Rating Curve

im gonna just kinda regurgitate what i think about this level and then other stuff. i think from a technical + objective standpoint, this level is extremely well made visually and i dont think anyone can disagree on that. i do think there was a ton of effort into making something that looks THIS clean and polished (even as a clear rage quit-inspired level) and i can 100% appreciate it for that; it still should definitely be rated theres no denying that. now subjectively, the problem that i-and most other people-have with this level is not that it looks awful (because that would be silly unless youre super nitpicky), but just that it only focuses on visuals. it feels like it was made For The Nexus Upload and doesnt rly do anything else besides that. the story doesnt rly make any sense, the gameplay is either auto or just another level (thats kinda the point tho), and it just feels very incoherent and adhd-pilled (intentionally very hyperstimulating with a new scene every couple seconds, just like rage quit). im not denying that this level is super well-made or that it visually looks good, because then id be lying to myself, its just that its really nothing else besides looking good.

on the topic of this, ive seen that little meme floating around where its like "people actively go against this being rated but then advocated for this other level being rated", and i wanna put my 2 cents into this. (for this example ill use frozen refraction since that was the original post). i think objectively speaking, yeah, dead device is like 100x better than frozen refraction, but i think people saying that fail to realize that its not all just objective. people hate dead device and not frozen refraction the same reason why people hate mr beast video editing and not markiplier editing (which objectively is less edited); the same reason why people hate triple a games and love games like schedule 1 (which objectively looks worse); the same reason why people hate the current animated disney movies and not the old, objectively worse looking, animated disney movies. you see what im getting at? its not all objective. its not all about if something looks better, because, for gd levels, its more than just visuals. its structuring, song representation, gameplay, originality, all of those things that come together to make a gd level. when i see something like dead device, i see a lot of unintentional inconherency as i would with a triple a game with barebones storytelling and gameplay. sure it looks cool, but its not something unique and interesting, especially since rage quit has done this style before, so on top of it this level feels extremely unoriginal like some reviews here were saying. it feels like something ive seen dozens and dozens of times even if its something that is objectively "new". then when i see something like frozen refraction, there is also inconherency, but this time, its feels like the intentional art direction of the level and it gives it a lot of charm, if that makes any sense.

in the end, the hate for both a tiktok-intentional (and to win the waboo contest) level like dead device and an experimental level like frozen refraction shouldnt be coined as the "worst level in the game" because thats just not true for either (and at that, there cant really be a truly objective "worst level in the game" cuz everyone has different opinions). its just about whatever appeals to you more, and for most of the vocal community, which mainly consists of teens/adults, would prefer the level that does less and is more interesting than the one that does more and is less interesting.

ps for my ratings gameplay/visuals is objective and overall is subjective

i shouldve been writing my essay but i decided to write this instead good job me

really happy to see someone make a pretty cool level with it being their first creator point. deserved!

the deco is really cool from both creators, i enjoy it quite a little bit. as for the gameplay, the ideas are great, but its a little too janky (such as the double jump just not working sometimes). tho i cant give this level anything higher than a 0 because 1. the uploader literally didnt do a single thing besides do the classic "i make gameplay, you make deco" but its "you make gameplay, and you also make deco" and 2. things ive seen about the uploader.

for how many rooms there are, its surprisingly super optimized if you look in the editor

i may or may not be a tiny bit biased from playtesting this but this gameplay is extreme fun and consistent the whole way through. deco from everyone is also amazing, i especially love that 3rd section with the cat art and structuring of the part in general.

cool level but a. this should really be demon and b. the gameplay is not really the best (or at least what i wanted it to be). it feels kinda weird and i imagine the bossfight is annoying if you sightread the level.

this ones a funny one also my most popular one which idk its super fun apparently but also underrated? yeah i did that a lot. i think its a super fun level i tried to hard focus on gameplay for this one.

its cool. kinda sad the levels that were supposed to come after got discontinued (read foreshadow review for context) but its still a great level in my opinion.

arguably the rawest level ive made (according to some people). for context (basically the whole review), i was gonna make a bunch of levels that had lore and it was gonna be a new "season" every 6 levels. levels with miyolophone songs/modern levels on my account were season 1, megawolf77 songs/rainbow effecty levels were season 2, and boomkitty/art levels were gonna be season 3 (a regular world is the first one of it). unfortunately, i discontinued the whole thing because i just didnt have motivation to do it especially since i wanted season 3 to start in 2.2 and silly robtop didnt release the update until another 1.5 years later! as for foreshadow, this was gonna be, well, a foreshadow of the future. i imagined it would kinda be like a time machine mind control "you can see the future" type of thing with the date in the corner at the beginning and device part being a hint that it was. a lot of stuff in the level was gonna be a future level idea, with some of those becoming a reality. the little device thing after the space thing and towards the white flashy auto part is in "the arrival" (if you look at the date in the part, thats when i planned to release the level and ended up doing), the rainbow effecty parts was a nod to season 2 being about rainbow and effect levels, and the jungle part was a hint to "a regular world". there were also other things there that never made it since i dropped this whole idea. the boat part + underwater part was originally gonna be two season 3 levels (one for boat, one for underwater), the 20 min long straight fly was gonna be a season 4 level (?), and there are probably other things im forgetting. i think this level is pretty awesome and im glad people in the comments enjoy it, surprisingly more than my other levels. it does admittedly get super lazy at the end which is like wtf was i trying to convey here?? that i escaped the mind machine??? idfk at all. doesnt really matter cuz people seem to like it a lot.