The Official CSTSF Discord Group and CS Modding Community Modding Competition! (MODCON '17)

Status
Not open for further replies.
Sep 9, 2017 at 7:42 AM
Catz R cool
Modding Community Discord Moderator
"..."
Join Date: Nov 23, 2015
Location: Somewhere within a world far away from reality...
Posts: 381
Age: 23
A continuation of my previous post...
The rest of my mod notes and my thoughts on Noxid's entry, Treasure Islands.
gtOziDY.png

Gotta say that these dig spots are a wee bit finnicky.

BunZCsV.png

Why was there a <NOD before the <YNJ?

hGF04Mj.png

Lesser secret get!

YU4vEMF.png

I appreciate you, HUD message box.

Eh8URCW.png

I wonder how much its armor will net me?

gs0PYPp.png

Strike the bug!

fAyfJmE.png

FLAWLESS VICTORY

ibzRySG.png

:eyes:

Vov0s0p.png

WHOA! A Chaos Emerald!
Where's a plane when you need one?

xlqQhJ6.png

fug
willing to bet that it doesn't take AA batteries, either

e2TSk6z.png

"but..." should be on the next line.

j6omjQu.png

But what makes it a PIRATE key?
thinking face emoji

2zU8xkZ.png

whom

kLiQmXj.png

Now that I look at this again, it kinda looks like a face.

1EqrFs9.png

Ohhey, neato.
That leaves every clue I have so far except for the "Bigmoney clue" solved.

OIHgP6w.png

Needs a comma after "Alright", the first "this" on the second line, and a question mark instead of a period in my opinion.

6mCaHo4.png

do not question ancient pirate technology, m'kay?

65Uk9O0.png

I...
I think I just clipped out of the world.
ok

Time to walk all the way back to Rock Tunnel because it didn't autosave at the beginning.

sJeU3Zo.png

Yeah, if you jump in this alcove you just zip through the wall and can't go back into the level.

mnmuHWc.png

i thought stone was supposed to be solid

P8KDsuN.png

It was more windy than anything, really.

vWGAYfQ.png

i don't get it

Kf4ELXG.png

roasted

A slight bug with the orb switches used in the fan puzzle:
If you go back into the cave to mess around with the switches some more, you need to hit them twice before they'll turn off again.

prZvgTS.png

Not pictured due to being a static image, but she tends to have a seizure if you walk into the backs of these fans.

xQsdFv1.png

I can't believe I found that as quickly as I did.

Another <NOD before a <YNJ, too.

r23jbrB.png

what in tarnation
it even increased my life by 1

fRPPbne.png

It's probably still considered to be in mint condition by most slugs, though.

oqO95AS.png

Wew, finally.

hSF8ceV.png

Oh boy, so THIS is where the rain gif came from.

5vqdY0c.jpg

Not gonna lie, I'm really digging this music.

i9jy0xa.png

Hey, at least it isn't as bad as purple Critters in enclosed spaces.

KgQdH2w.png

LESS THAN FLAWLESS VICTORY
(some damage was already accrued by Beetles and purple Critters)

vno24B4.png

you what

eZatw3u.png

oh baby

I pressed Z too fast to catch it, but in the text afterwards "Lets" should have been "Let's".

m5xUkUl.png

Only the finest and most well-cared-for shovels are to be used on this quest.

E8bnFRh.png

more oddly not-solid rock

Polish only gives +2 damage, but that makes a vast difference. This is what proper balancing feels like.

9CtpmAJ.png

There should be a comma after "Well".

BbywQkx.png

booty spotted

wplrGhw.png

oooOOO

2K63734.png

"it's" should be capitalized and there's not enough space at the end of either line.

Oxy0RG1.png

poor kid
Also, four lines of text were used here without a <NOD to break them up.

Time to backtrack!
... as soon as I open the game up again. (Crash count: 2)

neFNZBl.png

i am incredibly upset right now

svsV09W.png

I can't believe it's (probably) almost over.

