Contrary to White Rabbit’s review: The right side has a higher gem amount than the left if you count the gem barrels and gem deposit, as mentioned in CCRead.
Coral Coves
Treasure hunt, by FireSworD,
requires version 1.23
Description
I suggest you write small, comment sized reviews that describe the level well enough. Comments can sometimes be more descriptive than some very large reviews. Remember, if you want reviews on your own uploads, you should review others work too.
Be sure to read the text file before reviewing; It describes many things in the levels you might find questionable. More importantly: Host the level and play it before reviewing.
I hope you have fun playing!
Credits & Acknowledgements
Read the text file included.
Contains 5 Files
 CCRead.txt |
3.82 kB | |
 olcc.j2l |
Coral Coves | 16.96 kB |
| olcclite.j2l |
Coral Coves | 16.85 kB |
 CoralC.j2t |
CoralC | 129.29 kB |
 jazz2-atlantis.it |
jazz 2 (atlantis level) | 1130.77 kB |
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Reviews and comments
FireSworD 2 Oct 2010, 11:42 (edited 7 Sep 15, 14:14)
White Rabbit 26 Aug 2005, 12:49 (edited 20 Apr 07, 18:44)
Featured
9
I think treasure games can bring out the worst in people. Most of the time, people will just fight each other, steal each other’s gems and they’ll never stop because they want revenge on having their precious gems stolen (of course, it wouldn’t hurt if you took surplus gems from your opponent, as a form of interest). While battle games stimulate the good, old hunter instinct, and CTF games encourage team work, treasure games are all too often about jealousy and greed, which is why I appreciate a level that’s more about gem finding rather than gem fighting.
FS’ treasure level looked overwhelming at the start, and, to somebody who has never this before, Coral Coves often appears full of life. I’m quite used to the eyecandy and enemies by now, but it is still the most realistic JJ2 coral reef I’ve seen so far. While there aren’t that many animations (and I couldn’t find a SINGLE dopefish either, despite the presence of a dopefish animation), the level is full of bubbles, moving sea creatures (beach-going tube turtles not counted ;-)) and there is always a wide variety of tiles, both in background and foreground layers. The blue tiles are used well, with lots of curves and different shapes, and give the appearance of size. What’s not so realistic is that sometimes the same tiles is used over and over again in one place, like the green starfish round pos 132, 22, but it looks pretty enough. The eyecandy sometimes obscure obstacles and may leave players swimming into a wall for a few seconds (like at pos 21, 73) but it’s something people can easily learn to avoid.
Not all tiles of Violet’s CoralC are actually in the level, but FS has used the tileset very well, and there are almost no tile bugs (the only ones I could spot, and I’m not even sure if I’m right, are the edges of the red algae bush at pos 55, 55). Also, the fish are too nicely camouflaged regardless of the background, and you end up meeting a wide open jaw more often than not, which is very annoying if you’re the host. Still this is a minor problem since there is also a lite version. You simply have to look at Coral Coves for yourself to appreciate its eyecandy.
The gameplay of Coral Coves does not stray much away from those of other water levels. As usual, there are very few platforms and most of the swimming takes place in tunnels. The level is divided into two parts, with the right side basically being just one huge underwater cave with a big, coral-covered rock in the middle, and the left side consists of a narrow mouth, leading to the surface, which divides into 3 other tunnels, which then also divide into 2 tunnels each, and so on, until it reaches the bottom of the coastline, 69 tiles down. This tunnel system is excellent at spreading players apart, provided they are willing to do so. The tunnels to the left can get quite tight (wonderful exploration experience, however :-)), and that makes seekers very powerful. Bouncers are also useful when being chased, but RFs and toasters are only really useful on land; toasters for obvious reasons, and RFs because of the lack of straight tunnels and its shockwaves, which bounce you around. The TNT is also quite hard to get in smaller games, especially when there are experienced people around, who will try to avoid fighting there, in case a hurt opponent goes into the TNT hole, busts open 3 barrels and suddenly becomes 100 gems richer. FS tried to ‘entice’ people to get near the TNT by placing two giant gems, and a lot of red gems near the TNT area, which solves the problem for larger servers, where fighting is bound to take place.
