Ivorystar Waltz is, as far as I'm aware, the first level with a fully-fledged advertising campaign behind it. The details of this campaign can be found in the document accompanying the level, and the extent of it may be gleamed by either looking up "Ivorystar Waltz" on Twitter or by simply scrolling through UmbraLeviathan's Twitter account. In doing so, you will find hilarious memes such as this—with the document conveniently linked in the replies, just so everyone knows what the deal with this level is—alongside tweets from 7ak, NWOERL, and, weirdly enough, the Restoration Union's gimmick account for interesting GD facts, all proudly boasting the level's ludicrous and shocking sample count. Shocking? That's exactly what it's meant to be. Reading the document and skipping past all the corporate-speak, you will find an explicit declaration that the entire reason for this marketing campaign is to cause controversy, which is funny to read in hindsight, because by all accounts, this strategy was an utter failure. Despite the massive number of people who offered a helping hand behind the scenes, the advertisements for this level received very little attention, let alone hate. I vaguely remember someone getting really mad that a level of theirs was sampled, but unfortunately, I cannot find the tweet in question. In any case, the controversy did not help the level stay afloat, and by its release, it was largely forgotten about, in spite of the best efforts of the Marketing & Promotion team. For the record, I do not care about any of the "ethical concerns", and I think it would have been perfectly fine even if the samples were left completely uncredited.

When looking at the level itself, it's obvious how much Umbraleviathan attempted to pump up the number of samples used, to the point that all the different design flows merge together into a cacophonous soup with only the vaguest hint of direction. Combined with the "cinematic" song, the level feels almost naïvely clueless about all the clashing elements within it. I feel that this surreal aesthetic could have been stirred in a better direction with smarter composition and progression, but it's evident Umbraleviathan was more interested in the spectacle of it all, of having a level that so flagrantly violates common creating norms, that the actual level serves as nothing more than a cudgel to advance their ideology. In fact, that's exactly the case! The document even labels the section regarding the intent of the level with the header "Purpose and Agenda". What a waste, really. Sampling in GD could go so much further if its whole purpose wasn't just shock and awe.

The idea of taking assets from many level is bad unless all assets suit to each other by accident. What you have here is messy and inconsistent designs and those make the level feel like a junkyard. The only positive thing I like here is the song, at least.

people love to get wrapped up in the many numbers that surround levels. object count, length, number of hours spent—whenever one of these numbers is extraordinarily low or high, the wider community will lose their minds about how impressive it is, even if the level itself suffers as a result. personally i think levels should speak for themselves, and creators should just make these numbers whatever fits their level the best.

the biggest appeal of ivorystar waltz is its colossal sample count, sampling from 735 different levels, so it's ironic that this high sample count is also to its detriment. putting 735 different things in a level of this length is pushing it, let alone when they're disjointed samples sourced from all different kinds of levels that are held together by clear tape and purple glue. so many random samples were added for no other reason than to increase the arbitrary number of samples. as a result this level is messy and busy as hell, which doesn't at all work with the calming, serene vibe the level is going for. i do think sampling can be done to great effect in gd levels, but it's evident that this level uses sampling not as a means of artistic expression but as yet another number to flex.

i know we're all sick of hearing radio brought up when discussing sampling in gd, but it's worth noting how so much of the charm from it comes from being able to pick out the source of each sample. the more minimal decoration style gives each sample lots of breathing room, and made it so 7ak had to creatively work each sample together to create a cohesive final product that actually looks good; it feels like a celebration of all the creativity of the gd community. ivorystar waltz feels like its creator shoved all the community's creativity into a blender and didn't let off until it all became a textureless, gray mush.

edit: lowered my rating by a point after reading the ivorystar waltz document. it's so soul-suckingly corporate—not an ounce of joy or passion can be found within it. truly a miserable read

i dont really like how the level mixes all these assets. maybe would be better if the song was crazier cuz that calm song doesnt really fit these messy decorations imo. i like the transition to the drop tho (slope from the launch). gave me flashback of the old good days of 2022 🥲

I'll review this level later.

Want to start out by saying that sampling is very cool and based,,,

BUT. Ladyflash and radio had a much better approach here- it largely comes down to the sample choices, since the stylistic inconsistencies between a lot of these samples becomes quite apparent and sits uncomfortably between radio's more cohesive look and Ladyflash's messier collage-style approach.

so incredibly incohesive. the sampling holds no value and does not contribute to the level in any way unlike something like radio so it's just a jumbled mess of assets

its good but when u take assets from like 700 levels its not gonna be super cohesive. the idea's good i just think its. too much