Beta 4: Castle Basano

[Wingy]

Thanks for the comments and reports guys, I'll make changes. For the next version there should be no old music at all.

[RobSeegel]

EASY (Score 43050 - 100% Secrets)

15893 - L6 Issue when Jacks up around 2nd pillar from the left his head can be seen above the lava.

15701 - Nitpick: Stain glass windows look a little odd with a drop shadow behind them. Not a big deal...

15501 - Those stones on top floor look a little strange when Jack jumps up from underneath. Not sure if they add much here.

15100 - I can trigger the creatures on the middle floor from the bottom floor. Probably unintended.

BBB: Consider this instead: These gold coins are cursed! If you want to avoid a terrible fate, jump over them, and don't get too close!

16294 - Drop shadow under stain glass window/mosaic? Looks odd.

16695 - Jack Stuck - Jack pulled the lever on the platform on the left, then jumped off and watched it go up, up, and away. Consider replacing lever/platform with a bat platform that won't leave Jack stranded.

16496 - Ok - I'll stop commenting on the stain glass window drop shadows, and chalk it up to artistic license.

16702 - Kind of a tricky challenge here, too much for easy?

15903 - Was something hidden up here? (lower left corner, jump up) Consider losing L6 there if there is no reason for it.

16104 - Minor L6 Issue, left side, middle floor - stand in the hidden wall and jump up. Consider putting a few more blocks in L6 so you don't see Jack's Head jump above it.

Left side, Bottom floor, ceiling - consider extending L6 to the left a square or two.

Left side, Bottom floor, second pillar from left - consider adding the two blocks where you can see Jack jump through to L6.

Right side, bottom floor, on the far right consider extending L6 in ceiling - it ends abruptly.

16704 - Two small lava tiles in the middle of a rock platform look a little strange. Unintended?

[RobSeegel]

NORMAL (Score: 31025 Secrets: 93%)

16089 - It's interesting that in Easy version Jack can continue walking past the ladder and fall to his death, yet in normal he can't. Shouldn't it be reversed?

15890 - Jack just entered this screen from 16089, and it looks like there's a few tiles in L6 accidentally on the far left side, when he jumps up.

15894 - Bottom floor, 1st pillar from left, jump up. Consider extending L6 up one more row.

15700 - Nothing wrong just a comment - I wonder if it's worth using L6 on floors where Jacks head comes through the floor when he jumps. I came across this scenario a few times in DDD Hard as well. It looks a little strange, but I'm guessing it's there because of the pillars that are in L6.

15501 Ugh, red key appears out of thin air. Hate that. I suppose there's no way Jack can avoid making it appear. That's probably the one sprite in the whole game that I think should never be hidden in an included mansion IMO.

15100 Like in Easy can jump and cause the triggers in this room to fire from below. Probably unintended. One thing you could do that you probably couldn't before. You could tie each trigger to the gold coin so that it doesn't fire unless the coin vanishes (Jack takes it) using the rule. That would guarantee the trigger doesn't fire for any other reason.

15297 - I really like the multi-color (blue/red) color scheme you have going with the bottom floor. Very visually interesting to look at. It one of those things that works really well that I would never have thought would work, and probably wouldn't have thought to try it.

15099 - Raindrops look odd on the left side, they are stretched and moving in slow motion reminiscent of SciFi that are trying to show faster than light travel. Seems strange, FPS doesn't look like it's bogged down... hmmm weird.

16497 BBB - the problem with the sign is that if you got to this point without finding the blue key there's no immediate way of going back without going up the ladder and back around through the passages again. Does it make sense here? Perhaps the sign should be 16297... or somewhere else.

16104 Check for same layering issues as mentioned in Easy.

16308 BBB: ...you can see THE remains...

[Wingy]

Thanks Rob, being nit picky and all makes it all the more perfect and awesome. We're aiming for perfection but we'll never really get there, will we? 

The idea of using the

only appear if the sprite isn't here

in the trigger with the gold 'cursed' coins thing never occurred to me, thanks! Quite the good idea.

Any chance of looking over hard one more time for nitpicky things before the game is released?

[RobSeegel]

6D53545D433A0 wrote: Thanks Rob, being nit picky and all makes it all the more perfect and awesome. We're aiming for perfection but we'll never really get there, will we? 

The idea of using the

only appear if the sprite isn't here

in the trigger with the gold 'cursed' coins thing never occurred to me, thanks! Quite the good idea.

Any chance of looking over hard one more time for nitpicky things before the game is released?