T9Q6MTr.png

Oh boy, family issues.
Also, not enough space at the end of the second line.

mIntexy.png

How generous of her.
something something not enough space line 3

CEvqXGl.png

i can't believe the glasses were a prank this entire time

zDm7W0c.png

Time for an old-school sisterly throwdown.

TcEFObs.png

IrKCL6c.jpg

I almost wish that she had more than somewhere between 1 and 4 HP, but swatting her out of the air in one hit was pretty worth it, too.

BKLmM65.png

victory shovel

pAOuI98.png

nonoNO I DIDN'T GET TO SCREENSHOT HOW MUCH DOSH I HAD

2q41gwp.png

And thank you and the other members of the Hello Team for making this.

xvTcKe5.png

sports
Holy heck, I don't know where to begin. The custom graphics were fantastic; if it weren't for the Cave Story enemies and what other few elements survived the transition from Cave Story to this, this would honestly look like its own game. The music was also pretty good, though it could've used a little more variety. I also forgot to mention it in my notes, but the overworld itself was very impressive; I have a feeling that you used that weird hack you made where Quote would freely float about, though I can't remember the name of the mod it was used in. Overall, this was a really wonderful entry and it honestly deserves first place for all the hard work that's been put into it.
Of course, it was far from a perfect submission. I ran into a myriad of text errors throughout my playthrough, most (if not all) of which being pointed out in my notes. The digging mechanic was a little touchy with how exact your positioning had to be, though it wasn't necessarily a big issue. That clipping issue I suffered in Rock Tunnel was rather irritating, especially because the game didn't autosave your progress upon entering the main portion of the level. I think the biggest letdown, though, was how the Turboots were utilized.
I immediately backtracked upon getting them to try to access any potential secrets that I couldn't reach before. All that I got for my troubles, though, were fake floors and invisible walls. The only purpose they served was giving you access to Final Approach. In the long run, it's not a TERRIBLE problem, but it did severely hamper my wonderment.

Shipwrecked by yours truly? I think I'll leave that one up to you guys, though I will say one thing:
Try looking up more often, especially around sand and splinters.

Last and theoretically not least, there's Critter Tower Defense 2 by Thomas Xin.
Since I'm one of the few people who can open this and is willing to do so, I guess I'm not free quite yet.

Given how I can't pause the game after clicking out of the window, this is going to be a bit of a chore to commentate on.

Before I start, though, a few things I've learned through a past playthrough and things others've said:
1. Transparency secretly saves if you swap it to OFF, but it will revert back to ON if you ever pause the game after closing it.
2. Placing towers in certain positions will still make it almost impossible to place a tower where you want; this is most noticable with tight groups of towers.

With that out of the way, onto the mod itself.

AkrTBeq.png

SlPkBLx.png

V6wJPPR.png

uXhnvin.png

Level 1 status: Barely Tropical

PI82rmH.png

it begins

fVkOHVI.png

ZFjrWyV.png

this just in:
level 4 towers are busted

2kODusk.png

VERY ANGERY TOWER

TXawnXn.png

M Y
F R A M E S


Rainbow Critter status: PURGED

GOXePE9.png

FLAWLESS VICTORY

Well that was weird, I couldn't click on Start again until I paused and then unpaused.

w7tYIER.png

2FsIwiV.png

vXGkO6V.png

3QWKMWt.png

Level 2 status: Literally Not Tropical At All

JZdMC7b.png

Level 4 Polar Star status: Surprisingly Useful

q2B8y8M.png

this is critter abuse to be completely honest with you

wow, level 3 went by so fast that i literally forgot to take pictures
oops uhhh

U2i3Q1y.png

sww8ams.png

1fN5Vzo.png

fffim1z.png

Level 3 status: Literally Not Tropical At All

LiTYY9H.png

X1G4tjI.png

Z8itWnE.png

Abp03iX.png

Level 4 status: Literally Not Tropical At All
the volcanos give this more of an underworld vibe than a tropical island volcano, to be honest

I can already tell that most of the difficulty in this level is going to come from not knowing which hole the Rainbow Critter is going to pop out of.

