Room of the Week 2010 - Archives

[JamieWebb16]

My room for this week.

[spoiler][/spoiler]

[Parabox]

That's looking pretty cool, the metal tiles look a bit out of order though.

[Daltone]

[spoiler][/spoiler]

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Parabox]

Looks a little bland, but ok. Some variation could do miracles.

[FullOfFail]

The two front-runners for me was DSO and Jamie. I'm going to give it to Jamie because of the way the mushroom is in the center. It's the very essence of what fungus should look like. I'll do full commentary on each room in the next day or so.

Commentary:

DSO: Unlike others, I like the bright red pipe. If I were to nitpick I'd say the reflections should be white instead of red, but I know you're probably using FX1 in this room so it'd look totally different. What I like most about this room though is the hanging lights. Usually when I see people make lights they just use that white circle, but this is custom. The contrast between the purple and red looks odd to me though. I think it's just the red is so bright whereas the purple has that dull dark area feel. I think the lightbrown cliffs go together with it much better. This is one of those rooms I'd need to examine ingame, because FX1 would change alot of it.

FullOfFail: Well, I guess I'll address some points.

[spoiler]
"Other thing you can make better is the glass pointing to space (it is, if it is glass). It not have a light reflex, causing it looks like a open window"

- The problem is how I have the room set up. I use BG warpline shift so I can manually pick which tiles move in the background. This is how I get my 'matrix' effect on the monitors. If I was to put the window in layer 1, the stars would be moving in a manner I wouldn't want them to in layer 2. I agree with your point though, it doesnt have enough window effect.

"Other good idea I have is, if you put just the stars in the layer 2, and put the Sky Scrolling FX1 to the room"

- I've had that idea for quite awhile but just never figured out the scrolls enough to do it. It might be easier to make animated tiles to get that effect, I dunno.

"pretty sweet, but it could use more tile variation under/behind the ground/walls."

- This room is actually unfinished. But when I design I usually cater for ingame not the SMILE illustration. I wont even bother showing any rooms from my mini-hack just because it's all based around FX1 techniques to bring it to life.

"At first glance this room didn't seem all that special, then I spotted the computer terminal and I just about lost it. I am very bad at spriting machinery and that just looks awesome."

- I can't really take credit for the terminal itself, it's from Lower Norfair. 

"it's relatively simple and doubtlessly easier to make as it uses far less variation in the tiles, and yet it looks so much better."

- Alot of times I go for a more practical look, rather than design-y. I'm trying to make this look like a fully functioning space station, that's why I don't use too many of the wrecked tiles.
[/spoiler]

Daltone: The thing I like best about this room is how you added the blue BG tiles to hold it all together. I think it's just the mix of the red and blue that makes this room look odd to me. If the color scheme was different, you might've won me over. The general layout/design of the room is awesome though, love it.

JamieWebb: As I've stated previously, the part of this room that won me over is the mushroom in the center. The fact that you gave it that vine feel made it look like an infestation of fungi. The metal blocks look out of place though. While it gives variety to the room, it also stands out a bit too much too. Another part I like is how the BG purple changes darker colors into the abyss of blackness.

[Quietus]

I quite liked DSO's, but the colours came across a little garish.  I therefore went with Jamie - perhaps because of the schlong again...  I really should grow up some time. :^_^:

[Silver Skree]

DSO's is cool, but I'm not a huge fan of redfuck. And there's something about those big tuuuuubes that just doesn't sit right with me. Maybe the shading looks too mirrored, or it's too clean... I dunno.

FoF's is pretty sweet, but it could use more tile variation under/behind the ground/walls. I love the windows and sceens and everything in between, though.

I really like Daltone's for its regular-detailed simplicity and pleasing warm-on-moody palette.

There are some things I like about Jamie's, and it's interesting use of vanilla, but I honestly think it just looks messy and scatterbrained. The mushroom in the center looks cool, though.

For me, it's mainly between FoF and Daltone. I think my vote will go to Daltone this week, just because I like it the best all-around. If I had to pick a room to stare at for a while, it'd be that one. Everyone here did a good job, though, as it is 99% of the time. Looking forward to next week's rooms.

[Hiroshi Mishima]

Ugh.. this week's gonna be hard to judge. They all honestly look very good, and I'm having trouble coming to terms with what I really think works and what I think doesn't work. I'm gonna have to muse a while over this one.

