Level 8 - The Next Day (Cancelled)

General:
The sunset and lighting looks jarring at first but I got use to it the more I went along. But the interiors still treat it as if it's day, so maybe change that.

The menu text is really unfocused. Everything begins with a capital and is followed by lower case other than 'CANCEL MISSION' and 'BONUS GAME'. Also, what was the point of changing the menu text anyway? It just seems like you changing something 'cause you can. It doesn't look right.

What is that driving music? It's literally Homer 1 but pitched up. Other than it sounding ridiculously comedic and stupid, it constantly stutters and just seems lazy.

The roofed family sedan is a terrible level vehicle. It's boring to drive and has terrible stats (as it's just a remodeled version of the one from the original game). It feels lazy, like you added it because it was available to use, without thinking about how well it would work in missions.

For an '8th level' there is nothing here connecting it to the first 7. It seems more like a 'Homer does stuff' mod.


M0:
This is where the problems start. For a starter, this just feels like M0 from Donut Mod. You drive to the Kwik-E-Mart, drive to the grocery store and hit a truck and collect 5 things. On top of that, it's not interesting in the slightest.

Also, why the long time limit for the hit and collect stage 2:15 for 5 items? I finished it with 1:49 to spare. I'm not asking for a really difficult mod, just something balanced. This is way too easy.

The truck bit also seems like it's been pulled straight out of Bonestorm Storm. You start at the grocery store and it follows the same path.

M1:
Okay, first problem, this mission is just S-M-R-T with no Skinner and 2 avoid stages. It's extremely short and boring as there's nothing else to do.

There's also no way to lose this mission. There's no time limits or anything. Once again, not asking for anything really hard, but when the tutorial has a way to lose and this one doesn't, you gotta rethink it.

Bart's head is the only thing visible in the seat as the rest of his body is clipping through.

The triggers are way to small. You can avoid the first one by driving over the firetruck shortcut, going through the Kwik-E-Mart alleyway, and even passing by the corner that the trigger is on. They really need to be increased in size.

The Globex villain cars are way faster than you. They have L6 stats compared to your L1. I was just driving back and forth until I lost them. And this isn't me complaining about how hard it is, because there's no way to lose, so the high stats seem pointless. And they push you around due to their increased speed. It's really annoying.


M2:
Flanders being the starting character made me worry that this was gonna be the 3rd reused mission in a row so I was pleasently surprised when I saw an original mission objective.

Flander's car is terrible. I think it's slower than the family sedan and it's turning is way too stiff.

The milk truck is just M0's hit and collect with 3 more. And once again there's a really long time limit.

And Wiggum's avoid sequence is just M1's avoid sequences. And once again, he's way too fast compared to my car (I think he was worse than the M1 avoids to be honest) and has no time limit, so there are no stakes. It just feels like padding.

And speaking of padding, this mission and M1 (M0 is a tutorial, so it's acceptable) are way too short. M2 took me about 2 mins, and most of that was thanks to Wiggum being way too fast for no reason.


Nitpicks:
The Duff logo on the vending machines has the white background leftovers.

I also recommend adding dialogue as the method now just seems lazy to me. These aren't original characters or characters that had limited appearances, these characters have had nearly 32 years worth of lines, and you decide to use the objective method while adding no personality or any interesting to say.

• This is my first attempt at changing the ambient light and you will probably know it is not something someone changes straight away when they think to a different time of the day. It is an advanced feature and I am really sorry for this not adding it to interiors.
• I really can't understand why the main menu sounds "unfocused" to you. It looks fine to us. Plus, the not changing CANCEL MISSION is not my fault. I have set it to change in the INI but the game keeps it. You know, I am really precise on these things.
• Again, I don't really understand why the music is so bad for you. We thought to an evening-like variant of Sunday Drive, I didn't just use the same music because I am lazy or childish.
• This is not my fault. I was waiting for that car to be released and I didn't choose it because it was available. If you think it is "terrible" then it is Radical's fault, since I have not changed the CON.
  
  MISSION 0
• I assure you I wasn't just copying Donut Mod. We had this idea just on the moment and we scripted it. I'd hate to copy an existing mod
• That time limit is to remove. Sorry.
• Unluckily, this is true, but this is not my fault. It was the best deal to create a mission like this. Is it a problem to you if we reuse an existing script? Modding is fun, not a job.
  
  MISSION 1
• What else did you want to do? It is much different from SMRT aleady.
• Yeah, time limits have to be changed. You know, my mod wasn't based upon time limits and difficulty stuff, It was again just for fun.
• Not my fault. Again, Additional Script Functionality isn't a thing everyone uses, and it is pretty hard and uncommon, so you can't expect a starter modder group to be able to change things like this. I just copied the string to add Bart as a passenger, no matter if you can see him in the car.
• The triggers are too small? You have to play the mission, so why trying to break it? I am changing this in next update, but I don't think of this as an issue.
• We can change the car's scripts. I thought easycop.con was a bit too dumb for an AI.
  
  MISSION 2
• Your initial statement is not really polite. Do you perhaps mean the previous missions didn't have original objectives? Do you perhaps recall seeing lose the tail segments in vanilla M1? Maybe they weren't well worked but you can't just say they are not original just because you say they are similar to Donut Mod or whatever.
• We are changing this time limit. But again, why do you always think to the time limit? A mission is made for playing it, not to think how to lose it.
• The avoid AI needs to be changed, I know.
• I said, my plan was not to make missions hard and long like Donut Mod or other mods that sincerely have pissing-off long missions in my opinion. This mod is made for fun, I put all my effort into it.

General:
For the main menu, if one is still in caps despite you trying to change it, you should probably keep it all in caps.
Also, I stated what I found unfocused. "Everything begins with a capital and is followed by lower case other than 'CANCEL MISSION' and 'BONUS GAME'."

I didn't say childish. Also, I stated why I thought the music was bad. Due to it sounding high pitched and silly. You could have taken music from a game or something else instead, as this doesn't sound right.

You could change to CON to give it better stats.


M0:
Can't you just use another mission idea? Sometimes first drafts aren't the best.

My problem wasn't the time limit being there. It was how long it was for such a short task.

My problem is the reused script. I get that modding isn't a job, but basically replaying missions from the base game isn't fun, especially when I can just go play them in the original game.


M1:
The mission is the same as S-M-R-T but you've replaced the race with 2 avoids. You could use a different idea. Perhaps one that explores the 'L8' theme as there is no story atm.

Mods don't become fun by removing time limits. Mods are fun from what is contained in them. Getting rid of time limits removes challenge, which loses interest. If I can put the controller down and go do something completely unrelated for half an hour and return to still be in the mission, then it's not fun.

You could always ask DT for help with the Bart issue.

I didn't play to purposely break the mission. I did what everyone does and I used the firetruck shortcut. I realized I missed the trigger and upon getting closer to it I found out how small it is and realized the paths you could take to miss it.

The whole AI being too fast problem could be fixed by changing the family sedan's stats.


M2:
Adding avoid objectives into S-M-R-T isn't original, it's just adding avoid objectives into S-M-R-T.

Read the M1 part about time limits and challenge.

K

Making missions longer would allow you to put creative ideas in them, which would also stop them from using the same objectives (follow, hit and collect) in the same ways.