Zeta Flow

I am going to review the first three maps created after noon each day according to the gallery times. I will be blunt. I will definitely tell you if something sucks. I will also tell you if the level has merit. All views contained in this thread are my own opinions and are not necessarily the opinions of MD and other forum users.

I will use the following to decide my view of a level's overall rating. I will rate Creativity, Difficulty, and Replayability. Each rating will get from 0 to 100 points, resulting in a maximum rating of 300 points. This means that one star rating equals 60 points.

Up today:
10 Levels by Bua Marit

fugleklo by zeta

warm up by ak 467


10 Levels

Creativity:: 63
Difficulty:: 38
Replayability:: 40

Total: 141 points. This level got a 2.25 star rating.

This level is pretty interesting off the bat. There is a lot going on, and quite a few things you need to take care of before long or you won't last. The addition of the rotating guns was a nice touch to keep players from taking advantage of sweet spots. A couple of things to note: A) This gun is not attached to anything. After the piece it is sitting on is destroyed it is still there. This actually happens with almost all the weapons on the board. It was also a contributing factor in lowering the rating. B) The number of rocket launchers is a bit overwhelming. It isn't difficult to kill them all, however, it adds tedium to the level as you have to spend more than half your time in the beginning killing rockets.

Overall, the level itself is not too difficult. There are a couple of spots where you don't have to move much in order to attack and have a relative amount of safety.

fugleklo

Creativity:: 37
Difficulty:: 15
Replayability:: 59

Total: 111 points. This level got a 1.75 star rating.

While the idea is noteworthy, especially placement of the rotating laser arms, this level lacks consistency across the board. Half of the rocket launchers are not actually immune to destruction because their linked part is not invincible. One of the rocket launchers is actually not invincibile as well. The fact that none of the pieces are resized also lowers the Creativity rating. The level itself is a breeze to beat, as long as you remember that 75% of your time is spent killing rockets. Additionally, 20 lives is far too many lives for this level. As for replayability, it scores a slightly higher than average value here because it is fairly easy. This allows a player to play it again as a break from other, more strenuous, levels.

warm up
Creativity:: 40
Difficulty:: 10
Replayability:: 25

Total: 75 points. This level did not actually get an official rating from me. I believe this to be a first-time user who was testing the editor out. I could be wrong on this.

It does have a nice balance of weapons. I actually died playing this level once because I had grown complacent in its ease. Word to the wise, while this level is very easy, you can get yourself into trouble bynot paying attention.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Since I am done with the familial gatherings, I decided it was time to do my 12 o'clock shuffle. There are no screenshots today, as I don't seem to have the inclination of posting them.

Up for grabs:

Robot by Craw
The Electrick by Bua Marit
Blank by Baldman

Robot
Creativity:: 90
Difficulty:: 77
Replayability:: 65

Total: 233 points. This level got 3.75 star rating.

This is a well-designed level. Excellent attention to detail combined with great weapon placement and distribution make for a fairly difficult, yet fun level to play. This is, quite probably, one of the more creative endeavors I have seen in recent levels. There is no sweet spot to take advantage of, as there are a number of guns rotating towards your ship. The pieces are all linked properly with no rogue pieces staying around longer than expected. While I finished it without dying on my first attempt, I think the level itself holds a degree of difficulty higher than believed. As for replayability, I plan on keeping this one around for a while, as I enjoy the way everything meshes together.

The Electrick
Creativity:: 65
Difficulty:: 0
Replayability:: 0

Total: 65 points. This level received .75 stars.

Bua Marit is an excellent level designer. I need to get that out of the way first. This level is far from par for the course by this designer. The central laser moves faster than the ship, but not fast enough for the hit-test to miss. In fact, all the spinning elements move faster than your ship. I actually quit before I had destroyed anything, as there is no real way to kill the laser spinner due to the way the spinners sync. At least without dying about 20 times. The idea behind the level is solid, as always with Bua, but the implementation of this level is sketchy to say the least. And Bua, if you're reading this, I expect better out of you

Blank

This level got no rating, and gets no points in any aspect of the 12 o'clock shuffle. It is simply a core with no weapons rotating to ship and following ship.

12 o'clock Shuffle
Closed Captioning brought to you bySETreC (The Society for the Ethical Treatment of Cores)

Today's installment of 12 o'clock shuffle includes three levels by relative newcomers to Zeta Flow. If you are a newcomer, please take all of my reviews with a grain of salt. I base them on my own personal point of view, and they should be considered opinions. Remember, what I like and dislike in a level may be quite different from what you like or dislike.

That being said, here are our qualifiers:

Laurond's Destruct by Laurond
Kankra by Craw
labyrint von helvete by drg

Laurond's Destruct
Creativity:: 70
Difficulty:: 35
Replayability:: 40

Total: 145 points. This level receieved a 2.5 star rating.

