I know this wasn’t Desticy’s intent from what I heard, but I dislike the closeness to the references it used. I initially saw them since my friends told me the board he used contained generative AI images (I am the biggest AI hater), and was highly derivative of them. It is far too derivative of them for my liking, so I consider it stealing, therefore my 0 rating. This stand regardless if it were generative AI or not. Either way, it is still stealing in my eyes. From what I heard Desticy was not aware it was generative AI, which is rather sad and I feel bad for him. To be fair though, Pinterest is like dead lately with how much AI is in it (however the ones he used were obviously AI so like :/). I don’t like think this copying was out of malice though, it’s a trap a lot of beginner artists (very much a lot of art creators) fall into, where they don’t yet know how to ethically reference stuff. So I hope Desticy learns from this and grows as an artist and learns to communicate his intent rather than displaying someone else’s (or an horrific amalgamation of stealing from generative AI). The composition in most parts besides the end is rather bad. Super messy, the blocks seem to lack purpose rather than being platforms and take up way too much of the screen. There is also no distribution of LOD (level of detail) based on focal points, very homogenous. The last part has neat ideas though. The parallax is sort of bad, but it is headed in a good direction. Very much think future stuff from Desticy can be quite good, if he sorts out how to ethically reference. Everyone makes this mistake at some point, I have, and I absolutely HATE my past self for it, I’d do awful things to her if I could go back in time, she knew better and that it was unethical. I don’t think Desticy had that malice as he posted his board of references on Pinterest, he was very open about it.
A genuinely very good looking level with some very nice visual design - I especially like the giant spiral part at the end with the circular gameplay. That is a unique aesthetic if I have ever seen one.
However, my god, the drop part is so bad. What a way to kill all tension in the level. It falls into every single early 2.2 gameplay trap possible and leaves such a bad taste in my mouth. The rest of the gameplay is very uninteresting and is mainly sacrificed for the visuals, as is typical of a gauntlet level.
This level hits different when you play from zero btw
Main gameplay complaint is always about the initial drop but it works fine for a level of 5* difficulty. My actual only grievance with it is an annoying robot click at the last part that just doesnt work sometimes but its serviceable. The level has good development throughout with a nice difficulty ramp upwards.
Every part is visually stunning with my least favorite part visually being the initial drop because i dislike that color choice but otherwise its a very nice level.
Consists of undeniably awesome visual setpieces accompanied by unsatisfying, dull gameplay and a real eye-roller of a song. You could probably get a similar feeling by watching a movie trailer accompanied by a Hans Zimmer soundtrack.
Desticy is one of my favorite design creators of all time, he has masterpieces under his belt and so it pains me so much to give this such a low score but I genuinely loathe this level. Other than the very first mini cube/robot part as well as the very last part, this level is just pure visual slop. Very very well made visual slop with amazing effect work mind you, but it just looks so uninteresting and bland. Funnily enough I probably wouldn't have such a strong opinion on this level if this were made by anyone but Desticy, but I have such a high opinion of him and his levels that watching this makes me feel upset. I also really want to reiterate, the designs and effects in this are super well made, but from an aesthetic perspective I just find this level to be worthless. The backgrounds are so cool, but make me feel nothing. The designs are intricate, but make me feel nothing. This is like if you took something made by Samdoesart and put a le epic space wallpaper 4K filter overtop and turned that into a GD level. And once again, this has some amazing effects but it just feels so wasted. Also the song sucks complete ass which doesn't help. I feel like a lot of the time, these super high profile Creator Contests bring out the worst in creators since they're trying to win, and therefore appease Robtop
My fellow quirky creators may not appreciate this take but I think this level is masterful and unlike many levels some would deem similar, it is not oversaturated with detail and flare. Both the room left to appreciate the atmosphere and the variety of literal physical directions taken make for the creation of an alluring space in, well, space. Beyond impressed and I hope the judges for the contest see how this one stands out from its competitors
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sorry about this gang