Taycamgame wrote:TBH I never expected any of my levels to be as good as Nintendo ones, but I do try to aim for the same sort of feeling you get when playing official Mario games; e.g. Not too short or too long, linear, etc.
By "filler", do you mean putting lots of levels in just for the sake of making the episode longer?
And i'm not sure what I should do, I don't really want to start over, but a lot of my levels will need improvements, some are quite short, not very challenging, not many BGO's used etc. I don't know, guess I forget to make it look good because I always think about what the level will be structured like.
Instead of starting over, I'd cut this episode down to around 10-20 levels. Release it with that number after you get there. Then after you receive feedback on it you can much more easily modify it.
You can also post levels individually in the Levels forum and get specific constructive feedback on levels.
Then after you've taken a good amount of time to improve your design, come back and make a larger episode
Is it possible to edit and re-release an episode then? I have already made a lot of levels (around 35 - up to world 4-5). Maybe I will release a demo soon, get feedback then go over the levels again. Don't know when though.
Taycamgame wrote:Is it possible to edit and re-release an episode then? I have already made a lot of levels (around 35 - up to world 4-5). Maybe I will release a demo soon, get feedback then go over the levels again. Don't know when though.
That sounds like a plan. You can make updates to episodes whenever you feel like, and listening to good feedback and seeing how that changes your level is a good exercise. I'll definitely give them a whirl if you make a demo.
Taycamgame wrote:TBH I never expected any of my levels to be as good as Nintendo ones, but I do try to aim for the same sort of feeling you get when playing official Mario games; e.g. Not too short or too long, linear, etc.
There's a lot of subtlety in Nintendo's design which goes much deeper than this, and once you get down to it, it's really amazing to learn about. One part of the comic, I believe part 4 or 5, talks about level design in New Super Mario Bros, and how most jumps in that game are doable without pressing "run", to make the game possible for beginners. Now, I'm not telling you to do exactly that, but things like this are things that Nintendo considers when designing their levels, and it's really cool. Here's another one which will probably be more useful to you: Have you noticed how certain levels in Nintendo games introduce an enemy or gimmick that is never used again in the entire game? When you examine the level closely, you will notice that the level introduces the gimmick safely, then starts expanding upon it and adds a twist later. As a result, these gimmicks never overstay their welcome, and you can easily point to "the tower with the skewers". There's a video here if you want to learn more.
Taycamgame wrote:If I was to release a demo, how many levels should be available to play?
However many you wish.
Also this video shows how Nintendo handles difficulty within a level
It shows how the diffulty does not just simply increase throughout a level, but jumps around instead, and has the hardest challenges before the checkpoint and the end of a level. It also goes over how you should handle the failure and success of a player doing a challenge. For example, the penalty for failing at the start is often simply not getting a power up or reward. Levels are structured in a way that as you fail the harder challenges towards the end of a level, you have to replay the challenges nearer to the start, and if you try to get a power-up, you would eventually succesfully get that through pracice which would help in beating the final challenge. And when you present present a challenge, consider how you want to punish the player for failing.
Also in the video, yoou will find that they add harder, optional or alternative challenges where there can be a reward for veterans and also allow the player to explore to find ways of making harder challenges easier or skipping them entirely.
That is good advice.
After I upload the demo, I hope someone will be able to give a review of it, because I need to know if I should just start over or not. I wasn't intending to, but if it isn't of great quality then I might as well. Besides, not a huge amount of effort was put into the levels (I think some of them are good), so I want to hear people's thoughts on it.
I suggest refining some of the levels which you get feedback for and not outright scrapping everything. They might not be astounding in their current states, but trying to give a level that lacks uniqueness a factor that makes it stand out is nice practice in working that kind of thinking into your design as a whole. I would certainly not scrap the entire project, but you can turn it into a road reflecting how much you learned; something you can look back at and say "oh wow this has come a long way".
As for total project level count, 30 is already many for a solo project! Not to say that you should definitely reduce the level count, just be careful that making another 40 will take quite some time. Especially if you start spending more time on each individual level.
If you do want to cut down the count I encourage to incorporate as many of the completed levels as possible into it, only cutting the ones that you don't feel like can be improved in a reasonable amount of time.
I'm looking forward to being able to play your levels and give my thoughts, but don't feel pressured to release the demo "as soon as possible".