[Zhs2]

I'm going to give it to Jamie because of the way the mushroom is in the center. It's the very essence of what fungus should look like.

A penis?

[FullOfFail]

I'm going to give it to Jamie because of the way the mushroom is in the center. It's the very essence of what fungus should look like.

A penis?

If your penis looks like that, you might want to go to the clinic. Not passing judgment, just saying.

[Hiroshi Mishima]

All right, after cogitating on it for a while I think I'm ready to give my $.02 on the entries this week.

DSO: I can't lie to you, I thought this looks fabulous when I first saw it. It sort of reminds me of Magmoor Caverns, with a bit of Metroid 2's "cavernous ruins" feel to it. The way you have things going on in the background and foreground is, again, one of the most appealing aspects of the room. It even looks functional this time, three doors in various locations as well as the possible use of the tunnel in the middle of the room. I'd be psyched to actually find that sort of room in a ROMhack. The colours do not bother me in the slightest and gives the whole room a very heated look; I could easilly imagine it having the wavy Heat FX in the background.

FullofFail: At first glance this room didn't seem all that special, then I spotted the computer terminal and I just about lost it. I am very bad at spriting machinery and that just looks awesome. It's also functional, which is again something that I always like to see, with the potential to have some hidden paths (probably morph ball tunnels or power bomb blocks). The colours are fairly muted with the terminal and the doors standing out, however they don't blend in with the background so you wouldn't have any real confusion. It actually has a rather natural feel to it, as well, reminding me of an early Megaman X styled area with a slight Fusion feel to it.

Daltone: At least one person told me they particularly liked this room, and I'm sorry to say that when I first looked at it, it didn't really jump out at me as being all that special. I think it's completely vanilla, although that doesn't hurt a room, in fact I think it's a good use of the base tiles. I like the cut out design it has. Unfortunately, I can't really say all that much else about this room. While well made, it is very basic in feel and I don't really know how to approach this. I will admit that it feels like a natural room, something I might have seen in Brinstar on the way to Kraid's area, and that gives it a few more points for me.

JamieWebb: ...I gotta be honest here, the first thing I noticed was the large.. uhm, phallic fungus in the middle of the room. I realize that isn't uncommon for mushrooms to inspire mental imagery like that, but for me it really didn't do anything to boost my opinion of it. I admit it looks good, but broken glass bit seems out of place. I also notice the room has a lot of symmetry in the background, and the broken blocks feel out of place for some reason. I can't really say what it is exactly, but the room just feels.. off, for some reason. At a glance it seems good/fine, but as I look at it all I can't shake the feeling something is out of place somewhere.


Conclusions: It was a seriously hard decision this week, and for a while I was leaning towards either DSO or FoF. In the end, the computer terminal and the overall feel of FullofFail's room won me over. Congrats, man.

[DSO]

DSO: This room was designed around the fact that it had the tube in the middle going through it, and I think this screenshot really emphasizes how it's the central theme to this room. I love those tube graphics for the visual illusion they produce, where the windows appear to have curved edges at the side even though they are perfectly straight. I think the pipework on the bottom is the weak point, it could've been a lot more inspired.

FOF: Your WS rooms teach me something about designing for the WS every time. Compared to my own attempts, it's relatively simple and doubtlessly easier to make as it uses far less variation in the tiles, and yet it looks so much better. You win my vote.

Daltone: While I have made floating platforms in the past, words cannot express how wrong the use of the red brick feels here. All those giant blocks on the ceiling... I'm sorry Daltone, the room is of good design, I like what you did with the darker foreground tiles, the detailing on them is done well... but you are only hearing said compliments faintly, as there is a giant red brick wall between us...

Jamie: It's like a Cliffhanger/Eris crossover happened. I like what you did with the bricks and the brown metal pieces, but the bright grey metal kinda detracts from the room. I'd much prefer to see the save station hidden somewhere offscreen and use horizontal/vertical BTS to set up some kind of natural statue design as the save. The shape of the room is very nice, and, I did laugh when I saw the face. However, there's just something intangibly "do not want" about the room, which kept it from getting my vote.

something about those big tuuuuubes that just doesn't sit right with me. Maybe the shading looks too mirrored, or it's too clean... I dunno.

