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Sol Sestancia 2 playtesting.

Oh, well, hit me up on Discord then I suppose.
Altough I'm going to be a bit busy till April so I can't do too much mentoring the next 2 weeks.
 
Might want to take your discord name off now in case weirdo's start bothering you. Ya never know what lurks in the shadows.
 
I remember back in oldc 22 r2 the iydew (if you die eggman wins) part's audio trigger could be skipped if you were fast enough but I haven't encountered that during my playthrough on this version but it is still probably possible
 
Played through this whole thing twice, once with a modded Sonic and Tails, once with Blaze and Marine. Both times in Story Of Uncapped Revengeance The 3rd because it gets a more stable framerate for me, probably not relevant.

Loved most of it, your work is always great, aside from one giant set of complaints that it turns out is a bit of a nitpick all my complaints and suggestions are sort of nitpicks.

The big one first, less big than I thought though, the secret train stage is incredibly frustrating. The tunnels are too dark, the spring in the first section is very easy to miss which led to me being lost a good while, the first 2D section is easy to get knocked out of the 2D plane on, the timing is a bit too tight on some of the trains, and when the train starts catching up it grabs the camera making for a really cheap feeling death. Also a cheap feeling death: At least for me the second 2D section ground me to a halt at the start and when you're not expecting that it gets you killed by the truck, while when you are it's still very annoying. Still, I suppose if it's supposed to be a secret level and not part of the standard campaign that makes these complaints a bit more minor--did you edit the files since this afternoon without changing the version number? I've got 1.3, and the current file is still 1.3.

Besides that, some minor nitpicks/suggestions
1. Maybe the recap will fix this, but stage 1 has a lot of silence at the start with no music. It's a bit uncomfortable.

2. This is a lot of pretty intense levels with a hub near the beginning, it might help the flow a little bit to start one of the Knothole cutscenes later on back outside the village and encourage another hub-world exploration?

3. The room in Vs. Orbot and Cubot where you need to kill a monkey to open a door isn't all that clear, I got a bit lost there on both playthroughs, and you might be better off with a switch there or something.

4. There's also some conveyance issues with the trees in the mountain level. They're not signposted and you're never forced to use them before you need to do so to advance, and it's very easy to not realize what they do and think you took a wrong turn and get lost.

5. Not a complaint but a note: The red rocks in the mountain, that I assume are meant to be some sort of red death rocks and not lava, seems to be coded as lava. Blaze, and presumably anybody else who is fireproof, can stand on it.

6. Extremely minor: In Egg TV, "let's meet our new challengers" feels like it's setting up introductions but isn't. It might be more trouble than it's worth to get a hold of the VA for the announcer and do the code to play different voice clips, but it'd be cool to have introduction there for vanilla and maybe some prominent mod characters, like how Silverhorn has dialogue for it's secret level.

7. Even more minor, pretty much 100% opinion, I miss Tangle's thick accent from her Sol Sestancia 1 cameo.

Again aside from the train level I love this mod and these are fairly minor complaints. Still, you asked for feedback so here's feedback.

--edit
Also Swatbots scream "priority one" the exact right amount, the cacophony is great.
 
Captain France said:
Loved most of it, your work is always great, aside from one giant set of complaints that it turns out is a bit of a nitpick all my complaints and suggestions are sort of nitpicks.

Also Swatbots scream "priority one" the exact right amount, the cacophony is great.
Click to expand...

Myeah, the train stage needs quite a few adjustments. I can't help all of them tough, the camera going wanky is out of my control.
But an update should communicate escapes and have teleports more smoothly, hopefully.

1. Agreed. I just need to figure out what and how to do the opening narration, for now it's kinda empty indeed.
Altough I kinda like atmospheric silence before things go down. But yeah, it's not meant to be THIS quiet.

2. I don't entirely understand your point here? You want the Knothole cutscene take place right at the beginning of the level?
I'd agree the balance for when HUB ish area's appear in this pack is a bit off, sometimes 4 levels in a row without one, sometimes twice back to back, but I can hardly swap levels around without making the already basic story flow even more awkward.

3. Hmm, yeah, that Farm room needs some rethinking. Technically, killing the monkey is irrelevant, the point is that you jump down the mud from a great height, it's acting like the chemicals from techno hill zone and why the horse kicks you in earlier, to introduce that.
I should have added vertical rings there. Instead I tried to make it kinda scripted where the player is dragged into it, which was probably a dumb idea.
But agreed the room doesn't communicate it well, is too cramped, and I suppose the barndoors opening by themselves is confusing, since that's just a mercy shortcut for players failing at the mud so they don't have to climb over again.

