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139: Bedazzling Bastion - tatanga

Complete

I do like the way you reinterpreted the spacy AA background as a sort of skewed twilit vista here, but I think the Bastion itself ought to be a more vibrant, interesting color than a simple steely grey, which seems unfitting considering its contents. Maybe a reddish purple or a jade green or a midnight blue might be a nice choice, giving us something a bit subdued, but which still has a certain suggestion of the strange and bedazzling scenery within. Also...maybe a few lamps outside (ideally glowing with a sort of rainbow hue) might be another way to give the exteriors a more distinctive feel...?

Gameplay-wise, I don't have much to complain about. It occurs to me now that the punishment for just barely missing the return trip for the first coin is being crushed against the wall, which is instant death even when big--perhaps yet another reason to consider replacing the sprite blocks here with proper block-blocks. Also, it seems that the final staircase of vanishing blocks in the second section is still not quite possible to ascend without the player dropping down in anticipation of their appearance (the last one always seems to vanish just before I'm about to land on it), despite looking like it ought to be possible without doing so. That still strikes me as a bit to deceptive, but I suppose that's something of a subjective impression.

Otherwise, I agree you're approaching completion here.
Just two complaints from me.

1. At the very beginning of the second area, the Sparabuzzy has a little bit of a glitch-fest (as in, it appears in one spot, but quickly warps to its "initial" starting point). Move him off-screen initially to fix it.
2.



The bottom left Sparabuzzy ambushes you. It moves fast and comes up below the screen in a way that you wouldn't expect it on your first playthrough. Either remove it or shift its position.

Other than that, good job. See if you can get the remaining bugs ironed out and then we can get it inserted!
Here's an alternative background you can use:



Should be easy enough to use edit's BG ripper on this, it uses 9 colors (including the black) and tiles. Probably will use a whole 2 BG files, but whatever.
For the record, I'm legitimately curious to see how that would look in the game. It's so silly that it could just potentially work.

...maybe.
Originally posted by Lucas
Here's an alternative background you can use:



Should be easy enough to use edit's BG ripper on this, it uses 9 colors (including the black) and tiles. Probably will use a whole 2 BG files, but whatever.


As long as it doesn't have a potential epileptic seizure palette (I'm not even joking), then I'm all for it.

The current background makes me a little dizzy, but at least the palette compensates for that.
Don't animate the black, and don't shift through the colors too quickly. It should look nice if you do that.
It's been over a week, do you have an update tatanga?
Whoops, sorry for the lack of communication. I have some papers I have to write and turn in today but it shouldn't take too long to make the adjustments requested so I should have the final level ready before Saturday.

For the record, does the majority think that Lucas's new background is a better fit? If so, I'm certainly fine with changing. Another possibility would be using his for the outside of the level and imamelia's for the interior.

Also S.N.N., I'm assuming you'll need the sprites for the grey blocks? I'll P.M. imamelia and ask him for them. By the way, if anyone has the time and is interested in creating actual blocks that behave in the same manner as the sprites, they would probably eliminate some minor side effects the sprites cause.

tatanga
I like the idea of using both backgrounds--one outside, one inside. I think your starry one fits better inside, as it's more visually interesting and less disorienting than imamelia's, and I don't want world 9 to look like it's set in space. (The inside of the fortress can look starry, but not the sky outside it.)

Looking forward to the final sublevel.
"(Z->)90° - (E-N²W)90°t=1"

Supporting:


Current project: Mario's Kool-Aid Acid Trip
I like the starry background more for the outside of the level because it's more suitable for the outside but I don't have problems with the groovy rainbow indoors.
i really do not like that background it looks like it has been drawn on paint but i wont know for sure until i see it in game
Hey sorry guys this week has been really rough with free time. I don't have access to a computer right now to make the changes but I will as soon as possible this weekend. I apologize, there's no excuses.

tatanga
Don't apologize. You're nearly done, and you've been keeping up with this unlike certain others. Just focus on your studies/whatever it is you're doing and pop up an IPS when you get the chance.
Thanks. S.N.N., I just sent you a private message with the files. Let me know if I forgot anything.

Here's the IPS for everyone. (IPS link is obsolete; removed)

I ended up using Lucas's background outside and imemelia's for the interior. Hopefully everything is in working condition now.

tatanga
I didn't see any problems other than the flashing Palette 6 with the coins, that needs to be turned off. Good job Tatanga.

EDIT: I fixed up the 2 problems that Lightvayne stated in 135.
Alert!! I found a glitch that may or may not have been fixed.



I often get stuck between the block I'm standing on and the wall and die when I come back from getting the coin.
"(Z->)90° - (E-N²W)90°t=1"

Supporting:


Current project: Mario's Kool-Aid Acid Trip
My only problems are:

The pipes' flashing palette in 134 made me dizzy. Maybe tone down the palette a bit?

Also the music...it doesn't fit the level's vibe at all. Also, the song itself is overused. Maybe use something different outside and something different inside. Would the 52 work for the inside?
Originally posted by Giant Shy Guy
Also the music...it doesn't fit the level's vibe at all. Also, the song itself is overused. Maybe use something different outside and something different inside. Would the 52 work for the inside?


Personally, I think the music's perfect for a sort of mellow tripping out vibe. As for frequency of use goes, remember that the current track appears exclusively in World 4B (and may even possibly end up appearing slightly less there if we get another desert track), and thus will not have appeared for a very long time by the time the player reaches World 9. 52, conversely, is used throughout the hack, and is this likely to feel a lot more "familiar" to the player by this point, whereas the current music choice revisits something not seen for a while, and presents it in a very different context--something of a recurring theme in World 9.

Anyway, just a scant few points for my part:

- Firstly--good lord that new background in the outdoor regions is garish. Also, it's really heavily pixelated and just plain unpleasant to look at. Honestly, I think it'd be better to revert to the Asteroid Antics-derived dusk-scape here than to use this ugly thing, especially considering that ExGFX slots are mighty scarce by this point, and we probably going to need rather a few of them yet for other backgrounds, especially backgrounds which are good for multiple levels and don't constitute aggravated assault on a player's sense of vision/æsthetics. No harm in being a bit parsimonious when you can, especially if the end result is all the more pleasing for it.

- Secondly, I still think any color besides grey would be a better choice for the exterior of the Bastion itself in the outdoor parts. It just seems a little...non-enticing as is.

- Thirdly, I'm still not especially keen on the fact that the final jump in the second half requires a not-considerable amount of preempting the blocks to be possible, though does not necessary look as though it should, and indeed is set up in such a way as to mildly discourage such. Of course, if nobody else was particularly bothered by this...

- Finally, I still think it would have some very considerable advantages to replace the sprite-form vanishing blocks with actual block versions, but I suppose that has no real affect on the actual layout of the level seen here.

Otherwise, though, it all looks good to me.
Originally posted by Rameau's Nephew


Anyway, just a scant few points for my part:

- Firstly--good lord that new background in the outdoor regions is garish. Also, it's really heavily pixelated and just plain unpleasant to look at.


I have to side with RN here. It looked promising in the sample image, but in-game it's like stabbing my retinas with a rusty meathook and dragging them out of my body into a vat of hydrochloric acid. I was half expecting them to be ExAnimated, too.

I mean really--don't use the stars. Just don't. They clash with everything else. And they're butt-ugly.

If you can clean up the star BG and make it ExAnimated, it might be workable. If not, the old BG (with a funky palette) will have to do.
"(Z->)90° - (E-N²W)90°t=1"

Supporting:


Current project: Mario's Kool-Aid Acid Trip

Complete