Maybe it's the illusion? The shading is mirrored, which I have thought about fixing at least for the "glass" part, but I'm worried that doing so will break the curved wall illusion I love about it.

as well as the possible use of the tunnel in the middle of the room.

It's 100% going to be used. As I said, my room design was based entirely around the fact that it would have this tunnel going through it. If you like those kind of things, the hack this is from will make you very happy.

[thelicker]

Time to my comments:

DSO: Good use of Layer 1 and 2 there. The red with purple and yellow creates a perfect and very consistent combination of a hot pallete. The light is other good element here. If there is a way to create a light block without put the transparent effect in all the layer 2, do it. If not, just do a work in TLP with all the tiles to do not use the layer 2. I am going to tell the 2 big mushrooms in the lower-left corner are strange seeing the other in the right of those 2. Do what you did with the other mushroom and it will be very good. Your BG looks very repetitive, fix it.

FullOfFail: I like the style of your room a lot, but there is something I do not like about the colors variation. If you can see, ALL your tiles are grey, except for the edge of the computer (blue). I like the grey color, but you use it a lot, causing the room be very neutral. Try using less grey, and creating, maybe, some pipes, metal boxes, dead bodies, etc. to this tileset with other colors. You have a entire pallete and I think you're just using 1 line of it. Other thing you can make better is the glass pointing to space (it is, if it is glass). It not have a light reflex, causing it looks like a open window (if you have difficult creating glasses, look in Metroid Fusion). Try doing some more variation to the very repetitive tiles below the very thick borders too. Other good idea I have is, if you put just the stars in the layer 2, and put the Sky Scrolling FX1 to the room... Well, you know, it will make a amazing effect! The ship will looks like in movement.

Daltone: Well, we have a good room here, the pallete looks ok too. Except for 2 things: the BG need to be more darker and the darker purple tiles need to be more darker. I have more few things to comment. One of those things is the way you used the red tiles in the lower part, it needs more variation and, one need to have a different placement than the other. You need to use more the red tiles too. Try puting some of those behind the edges of the purple tiles. Other thing is the lack of doors, to a huge room, it have a big lack of doors.

JamieWebb16: What we have here! What I most like in the room is the mushroom rounding the metal pipe in the middle of the room. The broken glass looks very out of place though. The bg is simmetric in the most part, causing it not looks natural. I really love what you did with the purple and the "skin color" tiles, but it is lacking in the ceiling. I like the pipes above the Save Station too. In the most part, the room is very varied.

It is a very hard decision between DSO and JamieWebb16, but I am going to vote Jamie because I like his idea and the variation of the room.

[MetroidMst]

You poor souls looking at DSO's room... I can't really say too much though because I've seen the room in action and you haven't. What really amazes me is no one has mentioned how similar they are to something else. But anyway, DSO gets my vote since the room is pretty well awesome in game.

I thought FoF's was a little bland actually. Nothing seemed to catch my eye this time and I have no idea why. I love your other stuff but this room seems to be lacking something.

Daltone has severe color issues. It definitely seperates your hack from others but wow, I'm not a huge fan of those two colors going together. The room although is quite good, and I have no real complaints about the design.

J-dude is getting good. One of my favorite tilesets and it just looks like a save room, something I think hacks have gotten way to far away from. Why not through a room in somewhere that just has a save in it? It isn't hard to expand the tile data and expand the room dimensions to get a larger and still small level data for just a save. This room gets bonus points.

[FullOfFail]

[spoiler][/spoiler]

[Charmander106]

My room for the week.
[spoiler=Warning Big Picture!][/spoiler]

[begrimed]

Why not.

[spoiler][/spoiler]

[Black Falcon]

Long time no room ;P
I'm pretty certain everyone of you knows this room, I
just wanted to show it's real size.
[spoiler][/spoiler]
And yeah I know it's a bit strange that there are high tech metal doors within old ruins...

[FullOfFail]

Wow, so much going on in the entries this week, it's going to be a TOUGH decision.

[Scyzer]

Oh man... hard choice between Webber and Falcon, but I'm gonna give it to Webber. Flacons is amazingly detailed, and just looks amazing, but Webber's background won it over for me. That's the kinda of background I like, that look's multilayered like the foreground. Epic stuff indeed.

