Jul 26, 2016 at 5:12 AM
Join Date: Nov 12, 2014
Location: East Coast America
Posts: 759
Age: 24
Pronouns: he/him
I finally finished my reviews of all these mods.
I judged every mod by a set of categories in addition to my own personal feel for the mod. Each category is judged on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10/10 being the best possible score. The individual scores were then averaged for an overall score.
The criteria were:
Note that I addressed ASM hacks under the Mechanics section for any mods that included them. Additionally, if the mod is a partial modification of the original Cave Story, it must incorporate significant changes to the original game or it will receive very low points in most of the categories.
And here are each of my reviews, along with the overall rating I gave each mod. I reviewed the mods mostly in alphabetical order, so I'm posting the reviews in that arrangement as well. I did these reviews over the course of several days, so I apologize for any inconsistencies between them. My rankings are final and mostly based on my opinion more than anything else.
CONTEST OVERSEERS: Do not mistake the ratings set after this point for my rankings! The above list in the spoilers is my rankings for the mods in this contest. Below is just a set of reviews for the purposes of improving the mods made here, or for future tips for the authors of said mods.
I judged every mod by a set of categories in addition to my own personal feel for the mod. Each category is judged on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10/10 being the best possible score. The individual scores were then averaged for an overall score.
The criteria were:
- Level Design
- Art, Music, and Tiling
- Gameplay and Mechanics
- Plot and/or Creativity
- TSC*
- General Professionalism and Grammar
Note that I addressed ASM hacks under the Mechanics section for any mods that included them. Additionally, if the mod is a partial modification of the original Cave Story, it must incorporate significant changes to the original game or it will receive very low points in most of the categories.
- STARZZ - BLink
- The Final Level - TLincoln
- Critter Tower Defense - Thomas Xin
- Precious Thoughts - DoubleThink
- H4CK3R.STORY - Noxid
- Autopilot - SeasonsOfDestiny
- cat gay - Safusaka
- Metronari - Miccs
- Valastos
- Killjoy - CookedChef
- Lara - thomasco2013
- The Greek One
- Catfall - gamemanj
- Cave Story: Live and Uncut!
- Pierce Feverdream - Kenzo_ITN
- One Eye Story - APenDemon
- The Water Challenge! - Bionicobot
- RAVE BAR - Spirit
- What To Do When Modding - Pummelator
And here are each of my reviews, along with the overall rating I gave each mod. I reviewed the mods mostly in alphabetical order, so I'm posting the reviews in that arrangement as well. I did these reviews over the course of several days, so I apologize for any inconsistencies between them. My rankings are final and mostly based on my opinion more than anything else.
CONTEST OVERSEERS: Do not mistake the ratings set after this point for my rankings! The above list in the spoilers is my rankings for the mods in this contest. Below is just a set of reviews for the purposes of improving the mods made here, or for future tips for the authors of said mods.
Level Design - 10/10
It is clear that a large amount of effort was put into the level design. The amount of trial and error involved in this was probably very high and shows dedication to the project. The quality of a mod like this hinges on good level design that keeps the viewer engaged despite not controlling the character themselves. My favorite part was when the player was zig-zagging between the falling presses. The fact that the level ALSO had to be designed in such a way that it could be completed without the autopilot is also very impressive.
Art, Music, and Tiling - 7/10
No original art or music, but the tiling was good and had no mistakes.
Gameplay and Mechanics - 5/10
Albeit I didn't have the patience to figure out how to get through most of the mod without the autopilot, a mod like this obviously lacks any sort of gameplay whatsoever. However, the usage of the default Cave Story mechanics to manipulate the player the way that the mod does means that the mod doesn't completely lose out in this category.
Creativity - 3/10
A mod very similar to this called "Don't Let Go" was submitted for another contest a while back. I don't remember if it was SeasonsOfDestiny who submitted the mod, but this sort of thing has admittedly been done before. The idea of creating an autopilot is not anywheres near as hard as actually making the autopilot work, which is why the mod scored so highly in the "Level Design" category but will not score very highly in this one.
TSC - 10/10
I did not detect any errors in the TSC, and the usage of TSC was shown to be sufficient.
General Professionalism/Grammar - 10/10
There were no unnecessary files, and the .zip contained an individual folder for the mod instead of all the mods files being contained directly in the .zip (making it easier to unpack and start playing the mod). Grammar was good and there was no unwarranted or unprofessional dialogue.
It is clear that a large amount of effort was put into the level design. The amount of trial and error involved in this was probably very high and shows dedication to the project. The quality of a mod like this hinges on good level design that keeps the viewer engaged despite not controlling the character themselves. My favorite part was when the player was zig-zagging between the falling presses. The fact that the level ALSO had to be designed in such a way that it could be completed without the autopilot is also very impressive.
Art, Music, and Tiling - 7/10
No original art or music, but the tiling was good and had no mistakes.
Gameplay and Mechanics - 5/10
Albeit I didn't have the patience to figure out how to get through most of the mod without the autopilot, a mod like this obviously lacks any sort of gameplay whatsoever. However, the usage of the default Cave Story mechanics to manipulate the player the way that the mod does means that the mod doesn't completely lose out in this category.
Creativity - 3/10
A mod very similar to this called "Don't Let Go" was submitted for another contest a while back. I don't remember if it was SeasonsOfDestiny who submitted the mod, but this sort of thing has admittedly been done before. The idea of creating an autopilot is not anywheres near as hard as actually making the autopilot work, which is why the mod scored so highly in the "Level Design" category but will not score very highly in this one.
TSC - 10/10
I did not detect any errors in the TSC, and the usage of TSC was shown to be sufficient.
General Professionalism/Grammar - 10/10
There were no unnecessary files, and the .zip contained an individual folder for the mod instead of all the mods files being contained directly in the .zip (making it easier to unpack and start playing the mod). Grammar was good and there was no unwarranted or unprofessional dialogue.
Level Design - 6.5/10
The level design was challenging, when you followed its intended path. But there were a lot of areas that you could just skip and other areas where you weren't exactly sure if you were going the right way. Additionally, it was mostly flat and zigzagging, with no really complex patterns or design. There were also areas where the cat's energy orbs couldn't reach you, leaving you completely open and vulnerable (I'm not sure if that was intentional or not, but sometimes there's no way to avoid it with the way the cat's AI works, which is unfair).
Art, Music, and Tiling - 9/10
The art was genuinely some of the best I've ever seen. The trees look amazing detailed. The music is also very pleasant and enjoyable, and fits the mood of the mod perfectly. There were, however, some glitches where the birds would turn into Gaudi temporarily after firing, and other places where the tiling was just slightly off, which unfortunately prevented this mod from getting a perfect score in this category. The title screen was disappointing as well and did not prepare the user for any of the excellent art that came afterwards.
Gameplay and Mechanics - 8/10
Using the cat as a weapon with its energy orbs, and attempting to manipulate these orbs in the best way made the gameplay for this mod very fresh and engaging. However, I didn't realize until my second playthrough the cat's orbs would be drawn towards you if you held down the attack button. A little clarification on how the cat's weaponry worked (or even that it existed at all) would have eased entry into gameplay. Otherwise the gameplay was very good.
Creativity - 7/10
The idea behind making an NPC spawn bullets in order to "protect" you or act as your weapon is something I've never even heard of before and was extremely creative. However, the concept could have been portrayed in a more creative way. The NPC could have been a robot protector as you were guided through the map. Instead, it's just a cat that's there. Additionally, the ending was completely half-assed. You just fall out of the world and the credits roll. That's it. The ending definitely brought down the score for this CAT-egory a lot (#catmonth #puns).
