Congratulations Talps!
To everyone else, all I have to say is that for me, these were practically ALL top tier levels, better than most other Knytt Stories Levels and definitely better than most platformer levels for other games. Every single one of these was a genuine pleasure to play. Even Toenail's World is Changing probably would have had a shot at ranking if he hadn't been so ambitious with it and had more polish. In the order I rated them:
toenail - The World is Changing
Again, great job with your first level. Please don't be discouraged, and keep making levels. You were so ambitious with this level that I think you rushed it... but it really has a lot of potential. Honestly, I would LOVE to play and review a full, fixed, polished "World is Changing." I think that you have a lot of great potential as a level designer, especially with some of your more creative challenges.
Purple Ink - The Tree of Life
This level was a lot of fun for me, but a little frustrating in some places. I especially loved the seasonal challenges, and I was especially frustrated by the long distance between saves on the "surface". I really liked the dark underground forest creepy maze thing. Honestly, I would put this level right at the same level of enjoyment as Nifflas' original levels, which is to say GREAT and definitely in the top 20% of Knytt Stories. In my opinion, the only reason you didn't score higher was because of some really tough competition from world-class level designers.
ixMarcel - The Tower of Lightning
Wow. I think you're the REAL winner of this competition because
this was your first level. It was honestly a lot of fun and a great challenge. The story was a little... bland... but the challenges were fun and clever and new, the pace was good, the environments interesting to explore, and the details kept me looking to find more. (There were some inaccessible areas that you can see that I kept looking to find.) It was polished, bug free, and just...
fun to play. Isn't that what it's all about? I really hope you keep making levels so that I can keep playing them.
Fubaka - Cosmic Meltdown
This level is so complex and has so many secrets and secrets within secrets that I know I haven't even scratched the surface of it. You've got a deceptively routine, yet impressive and fun and troll-worthy, level the first go around, which balloons into an entirely different experience with new challenges based on different abilities and different paths depending on which secrets you find. I've never seen anything like this before or since and part of me marvels at his genius while the other part stares in confusion at the idea that, I as the player, have to sort it all out. Even Nifflas himself, with his reputation for long, elaborate secrets doesn't even come close to matching this level of hidden depth.
SecretGlitch - Dark Sea 2
I reviewed this
one in detail already, in short, one of my new favorite levels of all time.
Talps - I Dreamed of the Sky
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