The Resurrection of Leaf

Hello all, its been some time !

Looking around the forum, there is a huge number of names that I don't recognise, and just a few old faithfuls that I do.

So, for those of you who don't (probably quite rightly !) recognise me - hi there, I'm leaf. I used to make levels back towards the hey day of MBP. As far as I'm aware, the community has not played new content from me since around late 2008 - for various reasons some of my shinier looking levels at the time never made it public and work, university, real life and laziness have since taken hold for five long years.

My last visit to the forum, at some point during 2009, I teased a new level and then disappeared again. Today I will not be doing the same. Today I'm announcing the release of a brand new level (yes you can play it today) - Collection Kings.





Collection Kings is a spiritual successor to my level Collection Conundrum, which came out in 2008. I have long had the desire to expand upon the wide open space collection theme with a larger, more convoluted level build with even more possible pathways - and more importantly, even more gems.

Collection Kings weighs in with a hefty 127 gems (significantly reduced from the 160+ in the original build). As with collection conundrum, Kings tries to strike a balance between not too easy and not too hard - and whilst you will certainly find the level easy to complete, the path finding skill required for the platinum and ultimate times are what will have you coming back for more and more.

Huge thanks to Matan for play testing this to the point of near incomprehensible frustrated rage. I believe that he has a recording of a suitably ridiculous time which he is currently encoding and I'm very much looking forward to seeing it !

Edit : An impressive 2:12.76 here

So. Enough wordy foreplay. Get it here -

www.mediafire.com/?drazbfi3x3m40m2

P.s - within the level you will notice just one or two good old fashioned constructor brush errors. Rest assured that these will affect your gameplay in no way whatsoever, and that much time fiddling still failed to rectify them

although I don't know you, welcome back! That level looks amazing!

I've had fun testing the level. There was a lot to look at, a very funny *easter egg* and it wasn't hard at all. For 127 gems, I actually got them all without problems whereas in the large majority of levels of similar size and build you'd always miss one of them.

Getting a fast time was a rage for me, but I really enjoyed the style of the level. One of the best levels released recently, and another super one coming from Leaf. Keep rockin'!

Welcome back, Leaf! I do remember you, as I'm sure you do me. Your new level looks amazing...I'm going to download it right now!

This level is really good. A bit lag heavy in some areas, but still very well constructed. Even for something intimidating like 127 gems I had no trouble and had a lot of fun collecting them all. Very, very nice job!

Jul 26, 2013, 10:59am, andrewsears wrote:Welcome back, Leaf! I do remember you, as I'm sure you do me. Your new level looks amazing...I'm going to download it right now!

Of course man ! It has been an awful long time. I trust you are keeping okay ?

Let me know what you think !

Jul 26, 2013, 2:22pm, leaf1741 wrote:
Jul 26, 2013, 10:59am, andrewsears wrote:Welcome back, Leaf! I do remember you, as I'm sure you do me. Your new level looks amazing...I'm going to download it right now!

Of course man ! It has been an awful long time. I trust you are keeping okay ?

Let me know what you think !

I'm doing good, thanks. Do you have a Skype account?

As for the level, it was awesome. The level wasn't too difficult, and despite there being 127 gems I had no trouble finding them all. Overlooking the minor Constructor glitches, the level was well built and perfectly aligned. Your levels haven't lost any of their quality, even after five years. If you don't mind me asking, whatever happened to the level you were working on back in 2009?

Jul 26, 2013, 3:43pm, andrewsears wrote:
Jul 26, 2013, 2:22pm, leaf1741 wrote:

Of course man ! It has been an awful long time. I trust you are keeping okay ?

Let me know what you think !

I'm doing good, thanks. Do you have a Skype account?

As for the level, it was awesome. The level wasn't too difficult, and despite there being 127 gems I had no trouble finding them all. Overlooking the minor Constructor glitches, the level was well built and perfectly aligned. Your levels haven't lost any of their quality, even after five years. If you don't mind me asking, whatever happened to the level you were working on back in 2009?

I certainly do have a skype account (as of two days ago when matan made me do it) - im Leaf1471 (not 1741 ). Really glad you liked the level. I'm hoping some good words will be an ample kick up the ass to get me building more often than once every 4-5 years, haha.

The level from 2009 was coming along quite well, and as I recall I'd retextured it out of the MBO textures and was nearly happy with it. Then the computer I was using at the time borked completely. So the computer is sitting in my apartment waiting for me to find the time to resurrect it, along with hopefully any interiors that are still on the HDD - of which there where a handful of partially complete levels.

