Kitty Corp Meow Mix Forums

After seeing various posts and threads about how there's a lack of proper critique of various users and their mods, I've decided to make a general thread dedicated to it.

Rules:
-Criticism =/= (does not equal) Hating. Know the difference. If you can't take criticism, then don't post. If you can't provide criticism for a posted mod, then don't post either.
-One mod minimum per user. Three mods maximum per user.
-Try to refrain from posting additional mods until your initial mods of your post have been criticized.
-The mod linked must be of your own content. Do not link other users mods, unless you were a main collaborator.
-Make sure to link to your mod you want criticized via BrawlVault link.
-You may reply to users who critiqued your mod(s).
-If you have a long post, use proper formatting and spoilers.
-Be civil about your critiques. Keep whatever bias you have against a user and/or their work out of your criticism.
-Don't take this thread as a chance to bash something or someone.
-Don't make this thread all about yourself.
-Do not take this a chance to advertise yourself.
-Don't be afraid to nitpick. Just don't make your criticism only consist of nitpicking.
-No matter how bad a posted mod may seem, don't mindlessly bash it. You can say it's bad, but do it in a respectful manner and state why you think the posted mod was bad.
-Do not mindlessly praise well known mods. No matter how good they are. Do your best to find something to critique.
-If you like a posted mod that people are calling bad, do not white knight. You can explain why you think they're wrong, but do not derail the conversation.
-You may submit your work, even if it's a work in progress.

These rules may be edited and/or updated. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't follow these rules.

Edit:
-Changed the max number of mods per user to 3, instead of 5.
-Added a rule about waiting to post again until your first posted mods have been criticized.
-Added a rule allowing WiP projects.

Examples of criticisms. You can use these as a basis for your critiques, but you don't need to use these exact questions.

PSAs:

Recolors:

Model Imports:

Stages:

To start things off, I'll start by posting one of my mods to get this thread going.

Solo Charizard (PSA): http://forums.kc-mm.com/Gallery/BrawlView.php?Number=206141 (http://forums.kc-mm.com/Gallery/BrawlView.php?Number=206141)

I don't really use custom PSAs, but I'll do my best to answer.

-How complete is the PSA? Dunno, but it looks complete to me.
-How are the animations (if there are custom animations)? Kind of boring for some of his specials, but his A attacks seem like good animations.
-How balanced is the PSA? It looks to me like the PSA itself is balanced, but I would say that the Final Smash is underpowered; maybe buff it a bit.
-Do the moveset and animations fit the character? To an extent. Some moves, like his Final Smash, seem out of place, and not Charizard-like enough, and more like what Mario or Bowser would do with fire.
-Are there any glitches? I didn't see any.
-How original is the idea? I'd say quite original.

As for my hack I would like criticized, Vibrant Fire Mario (http://forums.kc-mm.com/Gallery/BrawlView.php?Number=207916)
I would like someone's opinion on if I should revamp it, and, whether or not I revamp it, should I make a vibrant version for the other Mario palettes, too? Please critique and tell me if you think it's too bright or not bright enough or anything like that.

-How complete is the PSA? It looks complete right now. I seriously don't know if it is still unfinished, but it seems complete for me.

-How are the animations (if there are custom animations)? All of them are quite good, but some of his Special attacks are weird (Neutral B and Down B from Normal Charizard). Final Smashes are the best ones.

-How balanced is the PSA? It seems to be well balanced to be less powerful than default Charizard (from Pokemon Trainer). The Mega Charizard forms, however, are stronger to compensate this, but both are still well balanced to be a little stronger than Ganondorf. But some characters, like Bowser, can still knock Charizard even if X's super armor is present, which is good.
His moves are still powerful against the bosses.

-Do the moveset and animations fit the character? The only animations that don't fit Charizard are the Neutral B from Normal Charizard and Mega Charizard X's Final Smash (even if it looks good).
All others fit him quite good.

-Are there any glitches? Not at all, yet. But I don't think there are more glitches than the ones you said in the ReadMe. I've been using your Charizard for a quite long time.

-How original is the idea? The transformation is more original than the ones already seen in the game (Zelda/Sheik, Samus/ZSS). Because you're using ONE single slot to transform (there's just model and moset changes). There's not much moveset changing except for some animations, some special moves, graphics and, obviously, Final Smashes. But I don't think somebody cares about that, this PSA is still one of the bests.

