ISRIERI'S PROFILE

Sidequests are only annoying when the game reminds you that you're on one. As Rya said. They're the most fun when you get a reward that's

1) Worth the trouble
2) Unique
3) Fun

and if it fleshes out the world through characters you meet, factoids about the world that are relayed to you, or a change in the story or a subset of it that is brought about by your actions, then all the better. That's what a sidequest should be.

To toss my hat in the ring - the secret to good silhouette stages is high contrast between the black foreground and the background. That's the core of it.

Shovel Knight is a fantastic game, but the dark sections of Specter Knight (while I personally had no issue with them) were some of the most prominent complaints I read about the game. Because contrast only occurred with the blue walls and lightning strikes it meant that those unfortunate players that might not have the keenest eyes were caused loads of deaths and undue frustration. The main problem isn't necessarily that the stage design in those sections was poorly constructed, but mostly that the darkness was for style and added challenge that detracted too much without adding enough flair. All because it was too dark.

Silhouette stages should first and foremost be about amplifying the visual aesthetic of your level, without detracting from the gameplay whatsoever. The black outlines should add a treat for the eyes and maybe throw players for a bit of a loop, but not be difficult. The stage design should be relatively simple. If player's can't see and they die to something, then it isn't really their fault, and they'll get angry.

Therefore these stages usually work the best when there's a proper strong light source that illuminates it - that's how light works after all. So in your images, the fact is your background is far too dark. You need it to be sunset, or foggy, or with spotlights or something. These stages also tend to work best when you have a simple gameplay setup: The more clear your game objects are and the more they have a recognizable silhouette, the more clear the outlines of the stage. Last thing you want is anything that seems to define a solid entity and isn't: Case in point being the vines in your picture. Its not like you can't have them since they're so high up but if they are removed it makes the image simpler and therefore stronger. There's less clutter that players have to keep track of. Just make sure that at the beginning of the stage if there is anything that players can walk through, make it clearly identifiable and give players a chance to interact with it in safety.

My recommendation is - have the foreground straight black, and have a color gradient for your background that starts bright at the top and gets cooler toward the bottom. Tweak the colors until you can completely see what's going on in the stage and you should be set. Those mountains at the bottom either need to go, or only have them as a black outline, rather than filled in mountains.

I've found myself with the next week off. So when I have the time I'm going to try and go through all the levels with my own short critiques.

Also, if anyone is still working on their stages and would like me to test 'em out, or offer a dialogue with them, let me know here or find me on the slack channel if you're signed up. I'll likely only have next week though so the offer's for a limited time!

I'll be looking at yours too, hali. I'll be getting my own level sorted out before too much longer as well.

author=kentona
*snickers*

*crunch* Aha! Ahy gheb ib! *munch*

I've never personally heard people rag on turn-based games. Its the random encounters people gripe about.

Chess may be old but its still fun.