied from LotR.
+The detail was great! I especially loved the books.
+Gameplay was good, it was fun to do, and not just a story.
+The letters that you used to spell everything with looked amazing!

Thank you

Cons:
-Some switches were visible. (Ya, that's right, only ONE con!)

I will fix this soon

That was an amazing, detailed, epic level. One of my all time favourites. I'm excited to see the next level (Which I'll get to right now and get some feedback for that.)
AMAZING job! 5 stars, and hearted!

WOW, i didn't expected such reaction, but i must admit that i love that! Thank you

I am a big LoTR fan having read the books and of course watched the movies and I really loved all the references that acted as a "preview" of things to come. The elven forest, Rohan, the mines, it is all here and everything has a style that is your own but still true to the movies/books. Great job!

What you wrote here OCK is very important for me. It was actually my main challenge as a creator... Make something coherent, with correct visual reference. Thank you OCK

Suggestions:

- At the section where you use the jetpack to pull the ring from he pond it is possible to fly all the way up (outside) and see the construction of the room. Shortening the chain length will solve this problem.

Yes, we ever talk about this point in private. I tried to increase the lenght of this jetpack and didn't see that it allows player to see the construction of the room. I will shortened it in the next update, the second jetpack being sufficiant to bring the ring out.

- Color your checkpoints

Oh... It is done in the Part II and... i forgot in the Part I...

- At the section that says "Nine men....)" it is possible o bypass the electric rings by walking in the background and maybe this was not your intention.

Lol... you touch one of my personnal answer in this level...I don't know if i block the second and third plane to increase the challenge here (which is not really the purpose), or if i must consider the "shower" of rings as pure visual experience. I will think about this...

Really amazing work once again. 5 stars and hearted! I will play part II this evening and get back to you with my thoughts then.

Thank you a lot

Gotta say, Takelow - you are an absolute MASTER at visuals. I'm a big LOTR fan, and I absolutely loved this. It may have been designed as simply an introduction with a little gameplay, but I enjoyed every minute.

Thank you

My list of issues locked EXACTLY like the previous post, so I kind of wish I had read it first....

So, my answers will be exactly the same that above

The only thing I can add is the magic mouth near the end looked a little out-of-place among your other work. I would personally rather see a statue face or something there. But that is an extremely small request (I wasn't even sure whether to mention it, but there it is...)

You absolutely right. But my answer is in one word: Thermometer!
I will see what i can do here with stickers (you know how custom elements take high % of thermo).

Now over to the part II which I played at the same time...

I saw your critical feedbacks and answered in th thread

[talmasca]

intro part 1 was awesome very profesional looking, like a game of its own

grammer errors on level description and on titles '' takelow present'' should b ''takelow presents'' sorry bout the nitpicking but u have potential and it looks more professional with good spelling

visible magic mouths and switches btw

part 2:

this level is excellent, (liked the mountain bit, challenging but fun) fix these and it will be excellententer ( i new word i just made to describe ur level lol )

first lever on top of house was annoying to reach, i had to topple a tree.
gandalf grammer mistakes.
a lot of things need gluing, ( fireplace for one ).
lever on chandeliar kinda hard to find n i dont understand y its there of all places.
****!! im playing the level as i write this and the ring just broke in the elevator that sam rides on

im sure the level continues 2 be awesome bt i couldnt b bothered 2 continue again

my level
silent hill 2 REBORN ( parts 1 and 2 )

rip into it, i want my levels 2 be great

[Takelow]

Hi talmasca,

First of all, thank you for the feedbacks and the kind words. I'm really happy that you found my level "very professional".

grammer errors on level description and on titles '' takelow present'' should b ''takelow presents'' sorry bout the nitpicking but u have potential and it looks more professional with good spelling

OMG! What a shame to do gammer error in such a title screen, even if the english is not my maternal language (actually i'm french)
I made an update of the level and correct the "Present" in "Presents". Thank you for this .
Concerning grammar and spelling errors, i must take more time to detect them and correct them (i mean, for this i must take a look to my scolar english book...). Btw, if you detected errors on specific words, please, tell me (as talmasca done with the present"s"), it will be very useful for me.

visible magic mouths and switches btw

I fix some of them in the update of this morning. Thank you. I didn't find the time to replay the entire level yet. But i will do it as soon as possible to verify that there is no visible switch remaining.

part 2:

I think you didn't see it, but I have open a specific thread for "The Bearer - Part II : The Ring". It will be very more easy for me if comments about this one will be post in the specific thread. Thank you by advance

first lever on top of house was annoying to reach, i had to topple a tree.