[Digital_Mantra]

I voted Black Falcon.

That room is a masterpiece, a work of art, pure genius.
Quite possible the best room I've ever seen.
Scratch that, it is the best room I've ever seen.
Ever.

Now if BF didn't set down his royal flush, I'd have voted Webber1990.

[Parabox]

Foffy - Nice room. Basic, but good.

Webber - Overdetailed to my opinion, but good nontheless.

Grime - Tight as always. Good and purple.

Black Falcon - What's this I don't even this pic so hot I cum on cat he hiss at screen. That means you got my vote.

[Nu Zalem]

Webber's room is over-detailed? Are you sick? Grime's room and Black Falcon's room are even more detailed lol. That being said though, this is the first time I'm having to look at the rooms over and over.

FoF - Looks too simple for my tastes (though that's not to say it's a bad room because it's not).

Webber - Nice stuff dude. I really like the custom palette, custom gfx (always love custom gfx), and the overall layout. I can see myself being immersed in this room easily. Keep up the good work.

Grime - I've always have adored your style of design, and this room doesn't disappoint at all. I wonder if you'll throw some weird FX1 effect in this room.

Black Falcon - Ah yes, the famous area from that famous video most rom hackers are aware of. This room is THE shit. I think that's all that needs to be said.

Looks like Webber gets this week's vote from me (after much pondering...wish I could vote a three way tie between Web, Grime, and BF). Good stuff all four of you...I think this is the best week for ROTW yet.

[FullOfFail]

*stretches neck*
alright...

FullOfFail: Well this room is definitely alot smaller than the entries for sure, and alot simpler too. This area in particular is phazon ridden, so that's why the blue casing is there to protect you from it. The part I like most about this room is the eyes in the cave in the BG.

Webber: Well, first off I love the multiple caves. The black coral in the BG is spectacular too, looks like it's holding up the BG cave walls. The piping to the left is interesting too. I like the tube in the top center too. Since there's only one entry from the bottom, I'm assuming there's some items spread around, and you enter the tube via a different door. I'll just end there so I don't get too lengthy.

Grime: One thing I always like about your rooms is they're very alienish. I like the red highlight on the purple rocks, looks like some foreign moss. But more than that it gives the rooms variety, making them more recognizable so you dont get lost on your journey. The BG is nice too, the spikey wall turned out great.

BlackFalcon: This room has SO much detail that there's no way I can cover it all. I like the how you continue the pipes from the FG to the BG, I use that tactics myself sometimes. One thing that caught my eye in particular was that blue flower in the lower left. From the diagonal blue blocks above it, it seems like it'd radiate ingame. The way the chrozo ball is hidden is nice too.

Still haven't made up my mind yet. It's between BF and Webber for me. I really, really like both rooms.

EDIT: alright, I eventually ended up going for Black Falcon, the aesthetics are just too much not to. But really, they're both tied in my eyes.

[DSO]

I almost feel unqualified to judge these, anyway, here's my thoughts.

FullOfFail: Very nice room and I love the subtle details of the background, but this week you were up against The Big Three. Your style is very much in play here and I must say I think out of what I've seen in general from you your hack will, at it's current level, be better than Cliffhanger aestitically IMO.

Webber: Your custom tiles are great (love the 1/2 sloped water foreground tiles), and you did something awesome with your multilayering. Your room actually has a feel of depth to it that many of my own attempts at multilayering fail to achieve. This room does have a flaw, though, which is the column where the ship comes down to land (I believe this is the landing site, anyway...) The chozo and those green WS entry tiles just don't match the palettes of the area. At least make them more rustic and organic to match the rest of the room.

Grime: Very solid entry, I've been taking notes from your methods and adding them to my own quite a lot lately. I like how you manage to make places feel alien by combining what are by themselves ordinary elements in extraordinary ways. I have very strange ways of thinking how I feel about things, where I mix elements in my mind, and your rooms have always given off this cool diminished scale vibe to me.

Black Falcon: A winner is you, and a winner is me because you is a winner. This room is an incredible feat and looks like it probably took a week or two to build. You got my vote and I don't really know what else to say, it's taking my breath away.



However, all of these pictures here suffer from a critical flaw.
[spoiler]YOU'RE ALL SO FAR AWAY FROM RELEASE AUGH /aneurysm[/spoiler]