Jazz Jackrabbit 2 Online

Lockjaw is a really ambitious level featuring a lot of cool customization. Going of the level alone, I quite liked it, but I think there are a few design traps here that more seasoned MP level creators don't go for. The following is also a bit subjective of course and is mostly feedback on things that could have been better. The level is nice.
- Slightly too much (colorful) eyecandy; The mixture of tilesets and colours don't always blend well together and it makes it hard for in an MP game to see what is happening
- Getting lost, landmarks and level cohesion; The level has a lot of areas where you have to curve around like a maze or no visual landmark. You can see the lava going down, but there's not a lot of vertical scrolling in the background, from left to right there's a lot of obstacles, and there's multiple stacks of similar looking paths (like stacks of castle bridges). In a lot of modern levels it's a bit easier to grasp where you are in the level, and have more defined landmarks.
- Gimmicks and visual clearance; This is a bit more subjective but when introducing new mechanics it does somewhat raise the question whether it adds or substracts from MP gameplay. While the Lockjaw trap in the centre is nice, there's not a lot of visual queue when it's about to happen, that the jaw itself is hurtful, by placing a couple of non-hurtful damn tiles in a specific pattern, is not the clearest way to communicate it, also players might have to search a while on how to activate them. Activating the jaw with the panels is also a dead end for whoever does it, which raises the question if it's worth camping over that spot for the slim chance someone is going to show up. I also think it could have played a more prominent part of the level. Right now, it seems easier to just avoid hte lockjaw entirely, both in getting the goodies or standing in dead end to activate it.

Fun idea to play around for a little bit. Some parts are surprisingly really accurate, at other parts I question how you remember it the way it's implemented here. I hope this gets finished though. It could be a fun SP mutator for plus 7.0

It's an okay level. It plays okay because small open arena's tend to work well in MP, but there it is also a bit generic. Both in level design and tileset use it's quite basic, but there aren't any glaring issues either. While it doesn't have any major ideas, it's fun for a few games.

WOW, Violet, I never thought you could make a remake of the original JJ2! Nice.

10/10 Hype

You have to keep in mind that MLLE will not completely replace the original JCS, because what's missing there is the animated tileset. And that is particularly problematic if you want to work with 'Triggers & Blocks'. Unfortunately, I had to switch back and forth between JCS and MLLE for that. It's a pity that MLLE hasn't implemented animated tilesets. And the fact that the community doesn't mention this animated tileset problem surprises me so much, too. Because nowhere was I able to find an animated tileset feature or any way to do it. Even when I use CTRL and select a tileset, that doesn't even work in MLLE.

Players are not drawn at all when this mutator is active, so F8 has no effect on them.

Cool stuff! But F8 is also used to hide/unhide player names. Not sure if that is the most ideal hotkey.

Wow, nice one!

Umm, I miss the Candion Secret Level in this pack…

A real classic.

A bit repetitive and claustrophobic but not bad!

I would advise a few things:
- At least one more carrot, for better duel suitability and FFA suitability.
- Some more very minor splashes of both color and interactivity in the eyecandy. Maybe a few moths, or something on those lines.
- Consider working with another designer to replace the AI generated clouds (and to fix the improper parallax scrolling).

This could be a new Garden Brawl for a new generation.

A bit repetitive and claustrophobic but not bad!

Now obsolete because of MLLE (Multi-Layered Level Editor). It was always a bit of a hassle to use aswell because there was no UI.

An amazing redux of "Scrapyard" deserves an amazing rating.

8/10

Sorry but I can't seem to edit this upload anymore, no matter what I try. I’ve reached out for help, but it’s taking some time. Because of this, I can't update the URLs into clickable links, but you can just copy and paste them if you wanna take a look.

If anyone has an issue with me using this in ranked, please let me know here. However, I’m convinced it's fair; I've already asked everyone I’ve played with, including most who are very active in the scene. Furthermore, players who have been playing for years using traditional cycling methods or officially supported mutators still have a clear edge over me. When I have to think quickly, I’m still not fast enough with my cycling at the moment. I really need to practice and stay in shape to be good with it, which proves it’s not a cheap trick or a cheat to get an upper hand. It’s just an alternative method that I personally think is healthier for my hand position than other methods I've tried, and allows me to somewhat keep up with the pros in CTF.

And although for some players it's no big issue to use an auto-fast-fire / turbo-fire button because they might play more casually, I noticed it didn't result in more fun / fair matches when I used it. That's why I didn't include it and don't use it. After all, one of the reasons my name is jjTurbo9 is because I can do the turbo fire manually…

I couldn't finish it yet, unfortunately. I only played the unfinished version during play testing. But it was pretty good, the music annoyed me just before I stopped playing it though. I will finish it some other time probably, when it's on PN tests.

Here's another medium-sized CTF level by Loon called Erosion. This level comes with a unique tileset and a layout that has certain influences from other recent CTF levels.

The base design is definitely interesting and I'm happy to see that Loon kept the layout only partly symmetric. The layout is fairly easy to learn and I don't have much to complain about it, except that the upper carrot seems to be difficult to counter-camp from the right side, which would be trivial to fix with a spring that goes up to the same height I guess. Luckily it is open towards the left direction at least.

The flow here is a bit more on the quirky side that naturally favors Spaz a little bit, but not overwhelmingly so that's good. There are tactically placed springs here and there to help moving around the level and gain more upper ground quickly.

I'm uncertain whether or not the level is suitable for duels, mainly due to the way the tunnels behind the bases have been designed, allowing for hideouts and easy escape, but would have to try a game here to say for sure. Also the upper carrot might be problematic in duels, as mentioned. The level should definitely suit smaller team games though, at least 3v3 if not 2v2.

The visuals seem balanced and pleasing to look at. There is quite a lot of detail to the solid- and background-walls here, but nothing is too distractive.

There is plenty of ammo all around the level and the weapon choices are classic, except for the modified curly trajectory for Electroblaster. I'm not really sure about the purpose of TNT ammo here though. Maybe just to allow for more ways to move carrots around perhaps?

All in all, it's a solid CTF level by Loon, that has room for minor optimizations here and there, but it's definitely worth a try in team games.

That was a fun time!!! I like how you can pass the test with wall jump or golden jump! Good music! I could pass the test before it got boring!

I fixed that level.
https://www.jazz2online.com/downloads/9532/gemidonus-fixed/