Couldn't screenshot it because can't pause by clicking out of the window haha but the Rainbow Critter popped out of one of the spawnpoints to the right instead of the huge one to the left.
I guessed wrong on where it'd spawn, and without my abundance of rainbow towers on both sides I would've eaten an instant kill for it.

And now for Level 5, the level you said was "Rise of Ballos" levels of hard.

vDxi0WU.png

kgwzaPL.png

5BGTKKu.png

zSs1UgX.png

Level 5 status: Literally Not Tropical At All
also why did the critters spill so much strawberry jam all over their base

With everything the shade of blood red that it is, it all blends together.
With the framerate set to over 240, I cannot even begin to tell what's happening; it's actually impossible to look for holes in my defenses since by the time I get there the critters are either all the way through or dead.
This level is the exact opposite of game design fundementals.

BjSEyft.png

I have done the improbable.

rKALZCC.png

and now the title screen is having a victory seizure (check the framerate)
and so is any level i try to open
thanks

Might as well try at least one critter level so I can say that I did.

GCmbGHL.png

At least it controls a little better than it did in CTD 1, but it's still not the best. For example:
- If you get caught in something that hits very quickly, it becomes almost impossible to see what you're doing through all the damage numbers.
- I swear that I've seen the critters jump almost vertically before, but it's extremely difficult to do while playing as one without curving forwards, which could potentially cause you to lose your footing and/or get shot by towers.

unJnlmy.png

>leaving the backsides of your slopes exposed
shiggy diggy

YdCYRlO.png

screw these jumps in particular

okay i take it back
with some of these jumps you made, it's went from "not the best" to "anti-fun"
I tried to go into this with an optimistic attitude, but it just slipped away with each additional level. I think the only positive things I can point out are that it's ever so slightly satisfying to see increasingly large groups of critters evaporate under the fire of several rainbow towers, the Critter mode has some interesting concepts, and that I think this is the first mod ever to include achievements.
I think it will be easier to type out the mod's negatives in list format, beginning with the elephant in the room:
- IT'S NOT TROPICAL AT ALL. The only level that can be considered tropical is the first level, but as someone told me: "Water is not tropical on its own."
- The travesty that was the mod's release. It may run fine on my computer, but the version that was submitted to the contest did not run on a majority of the others' computers. I understand that you were busy around the end of the contest, but this could have been avoided by posting a demo or unfinished version literally anytime before the deadline.
- The ever-increasing game speed makes it harder and harder to plan out your actions and quickly plug up holes in your defenses. More on that below.
- The inability to tell where the Rainbow Critter will spawn. With only one spawn point, this is not noticable, but with the multiple spawn points in Levels 4 and 5 this becomes a big problem. Level 4 makes it look like it will spawn in the giant spawn point to the left, when in reality it spawned to the right. More on Level 5 below.
- Critter mode controls terribly in any environment where you need to do precision platforming (read: any level that isn't the first level). I took easily 100+ damage while trying to jump around an overhang and teleport onto solid ground. It'd help if you could tell where you were going to reappear before you become vulnerable again, but that isn't a feature.
- LEVEL 5. The quality of this level is so low that it brings down the entire mod as a whole in my eyes. Every single block in the level excluding the tower locations is a similar shade of blood red, and it all bleeds together into one mass of red unless you concentrate. The game speed goes out of its mind in this level, making it impossible to do anything other than place towers and pray that the next wave dies. The sheer amount of places where Critters can spawn throws all strategy out the window, and this also makes it impossible to plan for where the Rainbow Critter will appear; I frantically scrolled looking for it and couldn't find it before it died to my walls of Machine Gun towers.

I will wait until specific voting and related input guidelines are posted before giving any kind of rankings, though I do have a list of them in mind.
You uh... accidentally pressed fast forward, which was why the game 'got faster.' Check the readme
The game was actually supposed to be more tropical than it seemed, but making a tower defense game with all the levels looking the same just makes it look boring.
 
