Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

tropiCCo asked me to review this. I rarely review levels nowadays, and I’ll keep this short.

This is a nice little level with a good background and good eye candy. The layout is not too special but good enough. This level shows the potential that the creator has, and these kind of people are the ones that we need in XLM. Good job.

Dange on virros

[Review contains no comment on upload, thus the rating was removed. Original rating: 2.0. ~Stijn]

First of all, welcome to XLM. I haven’t tried the gameplay, but from what I see, it seems to be a bit biased towards blue. At blue it’s easier to camp both directions from where the enemy could approach you. Another advantage of blue is the faster access to a full energy C and the seek PU, and there’s also more seeker ammo near the blue base.
The power-ups in the level aren’t the most useful ones, the blaster pu or the gun9 pu aren’t of much use in an open level like this, which leaves seek the main weapon to use in this level. It would be nice to see a bouncer power-up here as well (maybe under the bridge).
The eyecandy is good. I think it would look better if the blue tube at the gun9 pu was in front of the ground there.
Good job and good luck with your future levels.

Time for a review.

EYECANDY
8.7
The eyecandy is fine. The X and O signs,the wooden thing and the further background looks really nice. The usage of those…vines was awesome. I think they were set on the right place. But,I have a feeling that something more could be added to foreground layers. By the way…that tube could be added to foreground.

GAMEPLAY
9.0
The gameplay is good. The level is not as big as I expected,but the gameplay is still good.

PICKUPS
8.7
The ammo placement and the carrot placement is fine,though you could have added more powerups :P

OVERALL
8.8
Overall,it’s a pretty fine level. Good job,keep making levels.

Skele: I calculated your review ratings. It should be 8.6.

what pj said

The minigame itself works for me and it’s actually pretty good as a little time-killer if you have some spare minutes.. however, the turtles seem to be flying off-screen a lot and that spoils the fun. If you’d fix that bug, then I’d say incredible work if this is one of your first tries with GameMaker.

FATAL ERROR:
“Failed to load the game data. File seems corrupted.”
Every time when I try to run this minigame.

EDIT:
Apparently the game does not like Windows 98. So I played it on Windows XP. What I think about that?

The graphics are very good, though lacking the animation. The background is beautiful. Text that appears after the defeat could be original, instead of built-in, but I do not mind it very much.

Music is … strange. A bit like yourself done. I preferred to play at the excluded speakers.

Gameplay? Shoot turtles with jet packs. Until they fall. Except that the turtles can fly beyond the board. You still lose your health, but do not know where to shoot.

Never once won. Fix it, because the game is almost impossible.

Sorry for the poor rating. I promise to change it as you improve your gameplay.

NEXT EDIT:
Okay, sorry, I’m an idiot. You move the screen using the arrow keys. So the game is much better. But you could add some instructions, readme, or something.

I change my rating: 4.5 -> 8.2

MORE NEXT EDIT:
I knew I forgot something. Why 8.2?

• the game is playable
• background looks even better
• first-aid kits with parachute
• more levels

• music
• interface
• my English
• only 2 levels

It’s a great start. I would like to see the lizards in this game. Please do more levels. And add instruction!

As a Finnish user, I must say I lost your chllenge. Here is a comment about the challenge, in Finnish:
“Nauratti niin, että olis tullut kusi housuun jos en äsken olis vessassa käyny. Kyllä Jope osaa. (Eikös olekin Jopen biisi?)”
Not bad for 24h level. Altough there is tons of pickups, it isn’t any bad. As SlaYerRA said, GL to you too.

[Quick review ~cooba]

Nice level,though small. Gameplay is fine and I don’t see any tilebugs or eyecandy errors.

By the way. It’s Ancient. Not Acient.

Garden? Huh… Why you using word “Garden” two times? Next level will be Garden too?

Oh, acient forest, xD lol… i see what you changed it…

I like it.

Ok, this is my FIRST review…

Eyecandy:

Very Good!

The level got nice effects, used layer 5, 6 and 7, with animated tiles. For a Tubelectric tileset, the eyecandy stuff is good

(8/10)

Gameplay:

Level is a bit hard and a little frustrating (I got stucked in the deja vu zone) and there are many kinds of enemies

(7/10)

Stuff:

Gems, Ammo, Food, Triggers, etc. This level got nice stuff , I don’t know if the stuff is not enough, but, nice work.

(8/10)

I’ll give to you a 7.7. Nice Work Kubabuba!

Not bad at all. A decent level of challenge that never gets frustratingly hard or too easy – the gameplay remains stable all the way through, except in the very later levels maybe. The eyecandy effects are also very nice, the background in particular is dreamy and wonderful. I felt the music choice could’ve been more fitting though.

Cool cool cool!

