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[JoGribbs]

Messing with Pattern Recognition

My six levels are meant to be played sequentially, kinda had to rush through them due to a time constraint. Feel free to rip them apart.

*lots o' levels*

I feel bad that I have only just gotten round to playing through these, because they are pretty awesome.

There's a great difficulty progression through the levels. I like how some levels begin with the challenge from the end of the last level. It's kind of gently reminding the player of what they've already achieved, and that the level will get more difficult from there.

If I had any criticisms, it would be that some levels (the third for example) seem a bit to spaced out - you could probably accomplish the same design in half the space.

But yeah, aside from that I like 'em.

[Captain_404]

An Exploration of Checkpoint Exploitation

I want to apologize, as I don't really have the time to give crits to everyone over the next week. I feel a bit guilty posting this knowing that I won't be able to give back at all.

[Almost]

Messing with Pattern Recognition

I like this. It's a nice way to introduce new types of jumps.

An Exploration of Checkpoint Exploitation

That's just not nice.

[GameRoom]

John needs to fix it so when you fall off the edge you die.

[NiallM]

Here's my 5:
1. Small Acorns
2. Downhill
3. Spikehill
4. Spike Valley
5. The Winding Road
I tried to create a gradually increasing difficulty curve across them, starting from basic principles and working up.  I don't have the patience for really punishing platformers, so I don't think any of these are particularly brutal.  5 does require a little care though.

[Geti]

0 - First Steps
1 - Confidence
2 - Crime and Punishment

Tried to stay away from anything I considered "hard" until the end, and just went for "fun", simple levels. I think I got the curve fairly good.
I did like that checkpoints could be used for an incentive, but didn't really pursue that much.

[Tuba]

first.. thanks for the feedback on the Sokoban levels.. I was away on the last few days and couldn't do more, so.. moving on.

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Level 4

edit: @GameRoom, because I'm stupid and forgot to revert it to the original position after changing it to make it easier to test. It's fixed now.

[GameRoom]

Why does level 4 start out in the middle?

[noah!]

My turn! It's just a simple run-to-the-left kinda thing. One thing I tried to accomplish is to place nearly all of the checkpoints kinda out of the way, though I'm not sure why I did...Also, I like aesthetics, so I tried to make some neato (if somewhat vestigal) spike patterns.

0 - First Steps
1 - Confidence
2 - Crime and Punishment

Tried to stay away from anything I considered "hard" until the end, and just went for "fun", simple levels. I think I got the curve fairly good.
I did like that checkpoints could be used for an incentive, but didn't really pursue that much.

Very nice! I really like how some of the jumps look hard, but actually aren't once you do them (like in the middle of your first level).

[increpare]

My turn! It's just a simple run-to-the-left kinda thing. One thing I tried to accomplish is to place nearly all of the checkpoints kinda out of the way, though I'm not sure why I did...Also, I like aesthetics, so I tried to make some neato (if somewhat vestigal) spike patterns.

I really liked the checkpoint I had to go out of my way to get to.

[PsySal]

First I made four levels, thinking the "checkpoint" icon was a coin. Erm, oops! Here are coined and uncoined versions, use your imagination:

Level1

Level 1 No Coins

Level 2 (I didn't put coins on this in the first place)

Level3

Level 3 No Coins

Level 4

Level 4 No Coins

[PsySal]

EDIT: First Attempt

Very nice. One thing I find with many of the levels people are making here is there is not much sense of space or rhythm; they are just one careful (albeit interesting!) obstacle
after another. That's definitely one type of design, but not what appeals to me.

This level is different, as it has a visible structure: beginning, middle and end, with repetition in the middle section. As well, I died many more times on this level than other levels filled with trickier jumps, because I felt more inclined to "run through" it.

Food for thought!

[ScsiOverdrive]

Hello, this is my first post!

I have created five levels that increase in difficulty from easy to really really hard

I actually started with four levels but realized that the transition from 3 to 4 was too much, and created a level between them. I found this the most challenging, creating a level that is harder than one but easier than another.

Overall I am happy with how these levels ended up, check them out:

level 1 - Cupcake Land
level 2 - The Orchard
level 3 - Bingo Town
level 4 - The Wastelands
level 5 - Chuck Norris

There are a few spikes in difficulty progression, especially for newer players, but I feel its pretty close to what I wanted. This was a great exercise!