I tried uploading the demo folder to Onedrive, but 340 Mb takes forever. Probably because I used a lot of WAV files.
Instead, I will upload some individual levels from the episode rather than the whole thing.
At this point however, I feel that restarting should be done. I won't get rid of the original levels (I may return to it at some point) but the levels I can produce now are much better than most of those in the episode. Also I want the new version to be much better than what this is, I want it to be a hub world, you get the point. So join me on the new topic. Or should I stay on this topic? Idk.
Don't worry, what I have made so far will be released as a full demo at some point - think of it as an episode that is being released but not completely finished? I feel I can do better than this, so the levels in my new project will be much better than these ones - more effort will be put in, I will upload regular demos, and it will be much better.
This project hasn't gone to waste though - you guys have been really supportive and helped me to get better than what I started out like. I have much more experience now too. Besides, a new year is coming up, so a new, better project should come with it. This won't be completely trashed - I will definitely keep some of the ideas and maybe some of the areas too, but I will just be making it a better, improved version.
I'm sorry if you don't like this idea, but there is no point in releasing a project if it isn't fun to play. That's why I'm doing this - so it can be fun!
Umm... Enjoy? I swear the upload stopped, but I guess it's here? Your welcome to play and review it, but still, It's pretty long anyway, so I might as well start over. You can play up to Wacky Woods Ghost House. https://farlingayesuffolkschuk-my.share ... 2a309c9aa1
I want to quickly note that wav files are HUGE and you should convert your sound files to .ogg using Audacity and add loop points, like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=266MtQmsOX0
Good luck with the new start! I'll make sure to check your pack out and will send you my feedback through PM when I'm done.
Enjl wrote:I want to quickly note that wav files are HUGE and you should convert your sound files to .ogg using Audacity and add loop points, like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=266MtQmsOX0
Good luck with the new start! I'll make sure to check your pack out and will send you my feedback through PM when I'm done.
I don't have audacity, but could I use .MP3's to get a small size instead?
And just checking, is that link is working for you? I didn't think it would because my internet got cut off for a bit, if it is working then it may be a bit corrupt at some points, maybe not.
I look forward to the review too! Thanks for all the level design advice.
Enjl wrote:I want to quickly note that wav files are HUGE and you should convert your sound files to .ogg using Audacity and add loop points, like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=266MtQmsOX0
Good luck with the new start! I'll make sure to check your pack out and will send you my feedback through PM when I'm done.
I don't have audacity, but could I use .MP3's to get a small size instead?
And just checking, is that link is working for you? I didn't think it would because my internet got cut off for a bit, if it is working then it may be a bit corrupt at some points, maybe not.
I look forward to the review too! Thanks for all the level design advice.
MP3s are like the jpg files of audio formats. I suggest getting audacity. It's free and really useful.
As for the archive, it seems to be corrupted. My 7zip can't open it.
Enjl wrote:I want to quickly note that wav files are HUGE and you should convert your sound files to .ogg using Audacity and add loop points, like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=266MtQmsOX0
Good luck with the new start! I'll make sure to check your pack out and will send you my feedback through PM when I'm done.
I don't have audacity, but could I use .MP3's to get a small size instead?
And just checking, is that link is working for you? I didn't think it would because my internet got cut off for a bit, if it is working then it may be a bit corrupt at some points, maybe not.
I look forward to the review too! Thanks for all the level design advice.
MP3s are like the jpg files of audio formats. I suggest getting audacity. It's free and really useful.
As for the archive, it seems to be corrupted. My 7zip can't open it.
I will try to re-upload it, but that won't be right now. Probably in a week or two. Probably got corrupted due to the internet getting cut off. Do you have a specific error message?
General advice, don't let yourself be influenced if you feel that something between 50 and 100 is an apropriate and rewarding amount for your episode and if you feel that you want (and can) go this far. You're on a fine track already and you're NOT a bloody beginner. There's no need to apply "start small bc you're an unknown quantity" to you.
Quantity over quality is a thing yes, but making levels for a Mario adventure episode is different from making super extravagant levels for contests or making a gimmick-centered episode. Sure, Enigmatic or WIP Boom Boom Evolution are cool in their own way and saturated with a low level count. But this is neither what you're currently doing nor what you need to do. And what would SMBX be without the fun large episodes that kept us hyped and engaged for days?
