N v2.0 Public Beta

[mintnut]

but bear in mind, that that was Mare and Raigan's list, not mine.

You mean the selection of maps that M&R picked from your list though, right?

[ska]

N v2.0????


I may even make a comeback if this is good.

Are any of my maps in the user column?

Yes! In fact, there are 2 so far:
Into Your Hideout (currently shortlisted for user-column 2)
Pillars of Heaven. (currently in user-column 1)

but bear in mind, that that was Mare and Raigan's list, not mine.

You mean the selection of maps that M&R picked from your list though, right?

Mintnut: Wasn't just my list, also flag's, gloomp's, RD's etc. While it's true that there was initially a fairly high percentage of mine in the initial draft column (which will intrinsically lend itself to a higher selection bias), most of my maps I specifically gave placeholder status for positions we were still delegating in order to speed up the selection process. (I'm sure you will understand that this was a time critical process.) I guess M and R thought that some of these placeholders passed their quality control test... I guess it's just one of the perks of collating maps for a project as expansive as this. Mintnut, I'm pleased to say that I had at least one of your maps on the "extras" list which means it's still very possible that at least one of yours are included, but right now, that decision is now solely in the hands of M and R.

[mintnut]

but bear in mind, that that was Mare and Raigan's list, not mine.

You mean the selection of maps that M&R picked from your list though, right?

Mintnut: Wasn't just my list, also flag's, gloomp's, RD's etc. While it's true that there was initially a fairly high percentage of mine in the initial draft column (which will intrinsically lend itself to a higher selection bias), most of my maps I specifically gave placeholder status for positions we were still delegating in order to speed up the selection process. (I'm sure you will understand that this was a time critical process.) I guess M and R thought that some of these placeholders passed their quality control test... I guess it's just one of the perks of collating maps for a project as expansive as this.

I think I'll wait for flag, gloomp and RD to confirm that.

I'm sure though, that seeing so many of your maps included at the possible* expense of other map makers is indeed a perk.

*i'm saying possible since we don't know the final list, but if it turns out anything like the column in the current beta then there will be some gaping omissions.

[raigan]

Sorry for the silence, we've been busy trying to get things done.

About the user levels: we went through the lists of about 10-12 different people, however the current beta was made before we received most of them, so there have been some changes. Also, there were so many good maps we decided to make two columns instead of one.

We tried our best to balance showcasing as many different creators as possible vs. maintaining some sort of consistent user experience (we definitely have a certain taste so in general levels that are at least somewhat similar to our own were given preference; not *because* they're like ours, but rather the levels that we make are the way they are because we have a certain aesthetic/taste/preferences). Hopefully that's understandable.

This, as you can imagine, was really hard to do. We have agonized over this, since there were more good levels than there was space to include them, so we had to make some tough choices.

We tried hard to make it a rule to choose levels as-is and not go down the rabbit hole of letting ourselves tweak them, however there were a few cases where we really wanted to include a level/author but couldn't without a few changes (e.g Web (by monopole) was an amazing level, combining a very difficult platforming challenge with 2 gauss and a rocket; we had way too many "vvv hard" (as we rank them internally) levels and needed some less-hard levels, so we removed the enemies to make it a pure platforming challenge -- and it's such a good level that it still stands up to such modification).

I don't want to single anyone out because basically all of the levels we have chosen are amazing, but just OTOH some stand-out moments were:

Misdirection (by stepself)
Tantamount to Paramountcy (by BuddyLee)
Blue_Tetris Revival Series: 6311 (by blue_tetris)
I'm Antoni Gaudí, I'm Dead (by Yahoozy)

We also tried really hard to limit ourselves to only 2-3 levels at most from the same author, however we simply couldn't bring ourselves to cut some of them. Yahoozy has the most, with 5; ska and lord_day each have 4, and several people have 3 or 2. Here's a full list of authors (it may still change though):

