This is my first level I'm going to make public.
It's very short and very linear as it's for an episode, so don't expect anything really outstanding. I think it's gonna be average.
The level generally looks rather cluttered: There are lots of NPCs to be found and you can't walk two feet without ramming into scenery. Even when waling on clouds. It looks a bit messy and really doesn't help the level.
In the area of the first screen, for example, you placed two ninji's onto different elevation levels, just so that one of them can land right next to the other after one jump. Not to mention the koopa and piranha plant which are right next to them are just waiting for a chance to ambush the player.
That's just my review from the screenshots. I'm going to download this and give you a proper review in a second.
I didn't expect anything crazy, and that's what I got. OP delivered. But I wouldn't call this an average level either.
First off, I stand corrected about my previous point. I assumed you used SMB2 ninji's based on the sprite. The placement makes a tiny more sense with SMW ninji's AI.
I do however not stand corrected about my point regarding the super scenery spam. I mean really. I have never seen anything like this before. I've mentioned the tree on the clouds before, but this:
Shouldn't be there. There are way more examples other than the pipes and the little butt in the ground in the first screen, or the flower on the goal pole in the second. For example flowers on questionmark blocks. But I'm not here to rant about the overly spammed and shove-it-down-your-throat atmosphere, or am I?
Music is a giant part of atmosphere. Remember how I said you shove the atmosphere down the player's throat? This isn't just meant in the sense of scenery, but also in the sense of the music being ultra happy, cinematic and fitting worse into the level than the original version of the song.
Gee, the original isn't perfect, but I'd choose even the SMB1 Overworld Theme found in SMBX by default over this one every day.
That's about all I can say about the episode. The level is over before you can even swallow all this atmosphere (screen 2), because it's short, like you said. But for a short level for an episode, how does it play out? Well..
The gameplay itself was decent. The level was incredibly easy, despite being spammed to the brim with enemies, like I've previously mentioned, because you hand out a fire flower close to the beginning of the level. Actually I just looked at the debugger which shows 4 Fire Flowers. Let me rephrase my statement: This level is made to shove everything down the players time as fast as possible. The player even gets a free 1-Up in the very beginning of the level! What! And the music-lacking bonus room which you've had days to fix doesn't even contain the second 1-Up, but just another Fire Flower!
Damn... What about the coin-npc relation for such a 1293 Blocks level? Aha. I see. 138 NPCs and 122 coins. Call me crazy but both of these values are way too high for such a short level. As well as the powerups and scenery count I've previously mentioned. I'm just impressed at this point that the level is not as hard to navigate as I assumed it would be.
I enjoyed this level for the sole reason of being frustrated at poor scenery, npc and coin placement, which I strongly recommend you fix. But overall, I'd call it sub-par as of now. It's a level which can be slapped together in half an hour once you have the graphics. Even when you realize, 25 minutes in, that you have placed neither npcs, nor coins, nor scenery.
I've seen worse, but more than a 3/10 can't be handed to you, in my opinion. Here's a list of where you can improve with this level:
Less powerups, move the 1-Up at the start into the secret area.
Less coins. Try to keep the number around 40-60 for a level of this length.
Less enemies. Not just that, but they also need to be placed in better places. I found myself waiting for them to die or walk into a spot where I could easily avoid them. Also, not every pipe needs a piranha plant.
Less and less extravagant scenery (extravagant scenery = the butt in screen 1). You placed 306 background objects, but can you bring the number down to 125-150? I'm assuming 75 are water bgos.
I didn't adress it in the review, because it's more of a Quality of Life change, but maybe you should make the pipe in the end move slower and stop at the top and bottom.
If you fix all that and do not make this a full-on checkpoint-inclusive nice level I will up my score to 6/10, but anything above isn't in there because of the limited amount of fun one can have in 40 seconds of gameplay.
Well, I think I just went overambitious there.
I tried so hard NOT to make a bland and empty level so that I put everything everywhere. I guess it was just too much.
Thanks for the constructive criticism, I guess I... well... thought that 'more' = 'better'.
Aaaand for the BGO spam... well I wanted this level to seem bright and flowerfilled, but went really overboard there.
The 'butt' was just there for decoration, didn't think that it would draw that much attention.