For a first level by this designer, it shows signs of what is to come. This level hits hard and fast. The core rotating towards the ship makes if very difficult to avoid the lasers statioined on the front. Additionally, it is quite easy to get caught on the walls of the playing field. Outside of those two items, the level itself is fairly easy to beat if you can stay on the backside of the core. The turning single-shot guns make it so you cannot stay in one spot more than a fraction of a second. The fact that none of the guns is really protected is what lowers this level's difficulty rating. As for replayability, it is replayable, but not repeatedly due to the amount of moving that is required. All-in-all, a decently fun level for a first-time edit.

Kankra

Creativity:: 90
Difficulty:: 75
Replayability:: 75

Total: 240 points. This level is not finished and playable according to the designer. As such, I will withhold rating it until it is done.

As it stands, this is another beautifully designed level. This time, by a designer with few levels under their belt. Craw has done great things so far with Zeta Flow, and I expect to have many more wonderful levels to test my skills against. Everything in this level is properly linked, carefully scripted, and well balanced. Avoiding the lasers makes you have to deal with the mass of single-shot guns on the back. Avoiding those means you have to deal with the lasers. Either way, the difficulty is definitely there. When this level is finished, I expect it to strain the player's ability to navigate the level quickly and efficiently, while not being completely unbeatable. And if you play this level, be careful of the legs, they move around, sometimes quite suddenly, and can easily destroy you.

labyrint von helvete
Creativity:: 0
Difficulty:: 0
Replayability:: 0

Total: 0 points.

I don't know what this level is supposed to be. There is no visible core. There are no weapons. It is simply a black screen with nothing going on. This is the first level created by drg, so perhaps there is more forthcoming. As it stands, however, this is not really a level so much as a head scratcher. I have withheld rating this level until More is added to it. Only time will tell.

12 o'clock Shuffle :: Episode 4
Attack of the Intergalactic Fleet
The views and opinions contained in this post are Redsatori's. They do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of others.

Today's levels are all by one designer. They are all based on a central idea. As a side note, after playing Battleships Forever, the creativity rating has been reduced slightly on all three levels.

Up for grabs:

Battleship
Warship
Mother Ship
all by emildemon

Battleship
Creativity:: 40
Difficulty:: 25
Replayability:: 25

Total: 90 points. This level received a 1.5 star rating.

While the idea of warships in general is a good thing, the implementation of this level is not so good. Some of the links work properly. Most do not. The core rotates to your ship indefinitely, but has no outside movement of its own. Very easy to beat just by staying in one spot.

Warship
Creativity:: 40
Difficulty:: 10
Replayability:: 15

Total: 65 points. This level receiveed a 1 star rating.

This is actually a step in the wrong direction as it's the second level, and is considerably easier than Battleship. Again, the core rotates to ship. That is about all you can say about this level.

Mother Ship
Creativity:: 50
Difficulty:: 25
Replayability:: 15

Total: 90 points. This level received a 1.5 star rating.

While this level is a step up in difficulty compared to the other levels, it is still not as good as it could be. The rotate core to ship is a nice touch, and the fact that it moves around the screen now increases some of the rating. It is not a fun level to play, however. It's hard to avoid the lasers and the guns in the front. Throw in the mass of rockets and this level is almost unbeatable. Almost. but this is coming from a guy who is the only one so far to beat Slice 'n Dice. Seems I am currently the only one to beat this level as well out of 176 plays.

That's a wrap for today's episode. See you all tomorrow.

Today I had the pleasure of testing three levels for my 12 o'clock shuffle. All three got 0 star ratings.

In fact, I am not even going to go into each of the levels. I really think it's childish when a designers intentionally calls players "noobs" because they think they are cool. And when all of your level's main weaponry consists of multiple lasers on ship targeting, it doesn't make for much in the way of fun. Add in minimal space to move, and you have restricted getting any type of decent rating. Then reduce the player lives to 1 or 2 and you have sure winners on your hands.

After today's mess of levels I will be changing the format of 12 o'clock shuffle slightly.

1) I will no longer be taking multiple levels from the same designer. The Shuffle will consist of 3 different designers each day. Even if one designer floods the noon spot with levels to try and get multiple entries.

2) If your level is completely unplayable, you will not be considered in choosing levels.

3) If your level is completely useless, ie. solitary core in center of map with no other additions, you will not be considered in choosing levels.

One last piece of advice:

If your "organ" is so inadequate that you feel the need to resort to name-calling and making things that are neither fun nor playable, I suggest you go buy yourself a Hummer. Providing you can afford one that is. Failing that, please grow up.

