Twisty Turns

[BaNaNa]

Hi everyone, just found this game from a friend and am really enjoying it :)
I hope you like my creation. I wanted something a little more challenging lol. It's not perfect, but I think I did alright for a first map...



Just do addfile twistyturns.zip in console.
Let me know what you think!!!

[BaNaNa]

LOL I totally forgot to attach the level!!! No wonder I wasn't getting any replies...

[CoatRack]

That level was really fun, took me a bit to get past the first bend, since I would always over shoot the boost pad and fall into the water. The level also made me think of how a racing mode would feel like, with all the speed pads on the level I was rarely slowing down, and when I did I was worried I would have to start over to get a hole in one. But thankfully, I would always manage to get to one in time.

[BaNaNa]

Thanks CoatRack!!! I tried to make it really hard :P Maybe I'll do a racecourse next...I'm already thinking about my next idea. I made too many mistakes with the modeling of this level, so I want to take what I learned and make something new...I just wish there were more textures....

[BlueZero4]

Alright, first time giving level design feedback in a long time.

• The brick texture you're using for the level looks bad when it's tiled over large walls. The big wall near the end of the course specifically comes to mind.
• The first zip pad gives me enough speed that I soar over the edge when I hit the slope straight-on. Also if I try to turn.
• Roly doesn't have good camera control, so I want to have a good view of the course ahead of me while playing. The frequent U-turns in the level (as well as the large hill) make that difficult. IIRC what the main game does is it presents the U-turn surface well and makes it clear how you ought to approach it, so that you're fairly confident that you can know how to do the section and will exit the section safely and have enough time to react to what's in front of you. A lot of the stuff in this level was hard to react to the first time.
• The panel that bounces you off the angled wall before you go through the wooden colonnade-thing doesn't line you up right. I always end up going to the left side of the colonnade rather than through it.
• And for a general critique of your approach to the level: I know from SRB2 I'm used to wanting to have a lot of content packed into a single level. In RPP, I think the gameplay is built so that you stretch that same wealth of content over an entire 18-hole tour, with each hole being an exploration of a single gameplay challenge. You're using zip pads here a lot, and I think that's because the level is fairly long and you want the player to not need to re-shoot. I think that you'd generally want the player's momentum from the initial shoot to be enough to finish the level, and you'd speed them up with downhill slopes here and there. I would personally save zip pads for a gimmick.

Whoops. That's kindof a lot of feedback.

[Mike]

(02-01-2015 08:17 PM)BlueZero4 Wrote:  * The first zip pad give me enough speed that I soar over the edge when I hit the slope straight-on. Also if I try to turn.

I can personally confirm that this was not the case in earlier Roly versions, so I believe the fault for this may be on our end. We'll investigate.

[Mike]

Just an update to the above: There was a physics screwup in v0.06 that altered Roly's steering behavior. v0.07 (which has been released) has fixed the issue, so I'd recommend updating and trying the level again.

[BaNaNa]

Wow! Thanks for all the feedback, BlueZero4! let me try and tackle it all now...

(02-01-2015 08:17 PM)BlueZero4 Wrote:  The brick texture you're using for the level looks bad when it's tiled over large walls. The big wall near the end of the course specifically comes to mind.

I wanted to use a different texture than the normal world levels, but you have a good point haha. Maybe I'll try something else...

Quote:The first zip pad give me enough speed that I soar over the edge when I hit the slope straight-on. Also if I try to turn.

The second speed pad is meant to be a beginners trap, but this one should work right...lemme update my game and i'll check again.

Quote:Roly doesn't have good camera control, so I want to have a good view of the course ahead of me while playing. The frequent U-turns in the level (as well as the large hill) make that difficult. IIRC what the main game does is it presents the U-turn surface well and makes it clear how you ought to approach it, so that you're fairly confident that you can know how to do the section and will exit the section safely and have enough time to react to what's in front of you. A lot of the stuff in this level was hard to react to the first time.

Good! It was supposed to be really hard :D It was also my first course so I wasn't exactly perfect on a lot of things like this. I'll try doing more testing next time maybe?

Quote:The panel that bounces you off the angled wall before you go through the wooden colonnade-thing doesn't line you up right. I always end up going to the left side of the colonnade rather than through it.

Still having issues getting that angle just right...I'm still figuring out this whole level making process :) I'll look into it!

Quote:I would personally save zip pads for a gimmick.

What if I wanted to make a gimmick-y level? ;) My next level already has a gigantic 2D loop-de-loop in it, so I'm not sure my "design" is a lot like the original game haha.

Thank you again!!!

[BlueZero4]

(02-02-2015 11:53 AM)BaNaNa Wrote:  I wanted to use a different texture than the normal world levels, but you have a good point haha. Maybe I'll try something else...

The different texture looks fine on the shorter walls, just not on the taller one. The problem is just that the texture tiles too quickly over the larger wall.

(02-02-2015 11:53 AM)BaNaNa Wrote:  The second speed pad is meant to be a beginners trap, but [the first pad] should work right...lemme update my game and i'll check again.

Just tried it on the new version, and the zip pad doesn't send you over the edge any more.

(02-02-2015 11:53 AM)BaNaNa Wrote:  

Quote:The panel that bounces you off the angled wall before you go through the wooden colonnade-thing doesn't line you up right. I always end up going to the left side of the colonnade rather than through it.

Still having issues getting that angle just right...I'm still figuring out this whole level making process :) I'll look into it!

Also, it's worth noting that the updated slower zip pad physics give me more time to react to the bounce, so I can turn over and hit the zip pad. That said, I bought upgraded turning from the store, so that probably also has something to do with it.