TSC - 8/10
The save option seems a little buggy, and no text appears, which was a little awkward. The final death dialogue before the credits roll seems slightly bugged as well. Additionally, the credits are the same as vanilla Cave Story but with no ending events such as the Credits images.
General Professionalism/Grammar - 6/10
The mod was not given a serious title. Furthermore, the title of the entry is immature and unwarranted. There were no points deducted for grammar, since the cat's grammar was clearly intentionally poor (and the rest of the mod lacked any sort of grammar errors at all). However, there were certain parts of this mod that just felt half-assed or rushed. The titlescreen was hard to look at and lacked content. The ending lacked any sort of content, and rather than alter or bypass the Credits they were just needlessly tacked on to the end. I can appreciate a humorous mod, but none of the "funny" parts in this mod were all that funny and just seemed lazy.
The level design was challenging, when you followed its intended path. But there were a lot of areas that you could just skip and other areas where you weren't exactly sure if you were going the right way. Additionally, it was mostly flat and zigzagging, with no really complex patterns or design. There were also areas where the cat's energy orbs couldn't reach you, leaving you completely open and vulnerable (I'm not sure if that was intentional or not, but sometimes there's no way to avoid it with the way the cat's AI works, which is unfair).
Art, Music, and Tiling - 9/10
The art was genuinely some of the best I've ever seen. The trees look amazing detailed. The music is also very pleasant and enjoyable, and fits the mood of the mod perfectly. There were, however, some glitches where the birds would turn into Gaudi temporarily after firing, and other places where the tiling was just slightly off, which unfortunately prevented this mod from getting a perfect score in this category. The title screen was disappointing as well and did not prepare the user for any of the excellent art that came afterwards.
Gameplay and Mechanics - 8/10
Using the cat as a weapon with its energy orbs, and attempting to manipulate these orbs in the best way made the gameplay for this mod very fresh and engaging. However, I didn't realize until my second playthrough the cat's orbs would be drawn towards you if you held down the attack button. A little clarification on how the cat's weaponry worked (or even that it existed at all) would have eased entry into gameplay. Otherwise the gameplay was very good.
Creativity - 7/10
The idea behind making an NPC spawn bullets in order to "protect" you or act as your weapon is something I've never even heard of before and was extremely creative. However, the concept could have been portrayed in a more creative way. The NPC could have been a robot protector as you were guided through the map. Instead, it's just a cat that's there. Additionally, the ending was completely half-assed. You just fall out of the world and the credits roll. That's it. The ending definitely brought down the score for this CAT-egory a lot (#catmonth #puns).
TSC - 8/10
The save option seems a little buggy, and no text appears, which was a little awkward. The final death dialogue before the credits roll seems slightly bugged as well. Additionally, the credits are the same as vanilla Cave Story but with no ending events such as the Credits images.
General Professionalism/Grammar - 6/10
The mod was not given a serious title. Furthermore, the title of the entry is immature and unwarranted. There were no points deducted for grammar, since the cat's grammar was clearly intentionally poor (and the rest of the mod lacked any sort of grammar errors at all). However, there were certain parts of this mod that just felt half-assed or rushed. The titlescreen was hard to look at and lacked content. The ending lacked any sort of content, and rather than alter or bypass the Credits they were just needlessly tacked on to the end. I can appreciate a humorous mod, but none of the "funny" parts in this mod were all that funny and just seemed lazy.
Level Design - 2/10
There wasn't really any levels at all. The rooms where you access the music player and what not were just blank squares. Additionally, the minigame itself was rather bland.
Art, Music, and Tiling - 4/10
The art was pretty good, and the music was not half bad, but it was nothing stunning. The tiling was uninteresting and just pretty bland in general.
Gameplay and Mechanics - 6/10
This category got a high score not because of the gameplay (that was incredibly bland and boring). This category scored high for mechanics. The game was basically completely reworked and incorporated an entire new coding language. I don't have any experience with this sort of thing but to me that's rather impressive, and I've never seen a music player that you can so easily alter implemented into a Cave Story mod. Unfortunately, outside of the minigame the mod lagged HEAVILY, I mean like 1FPS or something, which detracted from my enjoyment of what content there was.
Creativity - 2/10
There was little to no creativity present within the mod at all. The idea of a music player has been done before, although it was taken a step above and beyond what is normally done.
TSC - 8/10
No scripting errors as far as I can tell. I have a feeling that very little TSC was actually used, however. I was disappointed that the minigame completely lacked sound effects however, which is why this category scored a little lower.
General Professionalism/Grammar - 6/10
The mod the didn't contain serious grammatical errors and took on a generally professional atmosphere. So professional, in fact, that it felt more like a Proof of Concept than a mod. As a result, I am going to remove some points here for lack of content.
There wasn't really any levels at all. The rooms where you access the music player and what not were just blank squares. Additionally, the minigame itself was rather bland.
Art, Music, and Tiling - 4/10
The art was pretty good, and the music was not half bad, but it was nothing stunning. The tiling was uninteresting and just pretty bland in general.
Gameplay and Mechanics - 6/10
This category got a high score not because of the gameplay (that was incredibly bland and boring). This category scored high for mechanics. The game was basically completely reworked and incorporated an entire new coding language. I don't have any experience with this sort of thing but to me that's rather impressive, and I've never seen a music player that you can so easily alter implemented into a Cave Story mod. Unfortunately, outside of the minigame the mod lagged HEAVILY, I mean like 1FPS or something, which detracted from my enjoyment of what content there was.
Creativity - 2/10
There was little to no creativity present within the mod at all. The idea of a music player has been done before, although it was taken a step above and beyond what is normally done.
TSC - 8/10
No scripting errors as far as I can tell. I have a feeling that very little TSC was actually used, however. I was disappointed that the minigame completely lacked sound effects however, which is why this category scored a little lower.
General Professionalism/Grammar - 6/10
The mod the didn't contain serious grammatical errors and took on a generally professional atmosphere. So professional, in fact, that it felt more like a Proof of Concept than a mod. As a result, I am going to remove some points here for lack of content.
Level Design - 1/10
The levels are just vanilla Cave Story.
Art, Music, and Tiling - 1/10
The art, music, and tiling is still just vanilla Cave Story.
Gameplay and Mechanics - 1/10
The gameplay is basically vanilla Cave Story.
Plot and Creativity - 5/10
Admittedly, nobody has ever thought to do a voiceover of Cave Story as far as I know, so it was pretty creative. The audio was very amusing for about five minutes, and then I got bored. I played through to the end of the demo but the humor lost its touch after a while. Serious voice acting might have improved the score for this category. I wouldn't play a full version of this.
TSC - 5/10
It's basically vanilla Cave Story. However, there was likely some editing done to include all of the audio, and the text was changed occasionally, and there were no errors there.
General Professionalism/Grammar - 6/10
The grammar was good where it wasn't intentionally bad, so there were no points deducted there. A lot of the humor in the mod was well done, suprising, and amusing (for a short time at least). I especially liked the audio that played when you refilled your health at a health station ("That's the healing sound!"). However, the intro with Kazuma is a little needlessly inappropriate and does not further the amusement that the mod brings at all. I have nothing against inappropriate jokes, in fact, I think they're hilarious, but only when they're done well and not just thrown in there. In retrospect I might've been a little hard on this mod, but at this point there should be more original content in a mod and less vanilla stuff.
