Taking a Dip

59th: Taking a Dip Make a Good 48 Hour Mega Man Level

You can't say this level lacks conveyance, that's for sure.

Overview Creator(s): Nintega94 Composer(s): symfonikev, Shusaku Uchiyama (originals) 40Nix (cover) Statistics Scores: 69 66 40 50 Total: 56.25 / 100 Rank: 59th Elements: 1 Box Items: Arigock G Haehaey Popo Heli Conveyor Uranus Platform Enemies: Arigock G Haehaey Metall Swim Popo Heli Gimmicks: Bubble Platform Conveyor (MM6) Uranus Platform Sub-Bosses: Metall Potton Tama Bosses: Honey Woman

Theme Music Mega Man Unlimited - Enigma of Aqua Boss: Mega Man 8 - Boss Stage Order Location: Tier 6 Previous: Copper Cave Next: Commando Caverns

Taking a Dip is the 59th place entry in Make a Good 48 Hour Mega Man Level. It is a water level that extensively uses wheel conveyors and Uranus Platforms (the latter of which are effectively vertical conveyors, as pointed out by M-Jacq). Also included are flying enemies that swoop in from offscreen, which usually try to knock Mega Man off an airborne conveyor.

Strategy

Beginning on dry land, the level's three main enemies are introduced in quick succession, with a free E-Tank on an easily accessible platform. Under a Uranus Platform that acts as a one-way barrier is a large pool of water, with conveyors and Uranus Platforms floating above it. In addition to a Haehaey that flies in from the right, there is a three tile jump from a Uranus Platform that is very easy to fail, making the Rush Jet very useful for crossing it. Following this is a long corridor with conveyors, while Arigock Gs throw their projectiles up from beneath them; the Flame Mixer is useful for blocking the shots, while the Homing Sniper can take them out from afar. A Metall Potton appears as a miniboss, with a set of conveyors on the floor that it dispenses Mets onto, carrying them towards Mega Man. Fortunately, a pair of Uranus Platforms (which are necessary to reach the dispenser's weak point with the Mega Buster) allows Mega Man to stay out of their way.

After defeating the Metall Potton, Mega Man drops into an underwater vertical area which is divided into segments by Uranus Platforms. A powerup often lies below each platform, forcing him to choose between two paths to take, though with the proper upgrades Beat can be used to obtain the other path's item. A Tama appears here, but as it spawns below Mega Man, Special Weapons can be used to kill it without having to avoid its yarn balls. Below it is another choice between paths, both of which have an Eddie on them. In the next room, Mega Man climbs back upwards, but some of the wheel conveyors move incredibly fast, pulling him into a wall almost instantly. Two Arigock Gs rest on the end of these conveyors, and ought to be destroyed before stepping onto them to avoid damage. Fortunately, the rest of the conveyors move at more manageable speeds.

Jumping out of the water, the rest of the stage largely happens on both gimmicks at the same time, all while over a bottomless pit. Because both gimmicks are constantly moving Mega Man, getting hit here is very dangerous, and it's easy to fall off while stunned. The Rush Jet, on the other hand, can fly over every enemy and platform, or be used as a shortcut in a single-screen room towards the end, skipping multiple platforms at once. Inside the boss corridor is a pool of water that leads into a dev room, filled with multiple E-Tanks, W-Tanks, and M-Tanks, as well as numerous signs in which the creator gives extensive commentary on their level. Beyond the walls of text is Honey Woman, who is battled on a set of wheel conveyors that roll towards a Uranus Platform. Below said platform is an underwater arena without gimmicks, and because her honey drop attack forces her to stand in place, the battle will inevitably shift to this arena if she manages to live long enough to use it.