Gameplay:4/10
Unfortunately, this level has rather weak gameplay. There are about five power-ups, I believe. However, they seem to just be randomly distributed, with a couple very powerful ones (seekers and rf’s) right near each other and in plain sight, while a more useless one (gun8) is hidden in a bizarre slot in a wall, where no one is likely to find it. Also, there are practically no events other than the power-ups. This means it is possible, that in a game with too many players, some may be stuck with nothing but a blaster. However, the respawn time isn’t particularly long, so this hopefully would not be a problem. The level also has a bit awkward placement of carrots, meaning if someone gets hurt, they’ll possibly have to hide or die. There is a full NRG near the middle, but it’s in a wall hidden behind layer 3, so trying to get it leaves the player too vulnerable. This will also almost certainly result in camping. There is also a +1 c in some vines in the middle, a bit higher up. However, these vines are a bit high off the ground, so spaz can get the carrot a lot easier than jazz, and I doubt lori could get the carrot at all, without a huge blind leap from the blue base. Also, the leftmost masked tiles of the vine do not have the vine event on them, which can lead to collisions that shouldn’t happen. There is another full NRG in the tube up to the blue base. This may throw off the balance between teams a bit though. Also, none of the carrots are generators, so players cannot heal nearly enough over the course of a full game. The level also has a total lack of paths. There is one way to get to each base. and one big flat-ish plain at the bottom of the level. There is no real choice as to where someone wants to go. The combined lack of ammo, well-placed carrots, and paths to choose from gives the level no strategic values as far as I can see, and lends itself to fairly plain gameplay. The red and blue both seem to be fairly even though, which is a plus.

Eyecandy: 6/10
The eyecandy is a bit rough in a few places, but generally good. Nothing stood out to me as brilliantly beautiful. I liked the choice of tileset. The main reasons I didn’t rate it higher is because much of the level looks rather synthetic and forces. Possibly my least favorite point is the set of platforms one must climb to reach the red base. at the bottom, there are some destruct block looking things that just look out of place. The rest of the platforms just kind of float there without anything indicating why they’re there. Also, the blue base is in the middle of a hideous collection of these destruct block type thing. There was an attempt to use layers other than 4, and the background is ok, if a bit boring, standard diamondous type. I dislike the foreground, because it seems to be there just so that there’s something in the foreground, but doesn’t look particularly pretty and seems like it doesn’t really belong. There were some nice touches in eyecandy though too. There were moths (a bit too many maybe, but still they added some variety), and a few lighting changes.

Event Placement:3/10
Events are few and far between here, and those that do exist are often not generators. There is essentially no ammo, and the power-ups are either too obvious and near other power-ups, or too hard to find. Please don’t hide power-ups in holes in the wall behind layer 3. Power-ups should be at least slightly visible, so people who are new to your level will know to look for them. Also, even the people who know they exist will not know if one is still there when they check. People will waste time looking for the bouncy power-up or the full NRG if someone’s already grabbed it before them, and players will end up spending time kicking a wall in a narrow slot in hopes that they’ll hit it when it appears, resulting in some awkward, nasty camping.

Penalties: -1/0
Your upload does not include the tileset used, the music, or the next level. While I happened to have the tileset and music, and plus fixes the nonexistent next level, not everyone will have the same experience, and it’s quite possible several people who download this will end up having it crash on them because of these problems. Also, it would have been nice if you had converted it to 1.23, but I’m not going to take off another point for that.

Overall: 4+6+3-1=12
12 out of 30 possible points =4.0/10 (rounded up)

Unfortunately, I don’t find this level very playable. Please take note of what I have written, and consider it next time you make a level. Also, no amount of written advice will help you improve as much as 1. making more levels, and 2. looking at levels you enjoy. #1 is pretty obvious. Just like with everything else, practice makes perfect. Don’t be discouraged if your levels don’t get the ratings you want, and don’t stop because other people don’t appreciate what you’ve done so far. Just keep making them anyway. #2 is probably what helped me most in my level making. Play jazz a lot. Figure out what your favorite levels are. Figure out why they are your favorite levels. Then make levels that have qualities you like. For example, I like Gauntlet. I like it because there are multiple different ways to heal (2 normal carrots or one full health carrot), and therefore camping isn’t as common. I like it because there is enough ammo that I can shoot whenever I need to, but only if I pay attention and collect ammo when I’m running low. I like it because it’s got enough horizontal space that using rf’s can be useful even when they aren’t powered up. I’m not saying that you should simply copy chunks of your favorite levels, because this leads to boring, repetitive levels. Also, don’t get too stuck in a rut, and only make one type of level. Adding to my example earlier, I also like semi, in part because it just has one carrot. This leads to drastically different gameplay than Gauntlet, but different doesn’t imply better or worse, just different. Your goal isn’t to mash up levels you like, or get level making down to a formula where everything you do has the same number of carrots, same weapons on the map, and similar layouts. Your goal is to understand just what makes a level fun, and then be able to apply these ideas to your own creative works.

It must be better if you make it to 1.23…
Search for J2L Convertor.
Oh, Trog, next level is not need if you using Jazz2+, but for users no Plus Jazz2, i recommend edit level and Next level, to filename of this lvl!
[EDIT]Sorry, wanted to say it long time: Good job with reviewing, Troglobite! :)

its a decent level. it some very minor tilebugs but they manage to pass without noticing (atleast for me). only downside of this level is that its quite small. but everything else is fine :)

what does this level have to do with a garden..? :P

I don’t really know how to rate this. The eyecandy is nice,ammo placement nice,but the gameplay…? The gameplay isn’t horrible but it isn’t really great. Too small and open for normal battles,still open for duels… Still,the level doesn’t deserve a bad rating. I won’t rate it for now.

Good, good and good.
I can’t say anythig :)