The levels are just vanilla Cave Story.
Art, Music, and Tiling - 1/10
The art, music, and tiling is still just vanilla Cave Story.
Gameplay and Mechanics - 1/10
The gameplay is basically vanilla Cave Story.
Plot and Creativity - 5/10
Admittedly, nobody has ever thought to do a voiceover of Cave Story as far as I know, so it was pretty creative. The audio was very amusing for about five minutes, and then I got bored. I played through to the end of the demo but the humor lost its touch after a while. Serious voice acting might have improved the score for this category. I wouldn't play a full version of this.
TSC - 5/10
It's basically vanilla Cave Story. However, there was likely some editing done to include all of the audio, and the text was changed occasionally, and there were no errors there.
General Professionalism/Grammar - 6/10
The grammar was good where it wasn't intentionally bad, so there were no points deducted there. A lot of the humor in the mod was well done, suprising, and amusing (for a short time at least). I especially liked the audio that played when you refilled your health at a health station ("That's the healing sound!"). However, the intro with Kazuma is a little needlessly inappropriate and does not further the amusement that the mod brings at all. I have nothing against inappropriate jokes, in fact, I think they're hilarious, but only when they're done well and not just thrown in there. In retrospect I might've been a little hard on this mod, but at this point there should be more original content in a mod and less vanilla stuff.
Level Design - 7/10
The level design in this game varies greatly. I especially enjoyed the Outer Wall and the first stage, but some of the other stages (like Egg Corridor) just didn't feel right to me. Additionally, there were a lot of tower locations that when combined were extremely overpowered. On the Outer Wall, putting Super Missiles on each of the first three tower locations makes it basically impossible for anything but the Rainbow Critter to get past.
Art, Music, and Tiling - 7/10
There is a rather small amount of new tiles, but what is new looks good. Additionally, despite using the original tilesets for the most part, there were no copy-and-pasted locations or anything like that. The music gets extremely repetitive after a while on each stage, however, and there's not a lot of new music either. The character sprite is incredibly simple, and TBH even just the original Quote sprite would have been better.
Gameplay and Mechanics - 8/10
I really, really enjoyed playing this. I only like very particular Tower Defense games, and this one managed to match the style I prefer (this felt a lot like Bloons Tower Defense). There were not too many glitches involved, although sometimes the camera would continue panning even after all the critters were dead. Luckily there were failsafes implemented to fix that when it happened. Overall the gameplay was refreshing and the mechanics ingenutive and interesting.
Creativity - 10/10
I was actually really amazed to find how well done this mod was. I didn't think it would work very well but you managed to pull it off. Also, I enjoyed getting to play as a Critter in the Bonus Stage. I feel like the weapons should have been firing to make it more challenging than just platforming though. All in all, however, job well done with this mod.
TSC - 10/10
There were no errors with the TSC that I detected.
General Professionalism/Grammar - 10/10
The mod was clean and professional-looking, and there were no grammar errors.
The level design in this game varies greatly. I especially enjoyed the Outer Wall and the first stage, but some of the other stages (like Egg Corridor) just didn't feel right to me. Additionally, there were a lot of tower locations that when combined were extremely overpowered. On the Outer Wall, putting Super Missiles on each of the first three tower locations makes it basically impossible for anything but the Rainbow Critter to get past.
Art, Music, and Tiling - 7/10
There is a rather small amount of new tiles, but what is new looks good. Additionally, despite using the original tilesets for the most part, there were no copy-and-pasted locations or anything like that. The music gets extremely repetitive after a while on each stage, however, and there's not a lot of new music either. The character sprite is incredibly simple, and TBH even just the original Quote sprite would have been better.
Gameplay and Mechanics - 8/10
I really, really enjoyed playing this. I only like very particular Tower Defense games, and this one managed to match the style I prefer (this felt a lot like Bloons Tower Defense). There were not too many glitches involved, although sometimes the camera would continue panning even after all the critters were dead. Luckily there were failsafes implemented to fix that when it happened. Overall the gameplay was refreshing and the mechanics ingenutive and interesting.
Creativity - 10/10
I was actually really amazed to find how well done this mod was. I didn't think it would work very well but you managed to pull it off. Also, I enjoyed getting to play as a Critter in the Bonus Stage. I feel like the weapons should have been firing to make it more challenging than just platforming though. All in all, however, job well done with this mod.
TSC - 10/10
There were no errors with the TSC that I detected.
General Professionalism/Grammar - 10/10
The mod was clean and professional-looking, and there were no grammar errors.
Level Design - 5/10
It's not that there was anything particularly wrong with the level design, but there was just nothing remarkable about it. Every area was mostly straightforward. Note that I didn't get much farther than the "Never shred edible wheat" room because I got extremely tired of getting nothing but that god-awful fan random encounter. That was just the worst.
Art, Music, and Tiling - 7/10
As usual, Noxid didn't disappoint when it comes to art and music. However, the design of the areas in the top left corner was rather bland, and I paid a lot more attention to the map and much less attention the screen.
Gameplay and Mechanics - 9/10
This mod was probably the most ingenutive I've seen gameplay-wise. Turning Cave Story, a platformer into... well I'm not sure what the genre is called, but to turn that into a game like this is extremely impressive. However, some of the random encounters were just really annoying to have to do, and personally I stopped playing early on because I kept getting the fan minigame where you had to jump from platform to platform with the red-screen terminals. That one was the worst and I got it quite frequently.
Creativity - 10/10
A mod like this has never been done before and took a great deal of creativity to pull off. I won't mention anything about the plot, however, since I didn't play the mod long enough to find out how it goes. I've never really liked games of this style so I lost interest rather quickly, but nevertheless this mod deserves a good score here.
TSC - 10/10
I'm not sure how much TSC was involved here and how much was ASM but either way, there were no bugs or errors that I encountered.
General Professionalism/Grammar - 9/10
There were no grammar errors as far as I can tell, but certain things that appeared in the mod needlessly detracted from the otherwise serious atmosphere of the mod. I appreciated the "dat boi" reference but in reality it wasn't necessary at all.
It's not that there was anything particularly wrong with the level design, but there was just nothing remarkable about it. Every area was mostly straightforward. Note that I didn't get much farther than the "Never shred edible wheat" room because I got extremely tired of getting nothing but that god-awful fan random encounter. That was just the worst.
Art, Music, and Tiling - 7/10
As usual, Noxid didn't disappoint when it comes to art and music. However, the design of the areas in the top left corner was rather bland, and I paid a lot more attention to the map and much less attention the screen.
Gameplay and Mechanics - 9/10
This mod was probably the most ingenutive I've seen gameplay-wise. Turning Cave Story, a platformer into... well I'm not sure what the genre is called, but to turn that into a game like this is extremely impressive. However, some of the random encounters were just really annoying to have to do, and personally I stopped playing early on because I kept getting the fan minigame where you had to jump from platform to platform with the red-screen terminals. That one was the worst and I got it quite frequently.
Creativity - 10/10
A mod like this has never been done before and took a great deal of creativity to pull off. I won't mention anything about the plot, however, since I didn't play the mod long enough to find out how it goes. I've never really liked games of this style so I lost interest rather quickly, but nevertheless this mod deserves a good score here.
TSC - 10/10
I'm not sure how much TSC was involved here and how much was ASM but either way, there were no bugs or errors that I encountered.