Judge Comments

Judge Comments
ParmaJon  : 69 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 26 / 35 8 / 15 10 / 10 16 / 25 9 / 15 Simply put, this is a solid level with some nice touches. This entire level has a nice flow to it. Generally, it just feels well-paced and everything feels intentional. The varying speeds of the conveyors usually feels fine, but sometimes it doesn't. That's really where my main issue is. There's no real visual indicator for fast or slow conveyors. Maybe try making the different speeds different colors, or put enemies on them so you can see when the speed is drastically different. There are a few spots where this is an issue, but overall it's good. The level looks and sounds good, and it's generally fair. At the one midpoint, there's a jump that's tricky but not in a fun way. Adjusting little things like that in an edit would be good. The level doesn't push the limits, but it's executed well.
PKWeegee  : 66 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 20 / 35 9 / 15 10 / 10 19 / 25 8 / 15 BLUE ROBOT ON CONVEYOR GOING REALLY FAST! You did some really nice stuff here, though at times it felt a little too empty. I have to say, though, the fast conveyors were really funny and so unexpected. Besides that, I really enjoyed the long platforming section over the bottomless pit; that was a nice challenge. As I said, though, there were parts where not much was happening, sadly. To be fair, though, that did help in not making it frustrating, so...uh, yay?
M-Jacq  : 40 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 10 / 35 7 / 15 8 / 10 9 / 25 6 / 15 Usually judging requires me to guess what the level designer was thinking. Thankfully, this level's overly generous dev room spells out your thought process in lavish detail, which means I can point to exactly where you went wrong. "As for the level itself, I had the classic "introduce obstacles separately then combine later" mindset throughout the majority of the level[...]" There's two problems with this, one minor and one major. The minor problem is that this "classic" mindset is anything but - very few Robot Master stages actually introduce gimmicks separately and then merge them; when they do, it's usually on one incidental screen towards the middle of the level (e.g., Sheep Man, Wind Man, Plant Man...). This is a common misconception, albeit one that doesn't make for bad levels. Arguably it's so common because it can make for fun levels when done right. The major problem here is that you've chosen to "combine" Uranus platforms with conveyor belts, when Uranus platforms ARE conveyor belts. They're skinned differently and they drag you down rather than left or right, but they're still just 16x16 tiles that will kick you off them unless you do a bunch of short jumps. You're not combining gimmick A with gimmick B - you're combining gimmick A with gimmick A. Much as I hate to say it, I think you inadvertently picked a "double-oil" box. As for the rest of the level - you've correctly noted you were way too generous with pickups, even if we ignore the EW MEW MEME going on in the dev room. The three boss fights were fun, although the Honey Woman setup crashed the game for me when I hit her honey blob on a conveyor belt. I actually had more fun figuring out how to cheese the conveyor belt sections with Rush Coil than I did going through them legit. So, yeah, I think you succeeded at making a middle-of-the-road level. Hopefully with time and feedback you can get out of the dead zone of middling entries and make something really great.
Freems  : 50 / 100
Design Creativity Function Fun Aesthetic 16 / 35 6 / 15 8 / 10 13 / 25 7 / 15 There's a lot of design elements that don't really get consciously thought about while playing, and making most levels. I feel like empty space is one of those things, at least when it comes to Mega Man design. Because that's pretty much the biggest problem with the level, the sheer amount of empty space. Clogging it with enemies wouldn't really have solved the problem because it doesn't really help everything stop being so big and empty. Especially when the stage goes underwater, the lack of any real ceiling just lets you cruise over whatever you want and the enemy placement is so scarce you hardly think about it. That said, for a first real go around at a level, it certainly isn't a bad showing. It just doesn't really manage to find anything to make it stick out. There were some incredibly speedy conveyor belts which just ended up being confusing due to the lack of indication that you're about to zoom to the other side of the screen, and it's probably for the best that they hardly appeared in any actual threatening capacity, and yet I wonder if there was a better way to convey speed if new ideas could have helped spice things up a bit. All in all, when one has 48 hours to come up with a breathtaking idea, I understand it's far easier said than done. At the very least it's a good lesson to take forward when you're not dealing with a tight time limit.

Notes

• Thus far, this is the only MaGMML level where more than one Eddie appears on the same screen.
• Nintega94 used all three of their boxes before settling on the final one. For gimmicks, the other two had Konro Platforms/Commando Mines (a set it would have shared with Commando Caverns) and Quick Lighting/Landmines.