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Metroidvania Contest (Entries)


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Poll: Metroidvania Categories

Best Overall

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Best Interconnectivity

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Best Upgrades

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Most Ambitious

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#16 Architect Abdiel

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Posted 12 August 2017 - 03:02 AM

https://www.twitch.tv/maikerushinigami



#17 Architect Abdiel

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Posted 12 August 2017 - 10:22 AM

Alright. After my 6 hour stream, I am ready to give my thoughts on the four quests.


Rainbow Land:
This was a solid quest. I don't really mind the colors, but I've never been really picky on colors to begin with. This was a nice and fairly simple entry though. That said, some of this was a bit cryptic. I don't mind the desert area much, since it did have a hint. But the snowy area is bad. I don't know if the intention was for the piece to be in the center of the two double rainbows, but I would say don't make something like that. The heart containers were pretty good, though a couple have some odd ways to reach. I never even got a few of them cause I had no idea how to. Upgrades are nowhere to be found, but it doesn't hurt the quest as a quest. Interconnectivity is also lacking, at least from a metroidvania sense. It was mildly ambitious though and the final boss was fine. The snowy area is the only thing I feel NEEDS to be fixed. This quest would have worked better for me if the theme wasn't metroidvania.

NEW!:
This quest for me had the coolest themes for the areas. If I were to remake the contest, that would have been one thing I would have made a category, probably instead of the ambitious one. I had a lot of fun playing this, and it was pretty lengthy for a demo. The items are well done, and I particularly liked the upgrades. I might actually consider having a third item button if possible. It was very well interconnected. I appreciate the wrap arounds and shortcuts. I am definitely anticipating seeing the finished product.

Mage Quest:
The quest had some really interesting ideas. The first thing I liked was how the rooftops became transparent while you were inside the homes. The screens and puzzles were well designed. Although the puzzles were pretty simple. Upgrades were really cool, although the teleport item is pretty bad with its glitching. I liked how the dungeons mixed in with the overworld, though I feel this is lacking in interconnectivity. Which to me makes it lose some of that metroidvania feel. This was a pretty ambitious title, but it feels incomplete. Granted, it was made for a one month contest, so I do understand. The title is promising. Items just need some polish, and I would love to see this expanded, whether or not you stick with the metroidvania theme.

Vaporvania:
This one fit the theme of metroidvania the most for me. It was very well interconnected, and the items gave you new ways to traverse the areas. I had a bit of a misfortune of not realizing my ZC wasn't the most updated version, so as you saw, I had some odd glitches. But that's a fault of my ZC not being upgraded, not your quest. The items were really nice, the interconnectivity was fantastic, and it was ambitious. The areas were even cool to have their own sort of theme. This basically nailed the theme for me. It was a very trap dodgy quest, but I don't mind that at all.


Most Ambitious - Mage Quest
Best Upgrades - Vaporvania
Best Interconnectivity - NEW!

Best Overall - Vaporvania


Will be interesting to see how this turns out.

Also, although I didn't vote it tops in any category, I still think Rainbow Land was very fun, and I do recommend uploading it to the database with a tinge more polishing.

Edited by Shoshon the Elegant, 12 August 2017 - 10:25 AM.

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#18 Architect Abdiel

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Posted 19 August 2017 - 10:23 AM

So we have two days left and a two way tie.

#19 Lüt

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Posted 20 August 2017 - 01:58 PM

Rainbow Land:

OK, I like the idea. Dividing the segments into rainbow colors is a creative approach to the contest, and fits the theme quite well. The black damage spots and full-rainbow heal spots are a nice touch. The game was generally fun to play. I particularly liked the gray and red areas with the freeform dungeon tiles. And those shifting Gohma legs without the Gohma heads were amusing.

