Ossu! Friday's shambled back our way and dropped off another episode, so...let's go?

https://youtu.be/ogW542NP61Q

This week we're having a look at:

The hive - dom_bhoy_13
Tahk Jungle II - knowntokill
Metal Mansion - light_bulb_lunch
Platformin' through the jungle - PikaPlayer-25362
The Tircky Tower - Gordon6Fam

It's an odd mix...which i guess makes it statistically normal for the show, now that i think of it. i knew Tahk Jungle II was going to get snapped up, it was inevitable, but we got to it early enough i figured we could indulge a little. Hopefully you'll find something that catches your eye and looks fun (i would nudge you toward The Hive, it's a weird bit of kit). Thanks as always for the feedback and support, and i hope you have a great day!

Behind the Curtains Stuffs
It is raining like something that rains quite heavily. Has been since Wednesday night. Just all, full on, real-deal-Hollyfield-rainy-season rain. Except, except when i was streaming yesterday. It stopped raining for that hour and a half. i'm only slightly miffed, over here.

Unexpectedly got to a friend's birthday after work Wednesday. Unexpectedly on account of i've not seen folks with regularity for...well, too long really. Thankfully a mutual mentioned it on Twitter, so...i guess Twitter's good for something, sometimes at least. i don't have a lot of evidence, but my current working theory is weirdos (myself included) either don't age at all, or they age terribly, there's no real middle ground. Had a great time, though.

We're behind schedule on production, but the last LBsP was part of the bottleneck, so now that we got that out, things should smooth out some.

Ossu! Kinda sorta late Tuesday Takeaway, but it's on Tuesday at least!

The Hive - dom_bhoy_13
Kludgy, klunky, semi-easily broken, but i still found myself having a really good time with this one. i think it's that they're clearly trying to make a functional level, and try some new things, and they don't exactly fail at it. i like the enthusiasm there. Looking at their lbp.me profile, dom_bhoy_13 is a pretty prolific creator with 16levels published within the last 10months. i'd kind of like to take a stroll through their other work and see if there's a progression in skill going on. Who knows, if they keep at it, and the game's lifespan gives them enough time, we could have another great creator on our hands here. Or not, i mean, statistically probably not; but if optimism and pessimism are equally valid responses, i see no reason not to be positive about it.

Tahk Jungle II - knowntokill
Can't really think of anything to say that we didn't already, to be honest. If i didn't know much about LBP, and you'd told me this was a Story Mode or DLC level, i wouldn't even bat an eye; it's just that well put together. Something i did notice today, though, is it seems to be a bit of a victim of its own success. The first time i played (pre-LotD pick) there was very little slow-down or stoppage, but today it was just getting hammered, and i ended up pausing it and taking a bit of a walk until everything got loaded in and i could play as normal. Then again, when i played for PiPs, that was post-LotD, and i don't remember too much loading then...maybe this is a bad internet day on my end?

Metal Mansion - light_bulb_lunch
At least i like the creator's name, so there's that. When i was in uni, i thought The Jim Rose Circus were the bee's knees; haven't followed them in years, so i don't know where they're at now (i'm a bit afraid to check, any number of folks i thought were cool, ended up getting a bit twisted as time went on, or maybe they always were, and i just didn't know at the time...looking at you Maynard). Anyway, i mean, what can i say about the level? Not a lot, unfortunately. Though...thinking about it, i wonder if i missed something. Some of the scores were pretty solidly over mine, and i don't think i missed any point bubbles. The reviews were pretty positive too...i wonder if there was some secret area that i ended up overlooking. That would actually be pretty funny, if you ask me.

Platformin' through the jungle - PikaPlayer-25362
i thought this one was better than Pika did, i have the feeling. The level select page slags it off as "another bland platformer," and i don't think it was really that. The environmental design, though at times a bit blocky, showed a fair amount of creativity, particularly with the statuary. Also, going though the tiki(?) head in the middle was kind of cool. Also, also, a Mega Man-esque appearing-block puzzle that was actually reasonable in its timing (well, maybe a little too generous, but i'd rather that, than way too tight). Sure it could be polished a bit, there are a few areas where there's a little too much horizontal running, but still, this one's definitely worth at least a play.

The Tricky Tower - Gordon6Fan
This one's like the spiritual evil twin to The Hive. It's a haphazard level, with a lot of simple mistakes in design (more than a few places to drop out here), and a not-very-great visual presentation. But where The Hive makes up for it with weird charm and a few novel ideas, The Tricky Tower slathers on a thick coat of frustration and calls it a day. i'd have a hard time recommending this to folks except as an object lesson in how to not make a fun level.

So, that's the that. Definitely a mixed bag this go, but i think there are some good ones for play there, and hopefully you found something as well. Thanks for all the support and feedback, and i hope you have a great day!

Behind the Curtains Stuffs
We've got episode 032 wrapped but for the PiPs, so slowly crawling out of our production hole. Got some of episode 033 together, but Tuesday's always a busy morning, so we're going to have to put the hours in tomorrow and on the weekend; still, i think we'll be able to have it sorted by Friday night, which gets us mostly back to where we need to be. Also building the Isaac backlog back up, but that'S pretty close now. i love doing the Streams, and i have no plan of discontinuing them; but by the same token, they do take up about 6or so hours of available weekly production time (6 hours? Four streams, about an hour and a half each...yeah, the math works out).

So our morning schedule has been coffee with NorthernLion for about the past two years now. i was watching an Isaac episode i'd missed last night, and maybe it was just because i was tired and in a bad mood; but something he was going on about really rubbed me the wrong way. So i decided to take a couple week break, 'cause i know he tends to get in stretches where he goes over the same bits, and i don't want to get to the point to where i can't listen to him at all anymore. Anyway...this morning was really, really weird feeling, not sitting down with NL.

i've got a fairly long vacation coming up in August. i'm thinking of taking a set back from production for it, just to reset my brain a bit. Maybe get out of town. i haven't been to Tokyo in about 12years, maybe? Though going to Tokyo in mid-August...i'm not so sure about that. Still, i'm going to have to buckle down and get maybe a 2week backlog in everything maybe a little more. It's something i'll need to do a little thinking on.