General Professionalism/Grammar - 9/10
There were no grammar errors as far as I can tell, but certain things that appeared in the mod needlessly detracted from the otherwise serious atmosphere of the mod. I appreciated the "dat boi" reference but in reality it wasn't necessary at all.
Level Design - 6/10
There wasn't really anything fun or interesting about any of the levels, and they were relatively small (usually only the side of one screen). There just wasn't anything remarkable about them.
Art, Music, and Tiling - 6/10
The art is... all the same color. There's no contrast between anything. I won't deny that it's good, but it's bland. Additionally, there are only two music tracks, the level theme and the title theme. Like with the rest of the mod, there's a general lack of tiling.
Gameplay and Mechanics - 2/10
The gameplay wasn't new or interesting. You just ran around shooting things and collecting HP until the end of the mod. There's little to no engagement involved whatsoever. That's not to say I didn't enjoy the mod a little, but I could have just as easily just ran around the Sand Zone or Grasstown and gotten the same amount of satisfaction.
Creativity - 2/10
There's very little creativity to be had in this mod. Nothing exciting or interesting happens, you just run around collecting XP and shooting things until eventually you come across the start room again and the mod ends.
TSC - 7/10
There were a few errors in TSC, like the opened chests still being interactable but not having any set script, and with some chests not having any scripts associated with them anyway. I also heard the text error sounds a few times.
General Professionalism/Grammar - 7/10
There were no grammatical errors that I detected, but the change in mood between the titlescreen and the mod itself is a little disconcerting and kept me on edge through the mod. I kept expecting something else to happen but nothing did. As a result I deducted points for lack of content.
There wasn't really anything fun or interesting about any of the levels, and they were relatively small (usually only the side of one screen). There just wasn't anything remarkable about them.
Art, Music, and Tiling - 6/10
The art is... all the same color. There's no contrast between anything. I won't deny that it's good, but it's bland. Additionally, there are only two music tracks, the level theme and the title theme. Like with the rest of the mod, there's a general lack of tiling.
Gameplay and Mechanics - 2/10
The gameplay wasn't new or interesting. You just ran around shooting things and collecting HP until the end of the mod. There's little to no engagement involved whatsoever. That's not to say I didn't enjoy the mod a little, but I could have just as easily just ran around the Sand Zone or Grasstown and gotten the same amount of satisfaction.
Creativity - 2/10
There's very little creativity to be had in this mod. Nothing exciting or interesting happens, you just run around collecting XP and shooting things until eventually you come across the start room again and the mod ends.
TSC - 7/10
There were a few errors in TSC, like the opened chests still being interactable but not having any set script, and with some chests not having any scripts associated with them anyway. I also heard the text error sounds a few times.
General Professionalism/Grammar - 7/10
There were no grammatical errors that I detected, but the change in mood between the titlescreen and the mod itself is a little disconcerting and kept me on edge through the mod. I kept expecting something else to happen but nothing did. As a result I deducted points for lack of content.
Level Design - 5/10
The levels are kind of flat, and everything is hard to see so you're constantly falling into pits and dying. There needs to be more than just the color green in the mod.
Art, Music, and Tiling - 2/10
The art looks terrible. I'm sure it would be fine if it were colored correctly, but it's not. It's incredibly difficult to see anything in the mess that is this mod's art and tile styling. Additionally, some of the music (in fact, most of it) is a little grating to the ear.
Gameplay and Mechanics - 2/10
It's extremely difficult to play, because of the way the art makes everything look the same color. It's hard to tell the difference between solid tiles and non-solid tiles. I get that you were trying to be artsy with the lack of color, but there needs to be more contrast.
Plot and Creativity - 5/10
I did not even really get farther than the middle of the first cave, because of the bad contrast and painful colors, but from what I saw of the plot it looks like it has a lot of potential. Unfortunately, I was unable to experience it or enjoy it due to how hard it was to see everything, including the text in some cases.
TSC - 5/10
I somehow managed to drown after the first set of dialogue and had to restart the mod. Additionally, the "Hand Gun" and the "Knife" still have their vanilla CS descriptions.
General Professionalism/Grammar - 10/10
The atmosphere was at least stable and professional, and there were no grammatical errors. But this is the only decent aspect of the mod as it stands. Lara has a lot of potential, but first you need to fix that art.
The levels are kind of flat, and everything is hard to see so you're constantly falling into pits and dying. There needs to be more than just the color green in the mod.
Art, Music, and Tiling - 2/10
The art looks terrible. I'm sure it would be fine if it were colored correctly, but it's not. It's incredibly difficult to see anything in the mess that is this mod's art and tile styling. Additionally, some of the music (in fact, most of it) is a little grating to the ear.
Gameplay and Mechanics - 2/10
It's extremely difficult to play, because of the way the art makes everything look the same color. It's hard to tell the difference between solid tiles and non-solid tiles. I get that you were trying to be artsy with the lack of color, but there needs to be more contrast.
Plot and Creativity - 5/10
I did not even really get farther than the middle of the first cave, because of the bad contrast and painful colors, but from what I saw of the plot it looks like it has a lot of potential. Unfortunately, I was unable to experience it or enjoy it due to how hard it was to see everything, including the text in some cases.
TSC - 5/10
I somehow managed to drown after the first set of dialogue and had to restart the mod. Additionally, the "Hand Gun" and the "Knife" still have their vanilla CS descriptions.
General Professionalism/Grammar - 10/10
The atmosphere was at least stable and professional, and there were no grammatical errors. But this is the only decent aspect of the mod as it stands. Lara has a lot of potential, but first you need to fix that art.
Level Design - 5/10
The level design varied widely from simplistic, straight hallways to complex rooms full of paths. This was very good. What frequently annoyed me was enemy placement. Often there would be enemies right beneath where a player dropped into a room, or right in front of (if not on top of) the player's spawn point in the next room. Sometimes enemies would be hidden under blocks that you wouldn't otherwise realize were not completely solid. Additionally, with the way the art style worked, you couldn't tell what type of critter each one was. As you got further on into the levels you were often surprised to find higher health or differently powered critters that looked identical to all the other ones.
Art, Music, and Tiling - 7/10
I enjoyed the simplistic stylization of the mod. However, the fact that the ENTIRE mod, INCLUDING the boss fight, use the same repetitive track over and over is not only a bad choice stylistically but it gets annoying. I understand that the mod was probably inspired by the Labyrinth in the old Zelda games (yes, I recognized the music), but the music was repetitive BACK THEN, nevermind now.
Gameplay and Mechanics - 6/10
The Polar Star's damage was nerfed so much that you basically could not afford to lose any level or you would have a hard time going back. I found myself resetting my save just to farm XP frequently, which is not something one should feel like they have to do. The Critters should all have their health nerfed so that the max level Polar Star can at least two shot them. When you get towards a later point in the mod you find yourself having to hit Critters three or four times with the max level Polar Star, and if you drop to Level 2 then you're really fucked over.
Creativity - 6/10
The gameplay format is generally uncreative. It's clear that the mod is heavily inspired by the Zelda Labyrinth (as stated before). The guns were rather simplistic, and although I did admire the "long range switch hitter", it could only be used in one instance and therefore made it more of a nuisance to cycle through than anything else. The art is purposely simplistic, and still rather good (more appeasing to look at than Lara's green nightmare). Like the other mods, the ending is extremely anticlimactic as well. I did not figure out what was up with the "Spirograph" pedestal (whatever a "Spirograph" is). I can only assume there were two possible endings.