Actually there is TWO very easy ways to reach this lever WITHOUT topple the tree (i didn't give you the answer here as it is a part of the level "secrets" to find). Actually, i must glue this tree because what you have done is not the way it must do.

gandalf grammer mistakes.

Same answer that above

a lot of things need gluing, ( fireplace for one ).

I will see that, thanks.

lever on chandeliar kinda hard to find n i dont understand y its there of all places.

I said that the level was a ** challenge. Not a 0* challenge
There is things you must found by observation of the level. I don't like to give the player all the solutions of my levels...they must explore a little bit to progress... It is a personnal choice.

****!! im playing the level as i write this and the ring just broke in the elevator that sam rides on

Oh, to bad!
Actually, i agree that if the ring is on the border left of the elevator, there is some chance that it been destroyed when the elevator go up. In an update i made this morning, i changed the material of the elevator, i made a trench in the right border of the elevator (in order to block the ring) and i changed the Sam dialog. It is not the best modifications that could be do here, but it is the best i found for the timle i disposed this morning.
I will update this more deeply tonight

my level
silent hill 2 REBORN ( parts 1 and 2 )

rip into it, i want my levels 2 be great

Be sure i will play and comments your levels.
EDIT: it is done. Your levels are great. I will write my comments soon in your thread

[blizzard_cool]

Played both and ****.... they are good.
Ok seriously, beautiful design and just great use of lights...
I'm kinda short for words now.
I'll come back a give u my full opinion on the stage.

[Takelow]

Thank you Blizzard, I'm anxious to know more about your opinion
BTW, i made a minor update yesterday (i removed some invisible switch and fixed some issues in the start area section).

Any new comments and suggests would be really appreciated

[Voltiare]

Sweet level, dude. Very slick.

Everyone has already said everything I would say, but keep up the good work and I'm glad somebody talented is doing the LOTR the right way.

[Takelow]

I'm glad somebody talented is doing the LOTR the right way.

Thank you for these kind words
I really appreciate it

[NinjaMicWZ]

You have some very nice set design and custom objects in this level, Takelow... I love the books and the quills, the dwarven temple, and the elven shrine. I've been meaning to do a lifesize tabletop level involving books as one of the background pieces and you beat me to it

I like how you were able to find a way to summarize the whole story, and really do an homage to it... you made a short, fun level designed for fan service, which I like. I wish more of the environment was as detailed as my favorite pieces, but I know how the thermometer is - if you want more than 4 rooms you have to foresake some detail (which I hate doing too :/)

I'm about to play part 2, but this is another pretty original approach to level design from you, as always.

[Takelow]

Hi NinjaMicWZ,

I am happy that you loved my level!

I wish more of the environment was as detailed as my favorite pieces, but I know how the thermometer is - if you want more than 4 rooms you have to foresake some detail (which I hate doing too :/)

It is a choice here. What about my next levels of the series if i give you all, at the first level? lol
As stated in the description of the level, i just would like give you slight touches in this level. I didn't represent The shire in part I. But if i had do such things, it would not be with the same level of details that in The Part II. If it was the case, there were no surprise anymore once you played this one.
So, yes, here you trully have "slight touches" of what you can expect for the next

Nevertheless, you was right, my thermometers is 99% full (the panels with text take a big % of it) for part I as well as for part II

[Neverynnal]

Loved it Takelow. I meant to comment on this when the level was still fresh in the brain, but alas I took too long. Anyway:

Your custom creations are amazing. The books, the pens, the title, the everything. This is to be expected from you of course haha

Telling the story about the distribution of the rings to the dwarves/elves/humans was epic. Especially liked how you integrated platforming into those parts and then proceeded to show a human/dwarvish and elvish environment after each. Just awesome, awesome planning! And then afterwards I got tingles when you fall and come upon the words "THE ONE RING" or something along those lines. Totally epic.

Great work man, I'd have more to say but things aren't so fresh at the moment. 5 stars/hearted