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This is probably the logical conclusion of the impact remake culture has had on this game- why don’t we remake the best extreme demon ever made in representational style? Surely, this level must be just as good by proxy.

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Even as someone who doesn't like OG Thinking Space that much, the main value of the original lies in how stop-start the level's structure is. It's bouncing between many different ideas both in terms of the gameplay and decoration department. You see this in a lot of other levels of this vein- think Bass Cave or Fexty or Lightwave or kowareta, where you're placing unique setpieces one after another to convey conflict between the level and the player. You can think of Thinking Space as an adversary who is trying to throw an entire arsenal at you to slow your movement down, and Hideki makes use of very clear, minimal decoration and contrasting visuals to sell that even more. It makes sections such as that first, fast memory cube, or the wave with the moving pillars, much more staying power, as if it's a named attack from a video game boss. Hideki doesn't execute this remarkably well all the time but it works in a few parts and that's where the value lies in the original.

I cannot say the same for Thinking Space II. This level brings homogeneity in droves, and it results in each setpiece not standing out in any particular way, a direct contrast from the first. This is largely due to the decoration- the heightened detail of each part makes the experience a wash overall, since you can't pick out differences the same way you can for the first one, and it also obscures anything that might be interesting going on with the gameplay. Furthermore, they employ a lot of representational art here which I think doesn't really fit the mold of OG thinking space- not only is it a contrast issue, but it's also defining the space of a level that I don't think needs it. Think about the title, Thinking Space- it's a space devoted to abstract thought, spontaneous in nature, not taking any definitive form until observed, which helps the viewer fill in the gaps in their own mind. The original is the very definition of "stream of consciousness" yet strictly defining structures and objects in the sequel feels incredibly wrong here- it's a gross misunderstanding of the originals attempted genius.

Expanding on gameplay, unlike the first level, which did bring a few interesting ideas to the table (to mixed results), this level doesn't really do that as well. The way that the icon traverses through this level is quite standard and doesn't reach the same highs that OG Thinking Space does as a result. I would say the closest it gets to matching the original is NcaT's part which has one decent idea, but one interesting structure movement does not a good level make. The rest of the gameplay is a wash as well- nothing interesting or standout is being done here!

I think that if more perceptive creators were brought on this could've been a salvageable level- creators who have a good eye for understanding what makes levels tick and where their value lies. To me, this level reads as nothing more than a level along the lines of Dark Dimension, or Firework, or Descent Into Exile, or Calculator Core- just another worthless extreme demon that's in grayscale. It hurts a lot more here though because you have a really good concept to work off of and you've blown that opportunity. A real shame.

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The story of Ocular Miracle starts with a short video posted 7 years ago- Imagine If... (READ DESC), outlining creators that the project’s host at the time, GaidenHertuny, was reaching out to collaborate on a new level. Ambition is very common in the GD community- hell, it’s one of the core principles that the community holds in their hearts, much to my chagrin nowadays- but this is different. This is the construction of a new Babel- a monolith to pierce the heavens, a proposed monument to a new frontier of unity and collaboration among GD’s finest auteurs at the time. It’s a pipe dream, but Gaiden was already in the process of gathering his ideal creators and setting off to work. Three years pass with various ups and downs. The tower is stacking higher and higher- above the clouds itself, forcing itself up through each layer of the earth’s atmosphere, until it breaches through to a vast emptiness.

It is complete, and it is an absolute affront to god.

It’s a bloated mess. Imagery of the cosmos splatters across its surfaces, screaming to itself of its importance, screaming to itself, “Pick me! Pick me! Pick me!” Without any sense of tact or nuance. Its “speedcore” gameplay is ragged and sloppy, unable to decide on a shape or a mode it wants to be in. It randomly takes sharp turns, making any attempts to follow its direction impossible. It is a spill of a bright, unsaturated, monochromatic color palette. It pulls out more than all of the stops every single time, even when it is completely unneeded. Its moving elements move with the grace of an elephant, while its unmoving parts meld together like frozen soup. Any decision made in its construction, from gameplay to aesthetic choices, was the wrong one.

