Zeta Flow

Please post a comment on any art levels you think deserve mention
*START EDIT*
Subject title verbage edited to include all ART level comments. The original subject title was "Geiss's Water Ripple - A TwinRapid Art Level", and referred to:
http://zetaflow.skylogic.ca/ZetaFlow.php?ID=3292
*END EDIT*
I liked this one... A nice diversion. Wouldn't it be cool if you could select the color of the missles, or perhaps have random colors?

You need to do a similiar one with rapidly rotating laser wheels added

On a different note, it's a shame that people are actually playing and rating the level, instead of just enjoying it for what it was meant to be. ART!

Nicely done Geiss!

Thx, I had fun making it. I had thought about naming it something like Wormhole or Hyperspace tunnel but thought Water Ripple was better. For awhile people didn't rate it, I think the fact I said straight up that it used TwinRapids helped. It was surprisingly easy to beat too, especially concerning how many missiles come out of it, lol. Rotating lasers wheels of doom have been done before and tend to lag but I've seen some that were playable.

Mouzi's - Art Part 2
http://zetaflow.skylogic.ca/ZetaFlow.php?ID=3347
Another really nice art level that appears to incorporate the straight line concepts from this forum entry:
http://zetaflow.skylogic.ca/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=69

It's interesting how a single element multiplied many times can develop perspective and depth. It's also interesting (to me anyway) how the designers have taken a tool that was basically meant to be an experience in destruction, and have turned it into a tool of creative art. If that ain't a Zenlike concept, then I don't know what is!

It also prompts me to pose a question to MD... Would it be a reasonable request to make the color of the part modifiable in the script if the designer chose to utilize the option? It could potentially add a lot more depth and interest to the levels. I'm reasonably sure that 95% of those who create levels would use the default color, but the other 5% who are the true "designers" and make the best levels would have a whole new plalate to play with!

Thanks for the level Mouzi... and once again Thanks to MD for bringing Zeta Flow to the web.

Actually it uses normal
rotatePart, id, 5, 0, 0, 0

It's a shame that the levels start lagging quite a lot when
you put as much pieces as in that one for example :/
You could make a lot more complicated levels if it wouldn't.

That was quite a cool-looking level, Mouzi. I'm impressed. It must have taken a lot of patience to make it; I can't imagine doing that many parts without text editing! I'd probably have to write a perl script just to position all the circles.

Wow, that was a real treat Mouzi, thanks for making that one.

Mouzi wrote:It's a shame that the levels start lagging quite a lot when
you put as much pieces as in that one for example :/
You could make a lot more complicated levels if it wouldn't.

That's a design issue I hadn't considered before. I am lucky enough to have 10Mbps/sec access, and only have lag issues with the levels that have mega spreads. It's not inconceivable that lag could be part of a constructive levels design consideration though. Especially in the ART type levels.

Zeke wrote:10Mbps/sec

Your connection speed has no effect on the lag, it's all about processing power. Also, it doesn't help that i'm using an old version of Flash which is known for its inefficiencies

As for custom colors, I'll give it some thought.

~MD

Thanks for the info MD-I've played with Flash in the past http://rfyd.org/Flash/EricHorner/ReachF ... reams.html but never got past the basics (and the MX level). If I wanted to get serious about doing a level for Zeta Flow, which version of Flash for Dummies would I need to purchase?

Since the forum has been a bit quiet over the holiday season, I thought I'd post about three levels that have caught my eye for different reasons.

Mouzi - Art Part 3
http://zetaflow.skylogic.ca/ZetaFlow.php?ID=3460
It wasn't until I got down to the last triangle that I could see what was actually going on here. The path reminded me of a toy from long ago called a spirograph (I ended up googling spirograph and discovered is still being manufactured).

sasadad - Eclipse
http://zetaflow.skylogic.ca/ZetaFlow.php?ID=3177
I liked the way it broke up into groups of 2, 3, 4, etc., which was mirrored in the inner circle.

w - ZetaFlow-gimic arm
http://zetaflow.skylogic.ca/ZetaFlow.php?ID=3124
In addition to its cool wavy arms, this one makes use of the different colored switches to add additional interest.

I hope you didn't play that version of Art Part 3
where the core started shooting right in the beginning :S
It wasn't meant to be that way.

Btw, I've had that kind of toy too now that you mentioned it
or at least I have a faint memory of something like that.
Though I don't remember any name for it.

Sethum - Road Rash

I believe this level sets a precedence for using perspective.

I would have made each of the trees unique in size and foliage, rather than clones of the original.

Cool and original Sethum... Thanks!

Thanks for reviewing my level here.
I think the cloned trees' similarity helps define the distant background zone, and they're a bit of a throwback to old 8-bit driving games. But really, I just used the cloned trees for expediency's sake since I was trying to design some objects to move from the horizon to the foreground in a convincing fashion, which I'm still struggling with. I'll submit a new level (with better scenery) when I can get past the trig hurdles. Let me know if you have any suggestions!

I'm very familiar with the old 8 bit games. My first computer was a VIC-20. I'm an old man now and it's hard to remember LBC (Life Before Computers).

sasadad - Void Eye reminded me of a Tibetan mantra or a Mayan calendar.

Did you experimented with other shapes before deciding on the rhombus?

Does the size of the shape affect the levels performance (ie: if you double or triple them in size do you risk creating lag issues)?

Thanks sasadad.