Players in Coral Coves should either avoid other people, or make sure to get the first shot, from my experience. Coral Coves’ flow is decent because you can go anywhere when underwater but the level isn’t very fun to play in if there are less than 6 people in the server, because of the humongous amount gems at the right side (two blue gems, a whole line of red gems, followed by gem rings, two green gems, and more red gems, and that’s only in the middle of the tunnel). Whoever gets to the right side first will almost certainly win. Although the left side has more gems, it takes much longer time to collect them, not to mention the fact that the largest gem deposit, 79, 23, is quite far away from the entrance to the left tunnel system.
The best way, in my opinion, to solve this problem is to set a higher gem limit for smaller servers using Controller. Increasing the limit to just 120 already improves the winning chances of players collecting gems on the left side in the lite version.
There’s not much to say about ammo placement. Perhaps there are too many seekers. That only applies to smaller servers, but the concentration of seekers isn’t done that well, because most of them are near the wrecked ship so those who can’t get there in time must be content with finding much smaller amounts of seekers under the surface. The enemies add greatly to the eyecandy, although you end up ignoring them after a while. They can be quite annoying to the host, especially the fish, which are hard to spot. FS claims that the enemies make you able to get into fights without fear of gettin hurt, but they are more of a method of escape from fights, because you can’t hurt others while blinking.
Coral Coves is overall a unique treasure level and it is lifted up to the higher realms of quality due to its underwater tunnels, the highly polished layout and the presence of marine life (despite this, I do not miss them at all when playing the lite version).
FS’ treasure level puts many creative ideas into action, but still feels like a well-made, conventional underwater level. There really aren’t that many new treasure level these days, which helps make this level stand out. If you like treasure, you’ll love Coral Coves. Heartily recommended.
EDIT: I got the longest review!
Lark 25 Aug 2005, 23:29
9
I’ll try to make this quick, but I’ve been known to get carried away…
First really good treasure hunt level I’ve seen in a while. FS wanted me to review this, and there’s no doubt that it deserves a review. I’ve just been a little busy… okay, so I’ve been playing Advance Wars Dual Strike. Whatever. On to the review.
Gameplay – 9/10
Great gameplay. Most of the level takes place underwater in maze-like tunnels. The level’s pretty hard to learn at first, but after a while you’ll notice that it’s really not that advanced. The layout is made in such a way that there are two ‘sections’ in the level. The main section is on the left. That’s where most of the action will take place. There’s another section to the right which is only reachable by land. The advanced layout and myriad of gems here make this level able to hold 16 players easilly, making it ideal for mass events. Of course, it also works for smaller games, but they’ll be kind of short.
The most original aspect of this level’s gameplay is the enemies. Using MCEs, several enemies including fish, tube turtles, and crabs have been placed in the level. They will hurt you, making you blink, slowing down your gem collecting prowess. They can also kill the server, which can be a problem, so FS conviniently included olcclite.j2l, which has no enemies.
Eyecandy – 9.5/10
This level makes great use of a seemingly limiting tileset. Lots of things have been put in the level to enhance it’s appearance, from gem barrels to fish to bubblers. This is the best looking level I’ve ever seen using the CoralC tileset.
Item placement – 9.5/10
Great. There are plenty of gems here, but not too many. There is also some TNT hidden in the level (I won’t tell you where it is or how to get it, I want you to download the level and read the readme) which can blow up the various gem barrels found underwater. These contain lots and lots of gems, making them strategically important. You’ll also find bouncers, seekers, and toasters (fairly useless, but you’ll still find them).
Overall (not an average) – 8.5/10
Amazing treasure hunt level. Host this. Play this. Review this. Wait and see if I’ll feature Noka’s tileset or this level this month (not even I know which I’ll do yet! Can you feel the suspense? I sure can.)
