BHA4 Judging - Kevinmonitor

Wish's BHA4 Judging - Unworldly Manifestations
-=Kevinmonitor's Entry=-

Rubric:
-20 points per pattern - 10 points to creativity and pattern aesthetics, 10 points to fun factor and pattern design.
-30 points towards general aesthetics, sound, and polish.  (For the record, *average* aesthetics is essentially the defaults per engine, and is at around a 6/10 per category)
-(Usual contest-specific bonuses will be omitted due to contest theme being OCs lol)
At the end, the total points will be divided by the total possible points, and then multiplied by <contest average> to get your final score.

Nonspell 1: 8/20
So uh...I respect you trying to make this a bit more "arcade" and fast paced, but I think this goes a bit too far :dying:
It's visually...striking but the dodging doesn't keep me on my toes like it should.  It's either overwhelming or very basic.
5/10 - Creativity/Aesthetics, 3/10 - Fun/Design

Tempest Dance "Wind God Braves the Palace": 11.5/20
You definitely got closer with this one.  Curvy lasers can aim whereever they damn well please though, which makes this pretty annoying to misdirect.
I do like you trying to make the player move around the screen though, and you mostly succeeded while keeping it spicy.
Visually I kinda don't care about it, to be honest.
4.5/10 - Creativity/Aesthetics, 7/10 - Fun/Design

Nonspell 2: 8/20
This is like...Utsuho tier basic, but it's better than one of those nons if you ask me.  It's ok.  Visually it's not as good as I'd like it to be.
4/10 - Creativity/Aesthetics, 4/10 - Fun/Design

Thunder Dance "Unlimited Arrow Works": 6.5/20
Frankly, this spell would be basically a million times better if she didn't leap towards you like she does.
It makes the spell extremely claustrophobic and annoying.
The bubbles are also extremely fast and I feel very blah about how the rainbow works here.
3/10 - Creativity/Aesthetics, 3.5/10 - Fun/Design

Nonspell 3: 12.5/20
This was spooky but actually pretty alright to dodge.  Frankly, the lightning lasers should've had hitboxes.
Either that or make them slightly transparent, but either one needs to be done to make this interesting.
Visually decent.
5.5/10 - Creativity/Aesthetics, 7/10 - Fun/Design

Shadow Dance "Concealment of Skyward Disaster": 13.5/20
This is definitely the coolest attack concept in the bunch and I really like the idea here, but I think something about it...undersells it?
Maybe it's simply SFX design or visual appeal not pulling its weight here because the attack concept is solid and easy enough to understand.
The clouds are cool looking but ABSOLUTELY get in the way and I don't like them.
6/10 - Creativity/Aesthetics, 7.5/10 - Fun/Design

"Thunder Palace's Mousetrap": 11/20
This was...actually a pretty awesome way to make me circle while also making me think.
I'm kinda sick of "circle around the screen" attacks, but this was pretty well executed...up until the end which drops the ball by making the arrows much less of a threat.
I feel like I got blue balled.
5/10 - Creativity/Aesthetics, 6/10 - Fun/Design (could've been an 8 without the arrow nerf at the end)

"Dancing Plague of the Storm": 14/20
Well that was the best attack of the bunch, you certainly looked most in your element here with this one.
Kagemo, anyone?
I *really* find the lightning lasers uncomfortable with how wide they are :sweat: but otherwise it's good.
Visually once again I kinda...don't care, but the dodging was quite solid actually.
6/10 - Creativity/Aesthetics, 8/10 - Fun/Design

AESTHETIC: 18/30
Looks: I really like the portraits for both characters and lightning girl is mega cute, I approve.  Nice custom HUD too 8/10
Sound: I'm sorry to the musician but I'm *really not* a fan of this theme.  Otherwise the sound was standard. 4/10
Polish: Basic but useful package and has a few little touches here and there.  Average. 6/10

SUM OF PATTERNS: 85/160
AESTHETIC: 18/30
TOTAL: 103/190 * 25 = 13.55/25

This was *quite* ambitious and I really respect the attempt to break the comfort zone to make some more unique attacks in terms of design space.
The arcade feel was certainly not perfect but you did get close a few times, with the script getting overall better as it went on.
It's certainly not bad, but not the best script of the bunch.  Give it another good try!!