Nominate & talk about N2.0 USER LEVELS

[_danielr_]

jame_S, you asked me to try out M4xwell's 'Let's have a little fun' (I think that's the name of it) a while back.
I pmed you, but honestly I have no idea if it sent. You can check it out, anyway.
Is that what you had in mind?

[james_S]

whoo hoo, second page of the thread. Yea I got your msg :) u can see reply now

[organic io]

Here's my nomination to the thread
M4xwell - Principality VII
http://www.thewayoftheninja.org/nv2.html?l=14327

Probably the coolest level I have EVER played (and I been playing N+ since 2008 if that counts for anything), such a fantastic sense of flow. Now to beat it... :) :) :)

Ahaa!!!! So finally after a long night of setting up and linking many levels, I finally got down and actually played one for a while :) This level is soooo good. (m4xwell you should really think about being a professional level designer or something) The first time I beat it I was still behind m4xwell and had made a few obvious mistakes, so I went back for something better. Note I did not watch either of your replays before I finished it myself, because I enjoy the challenge of figuring these things out for myself (unless I'm totally stumped).

After beating it the second time and scoring 2nd (aha got you m4xwell), then I watched both your replays. Interesting how even though james_S has a really fast time, he still made that mistake at the bottom right corner jump. That thing drove me crazy too, but I kept suiciding every time I messed it up. So even though I got that jump, I made some obvious mistakes in other places (bottom left corner switch, I think I only ever "slid" into it once or twice and not on that run) ... Though the rocket chasing me at the end is pure hilarity. James_S I found some of your time-shaving tricks useful, especially near the end before the rocket chase, didn't even think of that one

anyway, very very cool. I haven't had this much fun playing a game for a while. Pure adrenaline!

So I wonder panstromek, what do you got for us on this level? :)

[organic io]

OK, here is my officially 1st shared set of levels thru clipular:

https://www.clipular.com/users/56164949 ... low-levels

I prefer to think of them as "flow levels".

You guys have probably already played all of those. Bear with me as I'm new, but those are some of the ones I've enjoyed so far.

I'm still in the process of converting my in-game faves to clipular, then I'll do more adding/sorting/etc

This should be interesting :)

It is weaaaaayyy too late, so I better sleep!

Peace

[panstromek]

Clipular is perfect idea man. I must use it, too. principiality VII (part 2) is good level but nothing special, just another m4xwell's good race. I don't know what so special do you see on it.
It's funny how elements and ideas hit the v2.0 as something new, but they are usually well known in v1.4. Few weeks ago was feed full of stupid dooreeries, everytime rated very high. It was just bunch of boring crap with no sense, but unseen in v2.0 so rated high. M4xwell and some other people (aoki, trollerlolz,...) have made few races and v2.0 community sees it as total revolution of play or something like that :D because these ones got quickly to the top of the list.

So, to get things clear. What you call Flow levels - all of these are races. Level where every step is planned and made for playing as fast as possible. I like playing them but after some time it gets boring because it is always the same.
Other map genres are for example - Action, DDA, Puzzle, Experimental .... Not so clearly defined, race is very typical. Or that Door-eeries. But don't make them. Door-eeries are boring and stupid and those new curved ones are even worse. Once it was enough so stop.

EDIT: I just took 0th at Principiality VII (part 2). I used a bit different route.

[M4xwell]

Clipular is perfect idea man. I must use it, too. principiality VII (part 2) is good level but nothing special, just another m4xwell's good race. I don't know what so special do you see on it.
It's funny how elements and ideas hit the v2.0 as something new, but they are usually well known in v1.4. Few weeks ago was feed full of stupid dooreeries, everytime rated very high. It was just bunch of boring crap with no sense, but unseen in v2.0 so rated high. M4xwell and some other people (aoki, trollerlolz,...) have made few races and v2.0 community sees it as total revolution of play or something like that :D because these ones got quickly to the top of the list.

