DescentBB

Naphtha

So I've given the demo a full run-through on both Ace and Insane, and it's pretty solid. Thoughts per level so far, to be taken with a grain of salt: Level 1: There is more to explore than you might expect, but it gets the job done as a fairly quick and easy opener. Placement is great, and my only ...

Naphtha

As I continue playing PS, I found that levels after the demo version (namely, 12 and 13) are getting harder, recently recorded L12, was really brutal when I started practicing it (speaking Insane cold-start of course), but after I found the trick for it, became quite predictable and not that hard ...

Naphtha

You know, booting up level 1 and seeing class 2 platformers alongside a good wealth of medium hulks doesn't really bode well for first impressions on the overall difficulty of this set. Yeah, the difficulty of this set is erratic and doesn't follow any sort of sensible curve, that I can tell you ...

Naphtha

Oh, sorry. I was going to leave the conversion to you just in case it ends up more consistent that way.

Naphtha

I was cleaning out my level folder when I found a half-finished anarchy map I started back in 2014, and apparently all the time spent away from building it helped. It's a smallish level with two major dogfight areas and some different takes on the usual tunnel connectors, most notably the three ...

Naphtha

I guess on that note, I'll stake my claim on PTMC Remote Tracking Station. It might take me a while to finish with only a very basic concept in mind right now, but I did want to provide more levels to the later sections anyway.

Naphtha

I kind of don't want to spoil the surprise. If you find Secret Level 2, you'll instantly figure out what it was meant to be.

Naphtha

Was Secret Level 2 made from scratch, or starting from the level that inspired it? From scratch. It was originally meant for another project idea that never really took off... so I took the half-finished design, figured I could take it in a new direction with the inspiration behind Plutonian Shores ...

Naphtha

To be honest, the level was half-finished as of 2016 and I ran out of inspiration then. Not to mention most of the last few months of working on Plutonian Shores was for things like the briefings and balance tweaks rather than cubing any of the levels, so yeah... I had more time to recharge than you ...

Naphtha

Finally finished Ganymede Outpost after a very long delay. Marked each hidden door in the editor with either a Class 1 Drone or an energy boost just to indicate if it is meant to be a secret or a trap, but since it's so early in the set and I'm not sure on the intended difficulty, I figure it's up ...

Naphtha

Good news, everyone! After more than enough tweaks and delays, Plutonian Shores is finally released to the public. Plutonian Shores is made up of 30 regular + 2 secret levels with a mix of D1, D2 and Vertigo bots used to their full potential. Every level has a different aesthetic and architecture ...

Naphtha

Ok then! I think he'll be handlable, considering the fact that earthshaker missiles are probably going to be quite abundant in the later levels. I don't think any thief can survive being face shakered, unless his HP can actually go into the realm of the bosses late enough in a mission. On the other ...

Naphtha

Regarding bosses and walls - from what I recall seeing, if a boss is behind a wall or door that opens up, there needs to be only one cube (the one that the boss is in) behind that wall or door, or it won't move into the rest of the boss room when it teleports. It's an exception case in the way D2 ...

Naphtha

Not bad, not bad at all. The space is used very well, and flying through it did feel like a Brimspark level with a handful of structures which felt like they were supposed to remind me of D1, like the stacked hostage cell and the central grated shafts. The one-way exit room with the Guppies was also ...

Naphtha

"Time to shake things up and see where they settle." Just a little anarchy map to tide you over while Plutonian Shores is being wrapped up. Well, maybe not so much "little" with its open spaces for dogfighting and lobbing explosives, but you get the idea. The concept started as a sort of "bonus ...

Naphtha

To be honest, Xfing, I'm sick of trying to humor someone who still acts like he didn't even read the guidelines for your project. Between my own set's development and spending time applying for a new job, I haven't had a whole lot of time for this admittedly. I think I'm going to free up Secret ...

Naphtha

The problem I usually have with item placement is that if I can't really strike the balance between the right amounts for cold-start and front-to-back players, I prefer to give enough weapons for a player cold-starting each level. But I see what you mean that I've gone a bit too far into allowing ...

Naphtha

3. The symmetry overload. I like Entropy Experiment as much as the next guy, but to be quite frank, your designs aren't quite awe-inspiring enough to pull off a symmetrical design without making it look lazy. Try to do something about the other points and the symmetry will feel a bit more like it ...

Naphtha

The situation cleared itself up much quicker than expected. Zandura II It's better than your previous works, but I'm still not convinced enough to call it "good." For a few reasons: 1. A lot of the paths feel forced or lazy, such as forcing the player to go through hostage cells. It almost feels ...

Naphtha

I tried looking through all the palette choices myself, and surprisingly, the D1-exclusive textures held up pretty nicely. I think it really comes down to how bright or muted you want the bluish textures to look (including the dark purple tile-like wall texture from D2). If we're only to choose ...

