Cargo Ship

[as303298]

Date Originally Created: 5/14/12
One of my oldest levels from 2012 that I still use. I have no idea why, but it's also my most popular Custom Level video too...still no idea why!
About 8 hours went into this level, designing at least. However 3 went into just making the exterior itself, wasn't easy going from scratch.

Credits:
Design- as303298
Tileset- RvBNut
NPCs- Red_Yoshi & RvBNut
Music- Rusty Bucket Bay Exterior & Interior

Youtube Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWxQccXUoCo


Download:
https://www.mediafire.com/?rcg5p5qcma2o91y

[FanofSMBX]

Lol, I remember the cop out boss after that long ship. It was just Boom Boom.

[as303298]

Fun Fact: Cargo Ship wasn't meant to have a boss at the end. This may be changed later due to Shipwreck Shore's high amount of ship levels.

[bossedit8]

Ahh, that Cargo Ship Level. I remember that Level back then while I playthroughed the old finished SDG that I met this place and also by watching your Video on that custom Level too. I might get into this Level again if I get the time and take care with other requests of what I have currently to get over with.

[JupiHornet]

UNOFFICIAL REVIEW of CARGO SHIP by AS303298

Heh, I remember seeing videos of this level back on your channel. It feels weird playing it now :I

Design (7.5/10)
This level introduced some clever gimmicks, but it got pretty boring once you started making me do the switch puzzles. Not that they were hard, but my tiny little turtle brain couldn't process where to go D: The checkpoint is also placed a bit too late. The 2nd half (more like the 3rd quarter) of the level puts you in a room with platforms that move up and down. The timing is a bit wonky and for me it was actually impossible to get through. I had to pretty much wing all of my jumps and hope tht the platform would save me in time. Also the ON/OFF gimmick was pretty kewl

Atmosphere (8.2/10)
The level looked nice, but the music was pretty annoying and made the level even more boring for me :/ Also there is cutoff in the SMB3 underwater blocks.

Other Comments: I can't think of any :P

Overall 7.85/10 (Pretty Good)
Not a bad level, but it got pretty repetitive after a while.

[as303298]

Cutoff...I got to check that out, usually I'm good at catching that. Btw thanks

[Superiorstar]

Well well well looks like you finally posted this after 3 years huh? I'll check this out sooner or later.

[Witchking666]

Its kinda cool you know

[bossedit8]

Its kinda cool you know

You Need to be more constructive than that! Please read the Rules around the Forums!

[Imaynotbehere4long]

I had vague memories of this level from when I played Secret of the Dry Guys, but I don't remember it being this annoying. Something I never understood is why you put blocks just above the top of the level's section boundary and Jelectros just below the level's section boundary; both of those are unintuitive and both caused me to get hit unfairly. There are also quite a few areas that have barely anything in them and just seem to be there to pad out the level, like the part between warps 8/10 and 11/12, as well as Section 2 (seriously, it seems like Section 2 is only there to interrupt the first section's song. I recommend having Warp 7 lead straight to Warp 14).

However, the most annoying part of the level is that both ? switches have to be hit twice, forcing the player to backtrack to each ? block and do those respective parts of the level twice. The first backtracking part wasn't so bad since not much has to be redone to hit the second switch again, but even if the player notices that he/she has to hit the first switch again before climbing the anchor, it still requires the player to swim all the way back to the beginning just to hit the first switch, and this also just seems like it's there to pad out the level. I recommend removing the ! blocks after the anchor and replacing them with normal wood blocks.

Speaking of the first part of the level, the pipe right next to the first ? switch is neither a warp pipe nor a generator, meaning the coins above the first ? switch are inaccessible without cheating. Also, I agree with Turtwig: the pistons are off-sync and are almost guaranteed to kill first-time players, especially since the third one moves as fast as it does and since they're all on Auto-Start events (meaning they become even more off-sync as the player progresses through the part of the level before the checkpoint). The time between their initial events triggering their secondary events (and vice versa) should be multiples of each other (like 2 seconds and 4 seconds or 3 seconds and 6 seconds, etc.) so that they have a definite pattern that first-time players can react to.

Of course, the level isn't entirely bad. Making the player hit the first ? switch with a bomb and having the anchor in view of the ? block that lowers said anchor were neat touches. The ON/OFF wood blocks in the interior of the ship were also a clever design choice, but they didn't seem fully realized. It would have been better if you had expanded upon that for the second half instead of just ending it with two Boom-Boom sprite-swaps in an empty room (which is even lazier than the dual Boom-Boom fight in Storming the Fleet because, at least in that level, there were flame pillars that the player had to watch out for; here, there's nothing but the Boom-Booms). Expanding upon the ON/OFF wood blocks would also help to remedy the imbalanced midpoint since it would theoretically add more meaningful, non-filler content after it.


Summary:
GOOD:
-Graphics aren't terrible.
-Music fits the level well.
-ON/OFF wood blocks are a neat idea.

BAD:
-Off-screen block ceiling.
--OFF-SCREEN JELECTRO FLOOR.
-Filler sections.
-Forced backtracking.
-Imbalanced midpoint.
--PRE-PROGRAMMED BOSS AI IN AN EMPTY ROOM.

In conclusion: Like your other levels, this level has potential, but it's brought down by its annoying design flaws. I'd say this deserves a 5.5/10.

[bossedit8]

Playthrough made on this custom smbx level:



Original link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OU_zixfuJrU