So, to get things clear. What you call Flow levels - all of these are races. Level where every step is planned and made for playing as fast as possible. I like playing them but after some time it gets boring because it is always the same.
Other map genres are for example - Action, DDA, Puzzle, Experimental .... Not so clearly defined, race is very typical. Or that Door-eeries. But don't make them. Door-eeries are boring and stupid and those new curved ones are even worse. Once it was enough so stop.

EDIT: I just took 0th at Principiality VII (part 2). I used a bit different route.

Let me include that Races aren't my forte in maps AT ALL. They are indeed simple and fun to make, but over time, you get the context of it and can post at will in less than an hour of edit. For many other the people who knew me, N-Art is my best work because it is something different than the usually Fujita map (even though I adore those maps at times) and the always annoying 'put 10s and 10s of enemies on the top of the map and see if you can win! lagfest'. Races are OLD-school and although they are fun at times, they are NOT revolutionary now. Now, I am trying to go on back to puzzles and action levels (let my mind off races for a while) and hopefully can go back into N-Arts (although Inspired and IHuNTeRI and BehindMySarcasm 'sorry if i spelt this wrong mate' has that market for now), but for now, and probably for a while until a 'revolutionary' idea emerges, races will most-likely be high-rated.

[james_S]

Clipular is perfect idea man. I must use it, too. principiality VII (part 2) is good level but nothing special, just another m4xwell's good race. I don't know what so special do you see on it.
It's funny how elements and ideas hit the v2.0 as something new, but they are usually well known in v1.4. Few weeks ago was feed full of stupid dooreeries, everytime rated very high. It was just bunch of boring crap with no sense, but unseen in v2.0 so rated high. M4xwell and some other people (aoki, trollerlolz,...) have made few races and v2.0 community sees it as total revolution of play or something like that :D because these ones got quickly to the top of the list.

So, to get things clear. What you call Flow levels - all of these are races. Level where every step is planned and made for playing as fast as possible. I like playing them but after some time it gets boring because it is always the same.
Other map genres are for example - Action, DDA, Puzzle, Experimental .... Not so clearly defined, race is very typical. Or that Door-eeries. But don't make them. Door-eeries are boring and stupid and those new curved ones are even worse. Once it was enough so stop.

EDIT: I just took 0th at Principiality VII (part 2). I used a bit different route.

hey, What u say about race maps getting boring in that way -well that's why Principiality VII part II is also my favourite, cause Im not a fan of race maps (dnt ask why) and that one because of its complex route and the squares of gates which distort the flow shape, I think has a sense of mystery and u think u have to figure it out not to be killed by enemies. Early race maps from Johann also don't have a predictable track shape. -But that's what a lot of ppl love, the track shape.

You're right about how the race and door-eeries maps get high ratings nowdays. Nireco and Condoud made a bunch of those which I couldn't be bothered with but thought it must be good if those two have made them :s .

Ps. I think Organic io meant he prefers calling them flow maps to race maps

[james_S]

about lagfests lol Maxwell, You seen Smile by Ahmebb? www.thewayoftheninja.org/nv2.html?l=14507 -i found it really funny that he supposedly ''fixed it'' -cause how can u tell that its been fixed lol -i get shot by 50 drones no matter what i do. map published yesterday also: can you do it? 4 by philcraft is worth a mention

[panstromek]

Just playing your Underworld M4xwell. Awesome tiles, like it very much. www.thewayoftheninja.org/nv2.html?l=14601


James - use edit button sometimes please.

And I don't say that principiality VII (pt.2) isnt good map. It is ,for sure. And lot of that other races, too.

[ghjijhg]

Just playing your Underworld M4xwell. Awesome tiles, like it very much. http://www.thewayoftheninja.org/nv2.html?l=14601

Yeah, the tiles are pretty cool, but I disliked the gameplay, because getting all of the gold is annoying. There's too much of it.

I see a lot of gold-spam maps on the userlevels.

