One of my favorite parts about the longevity of GD creating is that many creators have established their own immediately recognizable style. Flash is one of the more recent cases of this, with an incredible run of levels as of late. Arguably the shift from standard (but innovative) design creator to whatever he's doing now started with Sleeper, though it was Sculptures that really set the whole style rolling. Arguably the biggest form of continuity between their levels are the beige backgrounds and laid-back atmosphere, but there's a sort of essence that permeates everything Flash has made since Sleeper that I've grown very fascinated of, and it's one of the reasons I'm so excited for his creator contest to potentially yield some similar stuff.

For all I've talked about the niches Flash has managed to establish as a creator, it's more than worth beginning mention of Sky Garden with its very obvious draw from that style. The most direct inspiration is probably from Sculptures, particularly in gameplay, but more impressively Grenada effectively captured the essence of all of Flash's newer works despite Sky Garden having little literal visual resemblance to them. One thing I think people forget when drawing heavy inspiration from creators is that the style they're drawing from has a shift of its own, and the best of levels like Sky Garden will keep that in mind when putting their own spin on the source material. Despite very distinctly doing its own thing, it still feels like it could fit perfectly in Flash's catalog, though I'm obviously still happy with the direction Planispheres went too. Sky Garden is shiny and colorful throughout, making for a beautiful experience with a heavy moody atmosphere. There's also a night mode, which I think does improve the level a bit but it's a bit confusing why it says it's recommended. If the night mode was the preferred experience it probably should have been switched with the day mode, and the change definitely shouldn't be permanent. I still think the option is cute though, and both modes work incredibly and distinctly from each other. The gameplay is also fun to figure out; there's a surprising amount of friction in the learning process but once it clicks it's very fun and pretty readable for the most part. If there's one thing holding this level back it's that it's really really short!! I like the ending a lot but then the song keeps going which is pretty disappointing after a level that's essentially under a minute. Still a very fun and underrated level though, if you're down for a learny medium demon definitely go play this!

This has such a cool style!! The gameplay is really fun + the design gives the level a really cool feel.