TSC - 9/10
I didn't encounter any TSC errors, but I feel like the switches should have had a more satisfying "click" sound instead of silence when they're activated. The mod generally lacked sound effects, which was disappointing.
General Professionalism/Grammar - 9/10
The mod maintained a generally professional atmosphere with little text to be grammatically incorrect in the first place. However, the little "easter egg" with the cat in the box was kind of dumb and unnecessary and was sort of just pandering to the Cat Month aficionados.
The level design varied widely from simplistic, straight hallways to complex rooms full of paths. This was very good. What frequently annoyed me was enemy placement. Often there would be enemies right beneath where a player dropped into a room, or right in front of (if not on top of) the player's spawn point in the next room. Sometimes enemies would be hidden under blocks that you wouldn't otherwise realize were not completely solid. Additionally, with the way the art style worked, you couldn't tell what type of critter each one was. As you got further on into the levels you were often surprised to find higher health or differently powered critters that looked identical to all the other ones.
Art, Music, and Tiling - 7/10
I enjoyed the simplistic stylization of the mod. However, the fact that the ENTIRE mod, INCLUDING the boss fight, use the same repetitive track over and over is not only a bad choice stylistically but it gets annoying. I understand that the mod was probably inspired by the Labyrinth in the old Zelda games (yes, I recognized the music), but the music was repetitive BACK THEN, nevermind now.
Gameplay and Mechanics - 6/10
The Polar Star's damage was nerfed so much that you basically could not afford to lose any level or you would have a hard time going back. I found myself resetting my save just to farm XP frequently, which is not something one should feel like they have to do. The Critters should all have their health nerfed so that the max level Polar Star can at least two shot them. When you get towards a later point in the mod you find yourself having to hit Critters three or four times with the max level Polar Star, and if you drop to Level 2 then you're really fucked over.
Creativity - 6/10
The gameplay format is generally uncreative. It's clear that the mod is heavily inspired by the Zelda Labyrinth (as stated before). The guns were rather simplistic, and although I did admire the "long range switch hitter", it could only be used in one instance and therefore made it more of a nuisance to cycle through than anything else. The art is purposely simplistic, and still rather good (more appeasing to look at than Lara's green nightmare). Like the other mods, the ending is extremely anticlimactic as well. I did not figure out what was up with the "Spirograph" pedestal (whatever a "Spirograph" is). I can only assume there were two possible endings.
TSC - 9/10
I didn't encounter any TSC errors, but I feel like the switches should have had a more satisfying "click" sound instead of silence when they're activated. The mod generally lacked sound effects, which was disappointing.
General Professionalism/Grammar - 9/10
The mod maintained a generally professional atmosphere with little text to be grammatically incorrect in the first place. However, the little "easter egg" with the cat in the box was kind of dumb and unnecessary and was sort of just pandering to the Cat Month aficionados.
Level Design - 2/10
The levels are mostly flat, and short. There are problems with the way the enemies move about which I'll address momentarily.
Art, Music, and Tiling - 2/10
The art is very good, but the tiling is really bad. Aesthetically it looks fine, but when you try to walk on it there's a lot of problems with what's solid space and what isn't. The cat post in the far right room makes you teleport. The stairs in-between the floors also cause you to teleport or sometimes block your movement. The enemies often get caught in these areas making it impossible for them to move around.
Gameplay and Mechanics - 2/10
There isn't anything interesting about the gameplay in this mod at all. It was short, boring, and at times completely flawed.
Creativity - 4/10
The idea of making a mod about the world from the perspective of a cat is cute, but you really didn't do anything with it. You made life seem as boring for a cat as it appears to be for humans.
TSC - 2/10
There were a lot of errors in TSC. If you try to go see "big brother" before you go see "little brother", his dialogue freezes and you have to reset the game. Even if you see him when you're supposed to, his dialogue drops off (there's no <NOD command at the end). The boss fight with the "Floater" has some of the text error sounds at the end. Finally, if you try to continue the text after "THE END" appears, the game crashes.
General Professionalism/Grammar - 5/10
Although the mod was generally professional there were a few grammatical errors, such as the frequent misuse of commas and a few missing words in the dialogue for the washing machine.
The levels are mostly flat, and short. There are problems with the way the enemies move about which I'll address momentarily.
Art, Music, and Tiling - 2/10
The art is very good, but the tiling is really bad. Aesthetically it looks fine, but when you try to walk on it there's a lot of problems with what's solid space and what isn't. The cat post in the far right room makes you teleport. The stairs in-between the floors also cause you to teleport or sometimes block your movement. The enemies often get caught in these areas making it impossible for them to move around.
Gameplay and Mechanics - 2/10
There isn't anything interesting about the gameplay in this mod at all. It was short, boring, and at times completely flawed.
Creativity - 4/10
The idea of making a mod about the world from the perspective of a cat is cute, but you really didn't do anything with it. You made life seem as boring for a cat as it appears to be for humans.
TSC - 2/10
There were a lot of errors in TSC. If you try to go see "big brother" before you go see "little brother", his dialogue freezes and you have to reset the game. Even if you see him when you're supposed to, his dialogue drops off (there's no <NOD command at the end). The boss fight with the "Floater" has some of the text error sounds at the end. Finally, if you try to continue the text after "THE END" appears, the game crashes.
General Professionalism/Grammar - 5/10
Although the mod was generally professional there were a few grammatical errors, such as the frequent misuse of commas and a few missing words in the dialogue for the washing machine.
Level Design - 1/10
The levels are mostly flat, or have an awkward feel to them. The abnormal house shapes also tend to give the mod and amateurish feel.
Art, Music, and Tiling - 2/10
The two original music tracks that play are used rather well, and sound good. However, the original Cave Story music that is present in the mod seems a little out of place at times. Additionally, the art for the face pics is just bad. Everything else looks rather nice, however.
Gameplay and Mechanics - 1/10
There's very little in the way of actual gameplay. It's just walking from place to place.
Plot and Creativity - 2/10
The plot is very creepy and sort of forced, with no exposition as to why the Mimigas and Humans both think the other is going to kill them. And by creepy, I don't mean the good kind of "spoopy house" creepy, I mean the "ew what the fuck get away from me" kind of creepy, especially with the whole "nuzzling" thing. Not EVERYONE on the forums is a furry.
TSC - 10/10
There are no TSC errors that I encountered.
General Professionalism/Grammar - 2/10
There are frequent grammar mistakes (such as incorrect capitalization). The mod as a whole seems sort of amateurish. I'm not sure how to exactly describe it, but I'd equate this mod with a bad beginners mod if it weren't for the good TSC work.
The levels are mostly flat, or have an awkward feel to them. The abnormal house shapes also tend to give the mod and amateurish feel.
Art, Music, and Tiling - 2/10
The two original music tracks that play are used rather well, and sound good. However, the original Cave Story music that is present in the mod seems a little out of place at times. Additionally, the art for the face pics is just bad. Everything else looks rather nice, however.
Gameplay and Mechanics - 1/10
There's very little in the way of actual gameplay. It's just walking from place to place.
Plot and Creativity - 2/10
The plot is very creepy and sort of forced, with no exposition as to why the Mimigas and Humans both think the other is going to kill them. And by creepy, I don't mean the good kind of "spoopy house" creepy, I mean the "ew what the fuck get away from me" kind of creepy, especially with the whole "nuzzling" thing. Not EVERYONE on the forums is a furry.