Overall pros: Great gameplay, really nice looking, etc., etc.
Overall cons: You’ll need a lot of players to really play this level at it’s best, hard to learn, the enemies are annoying for the server but take away from the level when they’re not there.
wadledee 30 Sep 2005, 10:18
9
My first thought by playing this level:
WOW!! WTH!? This is beautifull!
My second thought by playing this level:
How big is this anyway!? And how long
would it have been to make such lvl as this??
My third thought by playing this level:
OMG where is that dopefish animation? I can’t find it =) And where are the rest of the diamonds? How to get that TNT??
My last thought by playing this level:
Where is that idiot exit!? =P
As you can read, it’s a difficult Diamond Hunt. I was thinking there wouldn’t be an exit, but hey, whats described on that wall there?
You must have put much time in this lvl by eyecandy, cause it rux. There is nothing more to say about it. It’s so beautifull…
Gameplay is great, cause it’s just like a puzzle! Diamonds here, diamonds there, I’m still finding some diamonds!
O, this was the last one =).. I was just shooted pass the exit with these tubes, so you hadn’t enough time to see a sign with ‘exit’ on it. Many corridors and caves everywhere in the lvl. Just like White Rabbit said: sometimes you just swim against the wall, and sometimes you swim trough it. Irritating, but than on the fun way.
Placement is also nice, but I saw there where so much diamonds next to each other, so I got something like 23 allready when I where swimming something like less than a minute.. But then, the line of it just disapeared. Where are the rest of the diamonds!? I still need 77 diamonds! But what are these MCE’s doing here? =)
If you want a REAL Treasure Hunt, host this one. No fighting, but a real SEARCH. Oh and one more thing before I end this review:
.. Nope doesn’t work.
… also doesn’t work…
… OKAY HOW DO I GET THESE AEFPOIJAE TNT AMMO!!?
This level just needs a 8.7, no discuss about it.
Ischa 19 Aug 2006, 07:01
9
Rating Coral Coves
To start:
Very beautiful made Treasure Hunt level under water. The gems lie hides between reefs and wrecks.
Eyecandy: (20 pts)
Forefront: Very well! Context: Excellently! And have you also splendid, mysterious platforms made. Moreover reefs have decorated the complete level.
Result: 19 pts
Gem placement: (20 pts)
The level have 119 red gems, 4 green, 3 blue, 15 purple, 2 Super Red Gems and 5 Red Gem Rings.
0 Gem Stomps. Nicely, because those are uselessly under water. The gems have been well spread concerning the level.
Result: 17 pts
Gameplay: (20 pts)
Good! You need to search gems into caves, in reefs and ship wrecks. And after you have find 100 gems and must search the exit, it is hard to find it, so the game is not over yet when you have find 100 gems. When Peter and me have played this level, this was happened. I’ve got 100 gems, but was not able to find the exit. Then Peter got 100 and he finds it…! So this level is until the end very exiting…
Result: 18 pts
Other Items Placement (10 pts)
Except gems also TNT has been hidden. If you let descend that exactly at the correct moment, that can cost important gems to your opponent. There are also Bouncers. But I think that the Seeker Rocket a better weapon is for under water.
Result: 6 pts
End result:
Total points: 60
Maximum number of points: 70
Mark: 8,6 (8,5714285714285714285714285714286)
Download recommendation: 
Blackraptor 10 Sep 2006, 00:27
9
Seeing as how I didn’t review this yet, I’m going to do so now to pass the time.
Coral Coves – FireSworD.
This is probably the best treasure level out there. I’m really glad that during that one fateful night (or day? I can’t remember =P) FS accepted my challenge of using this set and wasn’t scared off by how user-repellant it appeared in JCS. I’d wish I had gotten The Chasm finished in time for it to be released with this, but ah well =P (at least that level DID eventually get released. Like a year later, or something). Anyways, onto the review.