Soon, the tower collapses under its own weight, crashing back down to the hard earth with a thud. All we see now is forgotten ruins of what once was. You’d think people would learn from this experience, yet occasionally, you’ll see someone creating another tower, just as precarious as the original, trying to reach out to the sun, before falling back down into rubble.

It turns out, despite its collapse, Gaiden’s own Tower of Babel succeeded- instead of scattering its victims, it unified a community to commit to building many others like Ocular Miracle. Monuments of ambition would be constructed and soon after, they would collapse from the community’s neglect. These “pillars of the community” started off as levels like Ocular Miracle, but soon after, they started to take new forms- in our present situation, you could say our towers are focusing a lot on “graphical fidelity” and “cinematic experiences”. Their only constant is their ambition- to push higher than the others before they fall from the heavens back to the surface. There will always be monoliths like Ocular Miracle, pillars of the game that push their way above the rest, needlessly jutting out from the surface and causing destruction in its surroundings after the community stands in awe for a few minutes. Then, they pack their things, and travel to the next blasphemous edifice, to hoot and holler about to their non-GD friends, saying, “Heh… this is GD now… not just some dumb kids game, is it?” Absolutely despicable, the damage that levels like Ocular Miracle have caused to the community and its artistic merits. Many reviewers have commented on how the influence of Ocular Miracle extends to the trend of glowy core levels or to speedcore gameplay, but there’s more than that- it unified the GD community to build levels with the goal of universal appeal- reaching outside the GD community, justifying their decisions to get into the game, a decision that has hurt GD more than it has helped it. I mean, there’s no physical damage, other than maybe a few bricked computers and corrupted files, but this ambition is suffocating.

One of the reasons why I have such a vendetta for this level is because of how much this mindset has negatively impacted my own creating journey. Between 2017 and 2020, I only made one full length level, with the rest of my creating work being hundreds, maybe even thousands of unfinished levels. I hated my own work because it couldn’t stand up to the effort that creators were putting in their levels, that the non-GD fans in my life didn’t understand me, that I felt I had to prove myself for being this attached to the three dollar mobile game, and I was so blinded by the spectacle of those massive projects and megacollabs that I didn’t even realize why I felt so bad about myself. I secluded myself from others- I mean, I’ve played this game for a decade, and I’ve never had a conversation with anyone outside of the GD community about it! It wasn’t until I came back to the game, a bit older, with a fresh set of eyes that I learned to let go and just create what I wanted to create, and my output has tripled in the span of a year. Not only that, but I’m starting to feel proud of my levels. Imagine that.

I’m sorry if this was a bit of a yap session- I wanted to write something special for a 500th review and something in the vein of Ocular Miracle itself- a bit too long, a bit too messy, a bit too incoherent, very melodramatic, but I do mean a lot of what I say here- I was a dumb, impressionable kid who got caught up and wowed by a lot of the big community events that would go on, and it resulted in me developing a lot of bad habits. I wish I could make up the years of beating myself up over all my unfinished work I was too afraid to show to anyone.

Lastly, I know ambition can be used for good in levels- a lot of 1.9’s finest could be strong counterexamples to my main idea here, but I think there is a difference between the ambition of the old era and the ambition of the new era- there’s a much larger focus on trying to prove something to outsiders or breaking records in the editor today, whereas in 1.9 it was a lot more about pushing your own limits. Like, Ocular Miracle is a level fueled by ambition, but so is Death Moon- it just depends on what influences your ambition to create. I feel a lot more in the driver’s seat now when it comes to my limits and my desires for my levels.

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A comedy of errors

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We had Dark Travel, we had everything we needed and it all ran like clockwork. It was good but no you just had to blow it up, you, and your pride and your ego.

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