TSC - 10/10
There are no TSC errors that I encountered.
General Professionalism/Grammar - 2/10
There are frequent grammar mistakes (such as incorrect capitalization). The mod as a whole seems sort of amateurish. I'm not sure how to exactly describe it, but I'd equate this mod with a bad beginners mod if it weren't for the good TSC work.
Level Design - 8.5/10
Dude, seriously. FUCK the part with the sideways presses. That was completely not okay. And fuck the part with the crystal on the instant death spikes. Those were just not fun. A lot of the places required perfect timing with the short-range booster. Seriously, fuck this level design. It was tough and challenging but also frustrating. You could've extended the jump ability just a tiny bit. And that final boss fight, being unable to even attack the main entity most of the time, with blocks for -10 being randomly dropped on you... ugh. Nevertheless, it was frustratingly challenging.
Art, Music, and Tiling - 9/10
The art was fantastic, the tiling was fantastic, but disappointingly there was a lack of original music. There was no reason not to have original music, especially considering the quality of the rest of the mod. Additionally, I felt like the central area (where you get all the crystals) could be a little more... beefy. There should be more tiling towards the top of the map there. Otherwise, very good.
Gameplay and Mechanics - 5/10
This mod was extremely frustrating at times. I actually used Booster's Lab to skip the part with the sideways presses. Fuck that shit. But that brings up another point...
Plot and Creativity - 8/10
The plot was interesting and engaging enough that I actually put in the effort to get to more of it. This is the only mod that I actually took the time to edit in Booster's Lab to skip the boring/frustrating/broken parts just so I could see the rest of it. I was disappointed at the end of the demo when there was no clarification as to what Lori was doing there. There is a complete lack of exposition, and it was disappointing.
TSC - 10/10
There were no TSC errors.
General Professionalism/Grammar - 10/10
There were no grammatical errors and the mod kept its intended tone and remained professional.
Dude, seriously. FUCK the part with the sideways presses. That was completely not okay. And fuck the part with the crystal on the instant death spikes. Those were just not fun. A lot of the places required perfect timing with the short-range booster. Seriously, fuck this level design. It was tough and challenging but also frustrating. You could've extended the jump ability just a tiny bit. And that final boss fight, being unable to even attack the main entity most of the time, with blocks for -10 being randomly dropped on you... ugh. Nevertheless, it was frustratingly challenging.
Art, Music, and Tiling - 9/10
The art was fantastic, the tiling was fantastic, but disappointingly there was a lack of original music. There was no reason not to have original music, especially considering the quality of the rest of the mod. Additionally, I felt like the central area (where you get all the crystals) could be a little more... beefy. There should be more tiling towards the top of the map there. Otherwise, very good.
Gameplay and Mechanics - 5/10
This mod was extremely frustrating at times. I actually used Booster's Lab to skip the part with the sideways presses. Fuck that shit. But that brings up another point...
Plot and Creativity - 8/10
The plot was interesting and engaging enough that I actually put in the effort to get to more of it. This is the only mod that I actually took the time to edit in Booster's Lab to skip the boring/frustrating/broken parts just so I could see the rest of it. I was disappointed at the end of the demo when there was no clarification as to what Lori was doing there. There is a complete lack of exposition, and it was disappointing.
TSC - 10/10
There were no TSC errors.
General Professionalism/Grammar - 10/10
There were no grammatical errors and the mod kept its intended tone and remained professional.
Level Design - 1/10
The first map is just a closed off and slightly edited Yamashita Farm (I can tell). The second area is from Rave Story. Those are the only two maps, which means that only 50% of the mod was made after the start of the contest, which is TECHNICALLY against the rules for entry.
Art, Music, and Tiling - 5/10
As with the other Rave Story titles, the music is pretty good. The art design on some of the characters is good as well. Other than that it's either vanilla CS or from Rave Story.
Gameplay and Mechanics - 0/10
There's no gameplay. And murd made it into the mod, but I didn't. *cries silently* Additionally, the mod consists mostly of inside jokes I don't get or wasn't personally a part of.
Creativity - 0/10
The mod is the third installment (or fourth?) of the Rave Story series, so the idea has already been used before. And there's no plot or gameplay whatsoever. Just character dialogue. There's no content in this thing whatsoever.
TSC - 5/10
There's no real content in the mod. There are admittedly no TSC errors but I can't in good faith give any part of this mod a 10/10.
General Professionalism/Grammar - 1/10
I think Spirit made this piece of shit either last minute or in order to purposely throw his entry into the contest into the gutter so other people had a chance to win prizes. If so, good for him. If not, shame on him.
The first map is just a closed off and slightly edited Yamashita Farm (I can tell). The second area is from Rave Story. Those are the only two maps, which means that only 50% of the mod was made after the start of the contest, which is TECHNICALLY against the rules for entry.
Art, Music, and Tiling - 5/10
As with the other Rave Story titles, the music is pretty good. The art design on some of the characters is good as well. Other than that it's either vanilla CS or from Rave Story.
Gameplay and Mechanics - 0/10
There's no gameplay. And murd made it into the mod, but I didn't. *cries silently* Additionally, the mod consists mostly of inside jokes I don't get or wasn't personally a part of.
Creativity - 0/10
The mod is the third installment (or fourth?) of the Rave Story series, so the idea has already been used before. And there's no plot or gameplay whatsoever. Just character dialogue. There's no content in this thing whatsoever.
TSC - 5/10
There's no real content in the mod. There are admittedly no TSC errors but I can't in good faith give any part of this mod a 10/10.
General Professionalism/Grammar - 1/10
I think Spirit made this piece of shit either last minute or in order to purposely throw his entry into the contest into the gutter so other people had a chance to win prizes. If so, good for him. If not, shame on him.
Level Design - 8/10
There wasn't a whole lot of level to begin with, but what was there was fun. The sloping made it easier to destroy tons of critters with the Invincibility Star. That was immensely fun. Just two problems. The Rainbow Critter's transformation takes place behind a foreground tile, which looks pretty crappy. Secondly, the void where you fight the Rainbow Critter's second form could use with some border tiles and some reference points (special sections of background tile, some sort of decorative NPC, something). Other than that, very nice.
Art, Music, and Tiling - 10/10
The art and music is enjoyable and pleasant to both look at and listen to. The titlescreen was especially interesting.
Gameplay and Mechanics - 10/10
Gameplay was dynamic and challenging. I only barely defeated each form with barely any HP left to spare. There was the right amount of fun and challenge. I enjoyed playing this a lot.
Creativity - 10/10
Adding Mario references into Cave Story is nothing new, but this mod took it to a whole other level than just "Mario stuff in Cave Story". It not only physically created the effects of the Invincibility Star, it also included a unique set of bosses that made this mod incredibly enjoyable.
TSC - 9/10
I didn't encounter any TSC errors, except for upon requesting that the game window be closed. The <ESC command should've been used, but instead the mod forces and error, which is in poor taste. However, since it was mostly intentional (I think), I didn't take a lot of points off.
General Professionalism/Grammar - 9/10
The mod maintained a professional atmosphere and there were few grammar errors. There were maybe one or two in the post-game dialogue with the computerized BLink, but other than that there were none.