1211
29403
Aju
amconline
AMomentLikeThis
APulse
astheoceansblue
astheoceansblue
astheoceansblue
Barabajagal
Barabajagal
Barabajagal
BionicCryonic
blackson
blue_tetris
BuddyLee
BuddyLee
cahu
calamity7
Cerberus[]
Chrdrenkmann
condog_111
crescor
deep_blue
DemonzLunchBreak
dvip6
DW40
Echarin
epigone
epigone
Fimision
fingersonthefrets
fingersonthefrets
firetamer2
flagmyidol
formica
ganteka
gloomp
Green_Ghost
Guitar_Hero_Matt
Hawkk
heatwave21
jeffkillian
Kablizzy
karmap0lice
kkstrong0
koipen
krusch
krusch
Lancaster
Life247
Life247
lord_day
lord_day
lord_day
lord_day
LouDog004
maestro
maximo
maximo
MaximumRide
monopole
mrgy05
nevermore
nevermore
nevershine
nevershine
norelay
Nspired
Orion_
Pheidippides
RandomDigits
RandomDigits
rocket_thumped
Sendy
Seneschal
seven_two
sidke
ska
ska
ska
ska
skyline356
sonicdeath
squibbles
stepself
stepself
Sweep
tktktk
tktktk
tktktk
topolord
uNcoNditioNal
Wizard2
Yahoozy
Yahoozy
Yahoozy
Yahoozy
Yahoozy
ZTHING

and here's the level list (by level name):

(Untitled) (by Barabajagal)
@_@ (by DemonzLunchBreak)
A Wonder of Whether Anything is Perfect; What Happens Next. [edit] (by firetamer2)
Adventure Pipes (by Yahoozy)
Ape Awes Mom (by LouDog004)
At Peace in My Castle (by tktktk)
Autumn In Silico (by nevershine)
blowing smoke [edit] (by MaximumRide)
Blue_Tetris Revival Series: 6311 (by blue_tetris)
Cheaters Always Prosper (by tktktk)
Chert (by squibbles)
Consider Phlebas (by astheoceansblue)
Cosette (by Pheidippides)
Deadly Strand [edit] (by BuddyLee)
Deathstalker (by Orion_)
Desperado (by jeffkillian)
Diamond (by lord_day)
down, down... UP! (by rocket_thumped)
Dr Jotangles (by ska)
drearily (by ska)
Drone Weddings (by amconline)
Eloppp (by nevermore)
Enterprise [Memoirs] (by flagmyidol)
Ex Nihilo (by BionicCryonic)
Exit That's Mine (by RandomDigits)
Falling To (by Hawkk)
Façade Away (by Life247)
Forgive Us Our Tresspassing (by Wizard2)
Glazz cave (by koipen)
Grandiloquency (by Seneschal)
Hexagigantes (by Guitar_Hero_Matt)
I'm Antoni Gaudí, I'm Dead (by Yahoozy)
Idle Contrast (by mrgy05)
In a Foreign Cave (by ganteka)
In the Palm of a Sewer Spirit. (by fingersonthefrets)
Into Your Hideout [edit] (by epigone)
Inzaders (by krusch)
krystallos eis (2-0) (by maestro)
Last True Amateur Series: Ride The Lights (by formica)
lemonade (by sonicdeath)
Like an ocean (by crescor)
Lionheart (by Lancaster)
Loose (by 1211)
Maori Shrine / Where their Elder Spirits Rest (by nevershine)
matador trajectory (by astheoceansblue)
Message In The Motion (by lord_day)
Metanation (by ska)
Metro (by heatwave21)
Misdirection (by stepself)
More Squares (by kkstrong0)
Phantom Menace (by Chrdrenkmann)
Pillars of Heaven (by epigone)
Pipes (by Nspired)
Pirate Pete (by cahu)
Pirates, Knights and Vikings (by Green_Ghost)
Please Help Me (by Yahoozy)
plue (by maximo)
Polar Bear Years (by lord_day)
Power (by Yahoozy)
Prisoner Exchange (by Fimision)
Psychotic Mined Games (by Sendy)
pyramid, east face (by Barabajagal)
Quirkscrew (by stepself)
Rattlesnake (by gloomp)
Revolution 9 And A Half (by Sweep)
Run The Red Light. (by fingersonthefrets)
Shadow of Khafre (by lord_day)
Shard Planet (by skyline356)
Shrarhreeat (by blackson)
Simplistic III (by Kablizzy)
Slacker Versus Hacker (by tktktk)
Slow Night, So Long (by karmap0lice)
snakewire (by ska)
Speak (by nevermore)
Splooge (by DW40)
Square Beach (by 29403)
Stomach [edit] (by Yahoozy)
Stupid Questions (by maximo)
Superliminal 14 (by krusch)
TACTICS TO PRACTICE (by sidke)
Tantamount to Paramountcy (by BuddyLee)
Templ 505 (by deep_blue)
Tethered (by calamity7)
The Contender (by Aju)
The Hotel Denouement (by condog_111)
The Keys Forgotten (by Echarin)
The Trek Up (by ZTHING)
The Yellow Brickroad TO HELL! (by norelay)
Thwumped Up (by RandomDigits)
Twilight at Carbon Lake (by seven_two)
ultimate enema (by Barabajagal)
VIII - Mental atmosphere (by uNcoNditioNal)
Waist Of Time (by AMomentLikeThis)
Wake (by APulse)
Web [edit] (by monopole)
White Noise/Black Silence [edit] (by Cerberus[])
Why Does It Always Rain On Me!? (by dvip6)
Wicker City (by Life247)
You find yourself in an N level. (by topolord)
zero potential (by astheoceansblue)

