azb wrote:
I suppose I can add some obstacles here and there, but I stand by having lighting everywhere like in the harder holds you like to play will make looking at the level slightly harder/more annoying, and you didn't mention Break Out of Jail! but it's a classic example of the DROD RPG holds most expert RPG players like to play, just like Fetch the Pie which you did mention.
I want the hold to focus on the actual combat and mechanics first and foremost, and having tons of decorations and long winded story everywhere would distract from what I want to do, but I suppose if I want to focus on only the mechanics I can remove the dialogue.
You have completely failed to understand the feedback. I haven't asked you to put in lighting effects and tons of obstacles. You don't have to do either of these to make things look better. You got a strawman stuck in your head and you can't look past it.
Your holds used to be better than this, look at Tower of Chaos. The first level is pretty simple but the gameplay is better and the aesthetics are great. It's got a real sense of place, the outer grounds of the tower you're going to spend the rest of the hold in. Really makes you feel like you're going to go on an adventure, it doesn't take much. To use an example of a very simple non-distracting lighting effect you yourself used, at the start of the second level of the Tower of Chaos, the entrance staircase behind you has a single light on it that looks like the sunlight from the previous level that took place outdoors is shining in behind you. It's simple, it's effective, what happened to the creative azb you used to be?
I think your quality took a major downturn by adhering rigidly to the Big Epic List of Ideas™. You don't seem to make holds anymore by starting from a position of fun, at least, it doesn't come across that way when you play it. It feels like you're playing through a list, because that's what it is. Lists are boring, and these ones especially are too long.
If you have been trying to put lots of effort into this, it definitely does not come across in your work. Nobody can read your mind or see what goes on beyond the final end product. If it gives off the wrong impression, then the take home point of the feedback is you need to make it not give off this impression.
azb wrote:
Again, if you point out actual issues like you are doing now and Nuntar did I can understand, but accusing me of posting slop without actually specifying why it's bad is just a personal attack and would not be well received by anyone, especially if they are actually trying to put in effort to make something decent like me and not just posting random monsters everywhere war style.
I did point these issues out in the videos my dude. I talked multiple times about the skippable scorepoints and how it means you have to go back and redo the game multiple times for each scorepoint. I remember saying this. I talked about the brains in both videos, even right at the start of the second video (although admittedly that was more about hiding collectible items underneath the enemy, but look, there's me mentioning issues). You got hot under the collar about my frustration at the end (which came about from the experience of playing this hold, I was very positive when I started, especially in the first video) and forgot everything I said as a result.
Feedback doesn't have to be pointing out lists of issues. Just saying the hold is bad is valid feedback. It's up to you whether or not you wish to reflect on responses, try to work out what went wrong, and how you can improve for next time, or you can just assume there's some conspiracy against you and act like a child in HA chat with endless digs against perceived slights. It's your choice.
