Okay time for a really long response post I guess.
...you certainly don't make the level seem enjoyable enough for anyone to take the time to download it and give it a go. I mean and I quote, "the ideas are badly put together and not thought out, and there are lots of other problems". Ok then, I guess I'll just pass this one by since the author doesn't think it's any good. Well, I did play it and it wasn't all bad.
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2. What's wrong with linear if it's interesting to look at and challenging to play? (ok it was kind of a mish mash visually but many levels have nothing so....AND it was challenging.
3. Ok, two areas make me not want to play this again. The first was the area after you get high jump. The place with all the arrows and heads. Lot's of wall swims and very confusing. The other place is near the end...in total darkness until you get light. Things like total darkness and invisible kill spots in knytt stories is a gamebreaker for me. I "god moded" Juni right out of both.
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5. I liked the use of shifts (?) to change the water levels and such. And the buttons that do something somewhere else....
For the starting bit, you're absolutely right--I've actually edited the post a bit to make the level seem a bit more worth playing to people in the future who will view this topic. Good advice, thank you very much.
2. Yeah, I've looked at the tilesets and all that and I've got a better idea of what I'm going to do next time.
3. I figured that bit with the arrows wouldn't go over well. There's actually an idea behind it that makes it easier to navigate, but that's never elaborated on, so it probably just leaves the player confused....
5. Awesome! In fact, the water level bit was actually my favorite for both playtesting and making. I'm glad you liked it.
Nice level, although there are some wallswims and things like that. But that's what you said, it isn't a finished level.
A really liked the (water) switches part!
Awesome! I guess the water level has gone over pretty well with some.
Very ambitious for a first level, which is a good thing, I guess. My main problem with the level was the visual side of it - it's great that you tried making your own tilesets, but I'm afraid they just don't look very good... Everything is either too basic (tiles with just color, no texture at all) or looks like badly drawn plastic blocks (tiles with soft edges). Pixel art can be much more subtle - check out KS levels such as Salmoneus's "Underground House", or Farik's "The Hunt".
I actually have played a few levels by Farik, namely "Harvest" and "Homeland", all fairly interesting. I'll take a look at that one. I'll look over "Underground House", too. I'll try to apply what I learn from it in the level I'm working on now, with my own personal flare. It could be good for inspiration, too....
Another problem was the inconsistency, which is somewhat typical for first levels. Sometimes Juni can climb a wall, sometimes she can't. Sometimes she can jump into a tile, sometimes she can't. No way to distinguish between such tiles visually, and so it leads to bad surprises during playing. At one point the green area (where you start) is linear, but then suddenly it becomes warped for a couple of screens, then goes back to linear again; as a result, the entire area doesn't feel coherent at all.
You mean after the big button is pressed, right? Yeah, that was pretty much an attempt to extend of the length of that segment. Unless you're talking about the part where everything is floating and there's a warp that makes the player fall endlessly....
At one point there's a screen where you die if you fall to the lowest row of tiles, which comes as a complete surprise for the player, and again, this just happens on a single screen and cannot be foreseen visually. Why would Juni die? It's not logical from the level's point of view. It's only logical from yours - she dies because if she falls, she lands into a screen that just happens to be underneath, which shouldn't happen. A better way to design would be to make sure future screens are not in the way, and the fall is fatal because of, say, water or something. And so on, the examples are numerous.
Actually, from a player's standpoint, you're right--that makes absolutely no sense. I didn't even think of that.
On the bright side, the ambition is really impressive - voice acting, custom tilesets, buttons that can be pressed, and so on. I'm looking forward to your future levels.
If it shows ambition/potential, then I've done a good enough job for a first time, I suppose.
So, as a note to self, the main issues are lack of explanation, inconsistency, and messy tilesets. I'll keep that in mind. Thanks for the comments, guys!