Rating Curve

Back in 2023, when I returned to GD after a few years hiatus, I had wanted to start a little series to get back into the swing of things creating wise: Build a series of levels covering specific updates in chronological order to help ease me back into the ins and outs of the editor. This was the first of those levels, being a little 1.0 styled project. I had a few levels that I had worked on on a previous account but sadly they were lost due to my PC getting bricked and losing my account credentials. So I headed into this new stint of GD focusing on simple beginnings- make something quick, easy, something to give me the drive and stamina to work on more.

And so this level is the result of that. This was the first full length level I had published in about 5 years, and it's certainly a GD level. I think you can tell it's not particularly accurate to the standards from that era, with me trying to find a lot of different variations to keep the level from being samey the whole way through. It works decently for some parts and not as good for other parts. I wouldn't really say I have any single part I would say I'm proud of, the same way I feel for all my other levels. Thus I do feel like this level was a bit of a first failure to help me just move on and continue to make bigger and better things. I wouldn't say I'm offended by how bad it is- it's hard to mess up a 1.0 styled level- just that I don't really have any strong feelings towards my own work. So as much as I like what this level has done for me in the long run, I just don't remember the level itself too fondly.

Might be a bit biased here but I think this is pretty darn good for a modern sunset level. It's really interesting hearing Sis Puella Magica despite the level only tangentially referencing Madoka Magica (and a few other shows i don't know)- I think it works pretty well here. The main issue is that unlike a lot of other sunset levels, there is a pretty stark contrast between the structures and the backgrounds, something which is much more apparent as the level goes on. I think the earlier parts are quite magical though.

this level is fucking crazy i can't bring myself to hate it LOL. i also give special mention to some of the background effects- call be an old lady but that straight up looks like post processing how do you do that in the gd editor! it looks like fucking PODPALYASHIMSOLNCEM2. you can lump this in with levels like Reanimation where by all means it would be a level I hate but it's just too insane for me to dislike

Final Fantasy is much, much better