Last edited:
Sep 9, 2017 at 7:03 PM
War criminal
"Life begins and ends with Nu."
Join Date: Jun 27, 2013
Location: Phoenix
Posts: 2758
Age: 29
Welp, the latest Compatibility version of CTD2 opened for me alright, until I got this familiar looking message once more.
1slbqa.png
 
Sep 9, 2017 at 7:18 PM
Eevee Enthusiast
"Big Joe Tire and Battery Restaurant! Opening Soon! Eat at Big Joes!"
Join Date: Mar 26, 2014
Location: Somewhere with Wi-Fi
Posts: 541
Age: 26
You uh... accidentally pressed fast forward, which was why the game 'got faster.' Check the readme
The game was actually supposed to be more tropical than it seemed, but making a tower defense game with all the levels looking the same just makes it look boring.
I tried searching through the readme.txt in between waves but CTRL+F "frame" and similar were turning up nothing, with "frame" and similar being used because all I had to go off of was the insane FPS. If the readme was a little more organized and well-formatted, then maybe I would have been more inclined to dig through it for a fix. As things were, though, I did not want to sift through several walls of text instead of playing the game.

Similar levels may have been boring to you, but then they'd at least fit the contest's theme: tropical. You have varied levels, but none of them are tropical.
 
Sep 10, 2017 at 9:42 AM
Deliverer of Sweets
Bobomb says: "I need a hug!"
Join Date: Jul 20, 2015
Location: Under sea level or something
Posts: 785
Age: 25
Doesn't the mod have the fit the theme? So, isn't there some consequence for it not doing so?
Agreed, it's probably going to lose anyway, but going easy on skipping the theme pretty much destroys the purpose.
 
Sep 10, 2017 at 11:49 AM
Catz R cool
Modding Community Discord Moderator
"..."
Join Date: Nov 23, 2015
Location: Somewhere within a world far away from reality...
Posts: 381
Age: 23
I tried searching through the readme.txt in between waves but CTRL+F "frame" and similar were turning up nothing, with "frame" and similar being used because all I had to go off of was the insane FPS. If the readme was a little more organized and well-formatted, then maybe I would have been more inclined to dig through it for a fix. As things were, though, I did not want to sift through several walls of text instead of playing the game.

Similar levels may have been boring to you, but then they'd at least fit the contest's theme: tropical. You have varied levels, but none of them are tropical.
Nope, 3 out of the 5 levels were supposed to be tropical. They may have not seemed so, because I used mostly the original CS tilesets, plus every map required a roof in order to prevent upside down critters flying out of the map.
Agreed, it's probably going to lose anyway, but going easy on skipping the theme pretty much destroys the purpose.
We don't need comments like these.
Welp, the latest Compatibility version of CTD2 opened for me alright, until I got this familiar looking message once more.
1slbqa.png
Okay, so what happened this time (when did it crash, and what error was it this time)
 
Last edited:
Sep 10, 2017 at 1:42 PM
Deliverer of Sweets
Bobomb says: "I need a hug!"
Join Date: Jul 20, 2015
Location: Under sea level or something
Posts: 785
Age: 25
We don't need comments like these.
Yeah sorry, easily could've worded it better in the sense that I have my doubts people will like it.
 
Sep 10, 2017 at 4:02 PM
War criminal
"Life begins and ends with Nu."
Join Date: Jun 27, 2013
Location: Phoenix
Posts: 2758
Age: 29
The crash happened right at the loading screen (i even posted it in #general in the modding discord, hoping you would see it).
 
Sep 10, 2017 at 4:10 PM
Eevee Enthusiast
"Big Joe Tire and Battery Restaurant! Opening Soon! Eat at Big Joes!"
Join Date: Mar 26, 2014
Location: Somewhere with Wi-Fi
Posts: 541
Age: 26
Nope, 3 out of the 5 levels were supposed to be tropical. They may have not seemed so, because I used mostly the original CS tilesets, plus every map required a roof in order to prevent upside down critters flying out of the map.
Emphasis on "supposed to be". I only found two levels that could be remotely considered tropical, but neither conveyed the idea nearly well enough. Scraps of sand, water, and bkFog as the background? Grass that's clearly underground due to usage of bkGreen?
 