Naphtha

I've tried to ensure it's still compatible with DOS by avoiding things like the higher object limits set by Rebirth and XL, but I haven't tested if it actually does work. Almost all of the testing has been done on Rebirth so far, but I think the biggest possible issue I can predict is if it doesn't ...

Naphtha

Trying to get back into the swing of level building for this project, and I think I'm going to take a D1 level next. Preferably Ganymede Outpost, since I have some ideas for getting started on it already. I have some pieces for Secret Level 3, but I'm trying to remember how I wanted everything to ...

Naphtha

I feel like the zigzaggy sections can be replaced with larger cubes of similar dimensions. The level's kind of missing those open spaces I associate with D2, so that's just my suggestion for Coolyard. You mean expansion in all directions? Sure, noted. Still, I'd be taking out some portions of the ...

Naphtha

I feel like the zigzaggy sections can be replaced with larger cubes of similar dimensions. The level's kind of missing those open spaces I associate with D2, so that's just my suggestion for Coolyard.

Naphtha

Either way, if one single person continues the trend of being unable to fix anything, give someone else a shot. Don't just scrap an entire level off of one person's opinion. But you've continued making these half-hearted maps that are then left for someone else to fix. If the project leader tells ...

Naphtha

On the off-chance you're just some kid that's genuinely desperate to fit in, LightWolf... I get it, and I've seen people like you around before, but this isn't how you go about it in a creative environment. If you really want your stuff accepted, you have to rise to meet Xfing's standards, not ...

Naphtha

These levels were a while in the making. I actually premiered a beta version of the D1 set back in October 2014 at the Descent in Denver LAN, but it took a very long time before I came back and completed the set. So here you have it, a seven-level set with both D1 and D2 versions. Like "The ...

Naphtha

Taking some of the unfinished and unsorted levels into account, I think there's room for three open slots in the last part of the set (basically the level 23-28 realm). Make sure you're submitting a reactor level if you do want to provide one, because all the boss levels are at least conceptualized ...

Naphtha

I do like the idea of a supercollider-like area in the map, though. It'd be really interesting to see it done in a D1-style level...

Naphtha

Well, the themes in that set (moonbase, fire, green/alien, ice, "desert"/mineral and purple/virus) were all Dravis's idea from the start. I was more on board for supplying detail in some parts to make things look a bit more orderly without changing the cube structure.

Naphtha

From what I know, the Descent 2 engine allows for glass walls by putting in a "cloaked" wall with a transparency setting. If you're using DLE, you just have to open the "type" menu on the Walls tab, and select "cloaked" from there to get the glass effect. It will look the same no matter what texture ...

Naphtha

Yer level list in the OP. It looked to me like it was meant to be the whole thing. Oh, I see. I'm just giving myself a short-term goal to clear before heading on to the last set of levels. I'm basically following similar episode/chapter divisions to what Doom 2 did (where the text interludes come ...

Naphtha

Alter-Fox wrote:Wait a minute Naptha... you say this is pack is 20 levels but that the first 11 is the first third?
Did you mean to say half or did you extend the mission?

No, my goal is 32 levels in all. I can't even find the part you're referring to so I can fix the typo ^^;

Naphtha

I'm not sure level 6 works the way you wanted it to Naptha, it's possible to complete it entirely without the blue key, and there's a trigger with blue lights (screaming I'm important shoot me!) that doesn't seem to do anything. Actually, that one was entirely intentional. I liked how Parallax ...

Naphtha

The Green Spider from D2 should be added to that. Faster than the Green Platformer, even has a higher payload on Insane (6 concussion missiles per volley!) and the ability to leave offspring doesn't help at all. 1500, perhaps?

Naphtha

D1 Level 20 still has a bit of scariness to it on Insane for me. It's the music and the way you have to approach the later parts of the level slowly to clear them out... Not being aware of your surroundings at all times while searching for those key-holding bots could easily lead to a Class 2 ...

Naphtha

*Blows some dust off the thread* Things have been a bit quiet... well, for a long time, actually. But I've been slowly working on the later levels of the set and the 11-level starting demo is now officially out and ready for download here: http://www.enspiar.com/dmdb/viewMission.php?id=1103 http ...

Naphtha

I didn't get to fly through all of them yet, but I did take a quick look at each of the levels in the editor. Some of the levels had a bit of a "new designer" feel to them with an awful lot of 20x20x20 cubes, but some had areas that are extremely well-crafted and look more like the mark of a veteran ...

Naphtha

I do really like a lot of that level and the similarities to Level 38 in terms of theme are really nice. One thing I don't really care for, though, is that sharply curved 20x20 tunnel (obsidian walls, pink ceiling, tiled floor) in the area near where the blue key is. It's a little too pinched and ...

Naphtha

Looking at the D1 palette again, there might need to be some re-adjustments for certain texture imports. Part of the light strips on the switch animations is transparent in the palette, so that definitely should be fixed if nothing else. Otherwise, I'm trying to have a look at the D2 textures which ...

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