You don't need to use the exact example questions I posted, guys. But thanks for your inputs.

The hat is supposed to be white, not red. The red is obnoxiously bright, but the white is okay. It's okay to make a color lean towards the primary colors (like Smash 4), but in Brawl, your current color is too bright. It's so bright that is clashes with the other colors. You'll be fine with making the red a bit darker, as the eye tends to see red first.

Thanks for the feeback! I'll fix that in version 2!(Version 1 was a request for a bright-colored hat that's red)

Also, do you think I should do other color palettes, too, when I revamp it with your suggestion?

If you really want to, you can make the other Mario power up variants (Ice, Rock, Cloud, etc).

Didn't think of that. Also, I like your thread much better than the other one, KJP. Much calmer to have a thread require comments about how to improve, rather than whether or not the person has skill. You are wise indeed. I don't even know why I bothered with the other thread. But I'm glad this one's here. In fact, I'm even learning how I can improve. :)

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Post Merge: March 22, 2015, 08:57:38 PM

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I just wish people would listen to me when I say that I'm open to criticism; just that I'm not open to being called "A person with no skill", which doesn't help me to improve...
*Sigh*

You just needed to learn not to take everything to heart, tbh.

Idk if brstm packs are allowed but http://forums.kc-mm.com/Gallery/BrawlView.php?Number=204671 (http://forums.kc-mm.com/Gallery/BrawlView.php?Number=204671)

Someone want to me how bad this is against your ears?

OoC: Good joob with this thread KJP.
So, since I do not know PSA's and color hues much, I'll critique stages and imports I suppose. I may give it a try tho.

Im a bit late, but what has been told to you Windhunter is pretty much what my opinions are for Fire Mario, you need to know that lighter is not always better.



I hate wubs, but these wubs brings promised results. You better mention that your work has proper credits on your upload tho, because when someone says something like credit to everyone... well, a very evil staff mey delete it.
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I would like for the following stages to get critiqued:


These are my very first fully custom stages, with these I left my comfort zone and leveled up, please, give me your best punches.

Read the description theres a pastebin link to the complete songlist with the artist names attached to them. Well theres only one dubstep song in my brstm, the 2nd preview being the only one.

>brstm pack for project M

[censored]in' what.

Alright, whatever... let's see what you've got. Downloading at the moment.

I actually am interested to hear critiques about this to know what to improve for my 2015 Miku import
http://forums.kc-mm.com/Gallery/BrawlView.php?Number=207123 (http://forums.kc-mm.com/Gallery/BrawlView.php?Number=207123)

My only critique to you would be to actually rig your ArmJb Bones. It's there for a reason.

If you think about out the human arm works, There are 2 bones that connect your elbow, to your wrist, and they twist accordingly. Look at your own forearm, and see how it rotates. With your setup, you'll get wrists that end up looking like this.


I wanna be able to rotate my ArmJb Bones along the X Axis to avoid my wrists to look like that.

I do like how your ShoulderN Bones are rigged. That's a step up from the Shinda Model you made for me.

That's all from me...

well, I expected a critique for the Miku import specifically, but yeah, you can notice Ive put more ffort on rigging those "secondary bones" with the imports I actually put efforts in (like kars and currently jonathan, which I havent released because I suffer when rigging captain falcon's shoulders)

Once I get back from the gym, I'll boot up my Wii and give these a critique.

Edit: Alright, I've tried out your stages, Scout. Here are my thoughts.

The stage overall looks good. It's well optimized. The colors look great. But it would be cool if the objects in the background rotated around, rather than just sit there along the moving background. There's also a lack of shadows on the stage. And the characters kinda clash with the stage a bit, as there's no lighting/shading.

This stage is pretty neat as well, but this stage also suffers from a lack of lighting/shading as well. But it does have shadows. And maybe you could optimize the models a bit more if you can. The wheels on the toy train should also be spinning as it moves. This may be a nitpick, but I feel everything should have a bit more detail to it.

Thanks! I guess I have to revisit these.

- I learned custom shadows just recently, so thats gonna be an easy fix. And the lights is not quite the issue, its the shading... they have none.

And there's my flaw.

I do have problems with is addng bones and shading these models, I never done it yet. Seeing it know, it will make the stage more brawl-like which is awesome, and less static. Time to look for someone, or somewhere that can teach me.