We're really sorry to those who aren't included, we understand how that must feel... it's very hard to balance wanting to include everyone with wanting the make the column episodes work as best as possible. We feel especially bad about people who took the time to compile a list of levels, which were then not chosen... it was very very hard to make these decisions. Actually it reminded us of why we swore after N+ to never do another user level "contesque", because the stress of having to choose map A over map B is agonizing.

One thing I want to say was that it was extremely amazing to play through some of these and see the immense creativity that you have all put into your levels. There are things we've never thought of, things we had thought of individually but combined in ways we hadn't thought of, etc... it was pretty amazing. We're looking forward to playing more, which is something we haven't thought we'd ever say about N again, so thank you all for that.

Anyway, thanks for your continued help with the beta; we should have a new update in the next week or so!

[aids]

Oh my goodness, I feel super honored to be included, albeit under my former name. I'm very curious as to whether or not you're going to rework some of the new maps you've made though. It's awesome that you're including usermade levels, and bonus columns I think are the right way to go about it. I really would like to see the new N have the best maps possible for it, and it's okay if you need to hire professional mapmakers to get them. *cheeky grin*

[mintnut]

Not a single palemoon map.

:'(

[unoriginal name]

Tantamount to Paramountcy (by BuddyLee)

Seeing as it seems no one's pointed it out to you yet, that map is actually a collaboration between BubbyLee and lord_day. It was posted on BuddyLee's account but they had a (presumably) equal share in creating it.

[aids]

Tantamount to Paramountcy (by BuddyLee)

Seeing as it seems no one's pointed it out to you yet, that map is actually a collaboration between BubbyLee and lord_day. It was posted on BuddyLee's account but they had a (presumably) equal share in creating it.

Speaking of, I assume that you have figured out a way to include multiple authors for one map, i.e. collabs.

[sidke]

Not a single palemoon map.

:'(

tactics to practice is.

let it be known tactics to practice is a collab between palemoon and myself

it is known

[otters~1]

N v2.0????


I may even make a comeback if this is good.

Are any of my maps in the user column?

into your hideout goddamn well better be considering how long i fought for it

edit: there's no palemoon. ...there's not any of the palemoon

edit: they put one of my maps in but not any of palemoon

[epigone]

Not a single palemoon map.

:'(

That's a shame, but I sort of understand given raigan's post, "we definitely have a certain taste so in general levels that are at least somewhat similar to our own were given preference."

palemoon was always one of my own personal inspirations though, and highly prolific at that.

[Yoshimo]

Thanks for including a map of mine; it's an honour. Speaking of, did someone put me on a list of suggested maps, or did you just happen to find it?

[乳头的早餐谷物]

Intriguing choice of maestro map.

[ska]

Thanks for including a map of mine; it's an honour. Speaking of, did someone put me on a list of suggested maps, or did you just happen to find it?

Yes, it was on there from my first draft.

I do find it slightly amusing that Lancaster's first and only map ever submitted was included. I only found it because I recall him having a few highscores a few years back and decided to see if he had any maps. Sure enough, he had one, and amazingly, it was quite well made...

I don't want to single anyone out because basically all of the levels we have chosen are amazing, but just OTOH some stand-out moments were:

Misdirection (by stepself)
Tantamount to Paramountcy (by BuddyLee)
Blue_Tetris Revival Series: 6311 (by blue_tetris)
I'm Antoni Gaudí, I'm Dead (by Yahoozy)

RandomDigits and I were genuinely shocked when you decided to include "Tantamount to Paramountcy" by BuddyLee and lord_day. Not because it's a bad map or anything, but rather, the way it seems to clash with almost every other map in the user-column... Not a sleight on your map selection, since it was critically acclaimed on NUMA... just an honest observation. :D Similar thing with "I'm Antoni Gaudí, I'm Dead" not because we didn't think it'd be picked, just that we weren't sure you'd go for it, but glad you did! The other 2 maps you highlighted are undeniably excellent and great assets to the column.