WB Leaf! I remember I used to love your levels and based a lot of my level design choices on what you did in your levels IIRC. If I were to ever make a single player level it would probably try to emulate what you just did in this level.

Thanks Trace, that's quite the compliment !

So, anyone stepping up to the plate to beat Matan's time ?

WB Leaf! You may or may not know me; I mostly just post in the spam board. Anyway, This level is good enough to be an official hunt level in PQ. *hint hint*
Nice work!

Glad you are back. I rarely play MB anymore, but I will definitely play your levels when I get a chance, I have been in awe of them (and you) from the time you released your first.

Also, gonna be trying for no jumping (If the level permits), since I had a blast doing so on Collection Conundrum on a challenge from Matan.

Jul 27, 2013, 3:01am, helpme wrote:Also, gonna be trying for no jumping (If the level permits), since I had a blast doing so on Collection Conundrum on a challenge from Matan. Will take you a few minutes (sub-8-10 mins should be easy enough), but definitely possible.

Yeah, I know you Leaf, as one of the best level makers! Welcome back, and, of course, I'm downloading this epic level.

Holy crap, is that Leaf? How the hell are ya m8?

~Aayrl

Jul 27, 2013, 5:43pm, aayrl wrote:Holy crap, is that Leaf? How the hell are ya m8?

~Aayrl

Haha, it certainly is man. I'm doing pretty well thanks. How the hell are you ?

Still alive, still working on Marble Blast Fubar.. a lot lately. You came back just in time to see the revamped site launch in a few weeks

~Aayrl

That's good to hear man. Progress is always a winner, especially on the elusive FUBAR. How is the project coming along ?

It's Leaf! No way!

I'm sure you don't know me, as I've only been around here for 7 months. But man, I've always been a huge fan of your levels, especially Collection Conundrum.

The new level looks beautiful. Downloading now.

Jul 29, 2013, 2:43pm, nihahhat wrote:It's Leaf! No way!

I'm sure you don't know me, as I've only been around here for 7 months. But man, I've always been a huge fan of your levels, especially Collection Conundrum.

The new level looks beautiful. Downloading now.

Hi there, how's it going Nihahhat ? Glad to hear youv'e had enjoyment out of my past levels, and I hope you enjoy this one as well.

Jul 29, 2013, 1:10pm, leaf1741 wrote:That's good to hear man. Progress is always a winner, especially on the elusive FUBAR. How is the project coming along ?

MBF Progress Blog Thing

And if you haven't seen This Thread yet, I highly recommend it.

~Aayrl

Jul 29, 2013, 9:10pm, aayrl wrote:
Jul 29, 2013, 1:10pm, leaf1741 wrote:That's good to hear man. Progress is always a winner, especially on the elusive FUBAR. How is the project coming along ?

MBF Progress Blog Thing

And if you haven't seen This Thread yet, I highly recommend it.

~Aayrl

Thanks alot man, I'll keep a close eye on the developments (as I have since 2008 )

I've been playing Collection Kings for the past couple days. I'm addicted to it.

I haven't played such a fun level new level since No Jumping II. The layout is just perfect for path-finding and just playing around on. As Matan said, the gems are easy to spot and not once did I have trouble finding them. The TMs are very well placed too; the more I play, the more I find. The easter egg was the cherry on top. This level wins Level of the Year. Great job.

My best time right now is 1:57. It can go sub-1:50 without any mistakes.

Jul 30, 2013, 6:27pm, nihahhat wrote:I've been playing Collection Kings for the past couple days. I'm addicted to it.

I haven't played such a fun level new level since No Jumping II. The layout is just perfect for path-finding and just playing around on. As Matan said, the gems are easy to spot and not once did I have trouble finding them. The TMs are very well placed too; the more I play, the more I find. The easter egg was the cherry on top. This level wins Level of the Year. Great job.

My best time right now is 1:57. It can go sub-1:50 without any mistakes.

Really glad to hear youre enjoying it man, that time is insane ! May have to request a vid of your run if you can manage it ? Congratulations on beating matan

It's awesome to have you back Leaf! I've always admired your level building skills and I had some much fun playing them.


Jul 29, 2013, 2:43pm, nihahhat wrote:But man, I've always been a huge fan of your levels, especially Collection Conundrum.

This. I remembered playing Collection Conundrum for numerous times just because it's so fun and great for pathfinding. (recalled uploading two runs of it to Youtube)

And the successor of this level has no way to disappoint me! Like everyone else, it's great fun to find and collect all 127 gems. I spent quite some time finding a good path for it. I'm not sure how low this path can get though, haven't really tried to speedrun it yet, but hopefully it wouldn't be too hard to do so.