4. Oh really? Sucks, I thought I introduced the tree branches earlier and usually with vertical rings above them before it gets more serious.

5. Yeah, the red rocks are a bit confusing, I was planning on making them instadeath but later changed my mind on the harshness and give players a fighting chance. I got to change the warning signs to reflect it. As for Blaze breaking them, so be it. I'm not going to worry about custom characters too much, it's impossible for me to plan out ways to contain all of them.

6. I understand the confusion. Reason why the player is often referred to as a "them" is to conceal their gender since it can potentially be any character you're playing as. Orbot screws up once referring to the player as him, guess that might require a retake from Mike. And I like the implication it's not really just "you" who's going trough the levels but you represent a group of freedom fighters at the same time, like an RPG party. Kinda ironic since this pack isn't designed for multiplayer, oops.
Having custom dialogue for other characters would be neat, but then I have to look into how that's done, I have no idea.
However, there's always going to be custom characters players pick that I can't account for, so for the most part I'll keep the vague way characters refer to you as a group.

I remember seeing a custom level have the player's HUD avatar presented within the level on a monitor, that was really cool. Wish I remember where that was, that'd make the "WANTED, DEAD OR ALIVE!!!" messages in the levels way cooler if it's the actual character you play as specifically called out.

7. Haha, okay then. Sadly I'm not sure if I can track down the original voice actress, her discord is deleted with most of the places I knew her from.
Always sucks when someone I worked with suddenly dissapears from the face of the earth, well, the face of the internet anyway. Took me a bit to track down who drew the Logo as well.
 
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Rogerregorroger said:
2. I don't entirely understand your point here? You want the Knothole cutscene take place right at the beginning of the level?
I'd agree the balance for when HUB ish area's appear in this pack is a bit off, sometimes 4 levels in a row without one, sometimes twice back to back, but I can hardly swap levels around without making the already basic story flow even more awkward.

4. Oh really? Sucks, I thought I introduced the tree branches earlier and usually with vertical rings above them before it gets more serious.

5. Yeah, the red rocks are a bit confusing, I was planning on making them instadeath but later changed my mind on the harshness and give players a fighting chance. I got to change the warning signs to reflect it. As for Blaze breaking them, so be it. I'm not going to worry about custom characters too much, it's impossible for me to plan out ways to contain all of them.

6. I understand the confusion. Reason why the player is often referred to as a "them" is to conceal their gender since it can potentially be any character you're playing as. Orbot screws up once referring to the player as him, guess that might require a retake from Mike. And I like the implication it's not really just "you" who's going trough the levels but you represent a group of freedom fighters at the same time, like an RPG party. Kinda ironic since this pack isn't designed for multiplayer, oops.
Having custom dialogue for other characters would be neat, but then I have to look into how that's done, I have no idea.
However, there's always going to be custom characters players pick that I can't account for, so for the most part I'll keep the vague way characters refer to you as a group.

I remember seeing a custom level have the player's HUD avatar presented within the level on a monitor, that was really cool. Wish I remember where that was, that'd make the "WANTED, DEAD OR ALIVE!!!" messages in the levels way cooler if it's the actual character you play as specifically called out.

7. Haha, okay then. Sadly I'm not sure if I can track down the original voice actress, her discord is deleted with most of the places I knew her from.
Always sucks when someone I worked with suddenly dissapears from the face of the earth, well, the face of the internet anyway. Took me a bit to track down who drew the Logo as well.
Click to expand...
2. You return to Knothole a few more times in the story, but you're dropped immediately outside Sally's hut. I'm saying it might help the game flow some to start outside the town like the first time you visit Knothole again, maybe with some slightly changed hub exploration available. Get that "hub level" detension a second time between some of the later levels.

4. Idunno man, I didn't notice them. I must have been going too fast. Might be good to have an actual sign somewhere or a spring that knocks you into a couple trees before they're necessary. Or not, it's only really a problem on a first playthrough, unlike the barn.

5. Fair enough. Pretty sure there's not a fire shield in the area or anything anyway. Just seemed worth mentioning since I'm not sure they're meant to hurt because they're hot and not for whatever weird reason the yellow rocks are bouncy and purple rocks boost you.