Raigan, don't you think the top floor guard on Pillars of Heaven (by epigone) is a bit too... ruthless...? Coming from a highscorer XD

Anyway, mission accomplished.

[Izzy]

Raigan, don't you think the top floor guard on Pillars of Heaven (by epigone) is a bit too... ruthless...? Coming from a highscorer XD

I had to bait it to the left, coming from the right, hovering over it for a bit, then going back to the right. That bit really needs to be changed.

[ska]

Raigan, don't you think the top floor guard on Pillars of Heaven (by epigone) is a bit too... ruthless...? Coming from a highscorer XD

I had to bait it to the left, coming from the right, hovering over it for a bit, then going back to the right. That bit really needs to be changed.

Yeah, there's nothing I can stand less than a crapshoot in a game, and I think the minute difference in floor guard mechanics might be responsible, as several other people on IRC also noticed this part of the map displayed a huge spike in difficulty.

Perhaps a mine instead would be better? See what epigone thinks, it's his map after all... maybe he can make the necessary edits himself. Wouldn't like a great map laid to waste because of a single object.

P.S. I'm extremely excited for the next beta revision! >:D Hope it will run fine on this laptop again :O

[Pheidippides]

Lancaster was rocket_thumped. I thought everyone knew this.

To explain: There's a post of his on the old forums where he said he was getting into highscoring, under the name Lancaster. He must've tried to go anonymous with it on NUMA, and then later adopted it as his highscoring persona. The account is disabled on NUMA, probably at r_t's request.

Also thanks M&R for reading my suggestions! I'm glad to see a few of them up there. If only Ngaged hadn't deleted all his maps, I'd have offered some from him too.

[ska]

Lancaster was rocket_thumped. I thought everyone knew this.

To explain: There's a post of his on the old forums where he said he was getting into highscoring, under the name Lancaster. He must've tried to go anonymous with it on NUMA, and then later adopted it as his highscoring persona. The account is disabled on NUMA, probably at r_t's request.

WHAT WHAT WHAT!? :O
This does seem vaguely familiar now that you mention it.

[乳头的早餐谷物]

http://forum.droni.es/viewtopic.php?p=1646#p1646

[zoasBE]

I want to retake this to write a much more positive post than my previous one and a couple of quick thoughts.

I'm going to write to the N2.0 beta itself, and sorry if I'm going to retake the beta thing due this thread has quickly become in something only about the usermade maps included, btw, congrats to you all!

I want to say that I'm pretty much excited now. I think I'm getting the real essence of the new look of N2.0 and the way the levels are easier. Trying to look it from a different point of view, and trying to get in, I have to say that it's pretty cool. In fact, I'm really liking the new looks, the new essence and the new levels. It's cool having something like that. I know the 'highscoring' thing, and the 'tricks/glicths' things too, but hey, we will always have Nv1.4, and now this is a new thing and we can take it as an 'extension' and play time from time and trying to highscore too just a simple easier thing. Just that.

Having saying this, I would again point out a few things in the visual aspect that could be improved, just as a reminder.
- The pixel seems to be missing in the golds in the lower right corner.
- Same for the doors switches.
- The enemies are still active and you can die by them after completing the map.
It would be interesting not to die, and that you can still keep landing at one-way after completion.
- The lower left corner of the mines seems lesser.
- Just a few things with the sound.

I hope this is pretty clear and M&R still have option to correct this (and other things mentioned above).




But the real reason of this post is the new Multiplayer mode.
I want to share with you the feeling I have, and my mind is traveling really far away, and it's awesome the new world of possibilities opens up before us with this. Wow, impressive. You imagine a cooperative map where a player must survive until the other gets the key? Even a door puzzle in which each player must help by opening and closing doors for the benefit of the other, and finally solve the puzzle? Racing, cooperative puzzles, cooperative actions, trapping your player enemy in challenge mode, wow!. Now we have endless new possibilities, friends

I'm assuming that the new multiplayer mode will behave something like in the previous N+. And it will be a local multiplayer, not online due to the difficulty of programming and support this online in real time, because the 'exact' essence of N.
I appeal to M&R to see if they can please remember when the final release just a couple of things about this:
. A free and total control over the configuration of the keyboard and the keys that will be used in the game.
. And an option to play with an external keyboard, or two keyboards at the same time along with the default keyboard, it would be interesting for the two players can play comfortably on different keyboards.