[Tuba]

First I made four levels, thinking the "checkpoint" icon was a coin. Erm, oops! Here are coined and uncoined versions, use your imagination:

Level1

Level 1 No Coins

Level 2 (I didn't put coins on this in the first place)

Level3

Level 3 No Coins

Level 4

Level 4 No Coins

When I think about them as coins, I get out of my path and try to get them all and change the way I play each level. Shows you how important "coins" can be in platform games.

[jlorenow]

I tried to make mine as tight as possible, and cram the whole curve into one level.

- Level Only

0 - First Steps
1 - Confidence
2 - Crime and Punishment

Tried to stay away from anything I considered "hard" until the end, and just went for "fun", simple levels. I think I got the curve fairly good.
I did like that checkpoints could be used for an incentive, but didn't really pursue that much.

I liked how the second level really felt like a natural progression of the first one.  When you put them side by side, you can see how the second adds consequences to failure and tests exactly what you learned in the first.

The third one was a really jarring change though.

[Geti]

Very nice! I really like how some of the jumps look hard, but actually aren't once you do them (like in the middle of your first level).

Thank you!

I liked how the second level really felt like a natural progression of the first one.  When you put them side by side, you can see how the second adds consequences to failure and tests exactly what you learned in the first.
The third one was a really jarring change though.

Yeah, very true :/ Thanks for the feedback, something to try and recapture I suppose

[Jonathan Whiting]

Sorry I've been a bit absent for the last few days, busy busy bee.

Why don't you guys make use of checkpoints?

Probably because I hadn't implemented them yet

Your worst nightmare.
The same level with less checkpoints.

Well, it's certainly hard, but there doesn't seem to be a great deal of pacing here, in fact if anything it gets slowly easier as it goes along.

I made another level subverting the normal difficulty curve: this time if you fail a challenge you may fall down to an area filled with checkpoints. The only way to continue from where you were is to treat these checkpoints as spikes and make your way to the nearest spike (for the purposes of this level, the reset button does not exist).

Damn checkpoints!

Not massively happy with it. Perhaps next I will try making a level which actually follows the theme.

An interesting experiment, but yes, it didn't really work out especially well.  I am finding these experiments quite interesting from a "why is conventional pacing conventional pacing" point of view though.

Better difficulty curve

Whilst it's sort of clever I really don't like the checkpoint abuse to make the first jump possible.  To me that sort of thing comes under the category of "just because you can doesn't mean you should".  Subverting player expectations rarely leads to good quality level design.

Checkpoints make the horrible level much easier

They do.. It's okay-ish if still a little frustrating now.. It's also revealed that the top route is the easier by some margin, and that the pacing within both paths is possibly a bit flat, the difficulty doesn't change much within.

Messing with Pattern Recognition

Nice level, pretty well paced.  The repetitive jumps didn't matter pacing wise, because the stakes rise as you get higher.

An Exploration of Checkpoint Exploitation

The perma-death traps and false paths aren't really player friendly.  It's certainly exploitation.  If you use such tricks in a game your players will hate you (and not in a VVVVVV I hate you but I love you style).

John needs to fix it so when you fall off the edge you die.

I'm doing this workshop stuff in whatever time I can squeeze between my day job, my home projects and my social life.  Your tone isn't especially helpfull.

Speaking of which, I'm out of time for now.. Will continue feedback-ing when I get home later..

[Tuba]

Two Paths, an easy one with no checkpoints and a hard one with plenty

[increpare]

Better difficulty curve

I like this - I tried to do something similar but it didn't quite work out as well.

An Exploration of Checkpoint Exploitation

Heheh.

[Dustin Smith]

I went and retooled my original six stages and added an additional three. I originally didn't want to make any more stages because the lack of checkpoints would have made them infuriating, but that isn't a concern now. I'm glad you guys dug them, but I agree with you guys in that it got repetitive in some bits. Levels two and three got the most drastically altered.