There wasn't a whole lot of level to begin with, but what was there was fun. The sloping made it easier to destroy tons of critters with the Invincibility Star. That was immensely fun. Just two problems. The Rainbow Critter's transformation takes place behind a foreground tile, which looks pretty crappy. Secondly, the void where you fight the Rainbow Critter's second form could use with some border tiles and some reference points (special sections of background tile, some sort of decorative NPC, something). Other than that, very nice.
Art, Music, and Tiling - 10/10
The art and music is enjoyable and pleasant to both look at and listen to. The titlescreen was especially interesting.
Gameplay and Mechanics - 10/10
Gameplay was dynamic and challenging. I only barely defeated each form with barely any HP left to spare. There was the right amount of fun and challenge. I enjoyed playing this a lot.
Creativity - 10/10
Adding Mario references into Cave Story is nothing new, but this mod took it to a whole other level than just "Mario stuff in Cave Story". It not only physically created the effects of the Invincibility Star, it also included a unique set of bosses that made this mod incredibly enjoyable.
TSC - 9/10
I didn't encounter any TSC errors, except for upon requesting that the game window be closed. The <ESC command should've been used, but instead the mod forces and error, which is in poor taste. However, since it was mostly intentional (I think), I didn't take a lot of points off.
General Professionalism/Grammar - 9/10
The mod maintained a professional atmosphere and there were few grammar errors. There were maybe one or two in the post-game dialogue with the computerized BLink, but other than that there were none.
Level Design - 7/10
The level design is fairly interesting but mostly involves trial and error. There's nothing intuitive or reflexive about any of the rooms in each area.
Art, Music, and Tiling - 10/10
The art, music, and tiling is all fantastic. The art is tasteful, colorful, and pleasant to look at. The music both sounds good and is used exceedingly well. Even the vanilla Cave Story music does the mod justice. I especially liked the new added bass to "Pulse". It sounded really, really fucking awesome. Well done.
Gameplay and Mechanics - 8/10
Although the mod adds little to the original CS style of "fight enemies until the end of the stage", this mod definitely felt like it was the "final level" of a much larger game. Despite not developing any of the characters at all, the mod still had a climactic feel to it. The intro cutscenes were especially well done. I also appreciated the Ikachan reference in the intro scene. I also enjoyed not having to worry about enemy drops. However ,there were some... odd issues I encountered with the final boss fight against Mecha Mitch (geat villain name by the way, lol). Sometimes the invincibility would not work properly and you could take 20-30 damage from attack that normally did 5 or 10 damage. Additionally, shots would occasionally go right through the fish missiles without destroying them. This could be a graphical error or a trick of the mind - i.e. the enemies just barely avoided hitting the hitboxes of the bullet.
Creativity - 9/10
The mod was definitely intruiging and interesting. Admittedly the "breaking the fourth wall" thing has been overdone severely lately, but this mod had an interesting take on it. And the Fourth Wall nonsense wasn't expected at all.
TSC - 10/10
There were no TSC errors that I encountered.
General Professionalism/Grammar - 10/10
Although there were moments of humor in this otherwise serious mod, they were done tastefully and contributed to the general enjoyment of playing the mod. I especially enjoyed the name of the villain (the great and terrible MITCH), as well as his weaknesses. To be perfectly honest I expected the main villain to be Aar, which would have been hilarious, but you opted to take a more serious tone with the mod, which I appreciate nonetheless. In general I consider this one of the best mods in the contest. Well done.
The level design is fairly interesting but mostly involves trial and error. There's nothing intuitive or reflexive about any of the rooms in each area.
Art, Music, and Tiling - 10/10
The art, music, and tiling is all fantastic. The art is tasteful, colorful, and pleasant to look at. The music both sounds good and is used exceedingly well. Even the vanilla Cave Story music does the mod justice. I especially liked the new added bass to "Pulse". It sounded really, really fucking awesome. Well done.
Gameplay and Mechanics - 8/10
Although the mod adds little to the original CS style of "fight enemies until the end of the stage", this mod definitely felt like it was the "final level" of a much larger game. Despite not developing any of the characters at all, the mod still had a climactic feel to it. The intro cutscenes were especially well done. I also appreciated the Ikachan reference in the intro scene. I also enjoyed not having to worry about enemy drops. However ,there were some... odd issues I encountered with the final boss fight against Mecha Mitch (geat villain name by the way, lol). Sometimes the invincibility would not work properly and you could take 20-30 damage from attack that normally did 5 or 10 damage. Additionally, shots would occasionally go right through the fish missiles without destroying them. This could be a graphical error or a trick of the mind - i.e. the enemies just barely avoided hitting the hitboxes of the bullet.
Creativity - 9/10
The mod was definitely intruiging and interesting. Admittedly the "breaking the fourth wall" thing has been overdone severely lately, but this mod had an interesting take on it. And the Fourth Wall nonsense wasn't expected at all.
TSC - 10/10
There were no TSC errors that I encountered.
General Professionalism/Grammar - 10/10
Although there were moments of humor in this otherwise serious mod, they were done tastefully and contributed to the general enjoyment of playing the mod. I especially enjoyed the name of the villain (the great and terrible MITCH), as well as his weaknesses. To be perfectly honest I expected the main villain to be Aar, which would have been hilarious, but you opted to take a more serious tone with the mod, which I appreciate nonetheless. In general I consider this one of the best mods in the contest. Well done.
Level Design - 1/10
I couldn't for the life of me get past the first room.
Art, Music, and Tiling - 1/10
The only music I heard was from vanilla Cave Story. Everything remained plain and virtually the same as vanilla Cave Story. Additionally, just because you make a challenge mod involving tiling doesn't mean you can't make it look nice, and the tiling didn't look any good from what I saw of it.
Gameplay and Mechanics - 1/10
I couldn't get past the first room. I tried for 30mins.
Creativity - 1/10
Challenges of this type have been done way too many times before.
TSC - 5/10
Occasionally when I landed on the rocks, I'd be able to walk around underneath them for some reason. Other than that, no TSC errors.
General Professionalism/Grammar - 5/10
IDK if you tested this mod for difficulty or had someone playtest it, but it requires way too much precision right from the start. I gave up on trying this one.
I couldn't for the life of me get past the first room.
Art, Music, and Tiling - 1/10
The only music I heard was from vanilla Cave Story. Everything remained plain and virtually the same as vanilla Cave Story. Additionally, just because you make a challenge mod involving tiling doesn't mean you can't make it look nice, and the tiling didn't look any good from what I saw of it.
Gameplay and Mechanics - 1/10
I couldn't get past the first room. I tried for 30mins.
Creativity - 1/10
Challenges of this type have been done way too many times before.
TSC - 5/10
Occasionally when I landed on the rocks, I'd be able to walk around underneath them for some reason. Other than that, no TSC errors.
General Professionalism/Grammar - 5/10
IDK if you tested this mod for difficulty or had someone playtest it, but it requires way too much precision right from the start. I gave up on trying this one.
Level Design - 5/10
There's no clear direction that you're supposed to go in. A level should naturally guide you in one direction toward a given goal. Additionally, there were times when what you were supposed to next was unclear. I gave up on trying to figure out what to do after I got to the blood-stained altar. Additionally, enemy placement was often very unfortunate for the player, due to the nonexistent range on the Level 3 shuriken.
Art, Music, and Tiling - 7/10
The art and music was pretty good, but some of the tiling was misleading and got me killed. I thought you could land on the mushrooms at first and died accordingly.