Also, I have made a couple of example maps of what the new multiplayer engine can allows:

http://www.nmaps.net/225678
http://www.nmaps.net/225677
http://www.nmaps.net/225676

EDIT:
http://www.nmaps.net/225679 this one by Unicorn_Drone.
http://www.nmaps.net/225684 and a Remix from it by me.

These are just quick examples and ideas, nothing really innovative, just a cooperative map like a normal action, this one in where a Ninja must survive until the other gets the key, and a simple two areas minejumper map to the challenge multiplayer mode. But, as I've said before, the possibilities are endless, and pretty many new concepts multi maps can be done! We can really see great things and concepts with this, and my mind is really flying, and thinking with possibilities. Again, wow!

And finally I really want to honestly congratulate and thank to Metanet, M&R, you are doing a good job! Thank you!

[ska]

http://forum.droni.es/viewtopic.php?p=1646#p1646

That was almost certainly a Freudian slip on my part. I don't know Lancaster in person, nor do I know RT. I was probably referring to my friend, Chris.

[Seneschal]

Riobe is another notable omission, as is ChrisE, who could probably have had an entire user column to himself due to his metanet-compatible style. I'm not criticising though, picking a certain number of these must be very agonising indeed, so some people were always going to get shafted...

[ska]

Riobe is another notable omission, as is ChrisE, who could probably have had an entire user column to himself due to his metanet-compatible style. I'm not criticising though, picking a certain number of these must be very agonising indeed, so some people were always going to get shafted...

Both Riobe and ChrisE were somewhere in my draft. Riobe has a lot of linear race maps though which doesn't typically lend itself to this kind of compilation (especially his earlier maps). I also think it's also unfair to pigeonhole ChrisE's maps, as I believe he has his own unique style. As Raigan has already said, it's more about getting 2 cohesive columns together, rather than sacrificing maps based on who made them. I also realise it's easy for me to say that, as I have 4 in myself, but now you know, they weren't totally forgotten about...

[Seneschal]

Riobe is another notable omission, as is ChrisE, who could probably have had an entire user column to himself due to his metanet-compatible style. I'm not criticising though, picking a certain number of these must be very agonising indeed, so some people were always going to get shafted...

Both Riobe and ChrisE were somewhere in my draft. Riobe has a lot of linear race maps though which doesn't typically lend itself to this kind of compilation (especially his earlier maps). I also think it's also unfair to pigeonhole ChrisE's maps, as I believe he has his own unique style. As Raigan has already said, it's more about getting 2 cohesive columns together, rather than sacrificing maps based on who made them. I also realise it's easy for me to say that, as I have 4 in myself, but now you know, they weren't totally forgotten about...

Well, Riobe has a lot of maps which aren't linear race maps too, but I get your point about not being able to include everyone/sacrficing big name mappers for cohesion. Also, I wasn't trying to pigeonhole Chris' style at all, just noting that I think a lot of his maps would very much be to M+R's tastes and would have fit in snugly alongside their style of maps (in a way that, say, Palemoon's maps might not).

EDIT: also, toasters (what ever happened to that guy, anyway?)

[mintnut]

Riobe has a lot of linear race maps though which doesn't typically lend itself to this kind of compilation (especially his earlier maps).

This is total rubbish. Riobe has been one of the more prolific mapmakers and you could pick maps at random from his better map packs that would be good enough to have made it in.

Also, it's not just Riobe and ChrisE:

Spudzalot, toasters, Shortshift, Losttortuga, frogs, Brttrx, GEAH, Skyray, miststalker06, IWBTNINJA, Mekkah, wulfgang, yungerkid, _destiny^-, sept, Skypanda, T3chno, Myrrhman, Ultcult, Apse, ...

EDIT: PALEMOON has used more styles than most people have made maps, and given the exceptions seemingly given to monopole and Antoni Gaudí (neither of which I have issue with being in the columns btw) I'd personally have done the same for PALEMOON.

EDIT2: Adventure Pipes and Hotel Denouement made it in \o/