Sep 10, 2017 at 4:19 PM
Professional Whatever
"Life begins and ends with Nu."
Join Date: Jan 13, 2011
Location: Lasagna
Posts: 4481
ctd2 is such a good mod! it even had the courtesy to prevent me from playing a bad mod like ctd2! 10/10 first place!
 
Sep 10, 2017 at 4:35 PM
In my body, in my head
Forum Moderator
"Life begins and ends with Nu."
Join Date: Aug 28, 2009
Location: The Purple Zone
Posts: 5998
ok lets try to turn the shade back just a little bit here huh
 
Sep 10, 2017 at 6:20 PM
Soup Man
"In Soviet Russia, graves keep YOU!"
Join Date: Jul 15, 2014
Location: IN YOUR HEAD, SHIT FOR BRAINS
Posts: 670
Age: 7
Played through CTD2 and it's really good. I can tell a lot of effort was put in. Not sure why everyone thinks it's not tropical enough, since every map except the last one has tropical features of some sort. (caves exist on tropical islands too)
The gameplay was fun and fresh, and loved Critters mode. Overall it was a really fun experience.
 
Sep 10, 2017 at 7:01 PM
Professional Whatever
"Life begins and ends with Nu."
Join Date: Jan 13, 2011
Location: Lasagna
Posts: 4481
there's trees in the tropics too, does that make trees inherently tropical?
 
Sep 10, 2017 at 7:23 PM
Soup Man
"In Soviet Russia, graves keep YOU!"
Join Date: Jul 15, 2014
Location: IN YOUR HEAD, SHIT FOR BRAINS
Posts: 670
Age: 7
there's trees in the tropics too, does that make trees inherently tropical?
well it really depends on the tree. Palm trees are tropical.
 
Sep 10, 2017 at 7:24 PM
Professional Whatever
"Life begins and ends with Nu."
Join Date: Jan 13, 2011
Location: Lasagna
Posts: 4481
caves are not a hallmark of tropical settings lmao
 
Sep 10, 2017 at 7:39 PM
Soup Man
"In Soviet Russia, graves keep YOU!"
Join Date: Jul 15, 2014
Location: IN YOUR HEAD, SHIT FOR BRAINS
Posts: 670
Age: 7
caves are not a hallmark of tropical settings lmao
tropical caves are actual things tho and usually have grass in them.
275-Puerto-Rico-Camuy-Caves-.jpg
 
Sep 10, 2017 at 7:42 PM
Eevee Enthusiast
"Big Joe Tire and Battery Restaurant! Opening Soon! Eat at Big Joes!"
Join Date: Mar 26, 2014
Location: Somewhere with Wi-Fi
Posts: 541
Age: 26
tropical caves are actual things tho and usually have grass in them.
275-Puerto-Rico-Camuy-Caves-.jpg
So do a lot of caves that have a somewhat stable amount of sunlight filtering through their openings and suitable places for the plants to grow, tropical or not.
cave_opening_by_meganmarie1.jpg
 
Last edited:
Sep 10, 2017 at 8:03 PM
Soup Man
"In Soviet Russia, graves keep YOU!"
Join Date: Jul 15, 2014
Location: IN YOUR HEAD, SHIT FOR BRAINS
Posts: 670
Age: 7
So do a lot of caves that have a somewhat stable amount of sunlight filtering through their openings and suitable places for the plants to grow, tropical or not.
cave_opening_by_meganmarie1.jpg
yes but is it a tropical cave?
whether the cave in ctd2 looks "tropical" or not doesn't matter, since ctd2 takes place on a tropical island, therefore every area is tropical.
 
Sep 10, 2017 at 8:05 PM
Deliverer of Sweets
Bobomb says: "I need a hug!"
Join Date: Jul 20, 2015
Location: Under sea level or something
Posts: 785
Age: 25
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top