Welcome to another exciting issue of 12 o'clock Shuffle.
Host Redsatori apologizes for those of you who were waiting anxiously for yesterday's episode. Had some server issues I needed to clean up on my end. Still don't have it up and running yet however. Possibly after I do these reviews.

Tonite's agenda includes:

aas by mjmjmj
thunderbolt by sebastianzb
. by fabian93

aas
Creativity:: 50
Difficulty:: 40
Replayability:: 0

Total: 90 points. This level recieved a 1.5 star rating.

While the idea of a centrally located core, surrounded by shields and smothered in weapons, is not a completely dead issue, this level is both boring and redundant. Lacking actual parts intenrally is the only thing that gets this a higher creativity rating, although it probably shouldn't have gotten that high of a rating to begin with. For a first time editor, he gets a few points since most first-timers do not know anything about how to script anything. Not a difficult level to beat as long as you stay moving and avoid or kill the lasers. As for replayability, there isn't any. This type of thing has been done before, and to much better effect. Good luck to this designer, however, as there is possibly a future if he doesn't go bonkers with the weapons.

thunderbolt
Creativity:: 40
Difficulty:: 50
Replayability:: 0

Total: 90 points. This level received a 1.5 star rating.

This is another level example that has been put through the wringer a few too many times. Hyper-spinning cores chock-full of lasers are nobody's definition of fun. Wondering if any given second will ultimately be your last on a random basis is also quite boring. Barring destruction by laser, once you kill a few of them, the level itself is not too difficult. Not a replayable level in its boringness. Not the worst level I have seen either.

.
Creativity::
Difficulty::
Replayability::

Total: This level did not get a rating today. I believe the level, like its title, is unfinished.

The symmetry of this level is a nice break from some of what has been posted lately. The lack of weapons and AI is not. Perhaps this level will be finished one day. Until then, I hope.

Thank you for joining me this evening for another episode of 12 o'clock Shuffle. See you again tomorrow.

12 o'clock Shuffle


Today's episode of 12 o'clock Shuffle is a bit late in coming. I apologize ahead of the time for the lack of posts over the last couple days. I have been busy working on an XNA-based vertical shooter among other things.

laserdome by eram
lvl 1(piffed up) by twily
mænde by sebastianzb

Well, enough of the chit chat, let's get on with the reviews!!


laserdome
Creativity:: 40
Difficulty:: 25
Replayability:: 25

Total: 90 points. This level received 1.5 stars.

eram is a new designer here on Zeta Flow. Welcome to our ranks. That being said, This is a decent first effort. It loses points as there is no AI implemented, and you start off with infinite lives. Otherwise, this level is well-balanced weapon wise and is a decent size as well. Hopefully, eram will begin to delve into the ZF scripting depths and come out with other, more tantalizing efforts.

lvl 1 (piffed up)
Creativity::
Difficulty::
Replayability::

Total: This level was left unranked.

I don't really know what to make of this level. It is very simple, with only one weapon and some core rotation, and very few parts. Possibly saved for later use, but I don't really know.

mænde
Creativity:: 80
Difficulty:: 30
Replayability:: 40

Total: 150 points. This level received a 2.5 star rating.

This is an interesting concept. Four small robot type groups shooting at each other. The group of rockets makes things a bit interesting, although they do not make the level much more difficult. That being said, this level could definitely benefit from some decent AI scripting. With the exception of the rockets, this level is very static, and very easy to beat once you start killing some of the robots.

Well, that's all for today. I do hope to be back again tomorrow, providing everything works out alright. Also, I will be posting information to my blog every day about the day's best level (in my opinion). Times will be based on server gallery times, not my time zone. I will get the link out to you all once I get something posted on that blog. Until then, good luck and happy hunting.[/b]

12 o'clock Shuffle
Brought to you by Mountain Few. For those late nights when you just have to beat that one last level. Do the Few.

Today's episode is a bit early, since I happen to have a bit of time before I go coding. Here's what's in store for today:

Queen Bee by MJ
planes by colraw
scorpion with godd aim 2 by twily

Queen Bee
Creativity:: 75
Difficulty:: 50
Replayability:: 0

Total: 125 points. This level received a 0 star rating. More on that in a bit.

Cool looking level here. Fairly difficult to beat, though not impossible. This level would have gotten a much higher rating except for one thing. Twin Rapid Fire Core Gun. On a core that is roughly 4 pixels across. That you can't hit until all the weapons have been destroyed, for all intents and purposes. Definitely not replayable unless you are a glutton for punishment. From the few levels by MJ that I have played, they all end up with the same basic ending: a tiny core and the twin rapid gun. This negatively impacts your level design ratings, so if you want to get higher rated levels, you will most definitely have to change this. It's no fun for anyone to play when they have to sit there and kill everything in order to have a shot at the core, and then have to deal with a fully healthy core and that god awful weapon.

planes
Creativity:: 25
Difficulty:: 20
Replayability:: 0

Total: 45 points. This level received a 0 star rating.