   Yeah... I was almost done when Vern started looking at Dr Demented's Den Hard again, and suddenly I was side tracked in a big way since some of my stuff is still too hard. I'll go ahead and finish it up. For whatever reason, I don't see as much with your HARD as I did with the others and I never really saw *much* with them. A lot of what I'm seeing is in the same rooms as the others (the gold coins you mentioned, for example).

A few things you might want to spot check for, in all mansions:

* Any place you use a non-bat style platform and a lever - is it possible to strand Jack? I was really surprised with the Jack Stuck in the Easy version.

* Any place where you have a lever on an unstable platform. (ie. vanishing/falling platform. Vern dinged me on this. The exception to this is when they are

on

moving platforms, and gold/silver blocks). I noticed you had a few very isolated cases in one or two of your mansions. Leofani, I think.

   Anyway.. I'll get that out soon. 

[RobSeegel]

HARD

15894 - Bottom floor, 1st pillar from left, jump up. Consider extending L6 up one more row.

15100 - has the same issue as in Easy and Normal versions. It's very easy to accidentally cause the triggers on the middle floor to fire from the bottom one.

15301 - Dispatched trolls and the key did not appear, I had to leave the screen and then come back to see it.

Also on top walkway, there appears to be a small hole. Almost like something for a platform to setting into. Was leaving this here an oversight? It doesn't seem to serve any useful purpose. It's not dangerous.

16694 When playing throuh the first time, this was the room that did me in. Still a little nasty (and I know a thing or two about nasty zappers...) Actually the zappers by themselves weren't bad, it was the lava in the middle that got me. Fortunately the save point is close by, so there's lot's of opporunities to

practice

. Just commentary... not asking for a change.

16696 Really like all the things you've done with the various backgrounds in the various mansions. You've really gotten a lot of mileage from a handful of backgrounds. That's one thing I'd love to see more of in the future - possibly in expansion packs. Wouldn't that be great? - expansions for mostly new artwork/backgrounds/etc. Possibly with a few additional mansions. Not a full-fledged sequel with new features.. anyway...

16896 The coat of arms/shield decoration looks like it might be in the wrong layer or something, Jack passed behind it which looks weird (to me anyway)

16495 I've been giving layer 6 a lot of thought the past month or so. I've been trying to decide when it works best. One of things I've decided is that if Jack can jump and you still see his head in the above platform and the platform was in layer 6, then that platform either needs:

* Additional rows of blocks to prevent Jack's head from being seen, OR
* To be higher up, OR
* The platform shouldn't be in Layer 6.

Of the three, I think three is usually best for this scenario, just in my opinion.
As you might have guessed the lower of the two platforms has that issue (it's basicaly a non-issue, just a nitpick and comment). I've seen it in other rooms as well. I'm sure I'm guilty of it as well, but to me it seems like using L6 for the sake of using it, not because it adds anything good (at least in this case).

16497 - More of a game glitch IMO, I was riding a falling platform to catch a ride on another moving platform. I was surprised that falling platform was timed just right (or wrong) to interfer with the path of the moving platform and stopped it, resulting in a death. I think that falling platform, once falling, should not interfere with other platforms as it did here. I can think of one place in particular in DDD Hard where this could have potentialy thrown a room into disarray.

15903 - BBB. I feel extremely silly mentioning this at all. I held back on the other levels, but I've never seen the maniacal evil laughter spelled as

Meuahaha

. Now I know it's not a word, so can't be misspelled, but I've always seen it as Muahahaha or Muwahahaha, so that's a new one to me. I guess that's how they laugh maniacally in Canada, eh?

16104 - As with the other levels, check this room carefully for L6 issues.

16907 - Those snakes are pretty close to edge of the screen. I know Vern had me move or lose a snake in a similar location in DDD Hard. I just stopped myself from running into it. I didn't think it was excessive in DDD Hard, myself, but just passing on the same feedback he gave me.

16308 - To my ears

the remains

sounds better than simply

remains

16907 - After DDD Hard, I certainly shouldn't say anything about backtracking, but wow... that's quite a walk back. Not *that* excessive, but enough to grumble about a little.

15706 - Picked off by the spider. The timing takes a bit to synch up, but I didn't feel like waiting for it. There was just a save  point, so I sacrificed a life. Hopefully, the decision doesn't haunt me later.

15506 - Crap... totally forgot about this room. In fact, I'd forgotten about Basanos entirely since I played it last around (Beta 3) I don't recall there being solid blocks before so that was very nice. I managed to get all coins and through on the first try. Must be all the practice on DDD. This is a very tricky room if you don't have patience.

OK.. Finished with 100% secrets. Had to restore saved game one time. Nice mansion, Anthony - I really enjoyed it.
Sorry for not posting it sooner... better late than never, right?