The eyecandy in this level is extremely beautiful, especially in the underwater areas. This is even more awe-inspiring when you consider the tileset chosen, and how difficult it is compared to most the other tilesets out there. FS not only braved the challenges faced when using the tileset, but he mastered the tileset as well. Everything here manages to look incredible without having any negative side effects along with it. The eyecandy is plentiful, yet not overdone, and avoids being confusing or in your face. Truly, if this level doesn’t look like a coral reef in jj2, I don’t know what does. The level definately masters the eyecandy portion of the rating.
The layout of the level is pretty interesting. Its rather large which leads to more exploration and less fighting, which is good for a number of reasons. The level can handle large amounts of players, and appeals to me because I agree with FS’s statement on how treasure levels should be more about hunting for gems rather then hunting the players for them (you have battle mode for that ;D). Because the level is pretty big, it also is less annoying because you’re not forced to be stuck in a small area with lots of other people spamming seekers everywhere, and more strategy can be used this way instead of just shooting everywhere and hoping not to get hit.
Another interesting thing is that the level has enemies. This is pretty cool since it also enables strategy (get hit by the enemies instead of by your opponents to avoid gem loss, etc) although this makes the host at an extreme disadvantage since they are able to get killed by the enemies. However, there is a lite version included that has them removed, so one can’t really complain.
Gems are scattered throughout nicely, and there is a huge amount of them which really emphasizes on the need to collect as fast as you can rather then fight your opponents for them. Ammo is also placed well, and both the gems and the ammo are placed in creative patterns and shapes rather than dull clumps. There’s also more emphasis on strategy placed here with the TNT and the gem barrels, which is definately a welcomed add-on.
Overall, there isn’t any reason why you shouldn’t download this level. It’s the best treasure level out there (why is it that people tend to make the good treasure levels be underwater? ;P), and even if you don’t like treasure this level can still appeal to you for the great tileset usage and atmosphere it contains. If anything, it will definately make you view the tileset in a new light. I’ve played numerous games here, and even though oftentimes I find treasure mode to be somewhat annoying (mainly for the reasons White Rabbit stated in his review) this level is different then the typical treasure in that it shows what treasure really is about: hunting for gems, and because of that, this level provides for fun matches.
That said, I would definately reccomend this level to everyone. It shows wonderful levelmaking skill, allows for great enjoyment, and will hopefully inspire people to either use the tileset or make more treasure levels. You can learn a lot from this.
~Blacky with a very late review
The - Wrath 30 Oct 2005, 16:49 (edited 31 Oct 05, 21:55)
10
This is a truly stunning level. You are fantastic and finatic Firesword.
The eyecandy deserves a 10 without question.
-it is very original looking and very colourful – this colourfulness matches the whole scene that it is a bunch of coral coves underwater, its flawless really.
The gameplay deserves a 9.
-it is very hard to get a 10 for gameplay, and i feel that the hard(ish) to find exit ruins the gameplay a little, as i spent 30 seconds looking for it but i only found it because i tripped into it – this could be quite annoying to someone less lucky.
However, the gameplay is still amazing in itself – the way badies are used in the level so that people can loose their gems from the water creatures (as well as their opponent) is an original factor that i really like. Also, the structure of the level is very good for a treasure hunt, the web of caves is set out very effectively.
All in all, the best treasure level ive ever seen and probably the best treasure level period.
Score awarded: 9.5
Seren 8 Sep 2015, 12:10
6
One of the worst treasure hunt levels I’ve seen. Its size, along with the fact it’s underwater, demands at least 10 players. However, its linear one-way layout is suitable for perhaps up to 3, any more and all starting gems will be split between a few players, settling the result of the match within seconds. The eyecandy is quite impressive though.
mininis11 29 Jan 2016, 07:43
8
good but if you find the exit it kill you
Stijn 28 Aug 2005, 15:07
Small, comment-sized replies eh :P