Interesting idea to have some planes circling around the core. Similar things have been done in the past, and much better. The fact that there are HUGE spinning forcefield things and the core moves towards the ship is what gives this a 0 rating. The whole boss takes up roughly 60% of the screen real estate, about which, 90% is taken vertically. Doesn't leave a palyer much room to maneuver, much less kill off the 40 or so rockets that get fired repeatedly.

scorpion with godd aim 2
Creativity:: 40
Difficulty:: 20
Replayability:: 40

Total: 100 points. This level received a 1.5 star rating.

twily has done multiple levels with this basic design. They are all fairly decent levels. Not allowing a player the luxury of staying in one spot is defeinitely helpful, although it doesn't make this level very difficult. The most notable thing is that you have unlimitied lives, which makes this level a breeze to complete. All in all, an average level from a new designer.

12 o'clock Shuffle
Today's word of the day is fun. Without it you have nothing.

In today's episode we will be covering the following levels:

Central Hive by MJ
592 by fabian93
Elektic Engyner by beinern

Central Hive
Creativity:: 0
Difficulty:: 0
Replayability:: 0

Total: 0 points. This level recieved a 0 star rating.

While the rest of MJ's levels are at least playable, this one is not. You can't even glitch into a spot where you can attack anything, except for the massive amounts of rockets whch are flung at you from everywhere on the screen. All while you try to dodge bullets from more than 15 spreadshots amoung other things. Neither playable nor fun, this level is a seeming waste of server space. (Again, I'd like to add the addition of a 'If you can't beat your own level, you cannot save it.' function to the editor.)

592
Creativity:: 40
Difficulty::
Replayability::

Total: unrated. This level has not recieved a rating, as I don't think it is finished yet.

Yes, you can beat this level. If you have the patience of a Zen master. And your hit tests glitch every couple of shots to let some past the forcefields. No weapons of any kind. No AI of any kind. I don't think this level is quite finished.

Elektric Engyner
Creativity:: 65
Difficulty:: 50
Replayability:: 50

Total: 165 points. This level recieved a 2.75 star rating.

This level is quick and fairly fun. It has excellent distribution of weapons. The addition of making the core both follow and rotate towards the ship makes this level impossible to predict and imposible for you to find a sweet spot. Overall, this is an above average level which features replayability, expecially if you need to hone your skills for more advanced levels.

12 o'clock Shuffle
how much wood would a wood chuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood?

Today's episode consists of three new designer's levels. While I understand that the designers on today's issue are still new, this doesn't take away from the fact that I need to be making objective decisions on my ratings. Let's see what's in store for us:

skorpionen den store og metige by letop
"Monster Central" by osl94
yoka by yoka

And no, that is not a misprint...

skorpionen den store og metige
Creativity:: 40
Difficulty:: 0
Replayablity:: 20

Total: 60 points. This level recieved 1 star rating.

This level is a cinch to beat. Especially if you get a lucky rotation, or seven, on the main rotator (the core.) Bonus design points here for a new designer trying something particularly difficult, even if it wasn't done with as much aplomb as other, similar, levels. That being said, I hope letop starts playing around a bit more with the scripting and resizing of parts. What could have been an excellent level ended up being fairly mediocre, even for a new designer. Not to take away from his/her design skills, as this is usually the case with first-timers. I also hope that in the future, letop uses a wider variety of weapons to go with the levels.

"Monster Central"
Difficulty:: 25
Creativity:: 30
Replayability:: 20

Total: 75 points. This level recieved a 1.25star rating.

Decently creative, this level is far from difficult. Especially if you land in one of the many sweet spots on the map. The rockets are a bit of a hindrance, as there are quite a few of them, but all-in-all not a very difficult level to beat. For a new designer, this has an average selection of weapons, although a few too many in my opinion (I prefer scripted AI to massive amounts of weapons any day.) Again, from a new designer, this is not a bad base to begin with. Much more can be done to enhance the levels, most notably, adding AI scripting to make it more difficult.

yoka
Difficulty:: 40
Creativity:: 55
Replayability:: 40

Total: 135 points. This level recieved 2.25 star rating.

For a first effort, this level includes a decent array of weaponry, scripted AI, and the off-chance of forgetting that bullets can kill you. (I died my first time because I over-estimated my playing skill.) Not the most difficult level in the database, but it can msot definitely catch you off guard if you aren't paying attention. This level is small, fast and easy on the lag. I look forward to many great level designs by yoka in the future, especially if s/he keeps to this approach of simple, yet structured, levels.

That's it for today's episode. Check back tomorrow for more reviews on the 12 o'clock Shuffle.