Heyos! Another week come and gone, another episode of R15F.


https://youtu.be/3CPLEwu7uE0
This go around we're taking a look at:

Mercury Prime 1.5 - R-V-2-0-1-3
Basic World - ColorThrowers_3
Return to the Canyons! - Hyenaedon
Confection Correction - MoFoSupervillain
??? Shmpty - PN-TR

It's a pretty decent set of levels this go around. i'll hold my opinion on some of them (here at least) until Tuesday, but they're worth taking at least a quick look at.

Behind the curtain stuffs:

Scripting and story. i don't actually write down scripts for the show. i tried it once, and it didn't really work out the way i wanted it. i do go over the dialogue a lot in my head before i actually start putting it into Magic Mouths. The end result is that an awful lot will end up getting trimmed in the end. Partially because you can say alot more in your head in 3minutes than you can in-game (weird side note, i seem to have developed a bit of a sixth-sense about how much dialogue works out to 3minutes in-game. it's not like i'm measuring out my sequencers, it's just like a little voice starts to say "ok, you best start wrapping it up about here). Sometimes because a joke either doesn't feel right when i finally look at it (there have been a few that were a might bit bawdier than necessary on second look...i still feel a bit iffy about last weeks "Those 39th Circle jerks").
Anyways, to make this relevant, i got all the cameras and animations done for E44 and did my test run...and it hit me that the dialogue was way too dark and mean-spirited for the show. Like, all of it. It was suitable for the characters, and for the story, but... yeah. So, i spent most of yesterday completely redoing the intro section from the ground up. Which, took about as long as you would think.
i also spent a couple of hours playing through my queue just for fun. It's been a long time since i've done that. It was kind of weird, because i couldn't turn off that part of my brain that thinks about how i would present the level for an episode. It was nice just to play a little though, and some of the levels were really good (there were a lot of LotDs and DevPicks, so i was likely never going to feature them).
In the end i got Episode 44 wrapped up but for the PiPs, and that should go fairly quickly. It finally dawned on me that, instead of searching for footage from my second (before recording the outro) playthrough, it'd be easier if i played a third time after the outro was recorded. That way i could pause in areas that i've mentioned, and get a clip that's more suited to what (and how long) i was taking about.

That was a block of text...sorry about that. Sometimes i just start typing and don't stop. As always, thanks to all of you for the feedback and support. i'm having a great time putting the show together, and it makes me really happy that you're all getting something out of it. Y'all have a great day now!

Hey folks, back again for the Tuesday Takeaway!

Mercury Prime 1.5 - r-v-2-0-1-3

i may have been a little too harsh in the episode, but i'm not thinking by much. It is a great, intricately put together level (with very appropriate and well done music) to be sure, but if you don't know just what's expected of you (and even if you do) the frustration is going to ramp up fairly quickly. i was never quite sure how long i could stay in the sunlight, which made me a bit more cautious in wider areas than maybe i should have been (which is going to impact the flow of the race). One thing new(ish) that came up this time, the first three times i played load/lag weren't really issues. Now, the base Mercury Prime gets slammed with them, but at least that's just a regular platformer. This go around, i was caught in loading every half minute or so, and that made it so hard to keep up the right pace to nail jumps. The worst was watching half my bonus trickle away while i was waiting for the level to respawn me. i wish i knew a way on my end to minimize that.

Basic World - ColorThrowers_3

So...Tuesdays are fairly busy for me, so while i don't use a 3minute time limit playing levels for the Takeaway, i do keep to the old (and quickly dropped in series) rule of 5lives and out. i lost all 5lives in the first jump section here. This is even knowing what i was supposed to be doing. If there is an LBP level that handles 3D platforming well, i've yet to see it. It's certainly not this one.

Return to the Canyons! - hyenaedon

Not much changed with this one. i didn't mind the balsa material quite so much, though, so that was nice. One thing that i noticed to its detriment, however; if you die during the minecart ride? You have to do the entire section again. It's really quite long, and i can see a lot of players just noping right out. On the other hand, there's nowhere to really put a checkpoint without breaking up the flow. Maybe that would have been better; having it in three parts with a little more platforming in between? It's weird, but i swear i could see more platforming (or at least gameplay elements and point bubbles) way in the background of the level, but i never saw a way to access them. Secret or cruft, i wonder?

Confection Correction - MofoSupervillain

Not a huge lot to say about this one. It's solid on for what it's doing, and doesn't make a lot of misteps. Mofo actually got in touch with me, on YT, maybe, and said that their early published LBP3 levels (like this one) were more a way to get reacquainted with level building and design. i suppose that makes them etudes, which is pretty cool. They also pointed me to their newer level, which is to be all original, so i'll need to give that a look on LBsP

Shmpty - PN-TR

Oh my god, there was a slow function, and a bomb the whole time. This did not really help, but it does remind me to read instructions when they're given.

So, that's pretty much the that this time around. Only one level that i really can't recommend, but a lot of fun to be had in the rest. As always, thanks for all the support, and have a great day!