[organic io]

Well, thanks to ghjijhg's excellent tip about pasting the URL to playtest your maps, I created my first map tonight!

http://www.thewayoftheninja.org/nv2.html?l=14650
"Descent Into Mine Mountain 1 - The Entrance"

Moderate difficulty. I wanted to make a map I myself would enjoy playing. So I did. I'm still working on completing it in 1 run, but all the jumps are definitely possible. I tried to do a decent bit of play-tweaking to make it enjoyable.

Comments welcome!

I figure I've got it set up well for a series of maps like this :)

[organic io]

Hm, maybe I've made it too hard, because I've tried nonstop for the past hour and a half and I can't seem to clear my own level. Sad. My hands hurt.

[panstromek]

Beated.
Reminds me of my first level, too. I worked on every detail and made lot of unusual elements, but result was hard as fu*k :). But I beated it after some time.

Messy place by panstromek: www.thewayoftheninja.org/nv2.html?l=2544


Few hints:
1. Most important: Don't place gold on places, where ninja can get but the gold can't be picked up without getting killed (like it is the Welcome in the begining. if you placed it to the space where ninja can't go, it would be allright, but this is not good). And Don't place too much gold. Players automatically get it as noob level. What you have in second part is good style. Also looks better to organize it to some good looking shape than just clicking on the way. Another way is to place it on special places as reward for doing something harder and not necessary for beating (I like this the most, check out my Spirit of Tetris)
2. Work more on tiles. See that the last part is better looking than the rest of the level? I understand what this map means, but it would be good to make more complicated relief in the beginning, too. It just looks good, doesn't affect the gameplay but playing better looking map is more fun.
3. It's better to place enemies and mines in less count, but more on strategic places (not really needed here, can be done with good combination of elements)
4. Check out my maps at NUMA. Other mappers (especially ZoasBE) criticized them a lot and gave me a lot of really useful tips (even when I argued with them a lot :) ). Mainly here: http://www.nmaps.net/230692 (scroll down through crap and read his first comments :) )

Anyway, very good for first one. I enjoyed it. Idea is good and well processed. I think that good map shloud be based on some idea (in there it is jumping only on oneway) and through level showing idea in different situations. This is exactly what this level is so for me 4/5 (-1 for gold and tiles at the begining, but it doesn't necessary affect gameplay, which is good)

[james_S]

-Its interesting to find out what everyone's First map was :)

[M4xwell]

My first level on Nv2.0 http://www.thewayoftheninja.org/nv2.html?l=6398. I've come a long way from that haha.

[panstromek]

Awesome game time today guys. This is the reason why I like Highscoring on new levels much more than on original. In same time there has been bunch of players around (Eddy, Trasher, James, M4xwell, Aoki, Speedrunner, vankusss, GrzegorzPl, Cerberus etc.) and all of them highscoring on new levels. I started with Remedy (awesome map m4xwell!) when it had about 5 replays and when I made some good run, list was full (Eddy on top :).

Eddy, how much time did you need to take that highscore? I'd like to compare it with myself, because our route is similar. (I'm not sure if he reads this thread...)

But guys, why are you not on IRC while playing? We could talk about maps and runs together with live highscoring, just like on some contest :).

[M4xwell]

I started with Remedy (awesome map m4xwell!) when it had about 5 replays and when I made some good run, list was full (Eddy on top :).

That's one of the first level I've ever made on N. I finally found my older files and are uploading/editing them to play on N v2.0. That one is one of my bests back then.

But guys, why are you not on IRC while playing? We could talk about maps and runs together with live highscoring, just like on some contest :).

Honestly, I've been on the interwebs for many years and i still don't know what that technically is. (If is like skype in sorts), I can't for personal reasons.


I'm starting to love this level: http://www.thewayoftheninja.org/nv2.html?l=14729. It's pretty difficult and annoying for a Fujita level, but it really gives a 'holy shit don't fuck up' notion the entire time, thus making it more entertaining and engaging.