Gameplay and Mechanics - 5/10
To be honest, I had to try and keep myself de-leveled to the Level 2 shuriken because having no range on the Level 3 shuriken is extremely frustrating. The point of having a weapon like that is to stop enemies from hitting you by hitting them first, but most of the time the enemy would hit you and then die from the shuriken. This was especially problematic over crevices where you could fall, because enemies (especially those damn tracking flames, which there were way too many of to combat effectively, making it pretty much impossible to balance or jump onto platforms sometimes) would often be placed perfectly so that they'd jump and hit you before being hit by the shuriken just as you needed to be jumping across a chasm.
Creativity - 2/10
This mod was mostly just running around attacking things. I could detect a plot of any sort, I really don't understand what it was about. Additionally, for some reason this knight is using a ninja's weapon? I'm not sure what this mod was going for.
TSC - 5/10
There were a few notable errors. I'm pretty sure the lack of any boss appearing near the bloodstained altar is a glitch, and there was some text error sounds before entering the temple. Additionally, it was very hard to read text because the text background was, while pretty, not dark enough.
General Professionalism/Grammar - 7/10
The mod generally lacked grammar mistakes but had too many issues to earn a perfect mark here.
There's no clear direction that you're supposed to go in. A level should naturally guide you in one direction toward a given goal. Additionally, there were times when what you were supposed to next was unclear. I gave up on trying to figure out what to do after I got to the blood-stained altar. Additionally, enemy placement was often very unfortunate for the player, due to the nonexistent range on the Level 3 shuriken.
Art, Music, and Tiling - 7/10
The art and music was pretty good, but some of the tiling was misleading and got me killed. I thought you could land on the mushrooms at first and died accordingly.
Gameplay and Mechanics - 5/10
To be honest, I had to try and keep myself de-leveled to the Level 2 shuriken because having no range on the Level 3 shuriken is extremely frustrating. The point of having a weapon like that is to stop enemies from hitting you by hitting them first, but most of the time the enemy would hit you and then die from the shuriken. This was especially problematic over crevices where you could fall, because enemies (especially those damn tracking flames, which there were way too many of to combat effectively, making it pretty much impossible to balance or jump onto platforms sometimes) would often be placed perfectly so that they'd jump and hit you before being hit by the shuriken just as you needed to be jumping across a chasm.
Creativity - 2/10
This mod was mostly just running around attacking things. I could detect a plot of any sort, I really don't understand what it was about. Additionally, for some reason this knight is using a ninja's weapon? I'm not sure what this mod was going for.
TSC - 5/10
There were a few notable errors. I'm pretty sure the lack of any boss appearing near the bloodstained altar is a glitch, and there was some text error sounds before entering the temple. Additionally, it was very hard to read text because the text background was, while pretty, not dark enough.
General Professionalism/Grammar - 7/10
The mod generally lacked grammar mistakes but had too many issues to earn a perfect mark here.
Level Design - 1/10
It's vanilla Cave Story, basically, but uglier. I get that this is purely for the purpose of showing new modders what not to do, but if that's the case, you should show them how to properly set tiles so they're not square and ugly.
Art, Music, and Tiling - 1/10
What original tiling is present is unappealing. Otherwise it's basically vanilla Cave Story.
Gameplay and Mechanics - 1/10
There's nothing different about the gameplay at all, for the most part.
Creativity - 1/10
I myself have recommended and even attempted to make an interactive intro session for beginner modders. It was never finished, but nevertheless, this has definitely been thought of before.
TSC - 1/10
It's basically vanilla Cave Story. Additionally, text tends to keep scrolling beyond three lines, which causes the player to frequently miss dialogue.
General Professionalism/Grammar - 1/10
There are a good number of grammar mistakes. Also this mod sets a bad example for new players. And there's even less content than any of the other mods here.
It's vanilla Cave Story, basically, but uglier. I get that this is purely for the purpose of showing new modders what not to do, but if that's the case, you should show them how to properly set tiles so they're not square and ugly.
Art, Music, and Tiling - 1/10
What original tiling is present is unappealing. Otherwise it's basically vanilla Cave Story.
Gameplay and Mechanics - 1/10
There's nothing different about the gameplay at all, for the most part.
Creativity - 1/10
I myself have recommended and even attempted to make an interactive intro session for beginner modders. It was never finished, but nevertheless, this has definitely been thought of before.
TSC - 1/10
It's basically vanilla Cave Story. Additionally, text tends to keep scrolling beyond three lines, which causes the player to frequently miss dialogue.
General Professionalism/Grammar - 1/10
There are a good number of grammar mistakes. Also this mod sets a bad example for new players. And there's even less content than any of the other mods here.
Level Design - 5/10
The levels are rather flat and not very interesting. It's also awkward to navigate through some areas, like the pure green areas.
Art, Music, and Tiling - 3/10
Some of the tiling looks bad, like the "exit area" at the top of the area where the horizontal blocks are. The music is REALLY bad and difficult to listen to. The area with the green tiles has needs more contrasting colors. I don't know what it is with some of these mods but making an area entirely in one color isn't pretty. The UI, text , and weapons looks pretty good though.
Gameplay and Mechanics - 2/10
The "Save Anywhere" feature is interesting but incredibly glitchy, as you can save over an enemy's spawn point and have no idea you're doing it. Additionally, music will not restart in a room where the save feature is used. After getting the reverse-gravity Fireball, there's this little green thing that "attacks" you. I don't understand how you're supposed to beat it, and it kind of just glitches its way into attacking you. I gave up there. The lack of needing to use the down arrow to interact with things is interesting but unnecessary.
Creativity - 2/10
I didn't get very far into the mod, but from what I saw there was generally nothing interesting. The thing that was the most creative might have been that glitchy green attack thing, but I don't understand how you're supposed to get around it.
TSC - 7/10
There was that bug with the "Save Anywhere" feature that I mentioned. The <MS3 command would've been better for textboxes, as it's harder to read the <MS2 command in lighter areas. Other than that the TSC was fine.
General Professionalism/Grammar - 10/10
The mod does at least retain a professional demeanor and maintains good grammar throughout.
The levels are rather flat and not very interesting. It's also awkward to navigate through some areas, like the pure green areas.
Art, Music, and Tiling - 3/10
Some of the tiling looks bad, like the "exit area" at the top of the area where the horizontal blocks are. The music is REALLY bad and difficult to listen to. The area with the green tiles has needs more contrasting colors. I don't know what it is with some of these mods but making an area entirely in one color isn't pretty. The UI, text , and weapons looks pretty good though.
Gameplay and Mechanics - 2/10
The "Save Anywhere" feature is interesting but incredibly glitchy, as you can save over an enemy's spawn point and have no idea you're doing it. Additionally, music will not restart in a room where the save feature is used. After getting the reverse-gravity Fireball, there's this little green thing that "attacks" you. I don't understand how you're supposed to beat it, and it kind of just glitches its way into attacking you. I gave up there. The lack of needing to use the down arrow to interact with things is interesting but unnecessary.
Creativity - 2/10
I didn't get very far into the mod, but from what I saw there was generally nothing interesting. The thing that was the most creative might have been that glitchy green attack thing, but I don't understand how you're supposed to get around it.
TSC - 7/10
There was that bug with the "Save Anywhere" feature that I mentioned. The <MS3 command would've been better for textboxes, as it's harder to read the <MS2 command in lighter areas. Other than that the TSC was fine.
General Professionalism/Grammar - 10/10
The mod does at least retain a professional demeanor and maintains good grammar throughout.
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