[Scenic / Challenge] [Normal] TBA

Hey everyone, Will Xyen here with a level concept that I'm playing around with.

2x3 Screenshot here:

As you can see in the screenshot above (maybe not), I'll be excessively using Egomassive's KS+ mod (which Is amazing!).
Basically I need some opinions on what to do with the sky / above ground background (as currently it looks a bit plain. due to this starting off as a tech demo more or less.)
Also, ignore the extension of the right support beam, Layer 2 isn't visible behind layer 3 in the editor when in overlay mode and I missed that before posting this. (Fixed already)

I also have a semi-plot going with a clear goal in mind, but I'll post that at a later date.

Tilesets used are:

COs used are:

Do you have the background hills in a second colour? Layering two shades of hills can make a good looking background. Alternatively you could make some clouds, either as objects or drawn directly onto the gradient.

I like widget's suggestions, or you could create a longer gradation using more at least two colors.  The purple seems a bit plastic right now due to being too uniform.

More vegetation would improve it too. I like the castle.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys (and gals). Taking Widget's suggestion I added a slightly faded version of the hills and layered those. Also,by abusing the custom object replacements in KS+ I was able to make some okay-looking clouds that move.

There's a functional demo below. Things to test would be:
 - How's my graphic for the 2 way floors work? is it not noticeable enough? is it too bold?
 - Are the animals too distracting? (which you interact with by pressing down whenever it looks intelligent enough, ie. cats, diglet things, and blue shiny fly)
 - How do the clouds look?
 - Do the hills (in the areas that have them) look okay?
 - How does the door look? (open it by collecting the red key and going back, careful with the spiky  thing hehe.)

Linky Here

I posted a demo instead of a screenshot because many of the things are dynamic and require interaction to truly get the feel of it

The clouds look really good but the effect when they leave or enter the screen draws the eye, making it pretty distracting. If you're determined to stick with the idea you might try making the clouds up of a number of custom objects, each one tile wide.

The graphics for the two-way platforms are a little strange; they don't look convincing as platforms, more like the "bouncy" objects. I'd suggest trying to work in an outline to indicate that they're something solid enough to stand on.

The door looks fine to me. I'd only say that it's opening too early to feel like something locked with the key and I'd place another column of invisible blocks; in combination with placing the wall in the foreground, like in the next screen, it should feel more convincing as "real" scenery.

The animals are a nice idea but having the first one "speak" as you walk past gives the wrong impression; it didn't occur to me to try pressing down in front of animals that have the first sign hidden after that and I don't think I'd have tried speaking to the blue fly at all without reading your post. That might be because it's been used so much as vegetation but it could still be an issue.

Though you didn't ask about it, the sign in the first screen uses "whom" when you mean "who" and "make" where you mean "may".

The hills are looking excellent, no issues there

Very cool clouds!  *star*  I like how your using ks+

You forgot to set the Overlay in some of the portcullis screens. You may want to use square type Shifts and Triggers when making a wall of them. When you make a normal CO don't use the "Bank" and "Object" fields. You don't need to turn Flag 3 on when the player grabs the Key. You can do a Flag check against a Key.

For the 2-way ledges I think it would be best to land on top of them, and they look like background decor. The sky could have some distant platforms, but skies are typically empty so I don't think it's an issue.

Thanks for the feedback people.
@egomassive, I know about the things with the flags, originally it was gonna be a flag that triggered once you completed some quests, but for the sake of this test I placed a key there instead and had that unlock it. Also, fixed the overlay settings completely forgot about those two rooms. (too used to settings copying as well as the tiles in other programs, cause in KS only the level copies and not the settings along with it, which is perfectly fine and makes sense). Also changed the shift / trigger types, didn't even know about that hehe.

@Widget As above, it's not supposed to be a key, it's supposed to magically open as the key's not even supposed to be there. As for the clouds I'm thinking about how to fix that. Also, one of the main signs (not an animal) tells you that you can talk to animals iirc. Also corrected the sign text.


In general about the 2 way ledges, I'll try and look for a better one or shift the positioning of it so that it looks right. Anyways, thanks again for the feedback and I should be posting another update in a few days.

Till then
 - Xyen Out

Oh also, I'll be using some of the ambient tracks from HERE and HERE, that I created a while ago.