One thing I find with many of the levels people are making here is there is not much sense of space or rhythm

I kept Psysal's post in mind as well, I tried to make my levels more organic -- if you had all nine stages lined up in succession they'd align perfectly. I just don't know if pacing was sacrificed though. Is the level progression still strong, or did I fix something that isn't broken?

level one:
http://jonathanwhiting.com/coding/ldw/composition.swf?level=PNBQNCNELFLFLDNFLFMDgNDOCNDMChLHJHJGLENFMELFKDMHJHJGKFMENFgLEgKFgJDMHJHJHKGgKFgLDPIAPIAPIAPBNDMELFKFLEMDNEMFMFMENDPBPIAPIYJ

level two:
http://jonathanwhiting.com/coding/ldw/composition.swf?level=POBQNDMFgJGgJGgKFgLEgMDPBNAIBJHJGKCOBKALHJHJDICJDICJHJHJDICJHJHJHJDICJHJDICJHJHJHJCOHJHJHJFLGgJGgJDIBgJGgJGgJDIBgJGgJGgJGgJDIBgJGgJDIBgJGgJGgJGgJGgJEMDYPN

level three:
http://jonathanwhiting.com/coding/ldw/composition.swf?level=PAJAKAJAIHAIHQIAJAJAKAPIDNDNDNHAgHAgIEMEMHgIHgIHgICOHgIHgIGKjCKHgIHgIEIBgICOBoOHgIHgIHgIHgIEMHgIHgIhBNgGgIgGgIgGgIhFgIiCPIAPIAPIAOCOAPIAICgLAICgLEgNAPIAPIAPIAgPAPIAPIAPIYK

level four:
http://jonathanwhiting.com/coding/ldw/composition.swf?level=NAOBQOELFLFJHIgHlBjHgIHJHJGKFKgHkBkHgIHJHIgHgIGKFLEMHhHiBmHgIEgBgIHJDgCgIHgIHgIGKHgIoIgCIAgIHgIAIgBIBgIBIEgIHgIHgIDICgIgGgIgGgIgGgICIDgIHgIHgIjCKGKEMEMCOCOBPBPAYO

level five:
http://jonathanwhiting.com/coding/ldw/composition.swf?level=IBPAQPHgIHgIjBLFLHgIHgIHgIHgIHgIFLFLHgIHgIHgIHgIHgIFLHgIHgIHgIEoLHhHlAkHgIHgIGKFKgHkAlHgIGKGKHgIHgIHgICIDgIFLFLEMBPAPIAPIAPIGPIAPIAPIAOCOAPIAPIAPIYL
level six:
http://jonathanwhiting.com/coding/ldw/composition.swf?level=MAPIQPBPEgLEgLBPIAPIAPIAPEgLEgLEgLEgLCPBNCNCNCOBPBPHgIHgIiBIBgIhFgIhFgIhBgKgJCgKgJCIjJCIBoKGgIkCgIkCgJFLFJgHlAkHgJFLCgBLCgCgJBgDgJAgCMDLgHjAmHgJFLEMDNCOBPBPBPBPAYN

level seven:
http://jonathanwhiting.com/coding/ldw/composition.swf?level=ICOBQOCgDJFgAJjBgAJEIgAJCIBgAJoIAgAIgAJCIBgAJCgAIBJBhCKAPIHgNALBJDgIHgIAJANoPIAhCiIHgIlBIHAIHAIHAIHJGKFLEMDNCOBPAoPBPCODNEMFLGKHJHAIHAgDiAhDgDIDgDgDhAiHAgGKGKGKGKGKGKGKGKFYK

level eight:
http://jonathanwhiting.com/coding/ldw/composition.swf?level=GKGKFQKHAgHAgHAgHAgHAgHAIEhAgIEhBIDoICgEiAIEICgEiAIGIAIHAIHAIHAIHAgHAgHAgHAgHAgHAIBIAIAIAJBIgIgIgJHAgHAgHAgHoIHAgHAgHAgHAIHAIHAgHAgHAgHAgHAgHAIHAIHALELFKFLEMEMENDOCOCOCOBYL

level nine (victory screen):
http://jonathanwhiting.com/coding/ldw/composition.swf?level=KELDQAKFLEMEMENDOCOqOqOqOqPqPrOqOqOqOqNqOpOpPpPpPpPrOrOqPpOqOpOpPpPpPpPpPpOFKCJBJCKBICLBIBYLBICLBJCKBKCJBLFPPPPPPPPPPPPL

EDIT: minor tweaks to four & five