The animations in the Galaxy Stage is problematic, I tried adding extra animations such as coins, rotating cogs, extra trains... but I can only place models for some odd reason and and not animate it :c The trains took alot of animation data. I might have to port it to another stage so I can have more animations.

Again, thanks a ton. I know Planet Wisp will look extremely awesome once I learn these.

...can you not loop BRSTMs without cutting a part of the song and sticking it to the end? Sheesh.

Maybe if I found a better loop point for those said songs, your input is appreciated though.

I'd like my last two stages to get critiqued:

http://forums.kc-mm.com/Gallery/BrawlView.php?Number=207730 (http://forums.kc-mm.com/Gallery/BrawlView.php?Number=207730)

http://forums.kc-mm.com/Gallery/BrawlView.php?Number=205165 (http://forums.kc-mm.com/Gallery/BrawlView.php?Number=205165)

If I was supposed to critique before submitting my hacks, I'll do it.

You don't need to critique something before you post.

As for your stages, I'll take a look at them after I come back from the gym.

Me too, I just need to config my dolphin for PM again.

This is lovely. It has lighting and shadows. I love how the lighting gives the characters a bit of a red tint. But my gripe with this stage is that the blast zones could be a bit closer and the lava should be more visible. And a suggestion would be to have the lava rise up and down on various timers, rather than have the lava in the same stage all the time. I also feel the lava could have a bit more detail to it (like Norfair).


This stage is really neat, too. And like the last stage, it also has shadows and shading (but the shading isn't as noticeable as the last one). This stage is nicely optimized for being such a large stage, but my suggestion would be to have the stage start at one point (make the stage overall smaller, but keep the stage as large), then scroll along to another part (while keeping the blast zones consistent), kinda like Delfino Plaza. It would also be cool for the water to randomly rise and lower, just like my lava suggestion in the other stage.

Thanks!
All of your suggestions will be easily doable (except for lava texture, but that's because I don't know how to do it yet).

My only gripe is the bast zones for the Earth temple, its a bit too big, I find it hard to KO someone.

But thats it, the stages are aestetically well done. Pretty beautifull, and simple with no need for complexity. The stages feel legit with how it looks. It oozes with quality. I usually go "this isnt comp blah blah" but stages like these are nice to unwind too.

How do you apply shaders to stages tho? Ive been trying for a while with no results:
http://smashboards.com/threads/i-need-help-from-an-experienced-stage-maker.396335/#post-18829438 (http://smashboards.com/threads/i-need-help-from-an-experienced-stage-maker.396335/#post-18829438)

Well are you going cookie-cutter and doing the editing in BrawlBox or are you using Audacity?

Cut/crop in audacity and setup loop points in brawlbox.

Thanks, Scout!
There aren't any tips I can give you without sounding wrong, though.
But once I can, I'll PM them to you ASAP.

I'd like to have critiques about this:

http://forums.kc-mm.com/Gallery/BrawlView.php?Number=207958 (http://forums.kc-mm.com/Gallery/BrawlView.php?Number=207958)

Ooooooooooooooh, it feels so awesome to shot metanight with this. I only wish this had some realistic metal specs and more optimzed HD textures. Like wolf has his blaster looking.

Seeing how the textures are mapped, you can really use the S3 method to get it lookin real good.

I got no glitches as you mentioned, I don't use custom modeled characters much.



No prob, I understand!

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Review me these:
http://forums.kc-mm.com/Gallery/BrawlView.php?Number=34598 (http://forums.kc-mm.com/Gallery/BrawlView.php?Number=34598)

http://forums.kc-mm.com/Gallery/BrawlView.php?Number=35307 (http://forums.kc-mm.com/Gallery/BrawlView.php?Number=35307)

These are so awesome it did not make it into FNVB...

(foreshadowing?)

If you want to take your Cattle recolors seriously, I would suggest having the body be the color you want and have the spots be more gray-ish. Overall, the recolors are just okay.

Or you could do what you did in your first preview image (brown and blue). Having the body stay white and having the spots be the color you want. That looks much better than your green and pink recolors.

You're pretty much right with your assumption that this would be shown on FNBV. =p

I don't really see any issues with this, but I would suggest two things.
-See if you can get someone to touch up on the textures to make the weapon fit into Brawl better, as it's very dark.
-Add a spec map for the model. If you don't know how, either learn how to do so or find someone to do it for you.

Also, make sure your TopN bone's scale is 1 when importing for maximum stability.