Maybe I'll get to fix this tomorrow. Thank you once again.
I updated the level (so I guess this double post is allowed?) and fixed everything Emral mentioned.
In detail, the following changes were made to the level:
- You cannot get stuck on a specific slope anymore.
- Reduced the BGO and coin spam to 272 BGOs and 57 coins.
- Removed the easy 1-up at the beginning and re-added it in the bonus section
- The bonus section uses proper music now
- Reduced the powerup spam. Now there are only 2 fire flowers in the level
- Repositioned, replaced and removed some enemies
- Removed weird butt things and BGOs in the end screen
- Added Emral as main boss (scrapped)
I found the updated version to be far more satisfying to play. Replacing the 1-Up in the beginning with a turn block especially made the area easier to traverse and fits the theme more. I still have minor nitpicks about scenery and music choice, for example the flowers on the pipe, but ah well.
Emral wrote:I found the updated version to be far more satisfying to play. Replacing the 1-Up in the beginning with a turn block especially made the area easier to traverse and fits the theme more. I still have minor nitpicks about scenery and music choice, for example the flowers on the pipe, but ah well.
5/10
I think I removed every flower from every pipe, did I miss any?
zlakergirl357 wrote:I'll try to review this level tomorrow unless Emral wants his review to get approved.
I'm generally rather negative in my reviews and criticize things other reviewers wouldn't mind, while ignoring stuff other people go crazy about. I think out of fairness you should review it as well.
LordKofu wrote:
I think I removed every flower from every pipe, did I miss any?
I think it was close to the middle of the level, but you can find it by just skimming through it either way. Shouldn't take longer than 30 seconds.
I don't really understand some of the complaints. Flowers on pipes is something that usually isn't seen in levels, but what is wrong about that? It is - depending what's inside of the pipe - not unlogical and also it is not aesthetically unpleasing in my opinion. The grass hole is okay for me, too. And Emral, if you allow me to point that out, some of your complaints sound simply rude to me. (That "WHY WOULD YOU????????????????????" screenshot)
I think it is a level that would fit well into a small game. It is a very basic level, but aesthetically well done. Because of that and since the level is very short, it doesn't work well as a single level on its own, but as I said would work well in a full game.
Fennor wrote:I don't really understand some of the complaints. Flowers on pipes is something that usually isn't seen in levels, but what is wrong about that? It is - depending what's inside of the pipe - not unlogical and also it is not aesthetically unpleasing in my opinion. The grass hole is okay for me, too. And Emral, if you allow me to point that out, some of your complaints sound simply rude to me. (That "WHY WOULD YOU????????????????????" screenshot)
I think it is a level that would fit well into a small game. It is a very basic level, but aesthetically well done. Because of that and since the level is very short, it doesn't work well as a single level on its own, but as I said would work well in a full game.
There is still the v1 link in the start post for everyone interested in the first version reviewed by Emral.
zlakergirl357, on Apr 29, wrote:I'll try to review this level tomorrow
Still not reviewed...*sigh*...
Anyway, my review:
Yup, it certainly is a short, average level, although it's definitely one of the more well designed "first levels" I've played, right up there with All First Levels Are Generic and Boring. While I disagree with Emral on the music and about the flowers on the pipes, the level is quite short and it ended before it really began. I'd say doubling the length and adding a bit more NPC variety wouldn't hurt. Speaking of the flowers on the pipes, I think that you missed the one you did since it's hidden behind a Ninji when viewed in the editor. Also, you moved the top hill-sizable in the first screenshot up too far; the only way the player can reach it is by doing a running jump. I recommend moving it down by one unit. Lastly, what's the point of the one-unit hole being blocked by a brick? It looks like it is indicating a secret of some sort, but it's just decoration.
Summary:
GOOD:
-Graphics aren't terrible.
-Music fits the level quite nicely.
-Block placement is done well.
BAD:
-Level is short.
-That one annoying hill-sizable.
In conclusion: Although it's definitely well made for what it is, there isn't really that much there to begin with. Like Fennor wrote, it may work well as a level in an episode, but it needs to have more to work as a stand-alone level. I'd say this deserves a 5.5/10.
