There is never --
never -- any call for this kind of language when discussing someone else's work:
In reply to now deleted post(s):
By SingingSurger
<insert trolling>... I don't care how much I trolled, this game just plain sucks.
I personally found the level unplayably difficult (but I find many popular levels unplayably hard, and would have no way to distinguish between 'very hard' and 'lunatic', as just-'hard', and even sometimes 'normal', are too difficult for me and my decrepit reflexes) so I used the editor's Test Level feature to skip past screens I couldn't get through without dying.
(Incidentally, many of the individual screens were
not impossibly hard for me, especially
after I picked up the umbrella at the proper point in the game's storyline.
I found a few of the enemy- and/or trap-containing screens downright easy, in fact, and several others challenging but possible without undue luck. I'd say about half of the deadly screens which are necessary to play through were impossible for me -- and I did at least try each one before skipping past. I am still wondering, however, whether
the final screen is actually beatable without recourse to placing Juni via the editor...)
(Also, I don't know whether anyone else noticed, or whether this was an intentional design choice on Zorf's part, but
inside the castle area, there's a whole series of screens requiring devastatingly difficult trick jumps and passing through screens full of enemies... which can all be bypassed simply by going straight up to the room/screen with the row of blue droppers. If that was a design choice, I applaud it, as it's no doubt a nice reward for those who enjoy and are capable of playing through highly-challenging screens to get some extra accomplishment in, and everyone else can just take the easier shortcut.)
I thought the storyline was interesting enough, if not high literature (and few KS levels rise past giving Juni something to do and a reason to do it, after all, if they do even that much). Yes, it reuses the
corrupted environment caused by machinery/greed, which Juni must rectify by disabling or destroying the machine
theme, but so do many, many levels, including some very well-liked ones. Compared to other levels, I'd say this was an average to above-average storyline, actually, especially with
the device of the scientist speaking to Juni through the radar/radio and advising her along the way
and also the
twist near the end that compounds the mystery. I'm referring here not to the
cliffhanger 'to be continued...?' ending
but to the
apparent about-face of Juni's guide.
The key-retrieval sequences in the cave were perhaps a tad forced, but not unreasonably so, aside from the difficulty involved in crossing some of the screens.
Speaking of story devices, I really liked the
inn-style savepoint halfway up the Unscalable Cliffs.
I'm sure someone else has done this in a level, but I haven't personally seen it before, and it's both cute and handy, and rewards the thorough explorer.
Yes, there are a number of voids and wallswims, often in places where I can't imagine not realising they would happen...
if the level designer knows what voids and wallswims are and how to avoid them. My guess is that Zorf does not fully understand these issues, and/or doesn't really 'get' how to beta-test one's own level as a player who doesn't know where they're 'meant' to go would -- which is very much an acquired skill. On the other hand, all kinds of experienced level designers release levels only to have people point out multiple void and/or wallswim issues. 'The Desert Story' had an unusually high ratio of voids and wallswims to its total screen count, but in pure numbers there have been worse levels in terms of total voids or wallswims. Also, both issues are easily fixed.
On the other hand, the one non-deadly challenge, the
'blind' maze accessed via secret passage with the third key as its reward
was very well-done. It looks simple in the editor, but played through without foreknowledge of the layout, it was delightfully satisfying to solve and felt... realistic, inasmuch as anything in a fantasy platformer can.
Visually, the level was quite pleasant overall. Despite using just a single tileset for approximately 90% of the level, Zorf managed to give the screens the appearance of variety, and used a very-familiar and often-used tileset in new and interesting ways. Some of these worked quite well, especially the crisscrossing effect in the penultimate screen. I didn't care for the 'keyhole' effect in the scenery of the castle-courtyard area, but it was at least different. There was one screen which Zorf worked on but wound up not putting into the playable part of the level, and which is visible in the editor -- and it's a real shame it didn't make it in, as it's very pretty.
The cutscene graphics varied. The info.png image -- the 'splash' screen you see when choosing which new/saved game slot to load -- was very attractive and well-chosen, though probably not made by Zorf, and uncredited... I'm pretty sure even public-domain (under neither copyright nor copyleft) images have to be credited under KS rules. The Intro cutscene's clumsy text positioning and fill issues (wrong colours inside letters like a, b, d, e, g etc.) suggests that Zorf used MS Paint and has little to no graphics experience or skills. (Nothing wrong with that; I'm a whiz with GIMP or Photoshop but I couldn't program my way out of a wet paper bag.) On the other hand, Zorf did manage to compose and capture screenshots for the intro cutscene -- a better choice might have been to put the text in a sign element and capture it along with the scene -- and generally almost any intro- and ending-cutscenes are better than leaving the default "Level Start" and "You Win!" text-images.
Speaking of which, the ending-cutscene image Zorf used was again probably someone else's work but uncredited. In the case of the ending the image wasn't as attractive as the info-splash and also
took the story in an abrupt, unexpected and unexplained direction,
and left the player with
which many people prefer to know will be happening up-front, by use of, for example,
calling the level '___ part 1' or '___ chapter 1' or '___ prologue'.
Overall, 'The Desert Story' shows promise from a level design standpoint. The problems with it are all easily fixable -- better/credited graphics, fixes for the voids and wallswims, some tweaking of the placement / quantity / selection of enemies so that players don't ragequit before they've properly begun the level. The overall story flow is fine, with a couple of rough spots that could stand to be tweaked (mainly
the scientist's dialogue changing after Juni retrieves his keys,
which can be done via flags/shifts, and fleshing out the ending-cutscene and/or the last screen or two leading up to it so that the ending
can seem to make some kind of sense.
The handling of ambiance and music was quite good for a first level: appropriate, and changing as Juni progresses through the story, without being obtrusive. It's the
art of level design that can't really be tweaked if someone truly can't make attractive or interesting levels, after all; everything else is just details and perseverance, i.e. not abandoning the level half-finished. Honestly, it's a level of ambitious size for a first effort, and that earns Zorf at least a partial 'pass' for
that surprise cliffhanger.
Rather than a numerical rating, I'll just sum up (and this is the
tl;dr for those who need one): Needs improvement, but shows substantial promise.
I for one am looking forward to seeing what Zorf can do after learning from what didn't work in this first level.