I do love Coda’s music but there’s some other great stuff and I am a glutton for variety. I’ll order something new on the menu all the time even though I already have a favorite. There is already a chaotic variety to the levels, and I think radical music changes wouldn’t necessarily detract from that, especially with firm level transitions. I’m thinking of each level as its own little microcosm. Within each level though, the art needs to be consistent, and that will be a challenge.

I’ve been swamped with work so I’m behind on reviewing all the level submissions, but there are some very good ones so I’ll be sure to list my favourites when I get through everything.

On the other hand, I must say that I absolutely love the music submitted by Coda so far and let me address for a moment why I think this style of music should feature in the game, if not exclusively, then at least somewhat. I’ll keep the music tech talk out of what I say below but I do have more than ten years of formal training in classical and some jazz music and what I write is based on that.
First, as Adam said the aim of this Jetpack release is for a retro feel. When I think of the times I originally played Jetpack in, aside from the games that were great but didn’t have particularly good music (like the Commander Keen series), there were a number of games that were especially memorable because of the atmosphere created by their music, like Fury of the Furries, Death Rally, or to a lesser extent Prehistorik 2 and some levels of Aladdin. Playing Coda’s music immediately launched me back into the Fury of the Furries atmosphere, and made me quite nostalgic.
Second, Coda’s tracks really are game music in terms of how sections of music are formulated and built up. I didn’t find the techno tracks bad per se, but I felt they were a bit of a disconnect from the game. Some very good Flash freeware games on the ‘net feature really good music of a similar atmosphere, and I think this kind of music is a very good selling point in the casual retro area.
I must add that in their current state, the Coda tracks do need some work especially in terms of length. If only some music tracks are featured in the game (although I do hope that the three types of music described by Adam can include more than one music piece), they can get repetitive if they are too short. Furthermore, while “Phenomenon” and “JetSkillz” are consistent throughout, “Rad” and “Puzzling” have a feel that they switch into entirely different tracks mid-way. I think that can be compensated with minimal adjustments, I just wanted to add this as analysis.
Finally, on a personal note, I know I hear good music when it inspires me in a way that writing or, in this case, level design appears in my head instantly. This was the case in every piece of music so far submitted by Coda, as can bee seen from the dedications in my level designs, so I’m looking forward to new tracks and/or longer versions of the current tracks.

That’s it for today, I’ll be back with reviews of levels and graphics as soon as I have some free time again.

I think the gems should stay green. On complicated levels where there is much going on the player needs to be able to assess where he needs to go upon the first viewing. In fast-paced levels there is no time to look around, and colouring gems entirely differently could mess that up.
But I love your other ideas and I think it would be great if there were tiles which have gems in the walls and also the original tiles where the gems are on a pedestal. For colour variation, I think you could give gems variety by colouring them different shades of the same green. Either case, I know I design my levels to look nice, and colour randomization could hurt that, so I would advise to give the level maker the ability to choose the type of gem to put in the level.

I wanted to mention, there has been some talk elsewhere that fans couldn’t make good quality work for a game. I think you’ve proved them wrong, everyone’s submissions have been fantastic!

I was thinking the gems might look better in the level if they were embedded in the wall instead of on a pedestal. Anyone want to give that a shot?

Also what’s your opinion of giving each gem a random color? It would give levels a lot more color, which might be better for the casual market, but would it detract from our industrial brick theme?

Also, I had some fun in Rocket Camp: http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/1112/jetpackrockets.png

Your levels are great! Very fun and clever. They are hard but work more on problem solving than twitch reflexes. Levels are open and feel professionally designed. Fantastic work!!