[zoasBE]

Hello guys! Just wanted to say that zoasBE user from NUMA is just a piece of crap. XD

[ghjijhg]

I was going through my favorites, and I found two maps that I really like:

http://www.thewayoftheninja.org/nv2.html?l=5770(by dvip6), and http://www.thewayoftheninja.org/nv2.html?l=5622(by IodineEnvy).

[james_S]

but it really gives a 'holy shit don't fuck up' notion the entire time, thus making it more entertaining and engaging.

damn right! I saw your run (maybe you made another since) you almost got zapped right at the end so randomly heh

reg your first map- the 'many rooms' type map, I think thats the least ''cutting edge'' (-as was talked about earlier in this thread) type of map there is heh. I think you got to be super inventive in most of the rooms to make a map like that exciting.

Yea its nice seeing how much you learnt since then... My first map was the Latvia map (where i was born) but its only recently when I looked at it again that I found a lot of limitations to my surprise actually. Biggest one being is the shortcut for pros that I put there -which now I dont think is very pro at all and if you manage it, its dull!! I may go and improve the map (plus make it compulsory to climb on the writing)

[organic io]

Beated.
Reminds me of my first level, too. I worked on every detail and made lot of unusual elements, but result was hard as fu*k :). But I beated it after some time.

Hey panstromek, really appreciate your feedback on my level! Thanks for the 4/5 rating, I couldn't be happier!

As for putting the gold where it can't be obtained, I was debating whether or not to do that.... But then my reasoning was that there are other maps where you can't get all the gold that are still popular/fun. Regarding the fact that the bottom is more detailed than the top, yeah, I realized that too :) Basically since this is the "entrance" to the Mine mountain, the first two areas you go through are supposed to be more like the inside of a top secret building complex, hence the flat walls, and then once you drop down to the bottom it starts to be more cave-ey.

But yea, I'm definitely looking forward to making more maps, my next idea is one where you can't jump at all (because there are mines right above your head), but you still have to run across the ground at the correct speed to clear some gaps and stuff. Should be interesting :) The "Mine mountain" series will be considered an over-arching set of levels where the exit to each level leads to the entrance of the next level, in a continuous flow kind of thing. I wish there was some way to actually put them together in an episode in n2. Oh well

[james_S]

something

-yea I cant see any reason why your continuing idea wont be good -especially if you publish the maps together maybe. And I can imagine that going at the correct speed idea -cause say you're trying to run over a gap and there's a mine on the ceiling -if u go too fast u'll 'bounce' off the far edge right into the ceiling mine.

[M4xwell]

But yea, I'm definitely looking forward to making more maps, my next idea is one where you can't jump at all (because there are mines right above your head), but you still have to run across the ground at the correct speed to clear some gaps and stuff. Should be interesting :) The "Mine mountain" series will be considered an over-arching set of levels where the exit to each level leads to the entrance of the next level, in a continuous flow kind of thing. I wish there was some way to actually put them together in an episode in n2.

Hey mate, if you need any help at all with the maps, I am here for you. I enjoyed the first one (although it was limited) and it WAS a first one so I give you credit, 3.8/5.

[M4xwell]

Organic io Hi, Maxwell made a remake of that with the ninja positioned normally.. I don't know if its just me but on that map grey really stands out as ''grey'' because the red and yellows are also diluted (spaces between mines+gold). I was thinking maybe Maxwell you could've used a black border (made of sliding gates) to give more contrast. Pretty cool map, I love the angles a lot.

-Maxwell, your cool sail ship n art would've made for ''great gameplay'' but it doesn't work properly -I was waiting eagerly for a remake..

Sorry for the really late reply, BUT I did make a remake for 'Arto' later on WITH the person easily shown. as for the pirate ship... I lost the file codes for that one ;~;. BUT, I may think of remaking it saturday/sunday.

[M4xwell]

To not make this thread die somewhat, What is your favourite map YOU made?