But the whole presentation is rather sloppy and unrefined. I appreciate that it tries to avoid having large open areas with a single repeating ground tile, but there needs to be more order behind the tile variety, especially in areas like the blue zone where the tiles are quite literally stone floor tiles that look like they've been thrown around as haphazardly as any other nature tiles. I think this quest could be updated and refined to be a very solid mini-quest, but it would take some work, and colors would have to be managed through an expanded level palette with multiple tile packs and layering rather than using sprite CSets, particularly CSet 9, where the gray is meant as a transparency indicator and not a solid color to be used on an actual map.

It was still mostly enjoyable, but if it could get a major graphical overhaul with some gameplay tweaks and additional upgrades, it would be a very solid release.

NEW!:

I had a feeling this was going to be an amusing quest from the start when the old man died and turned into a gravestone. Generally, I found it quite well designed. I liked that the individual areas are relatively small given what it takes to get through them, and yes their connectivity is well done. Wandering around that giant square of a town, though... that definitely needs to be optimized, if nothing else.

I suppose the challenge with things like these is deciding what items and blocks to use and put where. On one hand, scattering all different triggers around all different places keeps them fresh no matter what order you do things in. On the other hand, you also feel the need to re-explore the entire game up to that point every time you get a new item (at least, I did). I don't think there was an area I passed through less than 4 times, and probably more like 7 or 8 times. As you branch off from this foundation further and further in the full version, I'd recommend having at least a few of the larger areas behind one single barrier, and self-contained as well. I get that having so many triggers can add purpose to backtracking, but it also eases my mind when I can mark a large chunk of a game as "complete" and know I never need to go back there again, even if I do get a lot of fancy new items in following areas.

Regarding the items... I had no idea what a single thing did. Hearts with arrow signs on top? Diamonds with beam-looking things next to the top sides? A mid-size shield costing more than a large-size shield? Different colored books? Multiple hammers? A magic jar with a rupee next to it - like which one do I get, is there a relation between them and which way does it go? A bomb with a glove, as in maybe regular bombs will hurt if I don't place them with a glove? I just bought stuff and figured it out with no idea how it worked or what I'd need it for. These shopkeepers desperately need some strings explaining exactly what they're selling. But, once I did figure out the items, they were pretty nice.

Technical note: cave warp tiles should be sensitive warps, otherwise if you walk across the top half of the sideways entry paths, you'll run into the back wall and never actually enter the cave.

Mage Quest:

This was a fun quest. Interconnectivity was good, with the dungeons (or probably castles) feeling like you just walked right through the front door and kept going. Nice seamless transitions. The transparent roofs were a great idea and worked very nice. Difficulty was just about right, except maybe those blue BombRobes were much harder than any of the bosses. And apart from a major problem with the warp item constantly dropping me into pits, the gameplay was quite enjoyable.

Just needs more frownropes, and you'll have a real winner.

Vaporvania:

Mixed bag here. It's by far the most unique of the bunch. It has a lot of interesting features and upgrades, and only once you get more and more of the upgrades do you see how well planned this entire thing really is. It could genuinely stand alone as its own classic game. I appreciate it, but I can't say I particularly enjoyed it by the time I reached the half-way point. I don't mind tank areas, but you have to have the health or defense to be able to tank them. Two of many case-in-points:

pls no?
Just, having to redo so many do-wrong-and-die screens over and over because the next one went stupid with its timing or dumb luck factor... it lost the fun factor rather quickly.

That said, the upgrades were still satisfying to get (I wish I could've enjoyed the trap-destroyer for longer), and the design was still solid and well thought out in its usage of those upgrades. It's a very impressive production. Just not suited to my gameplay preferences I guess.

So we have two days left and a two way tie.

Whoops, looks like I just tied two of the categories :cry:

Spoiler


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#20 Architect Abdiel

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Posted 22 August 2017 - 01:45 AM

4 days left. Anyone else looking to share their input should get on it soon.

#21 Architect Abdiel

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Posted 26 August 2017 - 08:29 AM

We have a tie for best overall. I will keep this up for 24 more hours.


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