6. Less confusion, more "there's an odd feeling gap here where there could be a cool thing." Understandable if it's too much work for too little payoff.

7. Well, really just a matter of preference anyway. Still sucks not to be able to find someone though.

Edit--
Plus, like I said, none of this is a particularly big deal besides the train level when I played it earlier. And it sounds like you're already working on that.
 
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oh yeah, I forgot to ask in my OG post but are you planning on adding a unlockable extra level after beating the game or getting all the emblems just like the first one?
(Unless, the train level is the main secret-like level right now also you don't have to add one btw, I'm just wondering)
 
Probably, yeah. Gotta add some special stuff to the official release so it's not too boring for those who played this beta.
For one, I do have 2 levels I made for the still upcoming ULDC, I might add those in as bonus levels if it won't cause too much conflict with the rest of the pack.

Captain France said:
2. You return to Knothole a few more times in the story, but you're dropped immediately outside Sally's hut. I'm saying it might help the game flow some to start outside the town like the first time you visit Knothole again, maybe with some slightly changed hub exploration available. Get that "hub level" detension a second time between some of the later levels.

4. Idunno man, I didn't notice them. I must have been going too fast. Might be good to have an actual sign somewhere or a spring that knocks you into a couple trees before they're necessary. Or not, it's only really a problem on a first playthrough, unlike the barn.

6. Less confusion, more "there's an odd feeling gap here where there could be a cool thing." Understandable if it's too much work for too little payoff.
Click to expand...
2. Ohh, I see... Yeah, some other people already had ideas for the returning to Knothole sequences like more members as results of your efforts to break the population free, that was neat. Sure, I'll think off making the second visit to Knothole more detailed.
The return during the Convoy stage will remain more strict tough, I had to close off half the town from the player to not interfere with the scripted event later.
Since I rather not duplicate the town and make the level more bloated.

4. Nah, good you're telling me, I'll pay more attention to how the branches are introduced now.

6. Well, it would be a neat detail if I figure it out, so I'll look into it. Just not making any promises at the moment since I don't know if I can pull it off.
 
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Okay ONE more Egg TV Announcer related note/idea:

During the game show segment, "congratulations, you die" can play well before you actually die, and some characters (Knuckles, at least, from some quick testing) can actually make it out. It'd be cool to have some kind of "Oh. I guess you lived?" announcement if that happens. I'd even say down there could be a good place for an emblem if you didn't already have all of them placed.

But also I think the fact that it's 6:30 AM here and even with a sleep disorder I should have gone to bed a while ago but instead hit "just one more stage" up in Record Attack like five times probably says plenty about the quality of the stages so far.
 
in levels Mt.Terracentro, Lost City, Island cross, vs. Orbot and Cubot, secret of train track and Robotropols have a lot of lagged and secret of train track can't be beat I think you can fix 2d mode and make the train slower also can you escape Robotropols back to Robotropols tunnels I like the name more also can you add dan the wolf .
 
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Don't know what else I can do about Lag, would need advice from someone.
Who's Dan the Wolf?

Captain France said:
Okay ONE more Egg TV Announcer related note/idea:

It'd be cool to have some kind of "Oh. I guess you lived?" announcement if that happens.
Click to expand...
Hmm, that'd be a fun easter egg.... I think that's doable.


Also fun fact, the train isn't as fast as you might think, so if you have trouble with the 2d train section, being slow but more proficient in avoiding enemies and pitfalls will make it easier.
 

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here are my complaitnts about the design
1. i dont like how there are more the cycles based things
(more of a personal dislike then anything lol)
2. that red spring room in geat forest wall is terrible
srb20175.png

like what is this
its dumb luck this you get the cycles in time when you jump off the springs

3. this fire in egg tv is really lame like i cant jump over really at all w/ out getting dumb luck?
srb20167.png


4. the ball towering enemies are so annoying and this placement is very annoying
srb20170.png


5. haveing enemies in small areas make palying as a charater that does not have a ball jump more annoying
srb20174.png


6. and also the motorbike enemies annoying because of how the most so fast its hard to react to but maybe thats me lol

ok thats all
 
What are these cycle things you mentioned? I thought you were referring to the motorbike enemies but then you refer to them seperately.

But right, I'll reduce the difficulity level of the pack then.
 
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