Ossu! Guten morgen all! This week's episode is pipin' hot over here!

We're taking a look at

Palace of the Water God - NEMO2113
Eve's garden - the_one_age33
BLACK AND WHITE WORLD - Garwind
Just 5 Minutes - seefido
In the Deep of the Ocean - SrFreeze

Had a lot of fun with this one. Outside of a few snags with the hub, the re-recordings were relatively minimal. i'm trying out a new (and hopefully final) style of triggering dialogue in the hub, and outside of maybe a little more buffing as far as timing of the sequencer, it all went pretty smooth. The levels were fun (well, barring one, and even it had some redeeming features), and i think i was able to use all the ones originally on my list.

We actually got this one done early this go about. Point in fact we actually have next week's episode done as well. This is all to the good, though it does come with its own consequences, namely sometimes (like when replying to Mateos over on Sackinima) i forget what episode i'm talking about sometimes.
We're trying to incorporate extra video in the wrap-up section. It's...still a little awkward, but i think the more i think about it, the easier it'll be to insert something actually useful. If the next few episodes feel a little janky in that regard, be a little forgiving. Actually, that's something i could ask you. What would you be looking for as far as additional footage? Is there some aspect you'd like focused on? Remember, your feedback makes better episodes. As a connected aside, it'd have to be video footage. Photos turned out to be too thermo-intensive to work into the actual hub, and fairly difficult to work into the video during the editing process (actually, that may not be possible with ShareFactory; at least i couldn't figure a way to do it on first blush).

Still waking up early, so may as well use that time productively. Did a little work on the hub for next, next week's episode, as well as the bonus episode's stuff. The last chance for questions will be Wednesday (that's Jside time). So if you (like the lauded Mateos) wanna know something, let me know.

Hope life is treating you all well. i appreciate all the support and feedback. This whole thing has been pretty great for me, it's given me a chance to play a lot of really fun levels (granted, with a few clunkers tossed in), and generally give something back to the community. If you're finding a few new levels too, or just enjoying watching, i'm pretty well over the moon.

So, thank you all, so much.

Thanks again for sharing!

Thank you kindly for watching, mdkd (and everyone else)!

Boop, boop-be-doop, Tuesday Takeaway!

Palace of the Water God - NEMO2113
Playing through this morning i found myself enjoying this one even more, not that i hadn't enjoyed it the first time, mind. There's a lot of mechanical interaction with the environment, which i really like. There's a good mix of simple gameplay as well (though you are doing a fair amount of running across level ground, to be perfectly honest). i liked the inclusion of secret score bubbles, they weren't particularly difficult to find, but they weren't super obvious either (and, somehow, i ended up getting the high score by about 20000points). The points against here are camera and sound. The cameras tend to be a bit more pulled out than necessary, and while the level is nicely decorated it's not quite visually busy enough to warrant it. As to the sound, the music doesn't change at all throughout the level which i felt undercut things a bit; also there doesn't seem to be much in the way of environmental sound design either. i don't usually notice that, because my ears aren't the greatest, but it did stand out for me this time around. Still, this one felt like it could've been a green circle as well as a yellow square.

Eve's Garden - the_one_age33
Didn't shift so much here. i continued to like the setting, though it doesn't really connect to the Eve theme that much (some of the material pallet is from the Asylum, but it's far more Japanese gardens for most of the stage). It's a nice enough level to walk through, but that's really almost all you'll be doing in. There's a little gameplay, but it's pretty scant. There's an ode to the creator's (at the time, i imagine) recently passed-away dog, on which i throw no shade; though i wonder if it was necessary to hide it behind a 2minute player-sensor triggered timer.

BLACK AND WHITE WORLD - Garwind
Don't know why i was convinced the creator's name was Garland during the intro. Maybe i had FFTactics on the brain (Garland was a bad guy in that one, right?). i...struggled with this one. i did like the presentation to an extent (barring the cameras). i've seen silhouetting pulled off a little more smoothly, still it seemed to fit the level pretty well. The issues with being able to plan your path, though, really make the level frustrating. There are just tons of cheap deaths. Also, there were a few areas where it seemed the only way to get forward was to sequence break. i don't think that was intended, but if you strictly follow the path as presented, there are a few areas that are almost impossible to get through. Also, also some of the spikes and jump pads/launchers aren't set to unmovable, and your death can push them away from where they're originally set, so later passes through the area can end up with jump pads sending you right onto spikes. This one really needs another go through to polish things up.

Just 5 Minutes - Seefido
Truth in advertising, i never did figure out the last puzzle. i still think that was on me, there was just something i wasn't seeing. Still had a lot of fun going through the level, and even with a pretty solid understanding of the layout, i still had a bit of a hard time with it. i like these clever puzzlers sometimes, and i'm glad that this one was compact enough to put in the episode.

In the deep of the ocean - SrFreeze
Man, i just loved this one. The presentation is solid on, and i loved the flat look of things here. On top of that, the level does a great job of keeping you moving and acting throughout, and doesn't overstay its welcome at all. The gameplay is varied, and just challenging enough to make you work a little and giving you a bit of a feeling of accomplishment when it's done. Not really much changed in how i felt about the level this go around, but it's one i'd like to go back to again.

So that's the that this go around. Four solid levels, and one that could conceivably buffed up into something better. We're ready to go recording on the bonus episode, so that'll probably be getting going soon. Next week's set is all put together, so that should be getting started on Thursday, i hope. i really want to keep this week backlog buffer in place, it's a heck of a lot less stress.

As always, thanks to all of you! We wouldn't have made it six months without you. Hope your life's going well!